Written in 69 minutes.
Listen, I know Elizabeth’s kitchen doesn’t have a table, but it’s a stupid, ugly set anyway and she has three boys. Of course she has a damned dining room table in her house. Go with me on this.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Penthouse: Hallway
When she turned the corner and saw Dante waiting outside the door to the penthouse he’d called home only a few days earlier, Sam stopped, and braced herself.
She’d seen the grim expression on his face, the set of his mouth. He’d heard the news, and he already had his mind made up. Just like Diane. Just like her mother.
“If you’re here to yell at me, I don’t want to hear it,” Sam said. She inserted her key in the lock, twisted, then pushed. She stalked inside, but Dante slapped a hand against the door before she could slam it shut. “I’m not going another round on this—”
“I’ve been suspended,” he said, and Sam blinked, her hand falling away from the door. She stepped backwards, and he used the space to come inside and close the door. “Anna got a call from Laura. I guess she was at court this morning, and wanted to know what the hell was going on. No one had told her anything about Aiden or Elizabeth being involved that night.”
Sam folded her arms. “So how does that get you suspended—”
“Anna thinks I put too much pressure on Dex to leave out the drugs and Aiden. That we deliberately left Elizabeth’s address off the report.”
Sam opened her mouth, then shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t even matter.” She tossed her keys aside, heard the clink on the desk. “I’m sorry you got suspended, but—”
“Did you even think about what would happen to me?” Dante wanted to know. “Did you even give a second thought to anyone but yourself?”
Her mother’s quick dismissal at the possibility of Sam’s innocence had cut deep, but this carved a deep gouge in what was left. Her mouth trembled, hot tears stinging her eyes. “So that’s it, huh? Accused, charged, found guilty, and now what? The sentence?” She turned away, pressed a fist against her mouth.
Behind her, Dante’s tone was a little gentler when he spoke next. “Look, I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to get this bad. You probably thought they’d scoop Elizabeth up, and you’d be back in custody court tomorrow. But this is just like you and Spinelli going after the FBI last spring. You don’t think, Sam. Not when Danny’s involved.”
“That might be true, but—”
“And you just tried to have Elizabeth arrested barely a week ago. You knew that it would put her bail at risk, and you didn’t care—”
“I didn’t think about that when I—” Sam whirled around, then scowled. “I didn’t think about that then, okay? But this is different. Okay? This is—” She pressed her lips together. “You know me, Dante. Do you really think I’d do this?”
“I don’t want to, Sam, but I’ve had a front row seat watching you act more and more reckless when it comes to Danny’s safety. You hacked into the FBI, you made Danny miserable, and then you tanked your chances at custody when you refused medical treatment and assaulted Elizabeth in front of him. An email to the feds? A chance to keep your name out of it and get Danny back? Yeah, I think you’d do this.” Dante lifted his brows. “Do you really think I’m crazy for that?”
“I—I know I haven’t been myself lately—” Sam put up her hands, palms out. “But I spent two weeks trying to get Elizabeth to put me on her case, didn’t I? I know she’s innocent—”
“Just like she was innocent of kidnapping, but you were gonna press those charges anyway. To get her away from Danny.”
“Stop bringing that up! That’s different—” Sam’s hands curled into fists, then fell to her side. “You don’t believe me. There’s nothing I can say to you that will change your mind. Nothing I said to my mother worked either.” She brushed at her cheek. “Fine. Fine. Have it your way.”
She stalked past him, pulled the door open. “You can go.”
For the first time, Dante hesitated. “Sam—”
“No. You don’t get to have your doubts now that you’ve come here like this. Just know, that when I find out who did do this, it won’t change the fact that when you could have shown just a little bit of goddamn faith in me, you chose not to. Get out.”
“If you didn’t do it, then who did?” Dante demanded. “There’s no one else who could have known about Elizabeth and Aiden—”
“Well, obviously someone did. And I’m going to make sure they spend their rest of their lives regretting it. We’re done here,” Sam said. “Get out.”
Chase’s Apartment: Living Room
The last person Spinelli had expected to see in Chase’s apartment was Assistant United States Attorney Gia Campbell. The woman looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, then looked at Chase.
“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Did you set me up?”
“No,” Chase said with a scowl. “You weren’t supposed to be here. I have every right to confer with the private investigator for the defense.”
“You can’t tell anyone that you saw me,” Gia said, panic threading through every word. “Please—”
“Well, that very much depends on how this conversation goes.” Spinelli stepped into the room, then close it behind him. “Are you friend or foe?”
“Foe? Who the hell talks like that—” Gia stopped, took a deep breath. “Neither. But I believe in the oath I took when I joined the office. I believe that the only enemy here is whoever killed John Cates. And up until a week ago, I was pretty sure Jason Morgan was involved, and Elizabeth was covering for him.” Her lips pinched. “Just like she always has. It’s not a crazy theory, you know.”
“Maybe if you don’t know either of them well, which you don’t obviously.”
“Oh, I know Elizabeth Webber very well,” Gia bit out. “But that’s not what matters here. The evidence does. It’s in my best interest for the local investigation to turn up a credible suspect so I can take it back to Noah and get him focused on a better suspect.”
“Seems a little unethical, don’t you think?”
“I’ve done everything by the book,” Gia said. “Or almost. The only thing I’ve told Chase that maybe I shouldn’t have is a preview of the evidence we found on the property. I don’t think it matters — the locals were always going to get that report, and so was Diane. I just made sure it happened fast.”
“But talking directly to the defense investigator is over the line,” Chase said to Spinelli. “So let’s cut to the chase. Fine, forget that you didn’t tell us what Reynolds was going to pull at the bailing hearing. How did you find out?”
“I don’t—” Gia frowned, looked at Spinelli, then at Chase. “I don’t know. It was an email tip. Noah didn’t think we had to, but I requested that it be traced. I don’t like how much of our case is built on tips, especially when the first one was faked.”
“That would be an interesting point, except the knowledge about the arrest and Elizabeth’s connection to it was known only to a limited few—”
Gia’s focus sharpened. “How limited?”
Spinelli looked at Chase. “Did you know?”
“I knew Danny and Rocco had been brought in drinking, and that Molly recused herself over it. Danny’s not really an important witness for us since we’ve eliminated his Dad, but he’s an ear witness, and Molly and Dante didn’t want to take any chances. So Molly knew,” Chase answered. “She might have told Robert. But no one told us they’d been arrested on Elizabeth’s property or that Aiden was there.”
“But if you’re looking for something on Danny, you might look into it. We got told about the 911 call — we didn’t know there was two until the logs came in, and it was the second one that put the Webbers in the mix.” Gia furrowed her brow. “But—”
“But it would have to be someone who knows Elizabeth was involved. Otherwise, why bother using it against her?” Spinelli shook his head. “And that knowledge was kept very close to the chest. Diane might have known, but I didn’t. No, we’re almost sure it was Danny’s biological mother trying to make trouble in the custody case. She and Elizabeth have a troubled history.”
“Oh.” Gia wrinkled her nose. “Well, that’s disappointing. Still — I’d like to nail it down for sure.” She picked up her bag. “It’s going to bother me until I know for sure it was domestic, you know? It’s just too much of a coincidence that another tip comes in that makes us look at Elizabeth again just when we were starting to see momentum shift away with the motion to dismiss bringing up all the weaknesses in the case.” She paused. “I’ll make sure Diane Miller gets a copy of the trace, but if I were you, I’d make a list of exactly who knew what and when they knew it.”
Webber House: Kitchen
Elizabeth laid down the take out menu, and picked up her phone, then sighed, realizing the app she used to order food hadn’t been reinstalled on this phone. Just another reminder that pieces of her life would never quite be put back together after all this was over.
She looked up as Jason came in, and bit her lip. “He’s still not letting you in?”
“No.” Jason’s answer was short, almost clipped. He pulled open the fridge, then popped the top on a bottle of Rolling Rock. “I don’t know what I’d say to him even if he opened the door.”
Elizabeth crossed to him, but stopped short, a little unsure of herself. “I’m sorry. I know we’re both trying to pretend this isn’t happening, but please don’t think I don’t understand just how difficult it is for you to be doing nothing.”
“Well, it’s what I’ve been doing for most of Jake and Danny’s life, so I should be used it,” Jason bit out, then crossed over to the table on the other side of the kitchen. He set the bottle down with a thud, then winced. “I’m not mad at you.”
“I know.” She tipped her head. “It’s like you told the boys — doing the right thing doesn’t make it easy. You’re not the only one who wants blood. It was easier, I think, to be optimistic or push down how awful this is when we weren’t home. But standing in front of those boys — seeing how upset Danny is when he’s been working so hard these last few weeks—” She shook her head. “Doing nothing feels wrong.”
“I really thought—” Jason stopped, looked out to the living room, and she realized he was listening for the tell-tale signs that they weren’t alone. But there were no creaks on the steps, no sounds from the floors above. Jake had gone to his room to draw, Cam had gone out to get dinner with Trina, and Aiden was in his room doing homework.
“I really thought,” Jason repeated, “that summer when Jake was a baby—that it was the exception.” He met her eyes, swallowed hard. “That she was just so angry at both of us, at not being able to have kids, that she resented me so much for it, for you, for Jake, that it clouded everything that made her someone I cared about. I really believed that.”
“I know you did.” She came closer to him, and this time, he let her close, pulled her against him so that she could hear his heart beating. “You made the choice to forgive her, Jason. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”
“Well, it doesn’t make me an intelligent one, either.” Jason grimaced. “I know we’re right. I know that even talking to Sam could screw up your bail hearing—”
“But you still want to do it,” Elizabeth said softly. She lifted her brows. “To find out if we’re wrong? If maybe she didn’t do it?”
“No. I don’t know who else would have done it this way. No one outside the four of us and the kids knew about you and Aiden,” Jason reminded her. “Dex Heller wouldn’t have screwed with your bail. He’s an idiot, but he’s an honest one. If he didn’t feel right about covering that up, he’d have gone to Anna. This was vindictive and spiteful.” His smile was humorless. “I don’t know many people who fit that label.”
“Not who also hate me,” Elizabeth agreed with sigh. “God I hate it, but you’re right. It has her written all over it.” She picked up the menu. “I’m going to call in the order, but their delivery time is like an hour—” She looked at him. “Unless you want to pick it up.”
He frowned, looked at her, a bit confused. “What?”
“Mama Mangione’s. It’s a few blocks from Harborview.” She looked at him expectantly. “You could pick it up, couldn’t you?”
Jason waited a moment, wondered if she was really telling him without telling him that he should do exactly what he wanted and confront Sam. When the corner of her mouth twitched up, nearly into a smirk, he knew he’d read her correctly.
“Yeah. I can pick it up. Just give me the address.”
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