Written in 58 minutes.

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Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Webber House: Street

The tail lights of a familiar SUV pulled out of a parking spot, heading down Elm Street and away from the Webber House. If Cameron had been even thirty seconds later making the turn onto the block, he would have missed Jason leaving, and as it was — he only had maybe a split second to decide whether he’d snag the spot left empty right in front of the house or if he’d follow his mother’s boyfriend.

Because he’d been under the impression Jason had intended to stick close to Danny that night, Cameron wondered where he was going — and if Danny was with him.

Honestly, as his mother’s son, it wasn’t really a decision at all. He’d never be able to ignore that natural born curiosity and instinct for mischief. He pressed his foot on the gas pedal to speed back up.

Gatehouse: Kitchen

Michael leaned back against the counter, folding his arms. “So you’re back to thinking Sam didn’t tip off the feds?”

Dante dragged a hand through his hair, restlessly moving around the small space. “I don’t know what to think. No one else even makes sense.”

“Not even Dex? It wouldn’t be his first time switching sides,” Michael reminded him. “I hired him when I was still angry with Dad, and Dex was basically useless to me from the beginning. And then he betrayed Dad anyway to work with the cops—”

“Not much of a betrayal since Dex was useless to Dad, too,” Dante pointed out. He hesitated. “I’m not discounting the possibility that Dex said or did something. But going to Reynolds and not Anna doesn’t make sense. Anna’s been unhappy with me and Chase since we went along with Molly with this whole thing. You want to screw with me at work, you go straight to her. Why go after Elizabeth’s bail?”

“What about the connection to Cameron?” Michael wanted to know. “Wasn’t there some overlap before Joss and Dex got serious? Joss didn’t want to admit it, but I’m pretty sure she cheated—”

“I mean, maybe?” Dante said, but it was phrased as a skeptical question. “It seems like a long way around to screw with a guy who didn’t even really put up a fight. What’s the reason? All it would do is keep Cameron around. He’s been home more these last few weeks than the last year and a half. No, I get why Dex seems like a good suspect, but—” He stopped. “I don’t think it’s him. I can ask him to tie off the loop, but I can’t see it personally.”

“I just don’t like how it loops back to Sam. I don’t want it to be her,” Michael said. “It makes all of this worse. No one else knew Elizabeth and Aiden were involved that way? Retrace your steps. What was going on that night?”

Dante sat at the table, rubbed his chin. “Feels like a million years ago,” he murmured. “Sam and I were sitting in the living room, talking about Kristina and Molly. When that was our biggest problem.” He paused, looked at Michael. “Kristina came over that night. I was picking her up when I dropped the boys at Elizabeth’s.”

“You didn’t go in?”

“No. Just—” Dante shook his head. “Told them to tuck and roll, you know? I’d done it a thousand times — which they counted on. They never went inside, at least from what Aiden says, and I believe that. They knew we trusted them — well, I trusted Rocco to keep Danny in line. When Wiley gets to that age, let me tell you — ” He met his brother’s gaze. “If their lips are moving, they’re lying.”

“Noted,” Michael said dryly. “What about Kristina? What time did she go home?”

“She—” Dante went still, swallowed hard. “She didn’t. She slept over. She had a few beers. She was with us the next morning. We told her about the arrest.”

Michael straightened. “Kristina knew?”

“I mean—did we tell her about the Elizabeth of it all?” Dante stopped. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. It—it was a bad night. And it kept getting worse, you know? Sam walked out of the station, Rocco was a mess, Jason and Sam got into it—”

“Okay, if you didn’t tell her then, could Sam have told her later? Sam’s been angry at Elizabeth, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Dante blew out a breath, got to his feet. “Yeah. I can see Sam talking about it. She was angry at herself for leaving, then Danny gets going on this therapy thing and Elizabeth finds him the doctor — you put that together with Elizabeth’s kid not caught drinking, and Danny on her property—if we didn’t tell her that next morning, I can see Sam confiding it later. I mean, it’s her sister.”

“But if Kristina’s the one that knows—is she really going to tip off the same lawyer that tried to put her in jail?” Michael asked. “I know she’s been messed up since losing the baby, but—”

“I don’t know. I don’t—” Dante shook his head. “I don’t know. Don’t—don’t say anything. To Jason, I mean.” When Michael looked skeptical, Dante held out a hand. “Jason will take it to Diane, and then it’s out there and we’re accusing Kristina of something pretty awful. I just—let me find out if Kristina knew for sure. There’s—there’s a lot going on there that I can’t tell you right now.”

“I’m not gonna keep it to myself forever,” Michael warned him. “If Kristina’s going around trying to screw with Elizabeth’s bail, Diane needs to know. Alexis needs to know so it can stop. I don’t care if Kristina thinks she was helping, this could have seriously backfired. Elizabeth could be in custody right now if there’d been a different judge. She deserves to know who’s sabotaging her. And Sam doesn’t deserve to carry the blame if she didn’t do this. Danny needs to know if his mother did this.”

“Give me—give me tomorrow,” Dante told him. “Let me look into a few things, okay?”

“I’ll give you a day, but Thursday, Dante, I’m telling Jason and Elizabeth what Kristina knew. Or could have known.”

Penthouse: Hallway

Jason banged on the door for a third time. “I’m not going anywhere until you open this door, Sam. I know you’re there.”

There was another pause, a shuffling of the shadows peeking from beneath the gap in the door between the floor and the floor. But nothing else.

“I can see you moving on the other side of the door, Sam. You either talk to me now or I’m talking to Diane about fighting even supervised visitation.”

He heard the click and tumble of locks, then the door was yanked open to reveal Sam, her eyes red and puffy, bloodshot. “Please. We both know Diane has that ready to go. She’s just been waiting for a chance to get me out of your life.”

“Maybe, but it needs my signature.”

“Oh, what a white knight you are,” Sam spat, “refusing to steal my son from me. Why not? You stole AJ’s son, didn’t you? You’d rather raise Carly’s kids than your own—”

“You hate me, that’s fine. But you keep going through everyone else to attack me—”

“How else can I make sure it actually hurts?” Sam retorted. “You don’t give a damn about yourself, you never have. I can’t hurt someone who barely has a pulse. It’s the only way to get your attention—”

“Is that why you did it? To get my attention? To get Danny’s? Are you really that desperate?”

Tears glittered in her dark eyes, her mouth pinched. “You never forgave me for Jake did you? For what I did in the park. You told me you did, you came back to me, and married me, and we planned a life together, so I thought you did. But you will always believe the worst about me because—”

“Because you stood by while an unstable woman took my son out of his stroller and walked away with him?” Jason demanded. “Because you hired guns to threaten Jake and Cameron—Jake’s not old enough to remember, but Cameron was a toddler. He damn well knew what was going on—”

“More worry about a kid who isn’t yours,” Sam said with a roll of her eyes. “Well, hey, since we’re listing my crimes, let me give you a few more reason to hate me.” Her fingers clutched the edge of the door. “Did Elizabeth tell you she and Lucky came to the studio and begged me to let them use the show to look for Jake?” Her smile was wide, contrasting with the hatred in her eyes. “And I told her no.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “You told her no.”

“Well, I couldn’t take the chance Maureen Harper might see that weeping whimp crying for her son to come back, could I?” Sam curled her free hand into a fist. “Elizabeth never told you about that, huh? Did she tell you about the visit I paid her? When I tried to make her think Jake was dead so she’d stop whining and stop looking?”

Jason took a step back, a slick, sick feeling rolling in his gut. “No, she never told me.”

“Well, then maybe I should have been grateful all these years, huh?” Sam wanted to know, the hateful smile still curving her lips. “She really could have put the nail in my coffin if she’d wanted to. Guess I’m lucky she’s still a pushover. Must be what you see in her, right? She’ll forgive the worst.”

He’d lost control of the conversation, and now he realized that he’d expected her to admit it, the way she always did when confronted with her deeds. With her tears, her apologies. They’d all been lies. Every inch of them. She’d never been frozen in fear or overwhelmed with resentment or hatred of him. She’d hated Elizabeth just as much as she’d hated him.

“What about Danny? What are you planning to tell him about what you did?” Jason asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He wanted to shove a fist somewhere else, but he’d never hit a woman, and he didn’t need broken or bruised knuckles, not right now.

“I don’t know.” Sam leaned against the door frame. “What are you telling Jake about marrying the woman who let him be kidnapped?”

“You’re not going to do that,” Jason said, but then she smiled again, and he realized he really didn’t know what she might do in a mood like this. “Because telling Jake means telling Danny. And he already believes the worst about you.”

“Well, who’s fault is that? Why was he in court, Jason? He should have been in school, where he belongs. But you need him to paint a picture to keep that bitch out of jail, don’t you? Everyone’s so worried about Elizabeth—”

“I forgave you, Sam,” Jason interrupted, and she rolled her eyes. “I forgave you because I believed it was about me, and I blamed myself more than you. I forgave you because I thought I knew who you really were. But I didn’t forget. I won’t ever forget what you’re capable of doing to someone you think is taking something from you. But I didn’t want to believe you’d try to have Elizabeth’s bail revoked like this — because this doesn’t just hurt her, her kids, or me. It hurts Danny.”

Sam pressed her lips together, and some of her fury faded, her shoulders slumping ever so slightly. But she remained silent.

“Not because he’s Jake’s brother or that he cares about Elizabeth, which are both reasons to keep the peace,” Jason added, “which you used to know. But because it puts him on the hot seat. They didn’t just talk about the alcohol and being drunk, Sam, did you know that? Your stunt made sure everyone knew he was high. That Rocco was high, too.”

Sam snapped her gaze back to him, alert. “What?”

“What did you think would happen when you told them to look at the 911 calls? To look for the report? There’s going to be a bail hearing, and in order to prove Elizabeth and Aiden weren’t involved, Danny’s going to have to tell people what happened. Is that what you thought would happen? Did you even think about what Danny would have go through? Or was it another moment of weakness?” Jason demanded.

Sam’s mouth trembled, but then she stepped back. “Go to hell.” Then slammed the door.

Miller & Davis: Diane’s Office

Diane tapped a pen against the desk blotter. “Your, uh, source in the AUSA’s office has an interesting point,” she said. “The tip that put them onto the 911 calls isn’t that different from the one that sent them to Elizabeth in the first place, is it?”

“I still think it’s Sam,” Spinelli said slowly. He sat in one of the armchairs clustered around a smaller table. “There are things in her past — things Stone Cold never shared with you because you’d use them in his murder trial — that make it easy to believe it.”

Diane lifted her brows. “Oh, you had better believe we’re coming back to that, my friend. But Sam could have done this. With a little help from her sister. Alexis has told me that she’s worried — Kristina’s been very supportive of Sam — encouraging Sam to try to use therapy to twist the narrative against Elizabeth.”

“Oh, man.” Spinelli sat back. “So Kristina could have given her the idea?”

“Or Kristina did it herself. I can’t imagine Sam wouldn’t have confided in Kristina all the details about that night at the police station.” Diane sighed. “It just troubles me so much that every new piece of evidence we have points at Kristina being involved in some way, whether she’s the shooter or she’s helping cover up for someone. And if you get that data tomorrow that proves the trunk was opened with her in the area—” Diane paused. “I don’t relish the thought of telling Alexis what her daughter might have done. Killing Cates — that’s one thing. Attempting to get rid of the gun by framing Elizabeth or Jason — I worry now, Spinelli, if we’re correct, that Kristina sees Elizabeth as the enemy in her sister’s situation. What she’s capable of doing to cover her tracks and help Sam regain custody.”

“Dante’s been suspended because of all of this. Chase is planning to reach out to him, find out what he knows.” Spinelli leaned to the side, plucked out his vibrating phone. “And now I have a message from Mr. Sir,” he murmured.

“Sonny? What could he want?” Diane demanded.

Spinelli got to his feet, picked up his bag. “I don’t know. But I’m interested in finding out. I’ll call you when I know more.”

Harborview Towers: Parking Garage

Jason slowed his steps as he approached the row where he’d left his SUV — recognizing the figure leanging against the back window.

“Cameron.”

Elizabeth’s oldest son straightened, lifted a brow the way his mother often did. “We spent all day keeping Danny from calling her, and now I here I find you. I was under the impression confronting Sam would screw with my mother’s case. Did something change?”

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