Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

“Why can’t I be in the room?” Elizabeth demanded. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Chase. Now that she knew she hadn’t murdered Franco, that someone was setting her up, there was no way in hell she was going to let the PCPD push her around.

And she was absolutely going to be in the room when Chase questioned Cameron.

Chase sent Diane a pained look. “Ms. Miller, I agreed not to take Cameron down the station without talking to him first, but—”

“But what?” Elizabeth said, cutting off Diane’s answer earning her an irritated glare from her lawyer. “I am his mother. He is sixteen years old—”

“For the purposes of this warrent, Ms. Webber,” Chase said, “he’s an adult—”

“Mom,” Cameron murmured. He touched her elbow. “I’m okay. Diane’s here—”

“Diane doesn’t work for you,” Elizabeth told her. She turned her back on both Diane and Chase, her tone slightly pleading. “She works for Jason. Not us—”

“Gee, thanks—”

“I appreciate you coming down in the middle of the night, Diane, and taking care of things,” Elizabeth said flatly. “But I’m not paying for your legal services, am I? You’re here on retainer from Jason and Sonny. And their family.”

At those words, Diane’s mouth tightened as she took the hit. Diane might want to let bygones be bygones, but Elizabeth would never forget the way she’d been treated after her lie about Jake Doe had been revealed.

Diane had taken sides.

“Ms. Webber—”

Jason pushed open the door, relief crossing his expression when he saw them still there—then he sensed the tension in the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Elizabeth isn’t convinced I am working for her and her family,” Diane told him. “And she isn’t willing to let Cameron be questioned here, outside of an interrogation room—” This she said to Elizabeth slowly as if she was an idiot, “—without her present—”

“She’s his mother.” Jason squinted at Chase. “And if you’re here to arrest Cameron, then you must not consider Elizabeth a suspect. So why can’t she stay?”

Chase hesitated, then grimaced.

Surprised by Jason’s defense and that he wasn’t angry that she was questioning Diane’s loyalty, Elizabeth turned to the cop. “Did you get an arrest warrant for my son to force him into questioning?” she demanded in almost a hissed tone. “Because you know you can’t force him—”

“An arrest warrant is much easier and faster than a material witness order,” Diane said with nod. “That’s a very good question, Elizabeth. Detective Chase, maybe you can illuminate us on the evidence.” She reached out her hand. “I’d like to examine that warrant.”

Chase shoved it at her. “It wasn’t my idea, okay?” he said, his irritation on full display. “I wanted to reach out, but my commissioner and the DA—”

“The DA who railroaded Carly into Ferncliffe with the testimony of a known liar?” Elizabeth demanded. “She sent you here?”

“I’m just doing my job,” Chase said, exasperated. “And you already confessed,” he said to Elizabeth. “So let your kid tell his side, and this can be over—”

Diane pursed her lips. “I’ll have this arrest warrant squashed in five minutes in front of a judge. So you know what? You go back to the PCPD and tell them Cameron will surrender himself at three. He’s not a flight risk—”

“Oh, no? Then where was he last night and why didn’t his mother—his only biological relative—not know where he was?” Chase shot back.

“You never asked me where Cameron was,” Jason said quietly. All of them turned to look at him. “I didn’t know where Jake was. I didn’t know he was with his brothers. But I knew where Cameron was.”

“You—” Chase swallowed as Elizabeth and Cameron both stared at him in confusion. “What? When? And what do you mean I never asked—I made it clear—” He stopped. “You know what? No. I’m not doing this.” He turned to Cameron. “If you don’t answer questions now, kid, I’m taking you to the PCPD—”

“Not on this evidence you won’t,” Diane snarled. She yanked out her cell phone and started to dial. “I’ll have an injunction ordered before you can even get down to the car.” She pressed it to her ear. “Using coercion on an innocent teenage child to testify against his mother—oh, the press is going to love this. I’ll be on the phone with the Sun after this—”

“Fine. I’ll tell the station you’ll surrender at three,” Chase said to Cameron, obviously over the entire situation and not entirely sure he’d be able to put Cameron in cuffs without injury. “This wasn’t my choice,” he repeated as he stood in the doorway.

“No, but you sure as hell didn’t say no.” Elizabeth stalked over to the door and slammed the door shut—almost shoving the cop out. She dragged her hands through her hair and looked at Cameron. “If Diane can’t get an injunction filed, you don’t say a word. They’ll twist whatever you say—”

“Oh, so now I’m trust worthy?” Diane said with a roll of her eyes. She held up a finger and walked out of the room. “Judge Worth! Have I got a bone to pick with you—”

She disappeared down the hall while Elizabeth took a deep breath, looked at Jason. “Jake and Aiden are with Laura. I didn’t think you’d mind, but if you want Jake to stay here—”

“No, that’s fine—” Jason looked at Cameron. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Um, yeah.” Cameron sat on the couch. “Mom, I think Diane is okay—”

“If this is about what we talked about—Diane doesn’t work for anyone except me and Sonny,” Jason told Elizabeth. “So it’s not Diane you don’t trust. It’s us.”

“Mom?” Cameron frowned. “I thought—I thought you said we could trust Jason. What happened? What’s going on?”

When Elizabeth bit her lip and might not have said anything, Jason took the decision from her. “Your mom trusted me before we realized the most likely suspect is Sam. And she thinks I’ll throw you to the wolves to protect her.”

“Mom?” Cameron looked at his mother. “What’s going on?”

“It’s not that simple,” she said softly. “I just—I think we’d be better off if I got a lawyer that worked for us. I appreciate everything you’ve done, Jason—”

“No.” Cameron swallowed hard. “No, this isn’t fair, Mom—”

“Your mom has her reasons not to trust me where Sam is concerned,” Jason said quietly. He looked at Elizabeth. “And I can’t fix that in the next hour. Just—let Diane get the warrant squashed, and we’ll figure the rest of it out then. Okay?”

Feeling like the villain and not happy about it, Elizabeth threw up her hands. “Fine. It’s only my life and kids, so why not ignore me completely?” She stalked away, and a moment later, Jake’s bedroom door slammed shut.

Cameron looked at Jason, suddenly more guarded than before. “Why doesn’t my mom trust you now? What did you do to her?”

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