I wanted to write more, but I ran out of time. Written 66 minutes. LETS GO PHILLIES FOR MAKING ME STAY UP

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Wednesday, October 1, 2024

Webber House: Living Room

Jake dropped his soaking backpack next to the door and flipped the locks. “Okay, we need to get our stories straight—”

“What story?” Aiden shook his head rapidly, raindrops flying from his shaggy hair, then he ran his hand through it, trying to get rid of excess water. “Mom’s not home yet. There’s no way she knows anything happened.”

“We can’t tell anyone,” Danny said. “My mom didn’t even do anything, okay? I mean—” he winced when Jake scowled. “Okay, yes, she did—I’m not talking about yesterday. All she did was—”

“Stalk you outside the high school when she’s not supposed to try to see you,” Jake said. “No matter what else is going on, she’s breaking the custody order. Dad needs to know—”

“What do you mean, no matter what else?” Aiden wanted to know. He squinted. “We know what else. Sam tried to get rid of Mom. Again. I mean, I’m not saying they need to know,” he told Danny. “But she was kind of crazy today—”

“I know, but—” Danny pressed his lips together, looked at his brother. “It just feels wrong. To get her in trouble. I know that sounds stupid.”

“It doesn’t. She’s still your mom, and—” Jake stopped. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I think she did it anymore.”

Danny frowned. “What? What do you mean?”

“I thought we were pretty solid on that part—” Aiden said almost at the same time.

“I don’t know. Your mom just—it was different. Maybe it was just because she was desperate-” Jake shook his head. “I don’t know. I just—when we tell Dad it happened—because we have to tell him—I don’t think we need to make it worse than it was. Your mom’s upset. She’s being accused of something really awful, right? And if she is innocent—”

“Why are you defending her?” Aiden demanded. “She wants Mom to go to jail!”

“Maybe she did a few weeks ago, but—look, our mother is being accused of something she didn’t do, right? It sucks. Mom tries to hide it, but it’s messing with her. I just—” He looked at his brother. “I think we need more proof before we say she did it. So we just tell Dad she stopped us, tried to talk to us, and we left. Okay? We don’t have to tell him she was waiting for us in the parking lot or anything.”

Danny swallowed hard. “You really think she didn’t send that email?”

“I think she probably did, Danny, but she looked—” Jake exhaled slowly. “I can’t explain it. Maybe she didn’t do it herself. Maybe she knows who did. But until we know for sure — it’s not just you, right? We gotta think about your sister. If we make her out to be crazy, Drew’s gonna use it against her. And I don’t know about you, but I think that would make this worse. Let’s wait until we know for sure what she did before we ruin Scout’s life, too.”

Davis & Miller: Diane’s Office

“Kristina?” Jason repeated, baffled. “Kristina sent the email? Why? To help Sam?”

“It makes awful sense, doesn’t it?” Elizabeth said. “Kristina wanted to help Sam get Danny back—and I’m just guessing — but if I were back in jail, Jason’s situation changes. Sam might be able to get the custody order revised—” She stopped, tilted her head. “Why would you need to talk to Diane alone about that?”

“Well, that’s where this gets complicated,” Diane said. “Because, yes, if Kristina sent the email, that’s something,” she told Spinelli. “But I don’t really see how that helps us—”

“You don’t think—” Elizabeth held up her hand. “You’re not suggesting Kristina had something to do with Cates’ murder.”

“That’s not possible. Kristina’s not capable of that,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “Maybe shooting him, but everything else — that’s not her— it’s not—”

“Jason’s been taking care of Kristina almost since she was  born,” Elizabeth argued. “She’d never turn on him like this—” The implication was horrifying. “She’d never betray him—”

“She might,” Diane said softly, “if she blamed Jason for John Cates being in Port Charles at all. After all, it was Pikeman that brought him here, wasn’t it?”

“That’s—” Jason couldn’t speak. Couldn’t finish the thought. “She’s Sonny’s daughter—”

“She had access to the murder weapon — or at least a gun that matches the one found in the car. Sonny confirmed that himself — one of his is missing, and Kristina had the combination,” Diane told him. “Sonny thought it was one of his guys, framing you for being an FBI informant—”

“Kristina wouldn’t know, would she?” Elizabeth asked, putting a hand on Jason’s arm. “She might know you came back to town with Cates, but she might not realize you were forced into working for him. That wasn’t—that wasn’t general knowledge. You had to tell me, remember? I mean, maybe Sam said something to her, but Sam was so angry with you—”

“Stop—stop talking like this is a real possibility,” Jason interrupted, then winced when he realized how sharp his tone was. “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“It’s Kristina,” Elizabeth finished. “You’ve put your life on the line for her. Over and over again. You’re right.” She looked at Diane. “It’s not enough. She had access to the gun and sent an email. There are other explanations—”

“She has no alibi,” Spinelli said. “She was at your house the day after the murder, and we have her on camera coming back to the house after you’d gone. She got rid of her phone just after the false tip was sent to the feds.”

“I—” Elizabeth paused, then folded her arms around herself. “What do you mean, she came back to the house after I was gone? You—”

“We think maybe she picked up an extra key while she was in your house. Did you have it laying around? You told us you were doing laundry while she was there. Did you leave her alone in the living room?”

“I don’t—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. No. I don’t have an extra key fob. I used to, but Cameron took it with him to California, and I forgot to get it b ack—” She went to her purse. “The cops never took my keys, and my fob is right here—” She fished inside, and plucked it out, handing it to Spinelli. “See? She couldn’t have taken it.”

Spinelli examined metal ring, then shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe. But—Fair Elizabeth, Stone cold, it brings me no pleasure to say it might be her,” he told them. “We both—we avoided such an unpleasant thought. We’ve been waiting for something more—”

“She sent the email, so what? She was probably trying to help Sam—” Jason said.

“But she must know that Sam was blamed — doesn’t she know?” Elizabeth asked Diane. “Why wouldn’t she just tell everyone? It’s an awful, stupid thing that she did, but she’d have to see letting Sam take the fall would be the opposite of what she was trying to do. What did she say when she found out?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to Alexis since she talked to Kristina. Alexis—Alexis did tell me that she’d mentioned your bail hearing to Kristina. In passing, not thinking. Kristina knew what Noah Reynolds might do with that information. Alexis—she doesn’t know what we know.”

“It’s not just us,” Spinelli said. “The PCPD—it’s why Dante and Molly recused themselves. Kristina is their prime suspect, too.”

“Are you—” Elizabeth stopped. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t form a full thought. “She’d know about Michael,” she said softly. “She’d know that you’d confessed to keep him safe in prison. And if Sam did tell her — if she knew about why you went to work for the FBI, she’d know it was to protect Carly.” She looked at Jason, his expression grim suggesting he’d connected those dots as well. Or that he was starting to come around to the theory. “It’s not…that crazy to think if I was accused of murdering an FBI agent, you might confess to save me.”

“And if you confessed, the FBI would stop looking,” Diane said. “Investigation is over. Story ends. Kristina gets away.”

“That’s…” Jason took a deep breath. “That’s…I don’t know. It makes sense, but—” It was Kristina. Sam’s sister. Sonny’s daughter. How much of his life had he sacrificed for Sonny? For Sam?

Elizabeth touched his arm, slid her fingertips down until she took his hand. “It’s worse than either of us thought,” she told him, and he remembered their fear that the murderer was someone who knew them.

He’d just never let himself put Kristina on that list. It was like putting Josslyn on the list or Molly.

“I’m sorry. You see why we waited to bring it up,” Diane said. “All we need now is for Spinelli to find those trunk records and for it to match the time Kristina is at your house that day.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to be true,” Spinelli said. “I just—I have no explanation for everything we know.”

“Okay. Okay. Let’s say it’s true. What does that mean? What do we do next?” Jason asked.

Pozzulo’s: Street

“Move your car,” Dante said, slamming his car door shut, striding towards Anna who remained in the car, but rolled down the window. “Damn it, Anna, get out of my way—”

“You’re interfering in a police investigation,” Anna told him, lifting her voice slightly to be heard over the rain. “If you’re here to protect your sister—”

“So what if I was?” Dante demanded. “Are you the only one allowed to do that? Are you the only one allowed to bend the damn law?”

Anna shoved her door open, forcing him to step back. “If you have something to say to me, Dante, stop tiptoeing around—”

“Oh, I’m done playing games with you, Commissioner,” Dante retorted. “You and I both know you screwed up the Pikeman investigation by tipping off Valentin. He flew out of town, and the FBI has had it out for Jason Morgan ever since. Which is why you tried to play ball and serve him and Elizabeth to cover your own ass! You called the FBI as soon as you got the call about Cates —”

“They were always going to take the case—”

“You could have fought it! Damn it, Anna! You let them walk all over you, and drag an innocent woman into jail! Are you happy? Are you satisfied? Was it worth it to let Valentin walk away?”

Anna shook her head. “You don’t understand. You weren’t there—”

“I don’t need to be there to know you let the man responsible for shooting me flee the country,” Dante bit out. “The man who nearly killed my father. But you weren’t thinking about that were you? Just like you weren’t thinking of Elizabeth and her kids when you let the FBI use our jail to book and hold her—”

“I didn’t have a choice, damn it—”

“Not once you let Valentin escape, you didn’t.” Dante shook his head, laughing bitterly. “My God. Laura’s made a lot of terrible mistakes in her life, but putting you back in charge at the PCPD was one of the worst—” He turned away, started back towards his car. “Get the hell out of my way, or I’m going to ram your car and force you. You have no right to hold me here.”

“Dante, wait—” Anna came after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. “You must understand that I never meant for any of this to happen! It’s all gotten so out of control! I thought it would be enough that Cates knew who Valentin was! I thought they’d be satisfied—”

“Well they weren’t!” Dante exploded, turning back to face her.  “He’s off somewhere, probably laughing at how stupid you were to let him go, Charlotte’s on the run with a fugitive, Elizabeth’s facing life on jail, Danny and Rocco’s lives are ruined, Sam’s life is destroyed, and my sister is probably a goddamn murderer—was it worth it?”

“You can’t seriously blame me for all that’s happened—”

“No. No I can’t. But if you’d have an ounce of integrity, my God, how different would this all be?” He yanked his car door open. “Get out of my way. Now.”

Davis House: Living Room

“Who will they believe?” Sam repeated. She laughed, though the sound was more bitter than amused. “You really think you’re going to get away with it this time, don’t you?”

“I don’t see why not. Everyone knows you’re unhinged about Danny’s relationship with Elizabeth. Mom’s been worried for weeks. Molly thinks so, too. You’ve already tried to have her arrested. All I have to do is tell Mom that it was your idea. That I just mentioned the bail to you, and you were off and running — it’s such a shame you didn’t think about Danny.” Kristina shook her head, sorrowfully. “It’s just like that day in the lobby, isn’t it? You just see or think about Elizabeth, and nothing else matters. I only did it because you begged me to, because you had me so worried about what you’d do next.”

“You’ve really lost it, Kristina. You have just—” She sliced her hand through the air. “You have absolutely just lost the plot. Ever since you lost the baby, you’ve just—I’ll tell Mom about this, and she’ll believe me—”

“You sure about that? I mean, I already managed to convince Mom to draw up custody papers for me. Custody papers I was going to use against Molly and TJ.” Kristina took a step towards her. “Do you really think Mom won’t think you took advantage of me? I’ve been so upset, so desperate to help you — and you told me this would help—I didn’t even realize what it would do to Danny—I feel so awful knowing he was hurt—”

“You—” Sam couldn’t form another word, because she wasn’t entirely sure that Kristina couldn’t pull it off. That their mother wouldn’t place the blame on Sam who had always been too headstrong for her own good—that Kristina wouldn’t be able to play the gullible, manipulated sister she’d always been. How many times had Kristina been taken advantage of? What if Alexis didn’t believe her? What if Dante didn’t—

‘They’ll know I’m telling the truth,” Sam said, but it was more to herself than to Kristina. She focused on her sister. “I’ll make them see I’m telling the truth. I’ll do whatever I have to do. But—I don’t—” Her voice faltered for a moment, then she found it again. “I don’t understand. If you did this to help me, why can’t you just—why can’t you just tell them that? Why do you  have to make it my fault at all? I didn’t tell you to do this. Why can’t you just tell them the truth?”

“It is the truth,” Kristina told her. “You needed Elizabeth out of the picture, and I knew that everything would be better if she went to jail. You’d get Danny back. I did it to help you. To get Elizabeth to go away—”

“Elizabeth has never done anything to you,” Sam said. “She’s never—I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you did this—How could you do this to her—I was getting Danny back. I was going to therapy. I was—I had a plan, Kristina. Why would you think putting Elizabeth in jail for months and months was  good for anyone—”

“You don’t have to understand. It doesn’t matter anymore. It didn’t work. All that matters is getting our stories straight.” Kristina smiled, but it looked forced — and suddenly she didn’t seem so confident anymore. So cold or assured.

Because Sam had asked the right question, hadn’t she? Why couldn’t Kristina just tell them the truth? She done it to help Sam, but it had backfired. Kristina had made it her life’s mission to make stupid mistakes that backfired — why was this different?

Why couldn’t Kristina just tell them what happened?

“You didn’t do this for me,” Sam said, and now Kristina looked at her, her eyes sharp. “You didn’t do this for me. I’m the excuse, I’m the—” She paused. “I’m the excuse,” she repeated. “You wanted Elizabeth’s bail to get revoked. You used what you knew about Danny to do it. Why? Why did you want Elizabeth out of the picture?”

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