Written in 65 minutes.

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Friday, September 6, 2024

Webber House: Living Room

“Arrested?”

“For what?”

Jake and Aiden spoke at the same time, still just inside the house, the door lightly swinging back and forth from the force of their entry. Jake’s eyes kept scanning the house, growing more and more grim with every sweep.

“I don’t know yet exactly,” Jason said, hesitantly. “I only know what Diane told me. They found a gun in the trunk of your mother’s car.”

Aiden absorbed that information like a body blow, flinching and swallowing hard. He looked towards his older brother. “They took her car, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. And destroyed the damn house—” Jake touched the door. “Diane’s going to get Mom out, isn’t she?”

“You know as much as I do now,” Jason said, folding his arms. “And we need to do exactly what Diane says. She’s been with me for as long as you’ve been alive, Jake. I trust her with my life.” He paused. “With your mother’s life.”

“So we’re just supposed to sit here and wait? No! Mom didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t even need to know what the charges are, I know they’re bullshit—” Jake turned but Jason came forward, snagging his elbow. Jake shook him off, but didn’t make another break for the door. “Maybe you can sit here and do nothing, maybe that’s easy for you—”

“Jake—” Aiden tugged at his brother’s sleeve.

“It’s okay.” Jason extended his hand, reassuring Elizabeth’s youngest son before looking at Jake. “You’re angry, and I don’t blame you. When I got here, and I saw—” He looked around, his jaw clenching at the baskets again— “Believe me, I want to do damage, too. I want to do something. None of this is easy, Jake. But this isn’t about us. Or our anger.”

Some of the fight went out of Jake, and as his cheeks lost that flush of anger, he looked younger, more scared. “It’s about Mom.”

“Exactly. Diane reminded me that we’re not dealing with the PCPD. Cops that know you, know your Mom, who worked with your dad,” he added to Aiden. “Who know Laura and respect her. We’re dealing with the FBI, and every step we take from here has to be deliberate, and it has to be the right one. The only goal right now is to get your mother home.”

Jake nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. “So what did Diane say to do?”

“She’ll do whatever she can to get your mom out tonight. So until we hear from her, we just—we wait. We—” He stopped, pulled out the cell phone, saw the name on the screen. “We take phone calls from people who have heard the news. And—”

“And we clean this place up,” Aiden said. “Because Mom will be pissed if she sees it like that.”

“That’s what we’ll do. Let me take this—” Jason answered the phone, his tone already beleaguered. “Carly — no, it’s under control, listen—”

He turned away to take the call, and Aiden pulled at Jake’s arm. “Hey, uh, what do we do about Cam? If he hears about this, you know he’ll be on the first flight home, and Mom will be so mad if he misses classes because of this.”

“I’ll text all the friends still in PC, let them know not to say anything right away,” Jake said, pulling out his phone. “But if Diane can’t get Mom home, then I’m not sure we can keep him away.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Diane closed the door to the interrogation room, fixed her face in her most bland expression, then sauntered across the room where Caldwell was waiting. “Well, Agent? My client would like to get home before dinner.”

“She’s in for a rude awakening.” Caldwell handed her a folder. “The charging document my USADA intends to file. Your client isn’t going anywhere tonight.”

Diane pursed her lips, flipped through the folder. “The judge will kick this on Monday, you and I both know it. You don’t have anything more than simple possession, and—” She’d been skimming the charging paper, then lifted her brows. “And I’m sorry, ballistics is expected to take several weeks, if not more? That doesn’t bode well for you, my friend.”

“Don’t get cute, Miller. The slugs they pulled from Cates are damaged, but not destroyed. We’ve got the best techs in the world. We’ll match it to the gun and when we get the serial number raised—”

“Oh, and you can’t even tie this gun to my client beyond finding it in her car on the basis of some anonymous tip?” Diane smirked. “This just keeps getting better.”

“If it helps you sleep at night to think so. Do you want to tell your client she’s about to be booked for murder or do you want me to do it?”

Diane’s smirk dipped into a scowl. “You’ve got the wrong person and you damn well know it. She’s alibied for the time of the crime, Eddie—”

“Alibied by a guy with his own murder under his belt who’s had ties to the mob his whole life? Sure. Let’s call that an alibi. Have a great weekend, Diane.”

Diane clenched the folder tightly, then turned to head into the interrogation room to deliver the bad news.

Quartermaine Estate: Gatehouse Kitchen

Michael hitched Amelia on his hip, leaning to one side to reach for the door, only to find Willow pulling it open on the other side. “Hey. Good timing.”

“I saw you pull up out back here. Hey, baby girl.” Willow lifted their daughter in her arms, rubbed her nose against Amelia’s. “Did you have fun at daycare?”

When she’d satisfied herself with Amelia kisses and cuddles, she turned her attention back to Michael. “Have you talked to your uncle today?”

“Which one?” Michael asked, tugging at his tie and heading for the fridge. “If Drew wants another political function—”

“No, Jason. I just came down from the house. Elizabeth was arrested today. A few hours ago,” she continued as Michael slammed the fridge shut and turned her, stunned.

“Arrested for what?”

“No one’s really sure. They’re freaking out up there, of course. Drew went to find his campaign manager, Brook Lyn is trying to get information from Chase, but it’s—it’s the FBI. It has to be connected with Agent Cates, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, yeah, I do.” Michael grimaced, took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m going to call Jason now. If he’s not at the PCPD, he’s probably at Elizabeth’s with the boys. Or I hope he is. Someone needs to be there when they get home.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to start over there, make calls. Can you do me a favor? Run interference up at the house? Keep them from making anything worse.”

“It’s nice that you think I’m capable of miracles,” Willow said dryly, and was rewarded with a half smile from her husband. “Michael, whatever’s going on, Diane will figure it out. Jason and Elizabeth have alibis. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You and I both know that doesn’t mean anything,” he said, brushing his lips against her forehead. “I’ll call you when I know something.”

Pozzulo’s Restaurant: Office

Sonny leaned back in his chair, exhaled on a low irritated sigh. “What do we have?”

Seated across from him, Brick made a face. “Not much. The FBI is keeping this close to their vest, but my guy was able to get copies of the preliminary autopsy and ballistics report. Before today, they’d identified the bullet as a SIG-branded 115-grain V-Crown hollow point bullet, though there’s some wiggle room in there for a defense attorney to play with since all the slugs pulled from Cates were damaged. That let them narrow it down to a group of guns.”

He got to his feet. “And what we know right now is that they found a gun in Elizabeth’s trunk. The SIG Sauer P365, which is consistent with the ammunition. They also found that brand of ammunition in the gun.”

Sonny scowled. “Sloppy to leave ammo in the gun,” he muttered. “Not an experienced shooter.”

“Which rules out Jason. Even if we hadn’t already,” Brick added when Sonny shot him a dark glare. “Putting aside the character of the man and if he’d hide a weapon in his babymama’s trunk in the first place — Jason’s not going to the trouble of using a gun with the serial number filed down and leaving the ammo in the chamber.”

“No, he’s not.” Sonny let the information shift around in his head, fitting pieces together. “Can they hold her?”

“Tonight? Yeah. To be assholes. Does it get kicked at the first hearing? Without ballistics matching it more firmly, it’s tough to miss Elizabeth having an alibi — an alibi who called in the crime. But if they’re filing tonight, Sonny—” Brick rested his hands on the back of the chair. “That means they want to hold over the weekend. I can think of only a few reasons they charge a case with evidence this flimsy.”

“They want to see if they can get Elizabeth to flip on whoever gave her the gun. Or to scare her into doing something stupid when she gets out — Jason,” Sonny added. “Something that gives them more evidence.” He shook his head. “It smells rotten, Brick. From the top to the bottom. Someone planted that gun.”

“Without a doubt. I’ll keep my guy on it, see what else we can get. Let me know if you turn up anything on your own end.”

Sonny walked Brick to the front door, then returned to the office, troubled by something in what Brick had laid out. He went over the facts in his head again — the gun, the ammunition, what they’d need to put the gun in Elizabeth’s hands—

“No serial number,” he murmured. Who would go to the trouble of filing down the serial number if they didn’t know enough to destroy the gun after using it?

He looked over at the wall, behind the painting where his own safe was hidden. Without much thought as to why, Sonny took down the picture, spun the dial, and looked inside.

Two handguns, a few stacks of cash, some identification documents —

There should have been three guns.

Sonny stared at the space where he knew he’d last seen his own P365, then closed the safe, replaced the picture.

Then went to pour himself a drink.

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam paced the length of the living room, rushing to Dante when he came in. “What’s going?” she demanded. “My mother just called me before Danny could hear it about — Elizabeth was arrested? For what?”

Dante’s mouth was grim, and he closed the door. He set his badge on the desk, removed his gun from his holster, checked the safety, then stowed it in the lock box on the top shelf in the closet.

“Dante—”

“She was arrested for John Cates’ murder,” Dante said, turning back to Sam whose eyes were wide. “They found a gun and ammunition consistent with the one used in the crime in the trunk of her car. It’s enough to hold her over the weekend.”

Sam’s lips parted, and she looked to the stairs, then to Dante again. “That’s…that’s crazy. I mean, I know I’ve said a lot of things about her—”

“Don’t remind me.”

“—but she didn’t do this. She wouldn’t have. She’s not that stupid. How the hell did the gun get in her car?”

“The question of the day.” Dante sat on the arm of the sofa. “Someone wants to make damn sure that gun was found. They called in a tip this morning, and the FBI snapped it right up. Gun was exactly where they expected it to be. Diane’s handling it—but I can’t—” Dante paused. “I don’t understand any of this. If it’s the murder weapon, how the hell does it get in her car?”

Sam didn’t say anything right away, then—reluctantly—asked, “The kids? I mean, Danny—we have to tell him. But—her boys must be scared.”

“I caught Diane as she was getting ready to leave, after Elizabeth was booked. Jason’s at the house with them. As for Danny — maybe we give him back his phone so he can talk to his brother.” Dante lifted his brows. “Jake’s gonna need support if this goes south on them.”

“Yeah, I remember how scared Danny and Scout were when I—I mean, they were younger. But I don’t think that kind of thing gets easier.” Sam pressed her lips together. “This all goes back to Jason. Whoever’s doing this is trying to get to him.”

“Probably, sure.” Dante tipped his head. “Does that matter?”

“Only that I was right to keep Danny away from him. This kind of thing just…goes wherever Jason does. I’ll let Danny have his phone back, but I want to check it every night.”

“Sam—” Dante called, but she didn’t want to hear his opinion on that idea. He shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not going to go well.”

Webber House: Living Room

By the time Diane arrived at the house early that evening, Jason and the boys weren’t alone in waiting for answers. Laura had stopped by, offering support and whatever else the boys needed, and Michael had arrived to get more information and strategize — after all, he was the alibi, so did the FBI think he was lying?

Jason had managed to keep Carly out of the house, only with promises to catch her up as soon as possible, but by the time Diane arrived — alone — Jason was ready to come out of his skin.

As soon as she came into the house with no Elizabeth behind her, he knew this wasn’t going away without a fight.

“The charges are flimsy,” Diane reassured the room. “Michael’s alibi is credible and compelling. If he doesn’t call in that 911, the time of the murder gets much harder to pin down. It’s only because Michael and Elizabeth responded so quickly and were so close that we know anything.”

“Never pays to cooperate with cops,” Michael muttered, and Laura rubbed his shoulder, comforting.

“Combined with a preliminary ballistics report that’s inconclusive at best and a strong alibi, I have no doubt I’ll be able to bring Elizabeth home on Monday,” Diane continued. “I’m not saying this isn’t serious or that we can celebrate after that, but I promise you—” she looked at the boys. “I’m doing everything I can.”

“Can I see Mom? I mean, we can go to see her before Monday, can’t we?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t—” Diane paused. “I don’t know. I’ll find out.” She looked meaningfully at Jason, but Laura caught it as well, and reacted.

“I think that Michael and I should take the boys out to get us all something to eat. And you’re not arguing,” she told Jake who opened his mouth. “Jason and Diane need to talk alone, and us being in the room breaks privilege.”

Jake made a face, then nodded. “Whatever needs to happen to bring Mom home faster.”

“Thanks,” Jason said to Laura as she herded the boys towards the door, Michael on their heels.

“And that’s why I voted for her,” Diane said with a nod once the door was closed. She focused on Jason. “We have a problem.”

“I thought you said—”

“They know she didn’t do this. Of course she didn’t do this. They think you did this, and that hid the gun in her car that night. They already thought your boys were lying to protect you. What’s the fastest way to break a teenaged boy who made it very clear on Monday that he depends on his mother. What did Jake say? They kept talking to him and he just kept asking for his mother.”

The realization sunk in. “They’re holding Elizabeth over the weekend because they think Jake will break. And if Jake changes his story, Danny is less credible on his own.” Jason took a beat. “I didn’t think of that. I thought they were doing it to scare Elizabeth—”

“An added bonus. That’s why they’re holding her over the weekend. The good news for us is that there’s no story for Jake to change, and he’s not going to sell you down the river if it’s a lie. They don’t know that, but we do.”

“Then what’s the problem—”

“They’re still convinced you did this. And if they have to go after Elizabeth, they will. The ballistics could sink us, could free us. We won’t know. But someone out there wants you or Elizabeth to pay for this crime. I have a terrible feeling they won’t give up until they get what they want.”

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