He had to get out of there, he had to before they found him. How could he have been so stupid? All he had wanted was to have his Erin back, so they could raise up their baby girl the right way... The one that was alive.
She needed to get it in her head that these people she had grown up with were not her parents. He was her father, he would decide what his daughter would and would not do. And as for his daughter's hot mother, he certainly would not mind teaching her a lesson or two.
He quickly shuffled over to the payphone in the diner where he sat with his chocolate shake and French fries, casually dipping the fries into the shake. He dialed the number written on the card and waited for a response.
"How long should I wait to engage? I don't know how much longer until they find me... Should I just stick to the original plan? Grab her?"
"Your job was to kill the parents and grab the girl. You did the first part right but failed at the second part!" The voice on the other side of the line hissed. "We have the girl under close wraps now."
"I want to see her." He said without a moment's hesitation.
"Well that's too bad. People who do a lousy job don't get rewarded. They get punished." Suddenly a hooded figure with a gun emerged into the diner, taking a single shot and nailing him right in the forehead. The other people in the diner all screamed, slowly emerging as far back as they could.
"It's okay. I am an FBI agent and this man was wanted for murder." They declared to the people before walking towards the door, swinging it open. "Perverted asshole." They muttered.
"Hello, I'm Mary Russell, I am the apprentice of Chicago ADA Madison Robertson." Lizzie held out her hand to Jackie, who shook the clammy hand. "Sorry I couldn't be hear sooner, I was held up with something else." Lizzie sure as hell hoped that her 'British' accent was fooling Jackie... and where was her uncle?
She was slightly irritated that she was back in the box, they were desperate if they thought that going to the lawyers of the Johnsons would help them solve their case. She just hoped and prayed that all of the concealer she had applied to her face would make her look preppy and not like she was trying to hide something. She could act, but she certainly could not deny the fact that she was Elizabeth Reagan, the girl they were all looking for.
"Detective Jackie Curatola from the NYPD. Sorry for calling you for this, I know you barely knew the Johnsons, but we need to look at every possible angle that we can to find out who killed the parents, and who killed the daughter. Tell me what you know." Jackie didn't seem phased in the slightest that the girl in front of her was wearing sunglasses and talking with a British accent while chewing bubble gum- it was the only thing she could think of!
"I've only been here for a couple of days. Ms. Robertson said that she had known the Johnsons for a long time, since Mr. Johnson was also a lawyer, they worked together. Said they were a nice family. We went to the house and cleared out all the assets, nothing really out of the ordinary, the Chicago Police Department was almost complete with its sweep for evidence, and they hadn't found anything to help determine the perpetrator. The Johnsons' daughter, Elizabeth, fled the scene as soon as it happened and went to New York, where she was found dead several days later."
Jackie closed the file in front of her. "You went to Columbia University in New York?"
Lizzie nodded.
"Why are you here then? It's kind of fishy that you were in New York right before the girl was murdered, and showed up in Chicago right then."
Lizzie gulped. "Yes, that does look fishy, doesn't it? Well, I, uh, needed a change of scenery." She ripped the sunglasses off and rubbed the concealer slightly off in one spot where there was a big bruise from where Lizzie had banged her head on a wall repetitively (she knew it was a dumb move but she didn't have any other ideas).
"So I relocated and changed my name because I wanted to get away from an abusive boyfriend. That is why I am here now. You can ask anyone to cooperate my story." She mumbled quickly, started to feel claustrophobic.
Jackie just stared at her, blinking. "You seem awfully jumpy, are you sure you are not hiding anything? Whatever it is, we can help you."
"No, I just do not like being questioned by the police, it makes me feel like I did something wrong, and that I'm back to being questioned about him. They almost never believed me!"
"And what is with the British accent?" Jackie asked, gaining suspicious about her. She had to cover the tracks!
"I lived in England for a while growing up..." Lizzie slowly stated.
"It doesn't say that anywhere on your records..." Jackie was certainly suspicious at this point.
"I used to go there every summer. I-" Jackie was cut off by the sound of her own cell phone ringing. She glared at it before standing up and answering it. As she paced around talking on the phone, Lizzie took a deep breath.
She needed to get out of here.
Erin Reagan would literally have done anything she could to have gotten out of that hospital. It was her brother and his partner that were in Chicago right now on special case to find out what had really happened to her daughter.
"Mom, are you okay?" Nicky asked her mother for what seemed like the thousandth time. She just always seemed so distant, like she was too in her thoughts to know that Nicky was there. Yes, she felt really bad about her sister, but she had never seen her mother like this. Nicky pouted, slouching back on her chair before looking over at Frank, who motioned for her to go stand outside.
"Erin..." He started.
"I should have done something Dad! I wasn't even phased that my daughter's parents were murdered and there was a possibility that she would be too! I didn't even care that I was leaving her with Danny at your house, it didn't matter to me! Sure Danny was the reason she got out but she shouldn't have been there without me in the first place!"
"Have you ever prayed the Serenity Prayer?" Erin shook her head no.
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen."
Erin narrowed her eyes. What did that have to do with... oh. She looked over at Frank, who had joined Nicky in the hallway.
"For the things I cannot change, grant me the serenity to accept them, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen." Erin made a cross and looked over at Nicky with a smile and motioned for her to come in.
She literally squeezed Nicky half to death. "I love you so much honey."
It was then she realized this was a thing that she could never change. She could never change giving away her child, herself getting raped, her getting murdered...
"Grant me serenity," she begged silently.
"Danny what is it? This apprentice lawyer kid looks really suspicious. And she kind of reminds me of-"
"Jack something is wrong." Danny rubbed his face up and down, as if to rub away all of the stress and sadness. "Ian Smith was found dead in Indianapolis with a bullet in his head."
"Wait, isn't he-"
"Yes, he was Lizzie's biological father. And now the only one still alive in that little family is Erin, which means we have to make sure all of the undercover cops are keeping an eye on her. Now, this guy might have acquired a few enemies over his lifetime, or..." Danny trailed off, sitting down in one of the spinning chairs.
"Whoever he was working with was done with him." Jackie realized.
"So we find out who he was working for and we have our first lead."
"But Danny, there was no evidence that Lizzie's death had something to do with her parents' death. Yes, it can be assumed that Smith was after the whole family because of what went down with your sister, but there were no cameras, no DNA samples... it could have just been a random kill."
"Jack, while that is highly possible, you and I both know that is not true. She was targeted because of her last name." Danny did not dare say anything about the fact that his father had been receiving anonymous threats about people coming after his family. He was not supposed to know but he had accidentally stumbled upon the information a bit ago.
"Well then if that is true, we need to protect your whole family. But who would want to target the Reagans?"
"Jackie, do you know how many people out there want to target us? Every person I put away, my dad put away, Joe and Jamie put away... the people my sister has convicted? Every single person that hates my father because he is the police commissioner of New York and has always sided with his cops over everybody else..."
"Okay, well where do we start then? We should see who Ian Smith was contacting before he died, right? But that's a problem, since he didn't have a home phone or cell phone." Stumped, Jackie sat down on the chair opposite Danny.
"What did you say about that lawyer?"
"Just that she seemed really jumpy, like she had something to hide. And she kind of reminds me of your niece."
"Nicky?"
"No, Lizzie."
Danny sighed. "Should I go meet her?"
"Sure. Maybe it will give you some inspiration." Jackie said with a slight laugh. After a glare, Danny smiled back at her.
"Grandpa, is my mom okay? Like really okay?" Nicky asked when the two of them were sitting in the hospital cafeteria. Nicky picked at her sandwich while Frank sipped his coffee.
"She's just hurting right now Nicky. She'll be back to her normal self eventually. It will take time, but slowly she will start feeling better." He turned his cup of coffee in his hands, seeing Garrett watching them out of the corner of his eye. Baker was with Erin, instructed to have a gun in her back and bulletproof vest on at all times.
"It's not like I can really blame her. I mean, she gave up Lizzie the day she was born and never saw her again. The minute she comes back she decides to go get herself killed?" Nicky took a long sip of her lemonade, almost like a shot.
"Nicky, your sister did not-"
"I heard Uncle Danny tell you. He couldn't keep her from leaving. She took his car and just started driving. She didn't care about us, she didn't care about Mom..."
"I only knew your sister for a few days. She was hurting. Her whole world had been taken away from her. Her parents were murdered right in front of her. How would you feel if someone decided to kill your mother and your father right in front of you?"
"I would be very scared, and miserable, and all alone." Nicky mumbled, knowing her grandfather had been right, once again. She also felt the pit in her stomach increase at the mention of her father, whom she knew did not want anything to do with her.
"I don't think Lizzie was planning on running away. I think she just needed some air and was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Grandpa, was Lizzie...er, was Lizzie killed by the person who killed her parents?"
Frank sighed. "I don't know Nicky, I don't know... all I do know is that if you want to help get everything back on track you have to help your mother recover. Make sure she is eating, drinking, sleeping... and if she ever says something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you call your Aunt Linda, or Uncle Jamie, or me."
Nicky nodded. "Okay Grandpa."
"Hi I am Detective Danny Reagan from the NYPD. I know you've already met my partner Jackie. What do you know about the Johnsons?" He sat down across from the girl with the sunglasses... and bubble gum?
Lizzie hated it. The fact that her uncle was so close to her. It made her want to cry after all of the things she had done to him. She literally thought that he was the bad guy and ran away from him, taking and crashing his car. The guilt was making her feel sick. She didn't think she could make it through without crying. She let out a silent sob.
"Why are you crying?" Danny snapped in what could only be considered Danny Reagan fashion.
"I just- you remind me so much of him." She sobbed, surprised that the lies were coming up so easily now. Being undercover really was just a big improv game!
"Who?" Danny asked, completely lost. He did not feel like this girl was anything like his niece, his niece was intelligent and smart and pretty... This girl was just plain obnoxious.
"My boyfriend... He.. He..."
"Okay okay, I will just leave you with Jackie then. Sorry for making you feel uncomfortable..." In a swing of motions Danny yanked the glasses off her face and pulled her hair upwards, making her yelp.
"Do you know anything about who killed this people bubble gum?" Danny screamed. Lizzie looked over at Jackie with a pleading look, but Jackie had turned away and was pretending to be on her phone.
"NO! I don't! Okay! And do you treat all of the people you question like this? Isn't it illegal? If I tell the people out there what you're doing, won't IA come running after you?"
Danny slightly loosened his grip on her hair. "What do you know about Internal Affairs? Are you a cop?" When Lizzie didn't answer he gripped her hair again, pulling her off the chair with it. "ARE YOU A COP?" He repeated.
"NO! Read my file! I graduated high school early and studied law at Columbia! I was never a cop! I just watched a lot of cop shows and Internal Affairs was always a pain in the ass for the cops. Look, you're clearly agitated about something, and you're taking out your anger on me. I told you that I do not know anything, so if you don't release me now I will tell them that you abused me while interrogating me."
Danny looked over at Jackie, who nodded. He dropped her, throwing her back down on the chair.
"Worthless piece of scum. Get this piece of crap out of here." He walked out.
Lizzie looked over at Jackie, and the two made eye contact. "Well that was stressful..." Lizzie said, slumping back down against the chair. "Are we done here?"