Written in 65 minutes.

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Wednesday, October 1, 2024

Davis House: Living Room

Kristina took a deep breath. “Okay, listen. Listen. I think—” She closed her eyes, put up her hands, took another breath. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want this to turn into another Kristina screw-up, okay?”

Sam  shook her head. “No, that’s not good enough. Not for what you were just trying to pull.” And why was she backing off it now? “What the hell did you do, Kristina?”

“Nothing! I mean, I sent the email because Mom told me bail was a problem and I just thought—” Kristina stopped. “I just thought if I got Elizabeth out of the house for a little while, the judge would give Danny back to you, and you guys would be okay—”

“You wanted her to go to jail—”

“So did you! Why am I the bad guy for trying to do the same thing?” Kristina demanded. “You were right! If Elizabeth weren’t around manipulating Danny or Jason, everything would be better!”

She wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe her little sister had just screwed up again — but it didn’t feel right. “All right, fine. You wanted to help. You didn’t. Now you have to tell everyone what you did so that Jason doesn’t use this to keep custody of Danny permanently. I could lose even my visitation rights. You have to tell everyone—”

“So I can hear another round of what a screw up I am? No. No. Let’s just wait it out, okay, Sam? No one knows for sure. You and me, we’ll just stick together—” Kristina came forward, clasped her hands together, holding them in a beggar’s pose. “We’ll tell everyone we don’t know anything! Please, Sam! Let’s just tell them we don’t know anything!”

“That won’t work. It won’t. Danny believes this, Kristina. He believes it. Mom and Jason and Diane and all of them — even Dante. They think I did this! There are no other suspects!” Sam shook her head. “No. You have to tell them what you did. You have to. For everything I’ve ever done for you.”

“Please, Sam! You can’t tell them! You can’t!”

Because they’d ask the same question Sam had? Kristina hadn’t tried this woes me crap until Sam had started questioning her motives — God, why did Kristina need Elizabeth out of the picture? Why had she done this?

She needed help. She needed someone else to figure this out — she needed someone else to know. Someone who wouldn’t be snowed by Kristina’s damsel in distress act — someone who would dig—

Sam looked at Kristina. “I can and I will. Come with me, and we’ll talk to Mom. She’ll understand, Krissy. She will, okay? She knows what you’ve been though. She’ll know how to handle this.”

“Just Mom?” Kristina asked. “No one else has to know?”

“No. No one else will know. Come with me and we’ll fix everything.”

Pozzulo’s Restaurant: Street

Dante wasn’t going to wait for Anna to move her car — time was running out before the cover up started. He reversed his car into the parking lot, then shifted gears and drove over the curb to get in front of Anna’s car.

He slapped a few buttons on the dashboard, commanding it to put a call through to Chase, then nearly skidded off the road when  he tried to come to a stop at a red light. The rain was pooling on the the sides of the roads, deep enough that his tires were splashing up a ton of water.

“Dante, where the hell are you?” came Chase’s first words. “Sam and Kristina just left — they’re in Sam’s car, heading back towards town.”

“Damn it. Damn it. You’re following?” Dante demanded, making another turn. “There’s only one road out of Belle Forest down to the rest of town. I’ll cut them off near the Cob Creek bridge. I’m not letting them get to Alexis or my dad. Kristina isn’t getting away with this. Not this time.”

Davis & Miller: Diane’s Office

“Well, there really isn’t much that either of you can do,” Diane told Jason and Elizabeth. “Spinelli needs to get that trunk pop and footage to match, and we need to continue gathering evidence. Whether she did it or not—and I’m leaning towards guilty for the record — she’s an excellent alternative suspect for the jury trial.”

“So you don’t have enough to get the charges dismissed.” Elizabeth folded her arms, feeling chilled. The prospect that Kristina of all people had carried out this scheme seemed so strange and unlikely — but there had been that strange visit the day after—and Kristina would know Jason’s protective instinct might have led him to confess to protect her—

“I just can’t stop thinking—” Elizabeth stopped, looked at Jason who’d gone to the window. He’d need a minute to adjust to this — not that it would help, she thought. He’d sacrificed so much for the sake of Sonny and Carly’s children — for Sam’s sister. Because Kristina was family to him.

No wonder Diane and Spinelli had kept this from them. Even as alternative suspect  for the purposes of trial, the idea that Kristina had purposely framed Elizabeth —

“We’re really saying that Kristina — the same woman who was gullible enough to be brainwashed into a cult — we’re saying that she pulled off framing me?” Elizabeth wanted to know. “It just sounds so impossible to me. I know—you’ve made a good case. I just can’t wrap my mind around it.”

“Well, she didn’t pull off anything—” Diane said. “It’s actually a pretty terrible frame job. You have an alibi, which is why the FBI initially didn’t pursue you or Jason. She managed to get the gun into your trunk, but she can’t put it in your hands. She tried to use the tipline to get the FBI into your car, but she wanted to pretend to be smart about it, so she used a notorious gossiping nurse who works with you — but she doesn’t know your work schedule or that you and this nurse wouldn’t have been near each other. And she doesn’t know enough about the technology to know we can prove it’s false. It’s not smart, Elizabeth. She’s literally on your security camera returning the key she probably dropped on your front step. Otherwise, why is she back at your front door after you’ve left, kneeling down and then leaving?”

“But I never lost my key—”

“You didn’t have them that day,” Jason said quietly, and Elizabeth stopped, looked at him. He turned to look at her. “You left your purse at the house when I picked you up. When we were up at Vista Point, you realized you hadn’t put your house keys in your pocket, and you couldn’t get back in the house.”

Elizabeth’s lips parted, and she turned to Diane. “He’s right. I’d forgotten — we made a joke about — I locked myself out of Kelly’s once — you promised not to break the glass this time,” she said to Jason. She put a hand against her chest. “But I got home, and Aiden and Jake were home. And my keys were in my purse. They were already home—”

“She’s benefiting from luck, Elizabeth. Not intelligence. You didn’t know your key was gone because you didn’t take them. The boys don’t mention finding it because it’s probably not a big deal and no one even thinks of it for days, and by then,” Diane said, “they’re upset and stressed by your arrest, then Danny and Aiden are in trouble — and no one ever goes back to that day and asks questions. Because why would we? She’s Sonny’s daughter. Her visit that day was strange, but so what?”

“She’s Sonny’s daughter, why would we think—” Elizabeth pressed two trembling fingers to her mouth. “She took advantage of that, didn’t she? It’s not just luck. It’s the blind spot we’d all have.”

“I didn’t even think twice at her first story. It made sense to me, didn’t it? No one thought anything of it until we went back and checked alibis. And having access to a gun that matches the murder weapon — it’s not a slam dunk in court, but I think, in this office, it’s enough—”

Spinell’s phone rang as Diane spoke, and he turned away to answer it. “Hello?” His brow furrowed. “Diane—”

“What is it?”

“I don’t—” He tapped the speaker phone button and they could hear rain — and voices. Muffled. “It’s Sam, but I don’t know if she meant to call me—”

“Wait—” Jason came forward, his hand held out. “Can you turn up the volume?”

Spinelli obeyed, and the voices became more distinct — Sam…and was that Kristina?

“…I just don’t…why…her bail…important…”

Jason’s mouth pinched, and Elizabeth’s stomach dropped. Oh, God, had Sam known about the email? Had it been her idea?

“…told you…” Kristina’s voice came through, but it was hard to make out her words. “I…to help…you said…no one…know.”

There was a shift in the voices, and now they were coming in more clearly — the phone had moved maybe.

“We’ve been over this, Sam,” Kristina said, sounding annoyed. “And if Mom can’t make this go away, I’m not admitting to anything.”

“You have to tell them, Kristina. You have to tell them I didn’t know. Danny believes I did this to him—do you really think your feelings are more important?”

“He’ll get over it. He’s done worse to you.”

“She sounds so cold,” Elizabeth murmured, and the first pangs of sympathy for Sam bled through. No matter what they’d done to one another, Elizabeth had always believed Sam loved her son. What would it be like for your son to believe the worst about you?

“I just wish you’d tell me why you did this. Why you really did this. You had to know there was a chance people would think it was me—why did you take the risk? Why not try to get Mom to use it in the custody papers? Why go to the same lawyers who tried to put you in jail?”

“You needed Elizabeth out of the picture—”

“No, no! I didn’t—not like that! Damn it, Krissy, it wouldn’t have solved anything! She’d be a goddamn martyr and everyone would be trying to get her out—you really think it would make Danny’s life better that way?”

Diane rolled her eyes. “Never changes,” she muttered under her breath, but Elizabeth almost smiled because that actually made sense. Sam would never have put Elizabeth into the position of being even more of a victim.

“But Jason wouldn’t be able to say he’s got a stable home—”

“No, no, I still think there’s another reason. You were ready to blame me and gaslight everyone else into blaming me, too, until I asked you why you wanted Elizabeth’s bail revoked.”

Diane went still. “Is she—”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Don’t play stupid, Kristina. You’ve never had a negative thing to say about Elizabeth in all these years, and now suddenly you’re trying to help by putting her in jail. I don’t believe you. Just tell me what you did, and we can talk to Mom. We’ll fix it. But you have to tell me what you did.”

She knew, Elizabeth realized. Sam knew what Kristina had done. Had she called Spinelli on purpose? Was she trying to…help?

“What do you want me to say? That I finally see Elizabeth as a manipulative bitch like you always said—”

“But you’re doing it now not when it would have made a difference. I mean, when she lied about Jake Doe, you weren’t talking like this, but she’s accused of murder, and you want her in jail over it.” There was a pause. “Kristina, did you put that gun in her trunk?”

“Why are you asking me that? How can you even—”

Just then, the phone emitted a loud, angry beep — and so did the other phones in the office — Jason’s muffled in his pocket, Elizabeth’s in her purse, Diane’s on the desk — and Sam’s —

“What is that?” Kristina’s voice came through, upset and shrill. There was a scuffle. “Is that your phone?”

“Damn it—let go—”

And then the line went dead.

Belle Forest Drive

“You’re driving too slow,” Alexis muttered, watching the windshield wipers work furiously to keep the view clear.

“It’s basically a  hurricane, Alexis—Sam and Kristina aren’t going anywhere in this weather—check your damned phone,” Sonny retorted.

Alexis threw him a dirty look, then but rummaged in her phone, intending to check the location of her eldest daughters — which, ten minutes ago, had shown them at her home.

While she was squinting in the dark car without her reading glasses, Sonny saw a pair of taillights ahead that were stopped, the car angled across the road. “What the hell is—” He brought the car to a stop. “Is that Dante?”

“They left the house,” Alexis said at the same time. “They’re—they’re on the same road as us—”

And then the phone alerted with an angry warning —

“Flash Flood advisory,” Alexis said. “Cobb Creek is rising—they’re closing—” She looked at Sonny but he was leaning forward, confused as to why his eldest son was walking towards their car. “Sonny, they closed Belle Forest up by me. The girls are going to be stuck on the road in this—”

“Great. I knew we should have waited,” Sonny said with a sigh. He shoved open the door, and got out. “Dante, what the hell are you doing blocking the road like this?”

“Let me guess,” his son retorted. “You’re on your way to clean up after Kristina. Damn it, Dad, I told you stay out of this—”

Alexis ignored both of them, and scrolled through her contacts to bring up Sam’s number.

Belle Forest Drive: Road

Sam shoved Kristina back with one hand, keeping the other on the road. “Damn it, Kristina—knock it off—” but her sister was enraged, trying to find the phone that Sam had wedged between her thighs. The last thing Sam needed was Kristina to find that her phone had connected to Spinelli — had they heard enough? Had they heard anything?

“Give it to me—” Kristina drove for her again, and this time, Sam lost control of the steering wheel, sending the car into a careening skid — both women screaming—

Behind them, Chase had already slowed his car, watching their car wave back and forth on the lanes. He’d reached for his radio, intending to call for backup —

But then the car went skidding off the road—

Chase hit his brakes, his own car sliding slightly as he came to a stop, and got out of the car just in time to see Sam’s car go off the road — and flip down the embankment towards the creek.

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