Chapter 69- Fingerprints

"You're the one that's been harassing me," Carly said. "The one who's been sending me those messages. Aren't you?"

Nelle sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Carly."

Willow raised an eyebrow.

Carly pulled her phone out of her purse. "It's all on here. Messages from Unknown—" She scrolled through her messages. "What? Last text is from Josslyn. But it was all here."

Nelle yawned. "Are you losing your mind again, Carly?"

Carly started to jump at her, but Michael held her back. "How did you delete them?"

"I didn't delete anything. I was talking to Dr. Drake."

Willow pulled out her phone to search for the picture of Snow White eating the apple, but it was gone.

Carly struggled in Michael's arms, but he prodded her away.

Chase got off the elevator and walked over to Josslyn. "Josslyn, I need to ask you questions about the shooting."

"Nelle…." Nina touched her shoulder. "You're alive. I—I don't believe it."

Willow crossed her arms and moved to the other side of the room alone.

Nelle stared at Nina's hand on her, then pushed it away. "Don't worry, I won't spoil things with your daughter. I'm more concerned about my own family anyway. Go be with Willow."

"You're my daughter too and we are family." Nina sat across from her. "And I'm not leaving. Nelle, I'm so sorry for all the ways I've disappointed you."

"You mean when you fired me or when you testified saying my son would be better off without me?" Nelle asked.

"All of it. I didn't know."

"Didn't know that I was your daughter?" Nelle asked. "So, if I wasn't your daughter, it would make it all okay?"

"No. I shouldn't have—"

"Save your apology, Mother."

Across the room, Chase sat down with Josslyn.

"What were you doing at your mom and Sonny's this morning?" Chase asked.

"Babysitting," Josslyn said.

"And Spencer was with you?"

Josslyn nodded.

"Which children were in your care?" Chase asked.

"Avery, Donna, Wiley, Amelia, and Ace."

"And what were you doing when the shooting happened?"

"Um, well, I was in the living room with Spencer," Josslyn said.

"What were you doing in the living room?"

"We were just… spending time together."

"Okay, well tell me what happened," Chase said.

"The kids were up in Donna's room playing," Josslyn said.

"Do you know what they were playing?"

"Yeah, Cops and Mobsters," Josslyn said. "They play that a lot. I used to a bit when I was younger, but not as much as they do."

"Okay, and how did they play that?" Chase asked.

"Donna said she was going to play Sonny, Wiley-Cyrus, Amelia-Jordan, Avery-Dante, and Ace- Brick."

Chase's eyebrow arched. "That seems like an intense game for babies."

"I doubt they actually did anything with the babies."

"So, you and Spencer went down to the living room?" Chase asked. "You weren't present in the room when the shooting happened?"

"No. Ava arrived to pick up Avery. She went upstairs and we heard two gunshots go off. We rushed up after her and found her on the floor, bleeding from the chest. And Wiley was on the floor, bleeding from the head."

"How soon did you hear the gunshots after Ava went upstairs?"

"Right away," Josslyn said. "Pretty much immediately."

"And did you see the weapon when you went upstairs?"

"Yes," Josslyn said. "It was between Ava and Avery."

"Do you know who the gun belongs to?" Chase asked.

"Well, it has to be Ava's," Josslyn said.

"Do you know that for a fact?"

"Well, no, but who else could it belong to?" Josslyn asked.

"We just got word that the gun doesn't belong to Ava," Chase said. "It belongs to Sonny. So, if the gunshots happened right away when Ava went upstairs, how would she have time to search for Sonny's gun?"

Josslyn shrugged. "I don't know. She could have stolen it ahead of time."

"Maybe."

GHGHGH

Sonny was cuffed to the table in the interrogation room next to Diane and Jordan sat across from them.

"I hear you were denied bail," Jordan said. "That's interesting. And it happened fast."

He stared at her.

"What do you want, Jordan?" Diane asked. "Hasn't my client been through enough?"

"I need to ask him some questions," Jordan said.

"You already have," Diane said.

"Not about Cyrus," Jordan said. "Sonny, does anyone else have access to your firearms?"

"Don't answer that, Sonny."

"You need to let me go, so I can check on my grandson at the hospital!" Sonny pounded his fist on the table.

"If you're concerned about your grandson's well-being, then you will answer my questions and help me get to the bottom of this," Jordan said. "Who else has access to your firearms?"

"Nobody," Sonny said.

Jordan leaned closer to look at him. "Where are your weapons stored?"

"Don't answer that," Diane said.

"Sonny, who do you believe shot your grandson?" Jordan asked.

"Ava," Sonny said.

"What reason would she have to shoot Wiley?" Jordan asked.

"I don't know."

"Sonny, it was one of your guns that was lying on the floor. The bullet in Ava was from that gun. We can only assume the shot at Wiley came from that gun too, but we won't know until he is out of surgery. Can you explain why your gun was in the room? Do you know who had access to it?'

"I have no idea."

"Do your children ever have access to your weapons?" Jordan asked.

He scoffed. "Of course not!"

"But we found Avery's fingerprints on it," Jordan said.

Sonny paled. "What?"

"We didn't find a trace of Ava's fingerprints on it. Donna and Avery are both very traumatized, but Avery mentioned they were playing with your toys. Tell me, what did she mean?"

His eyes welled with tears. "I don't know."

"Donna and Avery will be staying with Kristina until we finish investigating this shooting, and we'll also be investigating you and Carly. Kristina agreed. Carly will be permitted supervised visitation until we find out more."

GHGHGH

Sam arrived at the school and smiled when Scout walked over to her.

"Hi baby, how was your day?" Sam asked.

"Good. Evelyn invited me to her house to play."

"Okay, that sounds fun. But I'd like to meet her parents first."

Scout scanned the playground and pointed. "There she is with her mom."

Scout led Sam over to a brunette with her little girl.

"Hi, you must be Scout's mom? I'm Shelly Mest." She extended her hand to Sam.

Sam shook it. "Sam McCall."

Shelly smiled. "It seems our girls have hit it off quite well. We'd love to have Scout over sometime."

Sam squinted at her. "Maybe we could do a play date somewhere first and we can both be there."

"Of course. I will call you and we can set something up." She took Evelyn's hand and began walking away.

"Won't you need my number if you're going to call me?" Sam asked.

"Oh, yes." Shelly pulled out her phone.

GHGHGH

"This just in, shooting at local coffee importer Sonny Corinthos' home," the news anchor announced when Felicia turned on the TV. "One adult and one child wounded. One death reported, but no word on who. Ava Jerome, Spencer Cassadine, and Josslyn Jacks among the names present at the time of the shooting along with multiple minors. More to follow soon."

"Sp-Spence took Ace there?" Esme asked.

"I-I would only assume," Felicia said.

Esme pulled out her phone to call Spencer, but there was a knock on the door.

Felicia went to answer and found Spencer standing there with Ace screaming in his arms.

Esme ran over. "Give me by baby! Are you okay, buddy?"

"We heard about the shooting," Felicia said. "What happened?"

"Ava shot Wiley, then shot herself," Spencer said. "I thought I'd bring Ace back early because Joss needs me at the hospital. And he won't stop screaming."

"Oh my gosh," Felicia said. "Is Wiley okay?"

"He's at the hospital. He was shot in the head."

"That could've been Ace." Esme gritted her teeth. "You took my son over to Sonny's after he kidnapped me twice?"

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Twice? He didn't kidnap you before. He was warning you what would happen if you didn't confess to framing Trina. Ace is safe around Sonny."

"I don't want him going back there," Esme said.

GHGHGH

Everyone rushed over when Patrick, TJ, and Elizabeth wheeled Wiley out of the OR.

Willow bent over and held Wiley's hand. "Hi baby, Mommy's here."

Nelle glared at her.

"How did it go?" Michael asked.

"We were able to extract the bullet," Patrick said. "Wiley's vitals are starting to stabilize."

"Yes, you are so strong," Willow whispered. "I'm so proud of you."

"Is he going to live?" Nelle asked.

"Yes," Patrick said. "He's going to live."

Nina rubbed Willow's back.

"That's wonderful news," Carly said. "Wiley, everything's going to be okay."

Patrick cleared his throat. "He is stabilizing, like I said, but it's too soon to know how severe the damage is."

"We need to get him to his room," TJ said. "Once we have him settled, you can visit him two at a time."

They wheeled him away.