September 2007

Chelsea Ray turned off the main path down one that twisted and curled around the PCU campus, leading towards her dorm. She’d only just moved into Lewis Hall the week before, and was still negotiating with her new roommate what went where, and what, if any, shared space they’d enjoy. Georgie Jones seemed pretty nice, so maybe it would be great freshman year after all.

Chelsea heard a branch break behind her, so she stopped to look. Maybe someone had left the party and was on their way back. Maybe it was Gavin, the dreamy sophomore she’d met when they’d moved in. She was almost sure he’d sent the small bouquet of lilies and daisies she’d found outside her dorm—

But there was no one behind her, so she shrugged and turned back towards the dorm. She was only ten feet away from the door when a hand wrapped around her upper arm and yanked her off the path.

She never even had the chance to scream.

---

The house on Lexington Street was practically overflowing with boxes. Emily Bowen-Quartermaine could scarcely find the newspaper between stacks on the porch, and  then almost tripped over another one in the landing when she came in.

“Sorry—” Elizabeth Spencer lifted her four-month-old son into her arms and navigated around another stack. “I meant to grab that one—”

“That’s okay,” Emily said with a shrug. “You nearly died tripping over mine upstairs last night.” She glanced around the room with a sigh. “Where did we get so much stuff?”

“I’m not sure,” Elizabeth admitted. She swayed a bit, lulling the dozing infant into deeper sleep. “I think, between cleaning out my grandmother’s house, your parents deciding you couldn’t move out without taking everything you everything owned, and the boys—”

“We’re going to unpacking when our bones are dust in the ground.” Emily shoved another stack aside and unfolded the paper. “Well, the trial is finally off the front pages,” she said, holding it up so Elizabeth could see.

Elizabeth squinted, then her eyes widened. “Oh my God—”

“Yeah, I think I should have been more specific when I asked the universe to give you and my brother a break—” Emily scanned the headline again. MURDER SHOCKS PCU CAMPUS; NO LEADS. “The poor girl, and her family—can you imagine? She manages to survive her entire life in New York City, comes to PCU—”

Elizabeth clutched her son more tightly against her, pressing her cheek to his soft blond hair, and Emily wanted to kick herself. Only a few terrible months ago, baby Jake had been kidnapped, and Elizabeth had been devastated. “Sorry—”

“It’s okay.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly, then went to set Jake into the bassinet in the corner. She went to answer the ringing phone and Emily tossed aside the paper and picked up the box she’d tripped on. Best to start with the boxes that might end up killing them. As she unwrapped some knick knacks Elizabeth had inherited from her grandmother when Audrey Hardy had passed away that summer, she half listened to Elizabeth on the phone.

“Yeah, I mean, I expected it, Diane. No—” Elizabeth sighed. “No, I don’t want to go that route yet. I’m hoping when things settle—okay. Okay. Yeah, I’ll find out and let you know. Thanks.” She set the cordless back in the base and joined Emily at the table.

“Everything okay?” Emily asked.

“Yeah. I guess.” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “We have a mediation meeting at the end of the week—to figure out where we are on the divorce and custody. I filed after he told me about Sam—” She looked at Emily. “I mean, I was going to after the trial anyway, but—”

“I hope Ric Lansing gets stabbed by a rusty nail,” Emily muttered. “He had no right to ask those questions—”

“Bias,” Elizabeth reminded her with a half shrug. “He needed to impeach my testimony and make it look like I’d lie for Jason. Diane warned me.”

“Still—”

“It really is fine. It’s better this way,” Elizabeth added. “Lucky and I were just hurting each other. We never should have remarried—this entire last year—ever since I found him with Maxie—” She removed a photo frame of her grandparents from its packing paper, then traced her fingers over her beloved grandmother. “It’s like I’ve been drifting in a fog, not thinking about the big picture. I should have told the truth from the start.”

“You had your reasons.”

“That doesn’t make them right. Or even good ones.” Elizabeth walked the photo over to the mantel to set Steve and Audrey Hardy next to a photo of the boys, Cameron’s beaming face as he held his little brother. “He’s asking for joint custody.”

“What? Why?” Emily folded his arms. “He’s barely been in Cameron’s life since the first separation. And Jake isn’t his. He knows that.”

“Knowing and feeling are different things. Cameron—that’s on him,” Elizabeth added. “But Jake—he’s spent a year being his father, and now I’ve told him it’s not true. I can’t blame him for being angry—”

“But Jason—”

“I hurt Jason over all of this, too,” Elizabeth admitted. “And I don’t know how to stop hurting either of them. I just know Jason doesn’t deserve to be cut out of Jake’s life, and it was never my place to ask for it.”

“Then Lucky needs to back off. He’s the one that torpedoed everything. The drugs, the affairs, the abuse-”

“Em—”

“Don’t argue. He was emotionally abusive, and we both know he pushed you last year. He’s my friend, Elizabeth, but you’re my family.” Emily put her hand on Elizabeth’ shoulder. “And whatever happens next, I’m on your side.”

---

Elizabeth had finally made a serious dent in the boxes that had filled the living room, and was relieved at the knock on the front door giving her reason to stop unpacking. She tossed some of the empty boxes out of the way and peered out the window.

Then opened the door. “Jason.”

Jason Morgan, recently acquitted on all charges, offered a half-sheepish smile, the tips of his fingers tucked into the pockets of his jeans. “Hey. I hope it’s okay I just…”

Elizabeth tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and stepped back. “Yeah, yeah. Um, come in. Don’t mind the mess. Em and I are still unpacking.” She closed the door, took a deep breath, then turned to face him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he repeated. They stood there for a long moment, just staring at one another. She couldn’t help but remember one of the last times they’d been alone together — when they’d stood in the park and he’d told her he was in love with her. That he should have said it a long time ago.

Instead of just telling him the same, she’d had to tell him about the men in the park, the ones that had threatened her and the boys with guns.

Why couldn’t they ever be on the same page at the same time?

Their timing, as he’d said a year ago, sucked.

“You’re finally off the front page,” Elizabeth said, gesturing at the paper Emily had left on the table. “You and Sonny must  be relieved.”

“Yeah—” Jason scratched his temple. “I’m glad you’re not there either. That wasn’t—that was a long couple of weeks.”

“Yeah.” She folded her arms. “Um, Jake just went down for his afternoon nap if you wanted to go up and see him—”

“I do,” Jason said. “But we haven’t really—I mean, we haven’t talked about what’s going to happen. If anything is going to change.”

“I want them to,” Elizabeth said. “Jake—I mean, the world knows the truth. They should have a long time ago—”

“We don’t have to talk about any of that—”

“We do,” Elizabeth insisted. “Because you deserve an apology for what’s happened. And what’s going to keep happening. Diane just told me Lucky wants joint custody of both boys. He’s not backing down on Jake, even with the paternity results.”

Jason’s mouth twisted. “Can he do that?” Then he paused, closed his eyes. “Is that what you want? For him to—”

“No—” Elizabeth cut in sharply and he opened his eyes, looked at her again. “No. I just—I did this. To both of you. I don’t want to hurt him more than I have already—he had affairs, I know. And he was—it wasn’t good between us. Even last year. But I can solve that problem. I did—I left. But he honestly thought Jake was his son, and he’s lost that.”

“Yeah.” Jason exhaled slowly, looked away. “I know what it’s like. And I can tell you, even knowing the truth doesn’t help.”

“I told Diane that I’m not changing my mind. Lucky isn’t his father. You are. And you don’t deserve watching Jake grow up thinking differently. I never should have asked you.”

“Elizabeth-”

“I can’t fix this for both of you. It’s impossible. Either I hurt you or I hurt him. And I think it’s time I put you first.” She took a deep breath. “So that’s what’s going on. I just don’t think he’s going to back down. It’s going to be in court, and you might have to testify.”

“Okay.” Jason nodded. “Whatever you need from me. I just—I want—” He stopped, and their eyes met, held for a long moment. “I want us both to be okay. And the boys to be happy.”

“That’s what I want, too,” Elizabeth said. She tipped her head towards the stairs. “Let me show you were Jake is. You should spend some time with him.”

Written in 34 minutes. 

 

 

Elizabeth stepped off the elevator, patient charts in her arms, and stopped short. Robin Scorpio stood at the nurse’s station, an arm around her younger cousin, Georgie Jones, whose cheeks were streaks with tears and her eyes red and puffy. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Robin said, giving Georgie’s shoulders another squeeze. “Georgie’s just having a tough day.”

“Chelsea’s parents came to get—” Georgie’s voice broke and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Epiphany won’t care about me missing a few days?”

“Of course not, sweetie.” Robin kissed her forehead. “Let me take care of it. I’ll talk to her, and you head home and pack for New York, okay?”

“Okay.” Georgie hugged her again, then disappeared onto the elevator.

Robin sighed, and joined Elizabeth at the counter. “Georgie’s roommate at PCU was the girl who was killed a few days ago,” she told Elizabeth. She reached for a chart, opened it, then just stared down at blindly. “They roomed together last year, and Chelsea had just come up for the new fall semester.”

“Oh, man—”

“Yeah, Chelsea was a sweet kid. And really good for Georgie. She needed someone to get her mind off everything that happened—with—” Robin flashed a weak smile. “With Maxie, the break up with Dillon, the hotel—anyway. Georgie’s going to head down to the city for the funeral.”

“The paper says the cops don’t have any leads.” Elizabeth shuddered. “That it might have been random.” It wasn’t safe to be alone after dark, she thought, her mind straying a bit as she remembered another night, long ago. Another girl.

“I hope not. I mean, it’s a tragedy either way,” Robin added, clicking the top on her pen. “But if it was random, what’s stopping it from happening again?”

“There’s a scary thought.”

“Yeah, well—I need to track Epiphany down and get Georgie off the volunteer schedule.” Robin forced a smile on her face. “We need a break from all this doom and gloom. Ever since the trial—”

“Even before that,” Elizabeth murmured.

“It’s been a long year, that’s for sure. You get a baby sister, and I’ll get Kelly and Lainey. We’ll do a Girls Night—”

“Not Lainey,” Elizabeth cut in sharply and Robin flinched. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make things awkward, but I’m just not ready to move on—”

“I was hoping with some time and space—”

“I’d forget?” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. All I’ll ever remember is precious time being wasted while Lainey and Lucky tried to convince me and the PCPD that I’d done something to hurt Jake.”

“Elizabeth—”

“There was no evidence of post-partum depression,” Elizabeth retorted. “Nothing except me being tired and distracted. And she never apologized. She just said she was doing her job—”

Robin exhaled slowly. “I know it felt like you were being attacked—”

“I was being attacked, and Lainey was supposed to be there as my friend. No one asked for her professional opinion—” Elizabeth closed her mouth. “I don’t want to put you in the middle, Robin. I really don’t. But I’m not ready to forgive or forget.”

“Fair enough. I don’t know if I would be in your position either,” Robin admitted. “And I certainly don’t want to make things harder for you. I know the last few weeks have been hard enough.”

“Exactly. I have to get back to work.”

---

Jason jogged down the steps at Elm Street Pier, then stopped abruptly when he realized that Lucky Spencer was coming from the opposite direction, turning the corner from Bannister’s Wharf. He thought of just ignoring the other man, turning around to avoid him but—

It was too late.

“Well, well, well.” Lucky sneered, hatred twisted his features. “I was wondering when I’d run into you—”

“Look, Lucky, I don’t want to get into anything—” Jason loathed this sorry excuse for a man for every piece of misery he’d brought into Elizabeth’s life, but the last thing he wanted to do was make anything worse for her and the custody hearing.

“If you think you’re going to waltz into my family and take over—” Lucky jabbed Jason’s chest with his index finger. “You better think again. I’m not letting her get away with what she’s done—”

Jason just remained silent, remembering Elizabeth’s anguished expression the other day. There was some truth to her words — she had lied to Lucky about Jake, and Jason had let the lie continue.

“She humiliated me in front of the whole damn town and now she thinks she’s going to take my boys away from me? Not a chance in hell, Morgan. She took everything from me, and I’m not going to rest until I’ve made her bleed—”

Jason clenched his jaw, but did nothing more than wrap his fingers around Lucky’s wrist and shove him back lightly. “Just remember,” Jason said quietly, “that you’re not innocent either, Lucky. I’m sure your attorney has informed you it’ll be an uphill battle to even get visitation with Cameron, much less Jake. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“The minute that bitch lied to me about my son—”

“Was that before or after you nearly killed her on the docks by shooting at me?” Jason asked, his tone more pleasant than he felt. What he wouldn’t give to make this piece of shit disappear. “Or you drained the bank accounts to go into rehab for your drug problem? Or had an affair with a teenager who stole drugs for you—”

Lucky’s eyes burned. “Shut up—”

“Or when you accused her of hurting Jake and wasted time while some crazy woman got further away with him?” Jason cut in, and Lucky flinched. “And because you couldn’t stand being wrong, couldn’t stand that I’d brought him home, you made sure to violate my parole. I don’t know, Lucky. Do we really want to stand here and pretend that anything Elizabeth has done comes close to your crimes?”

“At least I’m not a killer,” Lucky growled, and Jason smirked.

“We both know that’s not true. You think you’re better than me because you have a badge?” Jason stepped back. “As far as the system is concerned, I’m a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen, and you’re harassing me.” He fisted his hands at his side. “Now I’m done with this conversation.”

“You stay away from my boys—”

Jason was done with the conversation. He’d said what he wanted to, and maybe more than he should have. He turned towards Pier 52 and the warehouse, leaving Lucky seething.

---

Mac Scorpio dragged his hands through his hair and closed his eyes. “Nothing came back from the lab?”

“No DNA under the nails, no footprints on the scene.” Detective David Harper sat across from the commissioner and shoved the autopsy report across the table. “The most we have is that we think the suspect is taller than the victim.”

“Great, round up all the guys taller than five foot six, and we’ll have him by dinner.” Mac sighed, looked at the photo on his desk of Georgie on her graduation day the year before. She was a wreck over all of this, and he just wanted to give her—and Chelsea Ray’s family some closure.

“We’re still doing rounds at the campus, but no one is sticking out yet. She was well-liked, friendly, but hadn’t been dating. There was a guy—they were still in the flirting stage,” Harper continued, “but his alibi checks out. He was back at the party. I’m sorry, Mac. I don’t think it was personal. Or at least someone she knew.”

“Christ. We don’t need a random killer out there picking on coeds,” Mac muttered. He’d lock Georgie in her damn room if that was the case.

“I hear you. We’ll keep at it, but right now? We’re dead in the water.”

Written in 43 minutes.

 

 

Confronting Lucky had felt good at the time, but as the day continued, Jason started to have his doubts. Elizabeth had warned him that her custody issues with Lucky were going to get bad, and he’d known that Lucky was trying to stay in Jake’s life. The last thing Elizabeth needed was Jason getting in the middle when he was so close to being in Jake’s life full-time.

The worry that he’d done something to harm her chances gnawed at him long enough that he decided he needed a second opinion. Unfortunately for him, Diane wasn’t in the mood to help.

“I cannot discuss Elizabeth’s case with you,” Diane sniffed as she swept into the office at the warehouse. She wrinkled her nose as she took in the dingy, cramped room where Jason did the books, but offered no verbal opinion. “You wanted her to have the best attorney possible. That comes with some drawbacks—”

“I’m not—” Jason scowled and shoved himself to his feet. “I’m not asking for state secrets. Or even anything about her case.”

“No?” Diane arched an eyebrow. “Then what exactly am I here for?”

“I’m asking as Jake’s biological father,” Jason said, his teeth clenched, “what can Lucky do about visitation and can he keep me away my son?”

Diane pursed her lips, folded her arms. “Speaking in general terms, stepparents don’t usually have a lot of power to push for visitation or continued contact. It’s unfortunate when there’s a longstanding relationship, but the court defers to biology.” She hesitated. “There’s a nuance to this case that a family court judge might entertain as Lucky is the parent on the birth certificate and has provided support as the father for the last three months.”

Jason’s heart sank. “So he can win.”

“If I were in court arguing for your right to visitation,” Diane began, “I would win. You’re the biological father looking to establish contact.  Beyond that, Jason, I honestly can’t tell you much more. You’d be better off asking Elizabeth. I can’t even meet with both of you sine you are not party to the case. Any meeting with a third-party won’t attach attorney-client privilege.”

He was frustrated by that answer, but Diane was devoted to her profession, and he wanted Elizabeth to have everything she needed to get Lucky out of her life. It wasn’t her fault. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Elizabeth is my client,” Diane reminded him as she picked up her purse. “I plan to give her the best advice to maintain full custody of her boys.”

“That’s a goal,” Jason said with a nod, even though he wondered if the best way for Elizabeth to keep the boys and get rid of Lucky would be to eliminate Jason from the equation. What would he do if that was the answer?

---

Robin marked the patient’s dosage adjustment in a chart, then handed it to Leyla Mir, the nurse on duty. “Thanks,” she told her. “That’s effective with the next round.”

“I’ll take care of it.” The pretty, dark-haired woman disappeared around the corner, and Robin turned to Emily.

“Nikolas wants me to go to dinner with him,” Emily said, with a sigh. She flipped through the charts at the desk. “I told him I’d think about it. Am I insane? Should I just go for it?”

“As the queen of overthinking everything,” Robin said, “I am definitely not the person to ask for advice.”

“After everything we’ve been through—” Emily set down her pen. “It would be stupid to waste time. You know? After losing my dad this year—” Her voice faltered slightly, then her tone firmed. “But I don’t know. I don’t want to go back. Or rest on nostalgia.”

“I get it. Jason and I dated way past our expiration date,” Robin reminded. “Everything about that last year was just postponing the inevitable. And look at Lucky and Elizabeth. They kept trying to go back, and where are they know? Miserable and fighting bitterly in court.”

“Yeah. That’s a good point. Right now, I’m lonely,” Emily admitted. “That’s why Elizabeth and I moved in together. Nikolas wants me to remember how good it was, and he’s not wrong, but it was also terrible. At he humiliated me at the end—” She took a deep breath. “I just can’t.”

“Fear of being alone can make you do terrible things,” Robin said softly. “I put up with Carly and lying about Michael because I thought no other man would ever want me with the HIV. I’m so glad I got out of it, even if I had to burn everything down around me.”

“I’m glad you did.” Emily made a face. “If you hadn’t told AJ about Michael, Jason might have ended up with Carly. That would have been a disaster.”

---

Elizabeth answered the door with Jake perched on her hip and half-twisted away from the door to remind Cameron that he couldn’t just touch everything because it was in front of him—she barely registered Jason at the door before Cameron reached out for one of her grandmother’s glass sculptures she’d left on the coffee table by mistake. “Cameron—here—” She shoved Jake at Jason and hurried across the room.

“What did I tell you—” Elizabeth snatched up the dolphin, and Cameron blinked up at her with his wide blue eyes. “Cameron.”

“But it’s fish. I like fish.”

Elizabeth put the dolphin into the curio cabinet she’d brought from Audrey’s house and closed the door. “It’s glass.”

“A glass fish,” Cameron corrected. “Makes it different.”

“Glass—” She shook her head, counted to five, then tried again. “Gram’s glass animals were one of her favorite things. You know how your train is your favorite?”

Cameron nodded.

“What if I let Jake crawl around and touch your train and he broke it? By accident. Would that be okay?”

“No. He’s a baby. Trains are for big kids.” Cameron jabbed a thumb into his chest. “I big kid.”

“Exactly. Trains are for big kids. He gets stuffed animals, you get the train, and I get—” Elizabeth gestured. “Glass animals.”

“Oh.” Cameron studied the now closed cabinet with all the animals tucked away safely. “Glass animals for really big kids.”

“Yes. Really big kids.”

“Okay.” Cameron beamed at her, his tiny baby teeth flashing. Then he looked past her. “Hi, Jase.”

Elizabeth turned to find Jason still holding Jake. He’d closed the door and stepped down the two steps into the living room. “Hey. Sorry about that.”

“No problem. Hey, Cam.”

“Why don’t you go play with your trains?” she told Cameron. “Aunt Em and I finished the playroom last night.”

Cameron nodded and started the climb to the stairs.

“I wasn’t expecting you, was I?” Elizabeth asked. She started to reach for Jake, then stopped herself. Jason should get to hold his son as much as he wanted. She folded her arms behind her back. “I’ve been distracted — I’m supposed to go back to the hospital full-time next week—I’ve only been part-time for the last month—and we’re still unpacking—” She sighed. “Not that you need an appointment or anything—”

“No, I came over to talk to you. And you’re fine.” Jason hesitated. “I ran into Lucky earlier today.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and went over to another box with her grandmother’s glass collection. She knelt down and started to unwrap them. Jason set Jake down on the baby blanket, arranging him on his back so Jake could wiggle and reach for the toys tied to the plastic arch above him.

“That must have been fun.”

“Yeah, well, I usually ignore him,” Jason admitted. She looked up at him. “I didn’t this time. He’s going after Cameron and Jake to punish you. I mean you told me that, but—”

“Yeah, he’s telling his lawyer that he loves them, but he’s not paying an ounce of child support and he hasn’t even asked to see Cam since we moved out, much less Jake. Diane says it’s going to screw him in court, but I’ll guess we’ll see.” Elizabeth sat back on her heels. “I’m sorry, Jason.”

“It’s fine—”

“It’s really not. None of this would be happening if I hadn’t been stupid and weak last fall. If I had just told you the truth from the beginning or—”

“We can’t go back.” Jason knelt down next to her, stopping her as she reached for another animal to unwrap. She met his eyes. “Regrets don’t solve anything, okay? I also didn’t have to listen to Carly. I could have told you no in February. You’re not the only one who made mistakes.”

“No, but—” She closed her eyes. “Diane keeps telling me that it’ll be okay. Lucky’s getting a hearing only because he’s Jake’s legal parent. The court will order a paternity test—that’ll take care of it.”

“I talked to her,” Jason said. “But she wouldn’t give me anything. I get it—she’s not my lawyer, but—”

“Oh. I should have—” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “If you tell me what you want to ask, I can find out. But she’s already told me Lucky can’t win. If you weren’t in the picture, he might get visitation with Jake. But you are. And, like I said, Lucky hasn’t even tried to see the boys. He’s going to argue I wasn’t faithful—” Her cheeks flushed. “And, no, technically in August, I wasn’t. But I’ve got Maxie. And this year—” She bit her lip and their eyes met again. “The court doesn’t really care about emotional affairs.”

Emotional affairs. Like admitting that they loved one another and had for a long time. Jason exhaled slowly. “They won’t?”

“No. Because I can honestly say that nothing physical happened, and then Lucky will have to explain about Sam. Like I said — I’m going to win,” Elizabeth said. “It’s just going to suck for a while. But you being around Jake—that’s going to help. So you can come whenever you want. You don’t even have to ask—”

“Thank you.” Jason released her hand and they both looked over at Jake as he kicked his feet and giggled, his tiny hand latching onto one of the toys, releasing it to watch it bounce back, then repeating it. “Thank you,” he said again.

---

It was late that night when Leyla Mir completed her shift and headed to the parking garage. Her feet were aching, and all she could think about was running a hot bubble bath and soaking with a book —

She only had time to hear the scratch of something against the concrete floor before something wrapped around her throat and her airway was choked off. She dug her fingers into the thin strap at her neck, but she couldn’t get beneath it—

Then she was being dragged backwards—and then—

There was nothing at all.

Written in 37 minutes.

 

 

Elizabeth switched off the engine, reached into the passenger seat for her purse to loop            over her head, then got out of the car to meet Emily who had driven her own car. “The diaper bag is in the trunk—I really shouldn’t even bother,” she said with a sigh, unhooking Cameron from his booster seat. “Why am I dragging them both to day care for half a shift?”

“Because it’s good for Cameron to get back into the routine,” Emily said, popping the trunk to grab the bag for Jake. “And for you to be away from Jake.”

“I like the hospital,” Cameron said, grinning at her. “Can I come work with you?”

“No.” Elizabeth went to the other side of the car, while Emily took Cameron’s hand, and lifted Jake from his car seat. She pressed him close for just a moment. Her sweet precious little boy who had nearly disappeared forever—Oh, God. Then put him back into the car seat, lifting the carrier from the car.

“You don’t have to do this. You don’t even have to come back full-time next week,” Emily told her gently. “The only time you’ve been to work, I was home with the boys. I know it’s hard to leave them with people you don’t know. That aren’t family.”

“I just—I don’t have a choice. I have to get back to work—”

“You said Jason offered child support,” Emily reminded her. “To help the case in court, to make it look like he was involved—”

“He is involved—”

“And with Lucky not even offering a cent voluntarily—which you don’t want—anyway—” Emily pressed her lips together. “You could get a nanny. Someone whose only priorities are the boys—”

“That’s—” Entirely too tempting, just as it had been when Jason had offered the child support as an option. Of course, he wanted to give her too much, and it would let her stay home even longer. But— “I like my job. And daycare is good for the boys. Cameron learned to talk faster, and he’s so good with other kids.”

“Okay.”

“So let’s stop arguing about this. I’m only here for four hours, and you’re going to be late.”

“All right.  Hey, Cam, hold Aunt Em’s hand, okay?” Emily said. “What are the rules in the parking garage?”

“Hold hand, stay close. No running,” Cameron recited. “I know everything, Aunt Em.”

“I know you do—” They started towards the bank of elevators, but they only managed to get a few paces away  from their cars when Emily stopped, her eyes wide. She shoved Cameron lightly towards his mother. “Stay here.”

“Em—” Elizabeth shifted Jake’s carrier to one hand and held Cameron close. “What’s wrong—”

“Just—” Emily waved at them, then went closer to the wall, then looked at Elizabeth, swallowing hard. “These are the overnight cars, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. I see Patrick’s, and I know he had the graveyard in the ER—Em—”

“Okay. Go drop the boys off,” Emily said, pulling out her cell phone. “I need—” Her voice faltered. “I need to make a call.”

“Mommy?” Cameron tilted his head  up. ‘What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. Let’s go to daycare.”

She hurried the boys as quickly as she could into the daycare facility on the first floor, then left a quick message for Epiphany before rushing back to the parking garage. She’d only been gone for maybe ten minutes, but by then hospital security was on the scene, joined by police officers. There was a flash as a camera went off.

“Emily—” Elizabeth joined Emily, talking to one of the guards. “What’s—” Her words fell off as a stretcher wheeled past her, a doctor she recognized from the morgue. “Oh my God—”

“I saw her foot,” Emily murmured. “As we passed.” She shuddered, closing her eyes. Elizabeth watched in horror as a body was lifted onto the stretcher—into a body bag. The long, dark hair, the olive-skin. The bruises on her throat.

“That’s Leyla—” She pressed her hands to her own throat, feeling a strange burn. “Leyla. Has she been here all night?”

“No way to know yet—” Emily folded her arms. “How many times have we walked in this parking garage?” she murmured. “I was here just last night. Alone.”

“A million times,” Elizabeth answered, watching as Leyla’s face disappeared when the body bag was zipped. Walking alone at night —

“I’m going to need you both to come down to the station,” Detective Harper said as he came over from the scene. “Just to make a few statements.”

---

Nothing traveled faster than bad news, so by the time Emily and Elizabeth arrived at the station to give their statements, Nikolas and Lucky were in the squad room. Nikolas turned towards them. “Lucky called me as soon as it came over the scanner that you’d found a body.”

“Where are the boys?” Lucky asked Elizabeth, and she frowned at the absence of bitterness. “Did they see anything?”

“No. No—they’re at the daycare. I—” Elizabeth exchanged a trouble look with Emily. “I really don’t think we should talk about anything else until we give our statements.”

“Yeah, and we should probably wait for our lawyer,” Emily added. Harper, who had come in behind them, scowled.

“What do you need a lawyer for?” he demanded.

“You don’t need Diane for this,” Lucky told Elizabeth,  the sympathy gone now. “What do you have to hide?”

“It’s not about hiding anything,” Emily explained patiently. “I just don’t talk to the police without a lawyer. Not after what the PCPD did this summer—”

“Neither do I,” Elizabeth said coolly. She glared in the direction of the interrogation room, remembering that terrible day, the  horrifying moment as she stood alone in that room, listening to Lainey and Lucky accuse her of hurting her son. “So when Diane gets here, we’ll make the statement and that’s it.”

Nikolas sighed. “Fine. I get it.”

“It’s bullshit,” Lucky began but Harper waved him away.

“Whatever. I should have expected to see Morgan’s rat lawyer showing up here sooner or later—”

“What a lovely greeting,” Diane said as she swept inside the squad room. “Shall we get started?”

---

Elizabeth was relieved that her instincts had panned out — Diane had them in and out of the station within thirty minutes, their signed statements in evidence. Elizabeth had seen nothing, and Emily had done nothing more than call in the scene. Diane gave them a ride to the hospital to get the boys and their cars.

“Honestly, I don’t know why they dragged us all the way down here,” Emily said as Diane pulled into an empty space. “I’ve got a thousand missed calls from my parents. I need to go put out those fires.”

“Epiphany told me not to bother with my shift,” Elizabeth said, “since I’ve missed most of it. Go ahead and take care of it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Emily loped off towards the elevators, and Elizabeth turned to Diane. “They hauled us in because of Jason, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Diane said, nodding. “That’s my suspicion. It’s no secret you’re in a divorce and custody battle with a fellow officer. With what  happened at the trial, between the acquittal and Lucky’s—shall we say, embarrassment—they’re not going to do you any favors.”

Elizabeth sighed. “He’s really not going to make it easy.”

“No. I’m going to win at the hearing,” Diane told Elizabeth gently. “But that doesn’t mean it ends. He can stall your divorce, he can appeal the custody—as long as Lucky has decided to make your life miserable, the system can—and likely will—help him.”

“He’s acting like we had some sort of perfect marriage,” Elizabeth murmured. “But it wasn’t. He’s had more affairs than I have—and mine was just one night, Diane.”

“I know. We’ll get through this, but it won’t be pretty.” Diane squeezed her hand. “Now, go get the boys and enjoy your unexpected day off.”

---

Elizabeth’s heart lifted slightly when she saw a bike parked at the curb of the house, and Jason on the steps.

“I hope it’s okay,” Jason said, coming over to help her when she parked the car. “I was with Diane when you called, and—”

Elizabeth unfastened Jake from the car seat and handed him to his father. “It’s more than okay.”

Written in 29 minutes. 

 

 

“Did you know her?”

Elizabeth lifted Cameron out of the booster seat and set him on the floor to scramble out of the kitchen and towards his toys in the living room. She looked over at Jason, perched on one of the stools, Jake in one arm and the bottle in the other. Like he did this every day.

Her stomach twisted. Like he should have been doing every day. “The nurse? Yes.” Elizabeth gathered Cameron’s lunch dishes and moved to the sink, happy to have something to occupy her mind and her hands. “Leyla Mir. She’s a student nurse. Just started last month. She was on my floor, but Epiphany—” She exhaled slowly. “I didn’t even see her, not really. But Emily said she had strangulation marks around her neck.”

Jason frowned. “She was strangled? Do they know if it was by hand, or—” He winced, and she smiled faintly. He’d never liked talking about violence with her, which she found almost sweet considering she’d just testified at a trial where he’d been accused of a murder she knew he’d committed.

“The police didn’t say, but Em has her thoughts,” Elizabeth finished. “I don’t really know the difference, but Emily does. She took, um, a domestic violence training last year.” After she’d learned about that night at the apartment when Lucky had shoved Elizabeth and she’d fallen. “She said it looked manual, not ligature. Something about the—” She rubbed her temple. “They said the girl at the college was strangled, too.”

“I know. Spinelli—he knew her,” Jason said. “They had classes together last year.”

“It’s scary,” Elizabeth admitted. She went to the doorway of the kitchen so that she had a clearer view of Cameron in his play area. There was a room upstairs, but she’d made sure there was something to keep him busy in every room so he’d be less likely to wander.

Jason set the bottle on the counter, then set Jake against his shoulder to burp. “It might not be the same person—”

“I don’t know which is worse,” Elizabeth admitted. “Strangulation is a terrible way to die, but with your hands—you have to be really angry to do that. To finish the job, you know?” He probably did know, she thought.

“Yeah.” Jason didn’t say anything else, and she stopped herself from asking how he knew. What Jason did for a living, the business and world he lived in—it had a different set of rules and laws. She’d always known and accepted that, and what had happened to Leyla and the other girl just proved that violence came from everywhere.

You couldn’t protect yourself from what hid in the dark. Not forever.

Jake burped, and Elizabeth hurried forward to grab the towel from Jason’s shoulder where he’d spit up. Jake’s head was still a bit unsteady, but he could hold it without support and he smiled, batted his hand at Jason’s face. Elizabeth smiled, then sobered slightly. “I’m sorry for all the time you’ve missed—”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing,” Jason said. “We both agreed—”

“No. I asked you something I had no right to ask, and you said yes. It’s not the same, Jason. You never in a million years would have asked me to give him up.” Elizabeth stroked Jake’s downy head, the white-blonde hair coming in more thickly now. “I don’t have some special right to him because I’m his mother—”

“You have the right to want him safe—”

“Safe—” Elizabeth picked up the bottle and went to wash it. “It’s just a four letter word. It doesn’t mean anything. Would we have had a guard that day in the park?” she asked.

Jason hesitated. “Elizabeth—”

“Tell me,” she insisted, turning back to him. “If the world had known about Jake, and you were in lockup, would we have had a guard?”

“Maybe.” Jason winced. “Yes,” he said. “I would have wanted one.”

“And a guard would have seen Maureen Harper. She never would have—” Elizabeth broke off. “I don’t get to be in charge of what safe means, okay? I’m terrible at it. And you don’t get to be either, for matter. We both forgot that danger can come from anywhere. And maybe—” She wrinkled her nose. “Now that the truth is out, I guess I can tell you that I’m a massive hypocrite. I asked you to give Jake up so Lucky could raise him, but part of it was jealousy.”

“Jealousy—” Jason said. He stood, readjusting Jake on his shoulder. “About—”

Elizabeth smiled wistfully. “The car accident I had at New Year’s. When you found me? Just like you always do.”

“I remember, but—”

“While I was unconscious, I dreamt about you,” Elizabeth confessed. “About being pregnant and sitting on the sofa in the penthouse. You were reading to Cameron, and we were a family. And then I had a nightmare about struggling with two kids and Lucky still having an affair—” Her voice broke. “And I chose the nightmare. I knew what it would be, and I still chose it.”

“Elizabeth—”

“And I feel so stupid because it was such a selfish, petty thing to do. To choose Lucky, to choose the lie because—” She scrubbed at her face, exhausted.

“You were jealous,” Jason finished with a squint that told her he still wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

“Because I wanted that dream. The first one. If I told Lucky, I’d be alone. With the kids.” She took a deep breath, confronting the cowardly truth. “If we told the world, you wouldn’t pick the dream. You’d stay with Sam, and she’d get to have that with you. And I wouldn’t. So I lied, and then I asked you to lie. Because I was too scared to be alone with the truth.”