Written in 59 minutes.

Friday, October 19, 2000

Kelly’s: Courtyard

The first mistake was stopping at the diner  for coffee — and the second was lingering long enough that she didn’t make it out of the parking lot before a familiar car pulled into the spot next to hers.

“Wait—” Nikolas practically leapt from his Jaguar, dashing to the back of Emily’s car, ostensibly to prevent her from getting in her car and backing out. “You’re not returning my phone calls—”

Emily sighed, closed her car door and turned to face Nikolas, her coffee still in hand. “I haven’t talked to anyone all week, okay? I’ve been making up all the work I missed, you know, when I was kidnapped. And there’s no reason for us to talk. I told you. I handed this off to my brother.”

Nikolas scowled, stepped closer to her. “Don’t you think I have right to weigh in?”

“We tried it your way this summer, Nikolas. Your way was to listen to Lucky and look where we are,” she hissed. “I’m not innocent either. I let you convince me to keep my brother out of this, but I’m not making that mistake again—”

“Jason has no reason to give a damn about me or Lucky. How do you know he won’t sacrifice us to save you and Elizabeth?” Nikolas demanded.

Emily rolled her eyes, shifted the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder. “Because you don’t know my brother at all. One false step, and we all go down. He knows we’re tied together. And I wouldn’t let him screw you or Lucky over. Bad ideas or not, we all agreed—”

“But I don’t have say now? This is my life on the line, too—”

“I don’t have time to argue about this again, Nikolas. I’m doing what I should have done in the beginning — making this Jason’s problem to solve. I suggest you do the same. Now, please, get out of my way or I’m going to be late for class and my coffee is going to get cold.”

Chloe Morgan Designs: Executive Offices

Elizabeth’s fingers were aching as she furiously scribbled notes, trying to absorb every beat the conversation between Chloe and one of her designers.

“We’ll show the Alana in Milan, I think,” Chloe said, flipping to another page in the portfolio. “I think the simple lines will do well there, but the Harriet is better for London — they still enjoy a bit of gaudiness, particularly the hats.”

She continued to make those decisions for another ten minutes, until Elizabeth’s hands were ready to fall apart, but then the designer left and Chloe left the portfolio in the office that Elizabeth was sharing with Lottie to take a call in her office.

The portfolio was left open to the design Chloe had called “Harriet” — a pair of trousers and a blouse. Chloe had made notes in the margin that Elizabeth had put into her own, suggesting a change in fabrics.

Elizabeth’s hands were aching, but she switched to a fresh page in her notepad, exchanged the pen for a pencil, and for the next five minutes, her fingers flew across the page, swapping the graphite pencil for some colored pencils that were on the desk.

Chloe emerged from her office, having changed for her afternoon meeting, still fastening a gold hoop to match the one dangling in her right ear. Elizabeth didn’t hear her at first until the shadow fell across her desk.

“Oh, that’s absolutely perfect! I should have thought about that—”

The sketch was plucked from Elizabeth’s grasp, even as Elizabeth made a hasty grab for it but Chloe was already comparing it to the portfolio sketch.

“I think chiffon in these deep jewel tones—and that pinstripe to the trousers—” Chloe looked at Elizabeth. “This is exactly the look I was trying to achieve.”

Elizabeth blinked, her hands falling to the desk. “What?”

“I’m relaunching Chloe Morgan this year, and I’m desperate for a new look, something to really set us apart. Everything in the last decade has been about minimalism, you know? And that’s great, but it can be really boring in the wrong hands. Do you mind if I give this to Mario? He’ll be able to mock up some examples so we can see what it looks like with the fabrics and colors—”

“Wait. You—” Elizabeth got to her feet. “I was just messing around, you know? Just seeing if I could still—you want to make this into clothes?”

“This is exactly why I wanted to bring you on board, Liz.” Chloe beamed at her. “You’ve got the artistic eye. Lottie’s amazing for details and she’s got a great sense of color theory which is essential, but she’s never been much interested in the design. You listened to Mario and I go back and forth, and twenty minutes later, you’ve taken our ideas and made them into something real. If this is your idea of messing around?” Chloe held up the note pad. “I can’t wait to see what you do when you’re trying.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth’s cheeks heated, and she wrapped her arms tightly across her chest. “Well, you can give it to him, I mean if it helps.”

“Excellent. Oh, just think of how amazing it’s going to be for you to be with us in London, and you get to see your ideas walk down the runaways. How’s the passport coming? You sent the request for your birth certificate, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did. They said it might be two or three weeks,” Elizabeth said. “But maybe I could call the offices, and see if I could get it faster. Like, if they have overnight delivery or something.”

“Whatever you have to do. I want to make sure you’re with us when the season’s on us. You know Fashion Week is more like Fashion Weeks, rights? London, Milan, Paris, LA, New York—we’re going to have the best time. I’m going to drop this with Mario on my way out. Amazing job this week, Liz. You’re exactly what we needed.”

Luke’s: Bar

Luke emerged from the kitchens, making a face when he saw a familiar figure sitting at the bar, a bottle of Rolling Rock already in front of him. “We’re not even open yet,” he said, stepping behind the bar. He poured himself a tumbler of whiskey. “Which means this isn’t a social call.”

“No, it’s not.” Jason pushed the beer to the side slightly.  “I wanted to talk to you about this summer, and Sorel.”

“What about him?”

“I know there was a rave scene,” Jason told him. “It was mobile, right? Every weekend, it was somewhere else.”

Luke tipped his head. “Sorel’s boys were working it?”

“They were in charge of it. At least that’s what I’ve got. Every location was owned by Sorel or one of his people.”

Luke considered this information. “Makes sense. They were running drugs. That’s where Lucky and all them were at when Emily got grabbed. The last one before it got shut down. The guy who snatched her — he was the dealer, right?”

“That’s what we think, but the cops can’t prove it. No product in his car, nothing but the cop.” Jason met Luke’s eyes, lifted his brows. “And he’s telling his his lawyer and the DA that he didn’t put it there.”

Luke exhaled carefully. “Lucky came in the other day. Told me about their summer shenanigans. He mentioned Emily was talking to you.” He shook his head, sipped the whiskey. “I raised a moron. It brings me no joy to tell you that, but you already know. Admitted he stopped Emily from going higher up for help. No you, no Sonny, no me—morons. He knows better than to handle a dead body on his own. And a cop! Practically playing Whack-a-mole with him.” He set his drink down. “You don’t have to bring me up to speed. What’s the plan?”

“I…don’t know,” Jason admitted. “There’s not much we can do to stop Zander Smith from telling the truth in open court. His lawyer hasn’t gone to the media yet,  but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Quartermaines sell papers, plus the connection to you, to me—yeah. So we gotta shut Zander up. He’s a drug dealer, right? We think he’s the real killer?”

“Yeah.” Jason hesitated. “I have a few connections in lock up,” he admitted. “I could get it done. But—”

“But whacking him puts everyone under the spotlight, and whoever you hire could flip to get out of jail or get reassigned. Your best bet is for him to be out on the loose to do the job personally, but then—”

“Then I’m the suspect,” Jason admitted. “Yeah. Either way—”

“You’re screwed. But both options get Emily  and Liz off the hook. And my kid, which I know isn’t high on your list. We could work it so you got an alibi. You know a lot of people who’d lie for you.”

“I’m not putting anyone, even you, in that position.” Jason took another long sip of the beer. “I don’t know how we get Zander out of jail without getting the charges dismissed. They’re not giving him bail.”

“No. No, that’s for sure.” Luke sighed, stroked his jaw. “How long do you think before this gets worse?”

“Preliminary hearing is in two weeks,” Jason said. “It’s not a closed court, so if it doesn’t leak before then—”

“The media will get the story then. Okay. Let me—let me see who I know on the inside. I might have some connections of my own. And I got some friends I can call,” Luke told him.

“Let me know.”

Hardy House: Living Room

Elizabeth sat back in the desk chair, her fingers still clutched around the phone. “I don’t understand. Do you need more time to look?”

“Not a matter of looking, ma’am. I told you. It’s not in the computer.”

“Yeah, but—” Elizabeth got to her feet at the sound of knocking. She went to the door, flipped the locks and pulled it open, gesturing at the phone to let Emily know she was still occupied. “That doesn’t make sense. Could it be under a different date? I was born really late, maybe it’s on November 2.”

“Wouldn’t change anything. I looked by name and parents. Maybe you weren’t born in Colorado. Nothing else I can do for you.”

“Okay. Okay. Thank you.” Elizabeth hung up, scowled. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What’s wrong?” Emily closed the door behind herself. “Was that about your birth certificate? I thought it was going to be a few weeks.”

“I called the vital records office, and asked her to look it up, to see if my order was processed yet. She did — and apparently they got it yesterday, and were planning to process next week—I’m getting a letter saying my request can’t be fulfilled.” Elizabeth put the phone back on its base. “They don’t have a birth certificate on file.”

“Well…that’s not possible.” Emily dropped her purse on the armchair, shed her coat. “You were obviously born. And you grew up there. There’s got to be some mistake. Maybe a spelling error or something. Maybe they put dad under G, you know, like G-E-O-F-F Geoffrey.”

“She looked under the last name. And my mother’s maiden name.” Elizabeth bit her lower lip. “The last time anyone saw my birth certificate, it was when I moved here. Dad was back in the country for a few days or something, and he handled it. Maybe I could call the high school. They’ve got to have it on file, right? I didn’t even graduate that long ago. And if I can see the copy—”

“You can see what Colorado should look for. It’s got to be some kind of weird mistake. Like it got digitized wrong, you know? All of that was on paper back then, and maybe they just did it wrong.”

“I’ll go into the high school on Monday. I just—” Elizabeth sighed, sat in the desk chair. “I just want to get this over with, so I can have my passport. Chloe’s talking about using my ideas in a design, Em! I want to be part of it, and I can’t do that if I can’t travel.”

“Oh, well, then we’ll get it done. Let’s not wait for Monday. Can’t you call your parents?”

“Not really. I haven’t talked to them in—” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “It’s been a while. I have to call their contact at the Doctors Without Borders.”

“Well, do that. And you should call Steven or Sarah. They’re older, right? Especially Steven. Maybe he knows where your dad kept the certificates. If they’re in storage or something, we could get them.   You obviously have a birth certificate. No one gets to your age without one.”

“No, definitely not.” Elizabeth looked at Emily. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask you—what’s up? I thought you were planning to spend the weekend on that paper.”

“I am—but I wanted to talk to you first.” Emily twisted her fingers. “About what happened when Zander kidnapped me. And how I screwed everything up for all of us.”

+31

Written in 60 minutes.

Wednesday, October 17, 2000

Luke’s: Main Bar

It was still a few hours before the club would be in full swing, packed with the dock workers after their shift or corporate types enjoying the happy hour promotions, but Luke still had his hands full, filling in for the bartender who’d no-showed.

“This is the last time I put you in charge of hiring,” he told Claude, snatching up a bottle of vodka to finish off a screw driver. He set it in front of the patron who tossed down some money and slid off the stool, melting into the crowd.

Lucky took the empty spot, folding his arms on the bar. “You must  be desperate if you’re out working the bar,” he told his father.

Luke arched his brow, grabbed a pint glass and filled it with a pale ale, then set it in front of his son. “And you must be looking for something if you’re finally showing up here. I’ve been calling you. So has your mother.”

Lucky’s mouth tightened.  He picked up the beer. “I need some advice.”

Luke looked over at Claude, then the crowd around them. “I can give you maybe ten minutes right now, but if you hold off an hour, Nance will be here to take over. Your choice.”

“I’ll wait.” Lucky took the beer, slid off the stool, and disappeared in the crowd.

Jake’s: Bar

Emily sat across  from her brother, and eyed his burger with some suspicion. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually eat Jake’s food before.”

“I wouldn’t eat the calamari,” Jason told her. He pushed his plate aside slightly, folded his arms, leaning in. “You want something? I can get Jake.”

“No, I ate on campus.” Emily twisted her  fingers in her lap. “Um, you’re not mad that I sent Liz to talk to you, right? You just seem to take  bad news from her so much better, and I figured I could handle Lucky and Nikolas for her—”

“I’d only be angry if you didn’t come to me,” Jason interrupted, and Emily let out a sigh of relief. “I’ve been making some calls, trying to find out how serious this is — if Dara’s playing with you or if we should be worried.”

“And?”

“It’s not likely they’re dismissing the charges,” Jason told her. “Maybe if it were another drug dealer, but it’s a dead cop. They’re looking to get the max. Death penalty,” he added when Emily frowned.

“I didn’t even think New York had that anymore.”

“No one’s been executed since the sixties, but, yeah, Death Row is still a thing. Dara’s counting on a cop killer not getting much public support.”

“So it won’t just be my word against his,” Emily said. “She was lying.”

“Not—” Jason paused, considered his response carefully. “She’s not wrong. Charges are probably going to stand, but a jury’s unpredictable. Maybe they convict, maybe they don’t. The only thing connecting Zander Smith to Ted Wilson is that body in the trunk.” He lifted his brows. “Gia Campbell could link them.”

“She could. But then she’d have to leave me out of it. She saw us both that night,” Emily told him.

“Right. And even if she was willing to leave you out of it, if Zander’s pointing at you guys for the frame job — they’ll ask about you. Or the others. I don’t know that we want to put any of this in Gia’s hands.”

“No, I don’t trust her. Nikolas might, but—” Emily sighed, sat back. “It’s a mess, isn’t it? We created a giant mess that first day, and there’s no way out.”

“It’s a mess,” Jason agreed, and she made a face. “I’m not going to lie to you. We don’t have a lot of options here. We need to stop this from going to trial or even to this hearing she’s talking about. Find a way to make Smith plead guilty or tie him to the whole thing.” He tipped his head. “When we found you, you weren’t so sure he was guilty. But now you are. What changed? Maybe there’s something in there.”

Emily stiffened, fisted her hands in her lap again. “I was stupid before. Okay? He seemed…he seemed lost. Confused. Scared. He told me that…that it wasn’t him that night. That it was someone else who worked for Sorel. That he stopped them from killing me, too.”

Jason sat back in his chair, considered her for a long moment. “He was lying to you.”

“I—” Emily frowned. “I know that. But how do you?”

“Because you don’t kill a cop and leave a witness. Especially a witness like you. They know who you are, Emily. Not just to me. But to the Quartermaines. High profile witness. No. That’s not how it went down.”

“I—I know. I—” Emily stopped. “I don’t remember anything about that night. Not really. But I woke up…without clothes on,” she said, dropping her eyes to the table. “And I wasn’t…nothing—I know nothing happened. I…” Her cheeks heated. “I just know. Trust me.”

He clenched his jaw. “Okay.”

“When we got home, when it was all over, after he’d been arrested, I—I just…I had this dream. This…” Her throat felt tight. “I think I remember someone taking off my clothes. I’d been having those flashes for weeks, but nothing that I could stitch together, and maybe it wasn’t real. Maybe I’m just thinking I remember it, but I think I remember it….being him.” A tear slid down Emily’s cheek, and she swiped at it. “Don’t—don’t tell anyone, okay? It’s…it’s not a big deal. Nothing even happened. But it made me think twice about his story. And now I think he was playing me. I think he wanted me to tell him about what we did. And—it worked.” She finally looked at him again, her eyes swimming. “I told him everything. Because I’m stupid, and I believed him.”

Hardy House: Living Room

“Hey, Gram.” Elizabeth set down the bags she’d brought home from work and crossed the room to greet her grandmother with a kiss on the cheek. “I thought you had plans with Bobbie, or I would have been home sooner.”

“Oh, well, I rescheduled them, darling.” Audrey sat on the sofa, patted the cushion next to her. “I wanted to hear about your day at work, and, well—I thought perhaps we might discuss something Bobbie shared with me when she called earlier.”

Elizabeth slowly lowered herself onto the sofa. “You heard about Kelly’s,” she said. She bit her lip, shook her head. “Silly to think it wouldn’t have gotten around. It happened in front of the whole diner, and now everyone knows, don’t they?”

“I can’t speak for everyone,” Audrey said, “but all I know right now is that you nearly fell down the stairs, and that Lucky seemed to cause the fall.” She reached for Elizabeth’s hand. “I won’t pry, darling, I promise. It’s just…you seemed so upset when you came here on Sunday, and I knew you’d quarreled with Lucky. I didn’t realize how badly it had gone. If you don’t want to speak about it, I’ll respect your wishes. I just…I thought you should know that I know. And that I’m here.”

Her eyes burned, and she looked away, squeezing her eyes closed. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m still not…” Elizabeth looked back at her grandmother. “Lucky and I had an argument on Sunday. About the job. Or it started that way. I was trying to tell him that I thought maybe this could be a way to get back something I lost after the rape, and…” She looked down at their intertwined hands, at her grandmother’s fingers, the wedding ring she still wore more than six years after losing her husband. “Lucky didn’t like me very much before. He liked me better after. He loved me,” she said softly. “And I was so amazed that someone would — no one  had. Not really. And Lucky was the first, I thought, to see me. The real me.”

She looked up towards the ceiling, trying to gather herself, to organize her thoughts. “But it wasn’t me. It was pieces of me, broken into jagged little pieces that I was desperately trying fit back together, you know? I… didn’t want to be around people. I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I wanted to disappear into a crowd.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “That’s who Lucky thought I was. Shy. Quiet. Submissive,” she added softly. “We never argued, because I just assumed he knew best. He’d taken such good care of me, Gram. He knew just what to do that night, even if I didn’t do it. He—he knew to get his aunt. A-and that I needed to feel safe, and that I needed to find out who did it—and he liked being my hero.”

“Oh, my darling.” Audrey touched her cheek, gently swiping away the tears that had continued to fall. “Do you think he doesn’t love you now?”

“I don’t think he knows me,” Elizabeth told her. “Or that he wants to see that I’ve changed. I’m more myself, again, you know? Not…not all the way. I think I’ve learned to be a little less reckless with people’s feelings. But I was so scared all the time, Gram. And now I’m not. Now I give into impulse, like agreeing to Chloe’s job when she asked me. A-and I spent all afternoon talking about fabric and materials and clothing, and it was so much fun. There were people everywhere, and it was crowded, and I didn’t feel scared, not even a little. This is the first time since that night that I’ve been on my own. Really on my own. And I love it.”

“I can tell. Your whole face lights up when you talk about it.” Audrey tipped her head. “What happened on Monday?” she asked gently.

“I just wanted to get away, to give us some more time, I needed more time. I packed my  things, and he was arguing with me the whole time, trying to stop me. A-and then when I was trying to go down the steps — he grabbed the strap of my bag. I lost my balance.” Elizabeth sighed. “I would have fallen all the way down, but Jason and Emily were at the diner, and they’d heard the yelling. They were already at the bottom of the stairs, and Jason—he caught me.”

“Well, then I suppose I owe Jason a thank you for his quick reflexes,” Audrey said, and Elizabeth laughed. “What?”

“That must have hurt to admit.”

“I can acknowledge when Jason’s done something useful,” Audrey said with a sniff, then smiled. “That doesn’t sound so bad. Bobbie’s description made me worried you were hiding broken bones or something.”

“I…was shaken up,” Elizabeth admitted, and Audrey’s smile faded slightly. “I know Lucky didn’t mean to hurt me. But he grabbed my bag to stop me. He didn’t care that I was on the steps, or that I told him—I told him no,” she said softly. “And he didn’t care, Gram. He didn’t care. He doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong. Or if he does, he doesn’t think it’s so terrible. But it is, Gram. How can I be with someone who only saw value in me after I’d been broken into pieces?”

Luke’s: Office

“Are you here about that business at Kelly’s the other day?” Luke asked, closing the office door behind him. Lucky turned at the desk, faced his father and scowled. “Because I didn’t think I’d have to tell you about putting your hands on a woman—”

“I’m not sure you have the right to tell me anything about treating a woman right,” Lucky said caustically. “I can handle my relationship, Dad. Elizabeth—she’s taking this job, and it’s fine. She wants it, whatever. I can support that. And I know how to fix it. She needs to see that she still needs me, that I can still be the guy she fell in love with.”

Luke folded his arms. “If you got all the answers, what do you need me for?”

“I said I know how to fix it, but what I mean is, I know what has to be done. I just…” Lucky shrugged. “I don’t know how to do it. But if I can make all this go away, if I can just save us all, I just know Elizabeth will forgive me.”

“Make all what go away?” Luke demanded. “What kind of trouble are you in?”

“That guy who kidnapped Emily? Zander Smith?” Lucky said. “I didn’t tell you the whole story. But he’s trying to say we put the dead cop in his trunk—and we did. Because  Zander killed him and left in a bed next to Emily, after he drugged her. We all tried to cover it, but it’s gone wrong. I messed it up, and now we’re all screwed. Unless I can make this go away.”

“You—” Luke exhaled slowly. “You played hide and seek with the body of a dead cop. Okay. I need a drink. Or ten. Then we’ll talk about how the hell to fix this.”

+31

Written in 54 minutes.

Tuesday, October 16, 2000

Jake’s: Second Floor Hallway

Elizabeth’s fist hovered over the door, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to knock. Doubt mixed with wave of shame and embarrassment rolled through — this would be the first time she’d spoke to Jason since that awful scene in Kelly’s, and while she didn’t think Jason would force her to talk about it, it might be harder to push it aside.

She wasn’t very good at pretending around Jason.

Before she could make up her mind, the door was jerked open with an irritated Jason on the other side. “What are you waiting for—” He stopped, his expression immediately softening. “Oh. I didn’t know it was you. I could—” He paused. “I could see someone standing on the other side, not doing anything.”

Her cheeks heated, and Elizabeth folded her arms, her hands still balled into fists. “It’s fine. I—I wasn’t sure if you’d even be here. I saw your bike, but—I just—I didn’t know.”

“Do you—” He stepped back, gestured awkwardly towards the interior. “You can come in. Unless you need to go somewhere—”

“No, I can—I can—unless you have to—” She closed her eyes, let out an irritated huff. “This is so stupid. And awkward. For no good reason. You’re probably not sure what to say to me since I fell apart yesterday, and I’m freaking out because you saw me fall apart, and now I can barely look at you because I’m just trying to forget it—” She stopped, forced herself to look at him, her irritation ratcheting up when she saw the amusement in his eyes. “You’re laughing at me.”

“Not at you. At—you’re right,” he admitted. “I’m worried about you, but I don’t want to push. Especially if you don’t want to talk about it.” Jason tilted his head. “But you came here anyway, so whatever it is, it seems important.”

Relief spread so quickly that she nearly felt dizzy from the switch. Of course he understood. Jason always understood. “It is. Important, I mean.”

“Then come on in.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Emily swung her bag on the table, and sat across from Lucky and Nikolas. She’d called Nikolas to set up the meeting and had deliberately waited into the courtyard until she’d seen them both sitting at a table.

She wasn’t about to let herself be alone with Lucky — not with her anger still so close to the surface. Elizabeth had made it clear that she wasn’t ready to deal with it, and it wasn’t Emily’s place to force the issue.

“Em, I’m so glad you called—” Lucky began, leaning forward. “I need to talk to you, to make you understand—”

“This isn’t about yesterday,” Emily interrupted. “We’re not discussing it,” she continued when Lucky scowled. “And if you can’t respect that I don’t want to talk to you about it, then I’ll leave and tell Nikolas later. I’ll cut you out of this conversation entirely, Lucky.”

His expression soured and he leaned back, slouching in his chair. “Guess I’ve been convicted and sentenced to life already. You’re not even giving me—wait, wait—” He held out his hand when Emily shot to her feet. “Okay. Fine. I’ll accept your terms. On the condition that you’ll eventually hear me out. You’re my friend, too,” he reminded her.

Emily slowly lowered herself back into the chair, keeping her gaze steady on Lucky’s. “I don’t need to hear you out, Lucky. I know what I saw, and I don’t care about why. I just don’t. This isn’t a situation where I can stay neutral. Maybe Nikolas can. He wasn’t here. But I was. And I saw it. Push me again on this before I’m ready, Lucky, and I’m going to walk out that door and it’s the last you’ll hear from me.”

“Lucky agrees,” Nikolas said, before his brother could say another word. Lucky shot him a dirty look. “What’s going on? You said on the phone it was important. You were supposed to meet with Dara this morning. Is it—did it go badly or something?”

“You could say that.”

Jake’s: Jason’s Room

Jason rubbed the back of his neck, wincing as Elizabeth described the meeting Emily had had with Dara that morning. He wasn’t a man to look back or point out mistakes, particularly when the person knew they’d hadn’t handled a situation well. And he knew that Elizabeth and Emily had their own regrets how they’d handled finding Ted Wilson dead in a bed beside Emily that summer.

Elizabeth stood in front of him, twisting her fingers together, her expression pained, her eyes looking everywhere but at him. “Emily and I decided the best way to handle this is…to not handle it ourselves. Or at least not by ourselves. She’s telling Nikolas and Lucky because…well, it’s obvious. And I volunteered to tell you because she already feels stupid enough about this.”

“I wish you’d keep them out of it,” Jason muttered before he could stop himself, but he felt better when Elizabeth finally met his gaze and the corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile. “I know why you’re telling them but the last thing any of us need is them going off and handling it on their own.”

“Emily and I are hoping we can stop them because we’re telling you right away. And Emily’s making it clear to them if they do something without the agreement of all of us, she’ll never forgive them. We have to tell them — they’re in just as much trouble as Emily and I—and you might not care about that—”

“I don’t, and neither should you.” Jason folded his arms. “You both wanted to go for more help. You both recognized this was bigger than both of you, and you let yourselves be talked into making it worse—”

Elizabeth made a face. “Okay, well, listen, don’t let us off the hook, okay? Yes, in hindsight, our plan was horrible. But in the moment, it felt right. And I didn’t just go along with it, Jason. I agreed—because I didn’t know any better. Don’t treat me and Emily like we’re dumb girls, okay? We both went in, head first—”

“Okay, then all four of you are brainless,” Jason said, and she huffed, looked away. “You’re right, you didn’t know any better, and now Emily’s facing perjury if she gets on that stand and tells a lie. A provable lie. Didn’t Taggert’s sister know what was going on? She could flip on you.” When Elizabeth opened her mouth. “And don’t tell me that you have information on her.  A cop’s murder is more important than extortion. Emily is the bigger target. Especially if they think they can get to me. How sure are you that Gia Campbell is going to keep her mouth shut?”

Elizabeth folded her arms again, arched a brow. “How long have you been holding that in?”

“What?”

“I knew you were irritated with us, I guess I just didn’t realize how much. And, okay, you’re right. On every level. We were brainless. Immature. And stupid. But in my defense, it was my first dead body,” she retorted. “And we screwed up. And this is why Emily was so eager to let me fill you in. Because she didn’t want you to be disappointed in her again.”

Jason scowled. “Don’t do that. Don’t come for me for help, and then get pissed at me because I’m pointing out the biggest problem in any plan we come up with. Gia Campbell is a problem. She knows the truth. Her brother’s a cop. Her loyalty is not to you. Or to Emily.”

Elizabeth sighed, some of the frustration fading. “I know. You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry.” She sat on the edge of the bed, looked at her hands. “I know we screwed this up. And I get that we probably screwed it up so bad it can’t be fixed. I just—Emily was in trouble. We wanted to make it go away.”

“I know.” Jason sat next to her, and was relieved when she twisted to face him. “I know. When Emily needs you, you’ve got her back. I just…don’t know how we get out of any of it,” he told her. “Zander Smith is telling the truth when he says you put the body in his trunk. And the only person who links Zander to that cop is Gia Campbell. She saw him with the drugs, she saw him with the cop the night he went missing—”

“But she also saw him with Emily,” Elizabeth finished, “and if she leaves that out—she’s committing perjury, too. And has no reason to protect any of us unless Nikolas pays her off.” She paused. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter what any of us do. We can’t control her. And if she decided to go tell the truth and wash her hands of this entire nightmare, I wouldn’t even blame her.”

She met his gaze. “I’m sorry. I know I’m dropping an even bigger mess in your hands than it would have been even a month ago. I take accountability for letting Lucky and Nikolas convince us that it would be better to leave you out of it. They made us feel like we were protecting you. The last thing you need is to be associated with a dead cop.”

He reached for her hand. “I can handle it. I don’t have a reputation to protect, but you and Emily — you do. And I’m going to do whatever I have to so that this doesn’t ruin that. I promise. Give me a day or two to find out how serious this is — Dara might have been trying to scare Emily into saying something against me.”

“That’s true.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand, then released it and got to her feet. “Maybe it’s all a bluff. That would be the best option.”

Jason rose. “Do you have a ride home or—”

“Oh, Emily dropped me after dinner. She was going to pick me up after and take me back to my car at Charlie’s.”

“I can do that,” he offered.

Elizabeth brightened. “On the bike? We could take the long way.”

Jason grinned, then reached for the door. “Yeah, we can.”

+32

Written in 60 minutes.

Tuesday, October 16, 2000

Luke’s: Bar

Jason lifted the bottle to his mouth. “It’s exactly what I said,” he told Luke, then took a long pull from the bottle before setting it back on the bar. “We need to talk about something else—”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll get to all that.” Luke came around the bar properly, leaned down to grab a shot glass and a bottle from behind them. “Is Liz okay?”

Because Jason read the question as sincere, he answered. “As far as I know. But I haven’t seen her since she left the diner. You’ll have to take it up with her or Lucky if you want more—”

“I just don’t get it,” Luke muttered. He tossed back the alcohol, wincing slightly at the burn of the alcohol. “This isn’t him. This isn’t who he is. He doesn’t put his hands on women. He’s not—” He stared at the bottom of the empty shot glass. “He’s not that guy.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “I don’t think he intended for her to fall or lose her balance,” he said carefully, because it was true and a fair statement even it was physically painful to give the bastard any benefit of the doubt. “But she was trying to get away from him. I don’t know why.  If you want to know what happened before that—”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll—I’ll have to deal with it.” Luke made a face, rolled his shoulders. “Okay, talk to me. Why are you here?”

Charlie’s Pub: Dining Room

“You know, this place isn’t that bad.” Emily picked up the menu, flipped it open. “I always forget it’s here.” She looked across the table at Elizabeth, who was staring at the menu with more concentration than was required. “I guess we’re not going to back to Kelly’s for a while.”

“Or ever,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. She set the menu down, dragged a hand through her hair. “Tammy and I had some words after I gave my two week notice, so I wouldn’t trust any food I got anyway.”

“Oh. Well, that’s…” Emily blew out a rush of air. “I never liked her anyway.” She folded her arms on the table, leaned in. “How was the first day? Did you just love it?”

The waitress arrived, and they put in the orders. When she’d left, Elizabeth  unwrapped a straw, slid it in her water. “I did actually. I didn’t know if the assistant I’m replacing temporarily would be nice or not, but I liked her. I got to sit in on a fabric purchase meeting which sounds really boring, but you know, it wasn’t? They were debating chiffon or silk, and cotton blends—” She bit her lip, a h int of sparkle coming to her eyes. “I see your eyes glazing over. Anyway, it was a good day. It was exactly what I needed.”

“Good. I’m glad you took the job, that you started it, all of it.”

“Me, too. Hey, didn’t you have to meet with Dara today? How’d that go?”

Emily wrinkled her nose, then sighed. “I guess I can’t really avoid it, because we definitely have to talk about it. I don’t know what we expected, but Zander Smith is telling everyone we put the body in the trunk to frame him.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, set her water on the table very carefully. “What did Dara think about that?”

“She doesn’t seem to believe it,” Emily answered, “but she’s worried they’ll throw out the murder charge, and then it comes down to just the kidnapping. I have to testify at a hearing. I’m…concerned,” she added, “because you know….there’s perjury and everything.”

Elizabeth leaned in, lowered her voice. “You think he…has something to support his side of it?”

“I don’t know how, but what…what if he tells people that, and then someone from the motel—” Emily fisted her hands in her lap. “I’m just afraid, Liz. I wanted it to all be over, you know? I was so stupid. From start to finish—it was my idea to go to that stupid rave, I got upset—”

“Because Juan’s a dirtbag—” Elizabeth shook her head. “Em, we’re in this together. Because we’ve taken every step together. Going to that rave. Everything that followed. We all agreed. Even if it turns out the plan was insane and never going to work.”

“I know, I just—” Emily chewed on her bottom lip. “It just all seems so impossible. A week ago, I was home, and it seemed like it was over. And we were all happy, planning the next chapter. Now…it’s all back on the table, and it feels like we’re all so far apart—and I’m not blaming you—” she hurried to add when Elizabeth looked away, out the window of the pub. “Liz, I’m not—”

“I know. But there’s a reason you’re telling me one-on-one, isn’t there?” she asked Emily. “Because right now, it’s not like I can be in a room with Lucky. Or want to be.”

“The reason is you’re my best friend, and you’re the one I want to go to when I have a problem,” Emily said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this mess is that loyalty should only go so far. I let Lucky run the show this summer because I thought he needed to. And because I’d always been able to rely on him. I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying or why. I just wanted it all to go away, and Lucky made me believe it could. He was my first friend here. He stuck with me when a lot of people didn’t. And he didn’t even blink when all that stuff with the photos started, you know? He just dove in to help. He was my first friend,” Emily repeated, “and I thought that had to count for something.”

“I know—”

“But he didn’t listen. And he couldn’t admit that he didn’t have all the answers. The second my brother came home, I should have ran to him. I should have asked Sonny for help. I didn’t—”

“Neither did I. We all agreed, Em,” Elizabeth repeated. “This isn’t just on you. I agreed to the plan. Because…you’re right. Lucky needed to. He was almost…” She paused. “There were flashes of who he used to be, and I kept clinging to them. Kept thinking if I just stayed on his side, kept following his lead, he’d come back to me.” Her voice faltered, and she swallowed hard. “And then he did. And for a magical few days, you’re right. It was like the sun was shining again, and we were all going to be happy.”

She swiped at an errant tear that escaped, then looked at Emily. “But it wasn’t real. It was always just a dream.”

Emily reached across the table, squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. “We’re going to get through this, Liz. You and me. You’re my best friend, and I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Elizabeth cleared her throat, sipped her water. “Okay. So what do we do? How do we fix this?”

Kelly’s Diner: Lucky’s Room

Lucky grimaced when he opened his door to find his brother on the other side. “You here to yell at me, too?”

Nikolas lifted his brows. “That depends on what you did. Mom called me,” he added, “and it was all I could to do convince her that confronting you was the last thing that would work, that she should let me handle it.” He gestured past Lucky. “Are you going to let me in, or—”

Lucky rolled his eyes, but stepped back. “Thanks. For getting her back off.”

“It’s temporary,” Nikolas warned him. He swept his eyes over the room, then came back to look at Lucky. “You look like hell.”

Suddenly very aware of the fact that he hadn’t showered or changed in the last two days, Lucky scowled. He crossed to his dresser, yanked out jeans and a shirt, then went into the tiny bathroom that could barely fit the shower stall, sink, and toilet. He switched on the hot water. “Look, if you want to tell me I’m an asshole, it’ll have to wait.”

He closed the door, shed his clothes, then got in the shower. A moment later, he felt some of the steam dissipate and realized the door had opened. “Dude.”

“Dude,” Nikolas repeated in a mocking tone. “You’re not getting out this that easy. Everyone’s saying you shoved Elizabeth down the stairs. I called Emily last night, and she said she’s not really sure what happened — but that Elizabeth almost fell because you grabbed her. Do I at least have that part straight?”

Lucky squeezed shampoo in his hair, scrubbed it into his hair. “It was an accident.”

“I’m sure it was.”

Lucky peeled back the curtain slightly, glaring at his brother leaning in the doorframe. “Don’t say it that way. It was.”

“Then how did you accidentally grab her? And why?”

Lucky put his head back under the spray, letting the scalding water rinse the suds, the steam almost painful. “We had a fight,” but this came out on a mutter that couldn’t have been heard, and Lucky knew it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his brother.

It wasn’t enough for what he’d done.”

He put his hand out of the stall. “Give me the towel and get out to let me get dressed.”

When he emerged from the bathroom, clean and in fresh clothes, hair hair laying damp at his temples, Nikolas was waiting for him, standing at the windows that looked over the parking lot.

“It’s like standing outside of myself,” Lucky told him. “I can tell you what happened. I can tell you the facts, but I can’t—” He shook his head, grimaced again. “I can’t tell you why. Because I don’t understand it. I—she was packing her things.”

“Emily said Elizabeth’s starting a job with Chloe.” Nikolas tipped his head to the side. “It’s an amazing opportunity for her. I think we can both agree that she’s outgrown being a waitress, and it’s a way to put her skills and artistic eye to good use.”

“I—” Lucky sat on the edge of the bed. “She told me about it,” he said, “and I…told her not to do it. I guess. Not in those words exactly,” he added, “but I told her we just got back together, and she was gonna take this job where she’d be travel and working long hours—”

“And not living next door or working downstairs,” Nikolas finished. He folded his arms. “Not accessible to you at all hours.”

“That’s—” True. And awful. “Yes.” Lucky looked at his brother. “And maybe we would have been able to get past that, because I was an asshole, and I can admit it. But it took this turn, and I don’t know how we got there, but we did—”

He looked down at the floor, stared hard at the thin carpet. “She told me she wanted to take this job because she used to like fashion. Was really into clothing and all that. Before. She lost that. And she wanted it back.” He exhaled slowly. “She wanted it back,” he repeated.

Nikolas frowned. “Not really seeing the problem—”

Lucky lifted his gaze back to his brother. “She said something about me not knowing about that, about not really knowing her before. She’s right. I didn’t. I knew she hated her sister. I knew she was a brat and selfish. But that’s it. She was reckless, and impulsive, and it blew up in her face all the time.” He raked a hand through his damp hair. “I said something stupid about there not being anything worth knowing, and yeah,” he said, gesturing at Nikolas. “That’s basically the way my dad looked when I told him that.”

“You’re a fucking moron.”

“She just took it too far, and all the wrong way, okay? I just meant that she was immature before—”

“And she’s mature now?” Nikolas demanded. “So, what, she needed to be raped so she’d mature enough for you?”

“Don’t—don’t act like that’s what I’m saying. I’m not,” Lucky retorted, lunging to his feet. “I’m not saying I love because she was raped. That’s disgusting. I’m not like that. But it changed her, okay? And I’m not going to pretend it didn’t. Because she’s not like that anymore. She’s kind, and generous. And compassionate—”

“And she might have been all those things before that night, Lucky, but neither of us took the time to get to know her, did we? We just saw her through Sarah’s eyes,” Nikolas retorted. “Not taking the time to get to know her is one thing, and admitting that is fair. But telling her that she’s only worth knowing because she got raped?”

“It’s not what I said—”

“But it’s how it sounds. And it sounds that way to everyone but you, Lucky, so maybe you should think about that.” Nikolas scowled, shook his head. “So you tell her this colossally stupid thing, and she decides to break up with you, packs her things, and she’s leaving, and you grab her to stop—”

“I grabbed her bag,” Lucky interrupted.

“That was attached to her body,” Nikolas shot back. “You moron.”

“Look, I get that — it was an accident! I’d never hurt Elizabeth! Stop acting like I’m some kind of abusive asshole. That’s not me. I’m not my father.” Lucky swallowed. “I’m not my father. I won’t be. So I have to find a way to fix this. And I will. Fix this. You have to help me fix this.” When Nikolas just looked skeptical, Lucky forced himself to say it again. “Please.”

Nikolas rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ll see if we can make this better, but fixing it? You better hope Elizabeth is a lot more kind and generous than I would be.”

“She is. You’ll see. I’ll make this up to her, and it’ll all be like it was before. You’ll see.”

+32