Written in 65 minutes.

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Port Charles Courthouse: Hallway

When Elizabeth flinched, slid back on the bench slightly, Jason winced. “That’s not—I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you everything, but I can’t. I shouldn’t.”

“I don’t understand—I don’t understand any of this!” Elizabeth took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice was steadier. “Why do they think you did this? What witnesses—”

“I can’t tell you anything until you give a statement to the PCPD. Justus told me there’s nothing on record yet,” Jason said, and Elizabeth closed her mouth, furrowed her brow. “Have they talked to you since I—since the arrest?”

“No. No. Justus doesn’t—because you might be accused of tampering with a witness—okay, that makes sense—and no. No, they haven’t. That’s strange, isn’t it?”

Not where he was sitting, but Jason didn’t want to give Elizabeth a reason to ask anything else. He didn’t want her to find out just yet what Scott said he was planning with the arrest—though the performance in the courtroom had Jason leaning a little bit more towards believing the idiot district attorney that this was all a ploy.

“Maybe. So let me just get you home, and then—”

The doors to the court room opened, and Scott strode out, with Mac on his heels. Before Jason could stop her, Elizabeth was on her feet and closing the distance between them.

“Elizabeth, should you be on your feet?” Mac wanted to know. He reached out, as if to take her arm—but when he caught Jason’s hostile glare, his hand dropped to his side. “Surely the doctors didn’t release you already—”

“Take my statement. Right now,” Elizabeth interrupted. “So I can tell you this is all bullshit and Jason can tell me how you’re framing him.”

Scott tipped his head. “You don’t know yet?” He looked at Jason. “You didn’t tell her?”

“And have you accuse me of tampering with a witness? No. Elizabeth, we should get home—”

“No—” Elizabeth stepped away, raising her free hand up in a fist. “No. This happened to me, and it happened to Carly, but she can’t tell you anything. Okay? And because of whatever ridiculous evidence you’ve cooked up this time, Jason can’t be where he needs to be. There’s a scared little boy who keeps asking for Uncle Jason—”

“And where is that boy’s father?” Scott asked. Jason kept his expression even, was relieved when Elizabeth just turned that angry gaze from Mac to Scott and didn’t even flinch.

“Jason didn’t shoot me. I can’t believe I have to explain this to you—”

“Elizabeth—” Mac began, then shook his head. He rubbed his temple. “Okay. Okay. You want to give a statement? Let’s go down to the station—”

“No. No. I want to do it right here so I can go home. It won’t take long. I was unconscious for most of it,” she bit out. “So ask me the questions already.”

Scott glanced at Mac. “We can get the basics here. At least enough so that Morgan here can fill her in on the charges against him.”

“Fine. Elizabeth, do you know who shot you?” Mac said, and he held up a hand before she began to speak. “And don’t tell me who it wasn’t. That’s not a lot of help.”

She pressed her lips together, then took a deep breath. “I don’t remember much. It’s all in pieces and flashes. Carly and I were in the courtyard arguing. I wanted her to wait for Jason, and she wanted to leave. She knew he’d be upset she’d come to Kelly’s without a driver or a guard.”

Scott lifted his brows. “Just you and Carly?”

“Yes. She called me earlier that day. Said she wanted to talk to me alone. I was already at work, and I told her to come just before closing. Otherwise it would have to wait. I thought she’d found out—I thought she was going to yell at me, and I figured—” Elizabeth looked at him. “Well, she might as well show up when you’d be there and get it all over with.”

“So she was  going to confront you about the, uh—” Mac paused. “Relationship between you and Jason,” he said finally.

“I thought so, but when she came in, I realized she was upset. Not angry.” Elizabeth rubbed her fist against her chest. “She wanted to tell me that she’d overheard Ric and Courtney in the park. Talking about working together to get rid of me.”

“Get…” Scott set his briefcase down. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Courtney gave him my schedule so he could harass me. I don’t know what she thought would happen. I don’t particularly care. But Carly was upset. She wanted to tell me things that happened while she was in the panic room this summer.”

“You said you and Carly were fighting,” Mac reminded her. “It was just about the guards?”

“I want to go back to this summer,” Scott said, but Mac shot him a dirty look. “We can do that later.”

“Yes. Yes. We were standing there, and then Ric showed up. We wanted him to leave.” She pressed her fist to her lips now. “It—it’s not clear after that. There’s just screaming. And pain—”

“That’s enough,” Jason said, stepping in finally. “You have what you need—”

“Almost,” Mac said, putting up a hand. “Just one or two questions to clarify something, Elizabeth. If you remember. It’s okay if you don’t.”

Jason grimaced, but Elizabeth nodded. “If it helps you find out what really happened, then ask.”

“You said Ric showed up. What entrance?”

Elizabeth frowned, and Jason looked at the commissioner with some confusion. Why would that matter?

“The…street. Not the parking lot.”

“So through the arch?” Mac continued. “What about the gun shots? Where did they come from?”

“I don’t—” She closed her eyes, some of the color having leeched from her skin during the interrogation. “I don’t—I don’t know for sure. Carly and I were facing Ric, but we were—we were arguing. I kept trying to get in front of her, because she was so far along, and she kept shoving me behind her because Ric was there to talk to me—” Her voice wavered, and Jason put an arm around her shoulders.

“That’s enough,” he repeated. “You have what you need.”

The phone at Mac’s side vibrated, and he stepped away, pulling the phone from his belt to answer the call.

“Yeah,” Scott said. “We have what we need. For what it’s worth, Morgan, I’m sorry for what happened in there—”

“You know he couldn’t have done this. He wouldn’t hurt me or Carly. Not for anything in the world. So if you’re sorry, then let him go.”

“I—” Scott opened his mouth, but then Mac came up, took the district attorney by the arm.

“We have to go.”

“What—”

“We have to go,” Mac repeated. “Jason, you tell Elizabeth whatever you want. We need to go right now.”

Jason frowned, watching the two of them head for the elevator. He continued to watch as they waited for the doors to open—Mac whispering something in Scott’s ear, and the attorney whipping his head around to stare at Mac in surprise.

“Something’s happening,” Elizabeth murmured.

“I want to get you back to Audrey’s,” Jason said. “Come on—”

“And then you’ll tell me what’s going on?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that now.” He waited for the elevator doors to close on Scott and Mac before leading Elizabeth over and pressing the button. “I’m glad I waited. That they know you didn’t have any information from me.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked, her brows drawn together, the question in her eyes. “What does it matter? I don’t know anything.”

“Because Ric and Courtney are the witnesses against me, and you just told them independently that they were already working together before this happened.”

Forest Hill House: Kitchen

“It’s a blessing, really,” Leticia said, closing the door to the living room where Michael could still be heard playing video games. She looked at Bobbie. “When I told him his mother was sick and couldn’t see him, he didn’t even question it.”

“No, not after this summer. I suppose he wouldn’t.” Bobbie sank into a seat at the table, put her head in her hands, combing her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing, keeping it from him.” She looked at the nanny. “You know Sonny and Carly were having problems.”

“I know that I often heard yelling,” Leticia said carefully. She sat across from Bobbie, her dark eyes guarded. “That Mrs. Corinthos was very upset when we left. And that Mr. Corinthos was not doing well. That he has not been here.”

“We don’t know anything yet. And before we could find it out, Jason was arrested.” Her mouth pinched, Bobbie looked towards the window. “Until that’s settled, until I know what we’re doing with Sonny, I need you to keep Michael happy. Keep him out of school. Away from the news. It won’t be more than a few days. Jason’s out on bail now, so we can start sorting this all out.”

“Of course. Anything for Michael. I hope Mr. Morgan is exonerated quickly. And that Mrs. Corinthos wakes up and makes a full recovery.”

“So do I,” Bobbie murmured. Because any other outcome would be unthinkable.

Port Charles Courthouse: Parking Garage

Elizabeth saw her grandmother standing by their cars, talking with Mike and Justus. Her mind still whirling from everything Jason had told her on the elevator. He was being framed by Ric and Courtney—

“You can’t trust Scott,” Elizabeth said, catching Jason by the arm before he started towards the cars. “Maybe Mac. But not Scott. He let Ric go this summer.”

“He says that’s why he’s doing this. To make up for that.” Jason laced their fingers together. “But Justus agrees with you. So for now I’m staying silent.”

Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip, looked down at the cement floor before lifting her gaze back to his. “Sonny wasn’t there today. And I haven’t seen him. That’s not the Sonny I know, so I guess I have to ask—and I understand if you can’t answer—” Her voice trembled as she continued, “Was it him? Did he think Ric was trying to hurt us? A-And we got caught up by accident?”

“I don’t—” Jason exhaled on a low shaky breath. “I know what I suspect. But I don’t know anything for sure.”

“Right. Right. You got arrested that same day.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I can go home with my grandmother. You should go find out.”

“Elizabeth—”

“This is putting me first,” Elizabeth said, and he closed his mouth. “Finding out who did this to me, to Carly? That has to come before the rest of it. I can’t help you there. I don’t remember anything. I can be there for you, I can offer advice, but we both know there’s nothing I can actually do.”

“I don’t—” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I know, but—”

“And Gram will watch over me. You know that. She’s already giving me the evil eye because this is longer than I was supposed to be up and on my feet. I’ll probably sleep for a week. She’s monitoring me,” Elizabeth added. “Taking all my vitals. She was a trauma nurse, you know. You can trust her and me to do this part. So you should go with Mike and Justus and find out what happened with Sonny.”

“All right. All right.” Jason brought her hand to his mouth, kissed the inside of her palm, then he leaned forward to brush his lips against her forehead, lingering for a minute. “I’ll come by later. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Port Charles Hotel: Suite

Mac pressed his lips together, then looked at Scott. “So what next, counselor? You want me to pin another crime on Morgan that we know he didn’t do?”

They both looked down at the body between them, sprawled out on the creme colored carpet. Blue eyes were open and pointed towards the ceiling but the slight glaze of death had already descended. A small round hole could be seen between those eyes, just slightly above the brows. The entry wound was neat and tidy, but the exit wound hadn’t been judging from the blood that soaked the wheat-blonde hair and the carpet beneath her.

Courtney Matthews was dead. Freshly dead.

“Well, he’s got one hell of an alibi, doesn’t he?” Scott murmured. “How long—”

“They think maybe half an hour. Housekeeping found her. And a half hour ago—”

“Jason was standing in the hallway of the court house with us,” Scott said. “This can’t be someone trying to frame him—it’s too close—”

“Let’s step out in the hallway. I can’t—” Mac gestured towards the door and Scott followed him. Outside, they discarded their gloves and the protection they’d worn over their feet. “The maid told the officer who responded to the call that she doesn’t usually work this floor first.”

Scott lifted his brows, interest engaged. “Really?”

“There’s a VIP checking in—well, supposed to have,” Mac said, moving further towards the wall to let more crime scene technicians through. “So she decided to switch. This is nearly two hours before she would have come through.”

“Two more hours would have made time of death a little bit harder to pin.  Some wiggle room if you know Morgan’s out on bond.” Scott stroked his chin. “Yeah, okay, I can see that. But that still leaves us with a problem.”

“Someone’s eliminating the witnesses, and it’s not Jason Morgan. And I gotta tell you, Scott—I don’t see Sonny Corinthos executing his little sister in cold blood. I bought that he took out his wife and Elizabeth by accident going after Ric, but this—this is an execution. Textbook.”

“Cameras?” Scott asked.

“Checking on them. They’re only at the elevators, not the hallways. Not on this floor. For privacy,” Mac added. “And something tells me we’re not going to have a lot of luck there.”

“Christ. We need to start at the beginning. Start with throwing out everything we think we know.”

“You mean investigate like a real cop?” Mac said dryly. “Sure. But I think we should start with the notification. If Jason is holding back, he’s going to want to know someone just raised the stakes. ”

Harborview Towers: Security Suite

Jason shook his head. “Run it again,” he ordered the security guard sitting by the strip of televisions. He needed to see the footage again, to see the timestamps—because this didn’t make any sense.

It couldn’t.

“I don’t understand,” Mike said, coming away from the wall, mystified. “I don’t understand what this is showing us—”

“911 call came in at 11:54 PM. Six minutes before midnight. Jason and Bobbie were in the parking lot. How many minutes between the shots and the call?” Justus asked looking at Jason.

“Two. Three at the most.”

Jason reached over the guard’s head and pressed the rewind key again. Watched as Sonny returned to the building at 12:02 AM, passing through the lobby doors, his hair disheveled. A guard approached him. “Is that enough time to get to Kelly’s and back?” he wanted to know.

“I mean, maybe. Ten minutes is tight—” Max furrowed his brow. “But not impossible.”

“But he’s already hid the gun?” Mike asked, and Jason looked at Sonny’s father. “Ten minutes. He ditched the gun along the way, maybe. But Scott said they had it—”

“Scott said they had a gun registered to me they thought was used,” Jason murmured. “It was handed over to them.”

“By who?” Mike demanded.

It didn’t fit. It couldn’t be this way. Sonny had no weapon when he’d returned to the building, so how had Courtney found it? And how had Sonny gotten his hands on one of Jason’s guns when they were locked in the closet—

Jason sat down, dragged a hand down his face. “I think maybe we need to start at the beginning. Because I don’t think Sonny—” he looked at Sonny’s father. “I don’t know if Sonny did this. But if he didn’t do it—”

Max grimaced. “Oh, this just got really bad, didn’t it?”

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