Written in 54 minutes.

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Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Penthouse: Kitchen

Sam watched the remains of her coffee drain out of the sink, then switched off the faucet. “I appreciate you staying over last night, but you really didn’t have to—”

“I told you. Now that my case is over, I’m going to focus on you completely,” Kristina told her sister, leaning against the kitchen counter, her own coffee grasped in both hands. “I need something to think about that isn’t the dumpster fire of everything else in my life.”

Sam sighed, and turned away from the sink, heading towards the doorway and the rest of the penthouse. “I don’t know how I feel about being someone’s charity case—”

“You’re my sister, not charity. And how many times have you put everything on hold for me?” Kristina demanded, following her. Sam turned at the sofa to face her sister. “Do you think I’ve forgotten how you got wrapped up with Shiloh and the Dawn of Day in the first place?”

Sam rubbed her arms, grimaced. “He went after you because of me, Krissy. Because of what I did to his father—”

“But I’m the weak moron who thought he could fix me. I was fragile and useless, and I put everyone in danger because of it. You went to jail, Sam!” Kristina shook her head. “No, you’ve been there for me every step of my life. I’m not going to let you go through this alone. Everyone else might have abandoned you — and don’t think I won’t be getting on Dante for moving out—”

“He did what he needed to do for his son.” Sam scrubbed her hands down her face. “Rocco hates me.”

“He doesn’t. Hey, he doesn’t Sam. He just hates anyone who isn’t his mother.” Kristina folded her arms. “He’s a teenager. I thought I knew everything then, and I didn’t listen to what Mom said. She was right, and I refused to believe that. Rocco will realize his father is doing the best he can, and maybe then you and Dante can piece things back together. But until then, I’m sticking to you like glue.”

“I just—Mom’s gone over what’s going to happen today, and I know—I know she’s going to try to plead my side of things, but she doesn’t believe the words she’s saying.” Sam’s voice thickened. “She can’t see what I see, and she won’t be able to make the judge see. And God, it doesn’t even matter. Because none of it is a legal defense. I really screwed things up, Krissy. Last Saturday. I should have just—” She pressed her lips together. “I should have realized Danny wouldn’t see it the way I do. He thinks Elizabeth is on his side. I should have just pretended to be grateful she gave him a ride, and let him go. But I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t see past the fact that she was doing everything she could to make me look like the crazy one, and I had to go give her and Jason all the ammunition they needed to take my son away.”

“Danny might not see it now,” Kristina said, “but I promise you, a few more weeks of living in that house, he’ll start to understand how Elizabeth twists everything into making herself the victim. I went to talk to her about all of this weeks ago — after you and Jason had that huge fight at the station, right? I just wanted to try to and make peace. And she picked a fight that made me feel like I was wrong. Started talking about her five minutes of experience being a surrogate like it compares in any way to carrying my daughter for all those months—” Kristina took a deep breath. “Danny might not see it now, Sam. But he will. Until then, Mom’s right. We need to play this by the rules. We have to let this play out in court.”

“Supervised visitation,” Sam muttered. “Elizabeth probably loves this, you know? She hated   when I made Jason do that with Danny.” She paused. “I thought if I made Jason agree he could only see Danny with Jake — that it would make Jason back down from forcing it. Because I knew Jake would refuse.”

“Elizabeth probably made Jake go through with it,” Kristina said, and Sam wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t she suggest being there to help Jake handle it? Manipulating everything from the beginning, Sam. But she’s not going to win, okay? Danny will realize she’s pulling the strings, Jason will get bored playing house like he always does, and hey, maybe the FBI will shove her back in jail for a few weeks.”

Sam frowned, looked at her sister. “Why would they do that? She’s out on bail until trial, and she’s—I mean, I’m furious at the whole thing, but I don’t want her in jail. I’ve been there. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.” She got to her feet. “But you’re right. I have to be patient. Take my visitation, and hope Danny sees what I do. And if Jason does get bored with being a househusband, he’ll get the itch to go out and risk his life — and the court will have to see I’m more stable. I just—I have to let things play out. I used to be good at that. Playing the long game. I was a pretty good con artist back in the day. Not something to be proud of,” she admitted, “but there are lessons I can take from it. The board’s been set up, and we just have to let everyone play the roles they’re meant for.”

“Exactly. Everything will take care of itself, Sam, you’ll see.”

Sam smiled, a bit more genuinely now. “I better get ready. Like a lamb to a slaughter, right? Gotta look the part.”

She headed for the stairs, and Kristina watched her go.

Sure, Sam was right — eventually it would all go back the way it was meant to. But sometimes the first domino needed a little help to fall.

Kristina just had to figure out which one to push.

Webber House: Kitchen

Danny slid his cereal bowl to the middle of the counter, the remains of the Lucky Charms becoming little more than a soggy mess. “But I don’t understand why I can’t go. This is about me.”

“I get it.” Jason took the bowl, dumped the remains and rinsed it before putting it in the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes from everyone else who had eaten breakfast more than an hour ago and left for work or school. “And if I were you, I’d want to be there, too. But it’s not how any of this works.”

“But—”

“Danny.” When his son just glared at him, Jason rubbed the corner of his eyebrow with his thumb. “Listen. It’s not that I’m telling you no. The court has strict rules about this kind of thing. They assigned you that lawyer you talked to yesterday. They’re going to go argue on your behalf. Your voice is in the room. They just don’t want you to be there. It’s upsetting—”

“It’s worse to sit at home—”

“It’s worse in the room,” Jason interrupted. “Because Diane needs to stand up and talk about why you need to be with me, why your mother’s house isn’t the right place, and then your grandmother will get up and talk about me and why I’m terrible option for you. It’s things you’ve heard before, I know. But it’s different in a court room. You’re not allowed to react when you want, the way you want. It’s awful, and I don’t want you there for it.”

Danny looked away. “I hate all of this.”

“I know you do.” Jason tipped his head. “I hate it, too. And I did everything I could avoid doing it this way. And, believe it or not, so did your mother. But trying to figure it out on our own — we made it worse. You’ve been put in the middle in a way I never wanted.” He stopped. “Are you worried the attorney they gave you won’t be honest about what you said?”

“I dunno. Maybe she’ll only tell you what she wants. She made it pretty clear,” Danny muttered. “Asked me to describe the last year and then the last few weeks, and she was like, do you feel safe at home, and I—” His voice changed, thickened. “I didn’t answer her. Mom would never, ever hurt me.”

“No, she wouldn’t. I’ve never once worried about that, Danny. I don’t like how she’s handling a lot of things, okay, but I’ve never worried she’d lay a hand on you.”

“But—” Danny lifted his gaze to his father’s. “I was scared. When she didn’t listen to me. When she got on that elevator, and she was so angry. She took my phone and I couldn’t warn Elizabeth. I thought Mom was gonna hurt her. And then she did. I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t stop either of them. I know Liz is sorry about it, and I guess I don’t really blame her. Mom hit her first, and she was gonna get her arrested.” Danny looked down. “Once I told the attorney that, it kind of felt like she had an opinion.”

“I don’t like what happened that day either,” Jason said after a moment. “And if we could do it again, your mother should have gone with Jake, and I should have driven you to your mother’s. It would have been different. But I honestly thought if she was in the lobby, and Sam never knew she was there—and that’s not your fault for giving her enough information that she guessed it, Danny. It’s not,” he repeated when Danny looked unconvinced. “Your mom lost her temper in front of you. There are consequences for that. Especially in court. But I promise you. I’m not trying to make this worse. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you can see her as soon as possible, and as much as you want.”

“But it’s up to the court now because of Saturday. Because the cops got involved, and then Rocco and me got in a fight. Yeah, I get it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Chase’s Apartment: Living Room

“I was surprised to get your call,” Chase said, stepping back to allow Spinelli through the front door. He closed it. “You pretty much know what we do, so there’s not a lot I can give you.”

“I know, but—” Spinelli squinted. “Why are we meeting here anyway? I thought you and Brook Lyn were living on the estate.” He took in the room — where the sofa had been shoved to one side and a large whiteboard was in the center — but the side facing him was blank.

“Well, that was supposed to be temporary,” Chase said. “Until my niece went to live with Finn. But I wanted a place to put things together that isn’t…open to everyone else.” He perched on the arm of the armchair. “Diane Miller has made it clear to you that you have to play by a certain set of rules, right? To have anything you get be admissible, right?”

“Yeah. And she’s taken a step further. I’m not supposed to talk about the investigation with anyone I don’t trust.” Spinelli shoved his hands in pockets. “The problem is that list is pretty short right now. I know Dante’s off the because of Rocco and Danny, and that’s fine. But you’ve made me think you’re taking this seriously. That you’re investigating everything. No matter where it leads.”

“Elizabeth is innocent. Period. But it’s not enough for me to know that,” Chase said. “I have to prove it. Which means I need whoever actually did this. Or I have to do enough to prove the FBI doesn’t have jurisdiction. If we can get this kicked out of federal court, Robert wouldn’t refile locally. I don’t care who did this, Spinelli. Or who they’re connected to.”

“Then let me run something past you and see how it sticks.” Spinelli went to his tote bag, removed a manila folder. “The first thing I did was watch the security footage at Elizabeth’s house. I don’t have the view of the trunk — that’s still tied up in court and the Feds are making it a pain. I don’t think they want me to have it. Or the techstream data from her car to show when the trunk was opened. I was supposed to have both of that this week — and somehow, both of those subpoenas were delayed for another week. The Feds are playing games because they think Elizabeth knows something about Stone Cold, and they’re trying to force her into turning on him.”

“Which is a problem because he doesn’t know anything either,” Chase said, and Spinelli relaxed. “I believe Jason might have wanted Cates out of the picture. I just don’t think he was willing to kill him to do it. And if he had been — this isn’t how he’d do it. You started with the security footage. So did we. And the only thing I have that’s not normal is Kristina. She comes the day after the murder, stays a short period. Elizabeth leaves a few minutes after Kristina. And Kristina comes back to the door. Then leaves again. She had motive, opportunity — and I’ll never prove it, I’m sure she had the means.”

Spinelli closed his eyes, nodded. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or horrified that Chase had followed the same line of evidence. He looked at the detective. “Yeah. When Kristina was asked about the visit, she said something about wanting to help Sam and Jason make peace. There’d been an argument the night before after the kids were questioned. It was a hostile conversation — and Kristina left. Elizabeth doesn’t know Kristina’s my suspect. No one does. But Kristina told me herself that it was a short conversation. That Elizabeth was on her way out.”

“And her reason to go back?”

“To get Elizabeth not to mention that she’d called the baby Adela and not Irene. It’s a sore point between Molly and Kristina — understandably. But not one Kristina has ever showed any evidence of giving a damn about it. Just that one day.”

“And she came back after knowing Elizabeth intended to be leaving.” Chase exhaled slowly. He went to the board, and flipped it over, revealing the division between Alexis and Kristina. “We can’t verify her alibi. She’s meant to be at her apartment — but he’s refusing to hand over footage without a court order, and Sonny’s got a lawyer who isn’t Diane playing games in court.”

“I…was worried about that,” Spinelli said slowly. “Not because I knew Sonny’s lawyer was holding off — but because — I know he knows the details of the case. He knows the weapon and ammunition.”

Chase furrowed his brow. “He does?”

“I can’t prove that in court, but he’s talked to Jason and he had that information in hand. And again, I can’t prove this in court because it’s not really evidence. But I’ve seen inside the safe at Sonny’s office at the restaurant. He keeps the unregistered guns there. The ones without serial numbers.”

Chase looked at his board. “Do you think I’ve got the wrong parent up there?”

“I think Alexis would cover up for Kristina without blinking,” Spinelli said. “But she’d never frame someone as a first choice. Neither would Sonny. But if Kristina had already set up the frame job — I think either of them would cover for her. I think Sonny’s already started.”

“Which means if he finds out she’s an actual suspect—” Chase rubbed his mouth. “Shit. How do we investigate her without Sonny shipping her out of the country?”

“I don’t know. I never—” Spinelli swallowed hard. “I’ve known the family a long time. To think that Sonny is allowing Elizabeth to go through this — I want to think he believes Diane will make this go away. But if you’re telling me his lawyer is delaying footage that would help us eliminate Kristina—I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

“Whatever we do next — we need to do it very carefully,” Chase said. “Or this blows up in our faces.”

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