Written in 68 minutes. The cat and I had a disagreement about napping with her head on my number keys, lol, so it took a minute.

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Harborview Towers: Security Suite

Jason watched the video again,  studying every line of the image on the screen, looking for anywhere on Sonny’s body he could be hiding the gun—

But there was no bulge at his back where he might have tucked it, the trousers he wore had no strangely shaped pockets, and nothing was in his hands.

“I need to talk to Courtney,” Jason said. When Justus started shaking his head, Jason scowled. “Okay, then you need to talk to her. She was the first person to see him directly after he came back—she comes through the lobby maybe ten minutes after he gets here. She knows where she got the damned gun—”

“Why can’t Jason talk to Courtney?” Mike asked, his brows drawn together. “What’s—” He stopped. “Wait. What do you mean she had the gun? I thought the police had it.” Realization rippled across his expression. “Oh, hell—”

“Courtney is one of the witnesses,” Justus confirmed, and Courtney’s father just closed his eyes. “The other is Ric.”

“Ric—No, no, that’s not—” Mike shook his head. “There must be some mistake. Because if Courtney and Ric are both pointing the finger at Jason, then they’d need to be working together, and that’s just not—Christ.” He turned away, dragged a hand through his hair.

A phone rang on the other side of the suite, and Max went to answer it. Jason focused on Mike. “I know this is a lot to take in. I’m sorry—but Ric and Courtney were in contact before that night. She was giving him Elizabeth’s schedule.”

“She—” Mike faced Jason, stricken. “She gave Elizabeth’s schedule to that monster? That’s how he knew when to show up to bother her? Christ. Nikolas said something about that—why would she go to him? Over you? Over the affair?” he demanded.

Jason nodded grimly. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize—don’t—if she’d—” Mike fisted his hand in front of him. “She had a right to be angry with you, to maybe even want some revenge. But Ric Lansing—that’s—no, there’s a mistake.”

“Well, we won’t know anything until we talk to Courtney,” Justus said. “And Mike, you’d be a lot of help in that area.”

“Whatever you need, sure.”

Max came back to Jason, holding the cordless phone in his hand. “Jase, Wally at the front desk—he says the Baldwin and the commissioner  need to talk to you.”

Jason opened his mouth to send him away, but stopped. Remembered the call Mac had received at the courthouse, Scott’s expression when he’d learned whatever Mac knew. He nodded. “Send them back here.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Justus warned, but Max was already lifting the phone to his ear. “Jason—”

“Something happened at the courthouse. Before they left, Mac got a call, and he looked surprised. Not just surprised. Flattened. He hurried Scott out of there. And now, half an hour later, they’re here? I want to know what they want,” Jason said.

“Okay, but they do all the talking,” Justus said.

“Should I go?” Mike wanted to know. “I can go track down Courtney—”

Before Jason could agree, there was a knock on the door, and Max twisted the knob. Mac came in, followed by Scott. The two of them looked around at the group in the security office, and Jason saw Mac’s eyes focus on the image on the screen. On the image of Courtney in the lobby.

“That the night of the shooting?” Mac asked gesturing.

“Yeah.” Jason folded his arms. “What do you want?”

“Actually—” Scott scratched his cheek. “It’s a good thing Mike is here. We—we were going to see you next.”

“Is this about Kelly’s? Do you need to get more time in the courtyard?” Mike asked, coming forward.

Jason saw the way Mac and Scott looked at each other, and his stomach dipped. “What happened? You got called away from the courthouse. Why?”

“Yeah, I did. By the manager at the Port Charles Hotel. Courtney checked in there a few days ago,” Mac said. He looked at Mike, angled his body towards him, and Jason knew—he knew what was coming next.

And it still hit like a ton of bricks when the words were spoken. “I’m sorry, Mike. We were called there to report a murder. Courtney. She’s gone.”

Hardy House: Living Room

“I was going crazy at the mansion,” Emily said, accepting the cup of tea Audrey handed her. “We can’t move into the cottage yet, but they refused to let Zander stay in the house. And don’t make that look.”

“I’m not.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “You should still be in isolation—”

“I can’t go to the hospital, no. But I can get in a car and come here where there’s only you and your grandmother. I just needed to see you. To see for myself that you were okay. And I thought Jason would be here—I thought he was bailed out.”

“He went to handle a few things.” Elizabeth picked up the glass of water, a bit awkwardly. It was difficult to handle things with her left hand. “The first priority is finding out what happened that night so that he can get these ridiculous charges dismissed.”

“Grandfather was the on the phone as soon as we got home, I left him yelling at the phone at some congressman.”

“Representative Boehlert,” Audrey said, taking a seat in the arm chair. “I have a call of my own into that office,” she told a surprised Elizabeth. “Your grandfather had a lot of friends, darling. And I’m not above using my own network. You’ve been through something so terrible, and you should have Jason at your side, not off fighting for his freedom.”

Emily furrowed her brow. “Wait. I missed something.”

“Gram has turned over a new leaf and is now Jason is her favorite person,” Elizabeth said with a wry smile. “Mostly because he keeps telling me to rest—”

“And he’s the only person you’ll listen to,” Audrey said, lifting her chin. “Speaking of that, Emily, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like, but—”

“I know, I know, I promised I’d lay down and nap.” Elizabeth offered Emily a smile. “I’m sorry—”

“No, no, you need to take care of my future nibling.” Emily leaned forward, kissed her cheek and hugged her lightly. “I have a leash of my own, but we won’t be down for long. Trust Jason to get this sorted out. I know it sucks to let him deal with it, but there’s a reason I should have called Jason all the times I got into trouble. Can you imagine how much trouble it would have saved us both?”

Harborview Towers: Security Suite

Mike took a step back, reached out with his hand, braced himself against the wall. “What? What are you saying right now?”

“Courtney was shot sometime between two and two-thirty this afternoon,” Mac said. “I’m sorry, Mike. I don’t know if it helps, it probably doesn’t. But she—it was quick. She didn’t suffer.”

“Christ. Christ. My baby? My baby is dead—” Mike’s knees started to buckle, and both Jason and Justus came forward, helped him to sit down.

Courtney was dead. Murdered. Jason found his hand trembling slightly as he put it on Mike’s shoulder, looked back at Mac and Scott. No wonder they’d looked so damned upset at the courthouse. “That’s only an hour ago.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Around twenty minutes after the judge set bail.” Scott cleared his throat and put up a hand when Justus opened his mouth. “That’s not me saying anything about—obviously, we know where you were, Morgan.”

“The thing is—” Mac rested his hands on the back of the chair that sat in front of the row of cameras. “Scott told you that arresting you was just a ploy to make Ric and Courtney think we believed them. I thought it was a stupid plan,” he added, shooting Scott a dirty look. “But he meant it when he said we know what happened at Kelly’s wasn’t you.”

“We thought it was Sonny,” Scott forced him. “We heard some rumors that he wasn’t altogether in his right head. With Lansing being the obvious target—” He scrubbed both hands on his face. “But we don’t know what the hell is happening. Because I’d say a lot about Corinthos, but this? No. No. This wasn’t him.”

No, it wasn’t, Jason thought, and that realization had him taking a seat of his own, his mind racing. It wasn’t Sonny that night in the courtyard, and it hadn’t been Sonny killing his own sister. That only left one obvious suspect, but why would Lorenzo Alcazar go to any of this kind of trouble? What was the point? How did it help—and why would he leave witnesses—

Witnesses he might now be eliminating.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Jason said, almost more to himself. He lifted his gaze to Mac’s. “Courtney and Ric’s story didn’t make sense. And it wouldn’t have matched the evidence. Elizabeth doesn’t remember who shot her, but she sure as hell knew Courtney wasn’t there—”

“But killing her eliminates that problem. Now she’s just a dead witness.” Justus winced. “I’m sorry, that’s—”

“It’s accurate,” Mike managed. “She got herself in trouble somehow. Got twisted up with that monster, lied to get revenge on Jason. So stupid,” he bit out. “So stupid to tell such an obvious lie. So why do this? Why—”

“Because you believed her,” Jason said, and Mac frowned, looked at him. “That’s what the world thinks. No one knows that you kept investigating. I just don’t understand—if killing her was supposed to frame me further, why didn’t they wait?”

“She was found almost two hours before she would have been,” Scott said.  “The maid reversed her schedule. Time of death would have been harder to pinpoint.” He looked at Mac. “And the crime scene tech said something—”

“They put the air on,” Mac murmured. “It would have messed with—it would have made it harder. Jason—arresting you to get to Sonny—that was stupid. But—”

“I thought it was him,” Jason said softly.

“Jason—” Justus began, but Jason shook his head.

“We can’t keep doing this. I can’t—someone is eliminating witnesses. They went for Courtney first because she was alone. You should put people on Ric in the hospital because he’ll be next. And—Carly, she’s in a coma. Elizabeth—” He looked at Max. “The house—”

“We got people on it. As soon as we found out Miss Webber was being discharged, Jase. I knew you’d want her to be top priority,” Max assured him.

But Jason wanted to be there, wanted to see for himself. But first—he got to his feet. “I thought it was Sonny,” he repeated. “Just like you did. He’s been having hallucinations. Struggling with staying in the current time and place. And he went missing during the time period we knew the shooting happened.”

“It might still be Sonny,” Scott said. “But—”

“You said Courtney gave you a gun registered to me. I don’t know where she got it. I don’t know anything about it. But Sonny—” Jason went over to the keyboard by the cameras, pressed a few keys to rewind the footage. “He was back here less than ten minutes after the 911 call. And he doesn’t have a gun on him. So where did Courtney get it?”

“Ten minutes from the pier to the Towers is…a very tight schedule. Was he on foot?” Mac wanted to know.

“I think so. We were just realizing it ourselves that it couldn’t be him. I wanted to talk to Courtney. She comes in just a little while later. Max—”

“She was upset. I think Mr. C was rough on her. She ran out of here, crying. But she came back later. Twice,” Max added. “Wally could confirm it. The first time, he told her about the cops coming by, and she left. Then she came back.”

“To get the gun?” Scott asked Mac who nodded. “Okay. Okay. Well, we can’t ask her whatever she might have known. So—” He looked at Jason. “Who else might have done this? You have to have a name in mind.”

Jason hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I do. But I don’t understand how or why he’d have done this.” He waited another beat. “Lorenzo Alcazar.”

General Hospital: Carly’s Room

Bobbie sighed in relief. “The swelling has gone done?”

Tony nodded, looked down at the chart again, flipped through a page. “The edema has almost entirely resolved itself. I expect that to continue to subside throughout today. She’s scoring a six on the Glascow Scale—that’s up from a 4 when she first came in,” he reminded her. “She’s responsive to pain, and her eyelids are starting to flutter.”

She looked back at her daughter, still quiet and still, before facing Tony again. “When she wakes up, do we know—”

“We won’t know anything until we can speak with her, Bobbie. But this is a good sign. An excellent,” he corrected.

“Thank you. Thank you.” She pressed trembling fingers to her lips. “I know how hard this is for you—”

“She’s just a patient, Bobbie. Your daughter. That’s all that matters to me right.” Tony touched her elbow. “I wouldn’t wish losing another child on anyone. I’m relieved to be delivering good news.”

“Thank you, I—” Bobbie paused, reached for the cell phone vibrating in her phone. “Hello?”

“Bobbie,” Jason began. “We have a problem.”

When she closed the phone, she looked back at Tony. “Can you keep this to yourself?”

“Keep what?” Tony asked, frowning. “Is everything all right—”

“It will be. But Carly’s improvement, the odds of her waking up—can you keep that quiet? Because something has just happened, and I don’t want anyone to know Carly might wake up and tell anyone what happened. It’s life or death, Tony. Promise me.”

“I promise, but I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

“I will, I just—” Bobbie took a seat, took a breath. “Everything I thought I knew only an hour ago has turned upside down, and I don’t know if I can make sense of any of it.”

Hardy House: Living Room

“Oh, Jason, Elizabeth will be so pleased you’re here.” Audrey stepped back, allowed Jason to enter the house. “You missed a visit from your sister, but it was definitely a boost to Elizabeth’s mood.”

“Emily has that way about her,” Jason said. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, still unsure what to do with Elizabeth’s grandmother being supportive or kind to him. “Is—Elizabeth in the kitchen or—”

“Of course, you must be worried about her. She went upstairs to rest, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you went up. Let her know I’ll have dinner ready soon, but not to hurry herself.” She patted Jason’s arm. “Upstairs, third door on the left. Her room overlooks the front of the house, if that helps.”

Jason climbed the steps, and found the right door. He knocked first, and when there was no answer, he went inside, exhaling a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding in. Maybe some part of him had expected something else when he opened the door — maybe to find Elizabeth on the floor or worse, not in the room.

But she was laying on her back, her right arm still set in the sling. She’d changed after court, into a pair of long gray pants and blue shirt. Her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling in a regular pattern.

She was safe. Sleeping.

He pulled out the chair that was tucked beneath a desk just at the end of the bed, and sat down. He might have a thousand things to do, but right now, in this moment, all he wanted to do was be alone, in the quiet, watching Elizabeth breathe.

Port Charles Harbor

The sleek white yacht had been anchored in the harbor for a few weeks now, and it reminded many of the dock workers of a similiar ship that had been docked a year earlier. That had been named La Venganza — and most had wondered at anyone who’d name their vessel revenge.

This yacht did not have such an ominous name—it was more innocuous, more optimistic, more common. Carpe Diem. Seize the day.

A man strolled outside one of the decks, a cigar in his hand. His dark eyes scanned the shoreline, wondering if his present had been located yet. If his quarry knew that game had changed.

Of course, they wouldn’t know the true purpose of any of this. How could they? They thought had all the answers. All the necessary facts—and they did.

He was here for revenge. He did wish to avenge his brother. That poor bastard.

There was just one problem with that theory.

“Señor?”

When the first call didn’t work, the woman tried again. “Señor Alcazar? Will you want dinner?”

“Yes, Marta.” He turned to smile at her, his teeth bared. “I find myself starving.”

And this that, Luis Alcazar tossed his cigar overboard and went inside.

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