3.) No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
"How long are you planning on holding me?" Elizabeth asked as she drummed her fingers on the table. The room was cold and the cop was weird.
"As long as it takes Mac to return. He'll probably have questions for you." Lucky said barely acknowledging her. He'd seen her before. She was beautiful, but he was trying hard not to engage. He didn't want to trigger any memory she may have of him.
Elizabeth let out a breath, and leaned her head in to the palm of her hand for support. 'Why do I even try?' she thought.
Mac entered the PCPD, having just left Carly Corinthos'. He was on the phone with an officer who was still on scene collecting evidence. He was giving orders regarding the importance of the chain of custody, as he walked toward Interrogation Room #1. He saw Detective Spencer guarding the door. Lucky saw Mac and came forward shutting the door as he left the entryway.
"Has she told you anything? Mac asked Lucky as he hung up the phone.
"No, she just wanted to know how long she was going to be held here," Lucky answered.
Mac nodded, "I'll take it from here Spencer. Why don't you take your break," Mac insisted.
"I really think I should stay. After all, this is about my cousin," Lucky replied.
"Actually, as I stated earlier it is precisely for that reason why you shouldn't be here. Now go."
Lucky shook his head in disagreement, muttering under his breath but took his leave to the breakroom all the same.
Mac watched the detective leave and then entered the interrogation room.
"Can I get you a drink, Beth? Mac asked.
"No, I'm fine," Elizabeth answered bringing her hand down to the table to meet her other hand.
"It might interest you to know that we found Carly," Mac said taking his seat, "Right where you said we would."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, "Great. Can I go now?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not a chance," Mac replied.
Elizabeth bit her bottom lip, and rolled her eyes.
"How long have you been working with Ric Lansing?" Mac asked.
Elizabeth sat back in her seat and crossed her arms.
"Stonewalling won't work. We've got you on kidnapping," Mac said hoping to get a reaction out of her. It was lie, but then again, police were allowed to lie to suspects.
Elizabeth shook her head 'no'.
"-And conspiracy to commit murder," Mac said.
"Lawyer," Elizabeth replied.
"We're done here," Mac said, "I will send an officer in to get you."
"I want my phone call," Elizabeth said.
"I'll get a phone brought in for you," Mac said as he left the room.
"I'm sure you will…idiot," Elizabeth stated although she wasn't sure if she was referring to him or herself.
PCPD Breakroom
"Hey," Lucky said to the person on the other line of his cell phone.
"Hey, yourself," the other person said back.
"Guess who's in interrogation?" Lucky stated.
"Who?" the person responded.
"Elizabeth Morgan," Lucky answered.
"Excellent. I can't wait to add to my growing collection. She will eventually fetch a high price. Keep me informed. We'll have to move quickly," the person on the line stated.
"I can do that. Just make sure to cut me in," Lucky stated.
PCPD Interrogation
Picking up the landline phone that had been brought in Elizabeth dialed the number that she had memorized. The phone rang and a friend picked up on the other line, "Corelli?"
"It's me? You wouldn't happen to know any attorneys would you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Just what have you gotten yourself into?" Her friend asked.
"I stuck my nose in something that I shouldn't have and now I'm catching the blame," Elizabeth said.
"I'll see what I can do. You still in Port Charles?" Her friend asked.
"Of course, only here could you be completely innocent and still be arrested for helping," Elizabeth said.
"Someone will be there to assist you, as soon as they can. Don't say a word to anyone," Her friend advised.
General Hospital Hallway
Jason was on the phone with Max. "I want whatever you can find on Ric's holdings. Also, I want a 20 on my ex-wife. I need to ask her some questions. Start with the PCPD."
"Jason, thank goodness I found you!" Diane exclaimed.
"What is it? Did you get my divorce paperwork filed?" Jason asked.
"About that," Diane stated.
Jason gave her a look expecting her to continue.
"Perhaps, we could take this to the conference room?" Diane asked.
"I'm kind of busy right now," Jason stated.
"Jason Morgan, I don't ask a lot from you, but you're my client and what I have to tell you is important."
"Fine," Jason said, "Let's go."
Upon arriving at the conference room. "Why didn't you file my divorce paperwork yet?"
Once the door was shut Diane answered, "I thought it best not to. I stumbled upon something this afternoon on the way to the courthouse and hightailed it back to the office. For the last two hours I've been going over notes. I think you'll be surprised by what I found out, and I once you've heard my answer you may still want a legal tie to Elizabeth."
"I doubt it, but I'm listening," said Jason, irritated but willing to give his attorney the benefit of the doubt.
"Good. I was on my way to the courthouse when I saw Elizabeth engaged in a conversation with your family's butler Reginald, I believe is his name. Did you know that your Grandmother and Elizabeth knew each other?"
Jason crossed his arms, as he typically did and shook his head no.
"I didn't think so," Diane replied.
"What did they say to each other?" Jason asked.
"They were surprised to see each other but they embraced. He seemed very worried about her. Eluded to the fact that Ric would hurt her if he knew she was in town. She told him she was doing okay, but…"
"But?" Jason urged the normally forward attorney.
"But when she moved the hair covering her face to the side. You know how her hair was covering her face earlier during the meeting in my conference room?" Diane asked.
"Yes, I recall that her hair was down. What does that have to do with anything?" Jason asked not really following why it mattered.
"When she moved her hair to the side, it was masking a significant bruise and cut. She stated that Ric's men had been chasing her, and apparently on occasion caught up with her, and hurt her," Diane stated.
"Ric's a jerk, but then so is Elizabeth. He shouldn't be harming her. I'm still not sure what this has to do with you not filing for my divorce," said Jason as he paced slightly around the room.
"There's more…I overheard something. I'm not totally sure what to make of it, but you ought to know so that you can find out if it's true or not."
"What is it?" Jason asked impatiently.
Diane took a seat and placed her brief case on the table, "Reginald brought up Carly's kidnapping to Elizabeth. Let's just say Elizabeth has no great love for Carly, but she didn't know that Carly was missing. Don't you find that odd? Carly is well known. You'd think that Elizabeth would've heard about that. She didn't know that you're grandmother had died either. Have to say, she seemed devastated at the news, but Reginald told her that Lila would be glad that Elizabeth was still standing despite everything."
Jason grimaced at the information, "I still don't see why you're holding off on the divorce, Diane. I pay you for expediency."
"I understand that, and I hadn't heard how the conversation ended I might have gone to the courthouse, but there's a couple of things that we didn't know, and if Elizabeth leaves town without us having all the answers, you and Sonny may live to regret your actions," Diane said as she opened her briefcase.
"Okay, well tell me," Jason said, "What is it that you'll think that I might regret?"
"Elizabeth…Well when she found out the Carly was kidnapped she wasn't surprised given how competitive the coffee import business can be. It was the fact that Carly was pregnant that really drew her attention to the seriousness of the situation. It was as if a lightbulb went off and she realized who had Carly," Diane said.
"Or it was a trap. Are you telling me that the mysterious 'Beth' who helped Carly is actually Elizabeth? Sonny and I were just discussing this possibility. If it's true and she was in on this then the consequences will be dire for her," Jason stated as he started to leave to discuss this with Sonny.
"Jason stop. There's more," Diane said.
"What more could there be? We'll get to the bottom of this, and Elizabeth will finally pay," Jason replied.
"Jason, wait. Before Elizabeth walked off to the police station Reginald asked a very important question," Diane said, as Jason nodded for her to continue, "Reginald asked Elizabeth if Sonny knew that she was his kid."
Jason flinched in disbelief, "Say that again."
"Reginald asked Elizabeth if Sonny knew that she was his kid. She didn't deny it. She did say that Sonny would never believe her. I take it that's why she went to the police," Diane recalled.
"Thanks Diane," Jason said as he tried to take the information in.
"Don't walk away yet. We have to discuss a couple of things. When I heard what Elizabeth said, I went back to my office and reviewed the paperwork. Look at the prenuptial agreement. See, the signature for the divorce and the prenupt are completely different. Elizabeth wrote with her right hand earlier. The signature on the prenupt is from a left-handed person. Who prepared the prenuptial agreement?" Diane asked.
"Ric," Jason replied.
"I bet you anything that Elizabeth never saw the prenuptial agreement, which means that under New York law she may be entitled to half of your assets."
"Then shouldn't be hurrying along to get my divorce finalized?" Jason sourly said.
"I'm an officer of the court. She could come back and say that she was married under duress and never signed the prenupt, we need her to sign another document acknowledging that while she didn't sign the prenupt she's not going retroactively sue you to get half of your assets. You need to consider offering her a settlement."
"I'm not paying her. She already stole my money," Jason said nearly seething and indignant at the idea.
"Face it, Jason. In your marriage to Elizabeth you weren't exactly Mr. Faithful. There's also the fact that if she really is Sonny's daughter and didn't know about the prenupt that she was basically tricked into marrying you to spite Sonny. How do you think Sonny will react to what you both possibly did to her," Diane said.
"Who's to say that she wasn't in on this con game the entire time?" Jason said.
"It's possible, but I doubt it. She's frightened of Ric. I mean legitimately scared of the man. You should have seen the way she looked when Reginald brought him up. Abject fear comes mind. I doubt that she would ever work with Ric. I took the liberty of running a background check on her."
"We did too. It was all bad," Jason replied.
"Yes, but you and Sonny use the same people as Zacchara. Who's to say that the information wasn't doctored to reflect poorly on her, on Zacchara's orders? I pulled up this information, through my sources, and I hired someone to follow Elizabeth's footsteps the last couple of years. He's odd, but thorough. The best part is that he doesn't operate in your arena so we will get an unfettered look into who Elizabeth Morgan really is."
"You may be wasting your time. Elizabeth is a con, and you're falling for it," Jason said surprised at his attorney's unusual display of gullibility.
"I don't know about that. Before today, what would you say your Ex's employment is?"
"She volunteered at the hospital occasionally. Anthony told us volunteering made her look good in the society pages," Jason replied.
Diane rolled her eyes and smirked, then she pulled out an article from early 2002, entitled "Local Nurse saves toddler from near drowning." Elizabeth was featured on the front along with the little boy. The story talked about her resuscitating the toddler and saving the young boy, along with pool safety. She was listed in the article as a Pediatric Oncology Nurse Practitioner. Elizabeth was accepted to the University of Rochester to pursue a career as a Medical Doctor and was planning on attending in the fall.
Jason was surprised. He hadn't known that Elizabeth was educationally ambitious or was even particularly smart, or even capable of compassion.
"Looks like I have a few stops to make. Where are you headed, Diane?" Jason questioned
"I'm going to the police station. I want to see what I can find out. You coming?" Diane asked as she put the papers back in her briefcase.
"No, I need to go to talk to a butler," Jason responded heading toward the boardroom door.
"I'll let you know what I find out," Diane said as she walked through the now opened door.