Written in 58 minutes. This story is so much fun to write, I actually can’t wait to write another update tonight 😛

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Quartermaine Estate: Boat House

Elizabeth watched Michael disappear when the trail curved around a group of trees, then looked back at her hands, still streaked with blood. And barely three feet away, John Cates’ dead body lay crumpled on the terrace, his lips gone slack.

M-m-my s-son—

The sob rose so quickly in her throat that she nearly choked on it, and she had to turn away. Jason’s hands came up again, resting on the shoulders left bare by her strapless sundress. “Hey—”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry—I know he wasn’t a good man—” She looked at him, feeling the hot trail of tears as they slid down her cheeks. “I know what he was d-doing to K-Kristina—and I’ve had patients die before, but—”

“He wasn’t your patient,” Jason reminded her gently, with none of the condemnation she expected reflected back at her. “And you’re not at work. You didn’t come here today expecting—” He looked past her, and even his face seemed a bit colorless. “None of us expected this.”

“His last words—they were about his son—and I just—” She waved a hand near her face as if it could stop the flood of emotions. “Oh, God, our boys were just a hundred feet away and they were just here—” She went to swipe at her eyes but inhaled sharply remembering the blood on her hands. “Damn it.”

Jason cupped her jaw gently with both hands, brushing her tears away with his thumbs. “When I heard the shots—all I could think about was finding Jake and Danny. I knew it came from the lake, I was afraid—” He shook his head, curled an arm around her shoulder and drew her against him. She pressed her forehead against his chest, feeling some the tension ease when she felt his heart pounding beneath her cheek. “And then he said you and Michael were down here—this isn’t supposed to happen here.”

“Who could do something like this with so many witnesses?” she murmured.

“I don’t know.” She felt his lips briefly against her forehead. “I’m so damn glad it’s not you laying on this deck. Or anyone that matters to me,” he added. His arm tightened a bit around her shoulders.

“I can’t wait to give our statements and be done with this,” she said, drawing back slightly. “I mean, they can’t possibly think of any us would be involved. You were in the house. Dozens of people must have seen you.”

Jason opened his mouth, then pressed his lips together, and reached in his pocket. “I was alone when I heard the shots. I hadn’t reached the boys yet.”

“B-but you came out of the house.” Elizabeth watched him swipe something on his phone. “Jake and Danny saw you.”

“I know. But all the same—” He lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey, Diane? Just putting you on alert. No, I’m not under arrest…”

Quartermaine Estate: Living Room

Tracy Quartermaine paced from the windows to the fireplace, then back. “I need another—” A glass of wine appeared in front of her, and she offered Sasha a reluctant nod. “Thank you.”

“Of course. We’re all shaken up—” The Quartermaine cook hesitated. “Well, except maybe Drew—”

“Still closeted in with his damn campaign manager and Nina trying to decide how to spin the murder of a federal agent,” Ned muttered. “Took him five minutes to make this about himself.”

“That’s a record for this family,” his ex-wife Lois offered, lifting her own tumbler of liquor to her lips. “Are the cops here yet?”

Brook Lynn appeared in the doorway, a bit irritated. “You know, maybe there’s something to be said for children should be seen and not heard. I don’t think I want kids anymore.”  She frowned, noticing Jake, Danny, Rocco, and Aiden hovering by the windows, all looking out the window towards the gardens. “Hey! Didn’t you get the memo? Kids are upstairs—”

“Kids,” Danny repeated. “Not teenagers. I mean, if you want Rocco to go upstairs because he’s only thirteen—”

“For two more weeks,” Rocco argued. “No one’s making me go to the nursery!”

“Rocco,” Olivia hissed, making a beeline for her grandson. “Don’t make a scene. All of you—”

“I think maybe Danny and I need to stay down here,” Jake said, and Brook Lynn looked at them, furrowed her brow. “We’re…we’re the ones that saw Dad come out of the house. After we heard the gunshots.”

“Of course—Jason needs his sons to be his alibi—you see this is why you don’t bring criminals to the house—” Tracy began, but broke off when Laura Collins came in, with the deputy mayor, Jordan Ashford, on her heels. “Laura. Please tell me the authorities are here—”

“I know the PCPD are enroute, but I’ve just had a call from the FBI field office.” She sighed. “They’ve already been informed and will be taking over the case the second they arrive.”

The doorbell rang, and few minutes later, Anna appeared in the doorway flanked by Dante and Chase. Chase immediately headed for his wife, while Dante went to his son. “Michael is taking the uniforms down to the boathouse, but I’m told there were some witnesses up here.” She made a face. “I wish he hadn’t left the body alone—”

“Oh, he didn’t.” Tracy lifted her brows. “He left it with Jason.” She sipped her wine. “I said it was like putting the butcher in with the dairy cows, but no one thought it was funny.”

“Mother.” Ned offered her an irritated glare before looking at Anna. “Elizabeth is down there. From what Michael said, she offered first aid, but Cates was beyond her help. Jason arrived a few minutes later.”

“I’ll let Jason establish his own alibi, thank you,” Anna said dryly. “Dante, Chase, I want you to go down to the crime scene. Handle it and take statements. Uh, Chase, make sure you’re the one who takes Jason’s statement.”

Dante squeezed Danny’s shoulder before exiting the room with his partner in tow.

“Where are my other witnesses?” Anna asked.

Danny raised his hand. “Uh, that’s us. And we’re Dad’s alibi, too, I guess.”

Anna looked at them, exhaled slowly. “Just the two of you?”

“I mean, I guess so, right—” Danny looked at Jake, then back at Anna. “Why?”

“Nothing. All right, the two of you need to be separated immediately and will need to have a uniform with you at all times.”

Ned stepped in front of the boys. “That’s not really necessary, is it—”

“Either they go to separate rooms or we take them in for questioning. That’s it.”

“Questioning!” Danny repeated with a nervous laugh. “What? Why? We were just—” Jake sent him a look, and he closed his mouth.  Ned turned to them.

“That’s right. No talking,” Ned told him. He looked at Jake. “You, either. Wait for your parents.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Jake said, grimly.

Quartermaine Estate: Boat House

The uniforms that had followed Michael down to the boat house had already separated Jason and Elizabeth for whatever good it did, and Dante went inside the boat house where Elizabeth was waiting, staring down at the now-dried blood on her hands.

“That’s the Quartermaines for you,” he said with a forced light one. “Never a dull moment.” She smiled weakly, then got to her feet. “So, what happened?”

“I don’t really know. I—I was with the kids on the terrace. We called them up from the lake when the sun started to set. You know, the, uh, lifeguard wasn’t there and—” She curled her fingers in her palms, not wanting to see the blood anymore. “I was getting ready to pack up.”

“Which kids were with you?” Dante asked, pulling out his notepad.

“Well, mine — Jake and Aiden. Danny and Rocco. Rocco and Aiden went into find Laura, and Michael asked me if we could talk for a few minutes.” It couldn’t have been more than hour, she thought, but it already felt like a lifetime. “We went down in the gardens, and left Jake and Danny on the terrace.”

“How far did you get with Michael?” Dante asked, scribbling.

“Oh, somewhere near the center of the rose garden, I guess. We stopped, and I think we were gonna start walking back, but then we heard the first sound.”

“And you recognized it?”

“Yes. We heard one shot, and we both started running.”

“Toward the gunfire?” Dante said dryly, and she wrinkled her nose.

“I didn’t think—for all we knew, there were just some kids leftover, Dante. I’m a nurse—” She shivered. “But it was just—it was just Agent Cates. He was alone—laying pretty much where—” She looked towards the door of the boat house. “Right where you saw him. I tried to help him—I knew it too late—” She looked at her hands. “He died. Before Michael could finish the 911 call.”

“And you didn’t see any evidence of anyone else? You didn’t hear any footsteps? Sounds in the trees of someone hiding?” Dante asked, and she looked at him. “How long did it take you to get down here?”

“Oh. God. I don’t even know. Maybe a minute? Two? I don’t know. How long does it take to walk down here? It wasn’t more than five minutes. I’m sure of that.”

“And when did Jason show up?”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “A few minutes after Michael and I did. After…after Cates took his final breath. He didn’t say anything—I mean, he just—he said ‘my son’ but even that—” She closed her eyes.

“Did you hear Jason coming?”

Puzzled, she opened her eyes, looked at him. “What?”

“Jason. Did you hear him coming through the trees? You said he came after you guys. Did you hear him?”

“I wasn’t listening. I was just—” She gestured with her hands. “But I probably wouldn’t have. They keep the pathway really clear, Dante.”

“Yeah, I know.” Dante flipped his notepad back. “But I gotta ask these questions, Liz. You know that. Otherwise, they start talking about objectivity. And the better my interview is, the less chance you got of having to do it twice.”

“What do you mean?”

“The feds are gonna take it over. But me and Chase taking these interviews — we might be able to make sure they look in the right direction.” He gestured towards the sink in the corner. “Because you and I both know, that while Jason’s gonna be on the list, there’s no way in hell he’d do any of this with you and the boys on the property, much less Michael and the rest of the family. Go wash up. I’ll see you outside.”

When she emerged from the boat house, she saw that Dante hadn’t been kidding — mingled with the PCPD uniforms, were coats with FBI emblazoned in bold yellow letters across the back. Michael and Jason had already been released and were waiting by the head of the path.

She flicked her gaze around — Cates was still laying there, photographs were being snapped. Her stomach lurched, and she knew she had to get out of there. And even more — she wanted to get Jason off the property before agents could think of a reason to detain him.

“You okay?” Jason asked when she reached them, his hand outstretched. She took it, gratefully, navigating the dirt awkwardly — one of her heels had snapped at some point, and she was limping from the uneven height.

“Yeah, I want to get the boys, and I want to get out of here,” she said.

“Before the feds decide to make all of this worse,” Michael said grimly. “Let’s go.”

Quartermaine Estate: Kitchen

Jason held the door open so that Michael and Elizabeth could go in before him. Elizabeth paused to yank off both her shoes. “So much for these,” she muttered, shoving them in a nearby trashcan.

“I’m sure we can find something to get you to wear home,” Michael said, as they traversed the long hallway towards the main sitting room. “Willow or Brook should be in your size, maybe.”

“I’m fine. I’ve got sneakers in my tote. I always—” Elizabeth broke off when they crossed the threshold into the sitting room. Tracy’s face was flush, Laura was on the phone, and Brook Lynn was in tears.

Jason looked around — and only saw Aiden and Rocco. The dread that had only started to ease when they’d made it out of the crime scene roared back. “Where are the boys?”

“W-we tried to stop them—” Brook Lynn managed, and Ned put an arm around his daughter.

“Anna tried to get them questioned here, separated them into rooms,” Olivia said, wringing her hands. “But some Fed came in here, barking orders, and the second he found out it was your boys who were witnesses—”

“Where did they take them?” Elizabeth demanded.

“The PCPD for questioning,” Tracy bit out. “And when we tried to interfere—”

“They threatened us with arrest. I thought—I thought maybe it was better not to make things worse,” Brook Lynn admitted. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”

His sons had been hauled into the police station on nothing more than who they were. Jason curled his hands into fists, took a deep breath, then looked at Elizabeth who was already fishing her phone from the pocket of her sun dress.

“I’m calling Diane,” she said. “Michael—”

“You left your bag with your sneakers on the back terrace. I’ll get it.” Michael took off in that direction.

“Meet us in the car,” Jason said, and Elizabeth nodded, heading for the foyer. He snagged his keys from his pocket, and when they reached the gravel lined driveway with still no Michael in sight, Jason didn’t even hesitate. He crouched down slightly, plucked Elizabeth up, and carried her over to the SUV.

Elizabeth curled one arm around his neck for balance, and with the other — “Diane? No, he’s still not under arrest but you need to get down to the PCPD. The FBI has the boys.”

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