Murder of Edward Quartermaine
Ch.12: Endings and Beginnings


Dusk
“This is crazy,” Lucky complained
again to Frisco as they sat in the seat of the
WSB helicopter as it headed back to Port
Charles. “Twenty four hours we were trying
like crazy to get the hell out of Port Charles
and now were waltzing back in. It’s too
dangerous. Are you forgetting that someone
has tried to kill her twice in the last twenty
four hours and almost succeeded both times?”

Frisco shook his head. “If I had
managed to forget that fact, you’ve succeeded
in reminding me at least ten times since we got
in the air. You know as well as I do that you
can’t keep her in the cold if she wants to go
back into the heat. The first chance she got
she’d be making her way back to Port Chuck
alone. This way at least we keep some kind of
control over the situation.”

“I still don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it. You just
have to follow orders.”
“Yes sir.” Lucky said bitterly, upset at
both the reprimand and the decision.

Frisco looked at Lucky
sympathetically. Whatever was going on
between Miss. Quartermaine and Junior was
getting to him and distracting him from the job
at hand. He’d have to pull him aside and talk
to him later. “Look, trust me. I know how
important this thing is as well as you do. Miss.
Quartermaine,” he pointed in the direction
where Emily sat, momentarily quiet and
subdued, “has agreed to not make a move
without you as her shadow. We’re not letting
her go back to her own place. We’ll put her up
at the hotel. I called ahead and Robin’s
arranging a sweep and surveillance installed, as
well as an armed guard from the PCPD. It will
be all right.”

“I hope so,” Lucky said vehemently. “I
really hope so.” He moved over to Emily. “Are
you sure about this? It’s not too late to turn
the chopper around.”
Emily looked, up her brown eyes
bruised with exhaustion but still lit with
determination. “My grandfather is not running.
I need to stay by him.”
“Edward would understand. Emily
someone tried to kill you.”
“But they didn’t because you were
there.”
“I may not be able to protect you the
next time.”

Emily shook her head. She didn’t know
how to explain it. She knew the danger. She
supposed she was an idiot for returning to a
town where someone wanted her dead. But
she had an overwhelming desire to go home
mingled with this feeling that there was only
one place where she would feel safe and one
person who..... She closed her eyes. Don’t go
there, Em. Just don’t go there.

“Em? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you Spencer. But my mind’s
made up. I’m not going to make myself an
open target, but I’m not going to cower in fright
either. I’ll take precautions. I’ll follow
directions. Running away is not my style.”

“I remember when it was,” Lucky
makes no attempt to keep the sarcasm out of
his voice. “Does a certain business trip to
Europe ring a bell? I thought running away
from your problems was how you
Quartermaines handled your problems.
Running away or trying the addiction of the
month.” Lucky pauses, immediately aware of
what he has said. “God Em, I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean it. I’m just frustrated and edgy and
taking it out on you.”

Emily opens her eyes and looks him
directly in the eye. “Go to hell Spencer.” She
welcomes the familiar feeling of anger at him
that washes over her. She can cope with the
anger so much better than the intense feeling
of loneliness that overwhelms her when she
thinks of him too much or too often.

“I have. Spent two years there. It’s not
what you imagine. It’s worse.” Lucky says
bitterly.

Emily wants to say something, but
she’s not sure who she’s talking to. The best
friend who was the best thing about her
childhood. Or the Lucky who was her lover for
one incredible and intense night before words
she wasn’t meant to hear shattered everything.
Or the WSB agent Lucky who saved her life
twice and risked his own to do so.

She doesn’t know what to say. So she
says nothing. And when he looks at her with
those piercing eyes, she does the only thing she
can do if she’s going to maintain her grip on
her sanity. She looks away.

She’s still looking away ten minutes
later when the chopper sets down on top of the
Port Charles Police Department.



“So we have Sonny under every
conceivable surveillance..” Robin’s cool
authoritative voice updates Frisco as they walk
down the hallways of the PCPD a few minutes
later. She leads him into the office Mac has
given her to work out of and pretends not to
notice when he locks the door. She continues
looking at her notes, “and I’m confident that
our killer will slip up and.......”

She looks up when she feels a solid
warm body pressing close against her as she
leans against the desk. She puts the file down.
“I don’t think this behavior is very
professional, do you?”


Frisco reaches down and kisses her,
delving into her. He comes up for air a few
minutes later, his voice husky and his eyes
glazed. He gently caresses a long tendril of
dark brown hair. “Maybe not professional,” he
admits as her hands caress his chest eliciting a
small groan, “but as necessary to me as
breathing. I’ve missed you babe.” He finds the
spot on her neck that drives her crazy and
proceeds to do just that.

“You were only gone a few hours.”

“But they were hours spent away from
you which makes them years in my book.”
Frisco stops his lovemaking for a minute and
pulls back, so that he can look into her
incredible eyes. “I love you Robin Scorpio.
That means when I’m not around you, I miss
you. It doesn’t matter how far away I am or
how long I’ve been gone. I know it’s kind of
pathetic and blows my whole cool secret agent
image, but the simple truth is that I even miss
you when you are in one room and I am in the
other.”

Robin’s eyes darken. “I love you too,”
she says simply, and then grins impishly.
“Aren’t you talking too much?” She reaches
up and begins to unbutton his shirt. She slips
her hands and lovingly caresses the bare and
muscular skin.

Frisco catches his breath. “Robin,
unless you want me to push aside all those
files on your desk and ravish you right here
and now, I suggest you stop....”

“Why? Tell me that you are not
prepared?”

“Of course I’m prepared,” Frisco
mutters as he tries to pull her hands away from
the top of his pants. “I’m always prepared.”

“Then what’s the problem?....” Robin
gives up momentarily on his pants and begins
to trail kisses along his neck and chest.

“I can’t believe that I’m the one trying
to get you to behave rationally,” Frisco
complains, ignoring Robin’s giggle a lot easier
than he can the fire that her hands are stirring
in him. He makes one last attempt to be
logical. “We’re not in our own home or even a
hotel or a parked car or an empty field or a
deserted beach or the Small World ride at
Disneyland or.........” He loses his train of
thought when her tongue lightly brushes his
nipple. “Robin this is an office of the PCPD.
Your uncle’s police department. You
remember Mac Scorpio, curly brown haired
guy who wants me dead and would probably
kill me if he walked in and caught me making
mad passionate love to his niece on the desk of
the office he was kind enough to lend her.”

“Three things,” Robin says refocusing
her attention on his belt and determined to get
it this time. “One the door is locked, two I was
going to use the floor which is carpeted
because the desk is full of files that I finally
have organized, and three,” she claims his lips
possessively as her hands finally succeed with
his belt. “I’m the one making mad passionate
love to you..........”
Whatever comment Frisco was about
to make was lost in the storm of passion that
swept through the both of them.



Sonny waited in the crowded and
smoke filled bar. He hadn’t been in this side of
town for over a year and it felt strange. Very
strange.

“Partner.” The familiar drawl catches
Sonny’s attention and he looks up and nods as
Luke Spencer slides into the seat across from
him. “I never expected to get a call from you.”

Sonny nods again. “It’s been a while.
But we’ve always been friends. Family even.”
Luke shrugs. “About the only family I
got left these days.”
“How is Lu?”
“Enjoying Greece. Growing closer to
Stefan. Growing up too damn fast. I never
counted on being a living memory in my own
kid’s life.”
“You could change that.”
Luke shakes his head. “I made my bed
when I went back to the mob when we thought
Lucky was dead.”
“It’s about your kid that I wanted to
talk to you.”

Luke’s eyes grow cold. “He may be
WSB and that puts him on the opposite side of
the law from me these days, but he’s still my
kid. Even if he doesn’t want to be. If you are
planning anything that hurts him, I will take
you out. Friend or no friend. Jason or no
Jason.”

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt Lucky.”
Sonny thinks back to the encounter at the
Outback and adds a mental “at least not
permanently” to that last statement. “Actually I
want to help him. I want you to help me help
him.”
“The best way I help my son these days
is to stay out of his life.”

“Even when he’s in danger?” Sonny
meets Luke’s gaze. “I know what I’m asking.
But I just spent 24 hours in jail because
someone tried to killEmily Quartermaine and shot up the Outback in the
process. My sources at the PCPD inform me that
just a few hours ago someone tried to kill
Emily again and managed to run her car, with
Lucky driving, off the road.”

Luke flinches. “They okay?”

“For now. But I have a sick feeling that
whoever is behind all of this isn’t going to
give up until Emily and her grandfather are
dead. Now I don’t give a damn about the old
man, I might even have offered to help to off
him, but Emily is different. She and I.....”

“She and you what?”

“Let’s just say that we are a work in
progress and I intend for us to progress.”

“So why do you need my help?”

“As far as the police are concerned, I
am their number one suspect and they are
watching me like a hawk. Makes it hard to
move around in the circles I need to to get the
information I need.” Sonny pauses. “If they
come after Emily, they won’t let Lucky
live.....”

“Damn. I don’t need this. Not now.
Jason has me working on eliminating....”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Sonny
interrupts. “I’m out of that life and I’m staying
out.”

“But why not go to Jason for your
help? I know the two of you have been on the
outs since he married Carly, but Emily is his
sister.”

“Do you think that would stop him if
he thought he could get his revenge on the old
man?” Sonny asks.

“Three years ago....I would have said
that Jason could never do anything to hurt
Emily. Now..” Luke shrugs. “The man is my
boss, but he scares me. It’s like this pit of
coldness has settled in and taken over what
little emotion he did have.”

“You know that pit of coldness has a
name.”

Luke sits for a moment in silence. “All
right. I’ll nose around and see what I can come
up with.” He thinks of the picture he gave to
Lucky. “I might even know where to start.”


Evening

“Tell me again why we are here?”
Frisco shouts to be heard over the music as he
moves to take a drink from the microbrew he
ordered.

“We’re on a stakeout,” Robin replies
with a smile. “And you’re on duty.” She
reminds him as she deftly removes the beer
from his grasp.

“I’m always on duty,” Frisco growled.
“And personally I can think of more interesting
ways to spend the evening.”

Robin blushed. “More interesting than
what we just tried in my office.”

Frisco grinned. He loved it that the
Robin that he knew was wildly different than
the one the rest of the world saw. “I think it
was a good beginning, but I’ve got some other
ideas I’d love to explore.”

Robin smiled. “I’d love to hear them,
but first I’m going to go get you something
non-alcoholic to drink...Maybe a cherry coke.”

“Speaking of cherries, I was thinking a
little whip cream and ......”

Robin fled to the bar before he could
say another word. Frisco leaned back and tried
to relax. It was good to see her smile. They
needed this night out. Everything on the case
was under control for the moment and they
needed to let it go and unwind. The last 24
hours had been incredibly tiring.....returning to
Port Charles, telling Mac the truth, the
shootout, arresting Sonny, the second attempt,
the search for Lucky and Emily, Robin’s
confrontation with Jason. He sighed. It almost
made him long for the days when all they
had to was to crack a gun smuggling ring or
track down espionage.

“Can I buy you a drink?” The soft and
sultry voice broke him out of his thoughts and
he was about to politely decline, when he
looked up and caught a glance at blonde hair, a
body to die for, and a smile to kill for. Or
maybe that should be with, he amended.
Hoping against hope, that Robin would take
her time at the bar, he gave the newcomer his
most dazzling smile. “Shouldn’t that be my
line?” He said in a seductive and wicked tone.

Carly Morgan smiled at the handsome
man. He was good looking, with that air of
danger that she had always been attracted to.
He was dressed casually, in clothes that fit him
like a second skin and made her rethink her
previous belief that men looked best in
Armani. This man would look good in
anything. He would look especially stunning in
nothing. She wondered how hard it would be
to find that out for herself.

She slipped into the seat next to him.
“Don’t worry about it.” She says casually. “I
own the place so the drinks would be on me
one way or another.”

“You own this place? I’m impressed.
The music’s good and the company (he lowers
his voice a notch) the company is great.” The
line is old, he thinks he first used it as a
teenager in the early 80’s, but Carly doesn’t
seem to notice.

“Thank you,” Carly manages somehow
to make her whispers heard above the noise
and the dun. “But you’re not drinking
anything. What can I get you?”

“Umm, I’ll have to give that some
thought. But while I’m figuring out what YOU
can do for me, why don’t you have your
waitress bring me a bottle of whiskey.
Provided of course that you’ll share it with
me.” He needs the alcohol to keep from telling
her exactly what he thinks of her.

Carly hedges even as she tells a
waitress to bring the bottle. “I make it a point
not to drink when I’m working.”

“Too bad,” He pours himself a shot of
the whisky and drinks it. “Perfection, but then
what else could it be in your company but.”
God, he’s going to gag pretty soon. He takes
another shot of whiskey but still almost jumps
when her hand covers his.

“Save some of that for me,” she
whispers as her fingers caress his hand.

“Absolutely,” he points to the ring on
the finger. “But won’t your husband be mad?”

“Jason? Jason has his interests and I
have mine. We’ve grown apart recently.”

“That’s too bad.” Frisco says
sympathetically. Or at least he hopes he sounds
sympathetic. “I’m sure the two of you deserve
to be together.” The first thing he’s said since
she got there that he’s meant. “I hope you
work it out.” Back to gagging.

“We will,” Carly says with an air of
self-confidence. “Jason and I were meant to
be together. Everything will work out just the
way I want it to.”

“So...” Frisco tries to pretend a
response when her fingers move up his arm. “If
you want your husband, why are you here with
me.”

“I told you. He has his interests, I have
mine” Carly hides a scowl. She had known
when they married that Jason didn’t love her,
that they were only getting married to give
them a better chance of getting custody of her
son after their first plan, to discredit AJ, blew
up in their faces. But even with them married,
the judge had ruled in AJ’s favor. She knew
that Jason blamed her because they lost
Michael. Carly had a whole list of people she
blamed, not only for the loss of Michael but
for the growing distance between her and
Jason. They were little more than strangers
sharing the same house. Oh yes, they were
lovers and the sex was hot and intense, but it
was just sex. If Jason wasn’t in her bed, he was
this cold remote person. She had plans to
change all that, but not tonight. Tonight Jason
was God knew where, although Carly could
guess, so tonight was about having fun. And
this guy looked like he really knew how to
entertain.

“You don’t need any more of this,”
She removes the whiskey. “I’m all the
intoxication you’ll need tonight,” she whispers
against his face as she leans in to give him a
kiss.

Or at least, that’s her plan until she
feels this cascade of ice cold water coming
down over her, drenching her.

She pushes back the chair and stands
up angrily, aware of the growing number of
people who’ve stopped dancing and talking
and our looking in her direction.

“Who the hell did this?” She demands
angrily.

A cool voice responds from behind her.
“I did. You looked like you needed to cool off.”
Robin says with casual composure and waits
for Carly to turn around and face her.

“You!” Carly looks at her nemesis with
a cold glint in her eye. “I thought I ran you out
of this town years ago” She nearly shouts the
words.

“Did you?” Robin stands her ground
and her manner is almost bored. “You mean
you finally had a thought and it was the wrong
one? How disappointing. I do hope that at
some point you will try thinking again. It might
just work for you the second time.”

Carly looked flustered. She wasn’t
used to a Robin that didn’t cower or leave the
room or do something to avoid an argument.
This Robin looked like she wanted an
argument.

“You don’t scare me...”

“Good. Because the way you look
right now, I think you scare enough people for
both of us.”

“Why you little bitch.” Carly advances
on Robin, ignoring the scattering of her
customers as she does so. Robin merely looks
at Carly and doesn’t move a muscle.

She should be afraid of me, Carly
thinks wildly, why isn’t she afraid of me?

“If you think you can come back to
town and steal Jason from me, then I suggest
you turn tail and run back under the rock you
came out from.”

“Jason?” Robin pretends to consider.
“Is that what you think? That I came back to
town to steal Jason from you?” Robin laughs.
“Why would I want Jason? More to the point,
maybe I should ask you why you want Jason?
Why do you want to spend your life with
someone who puts the mob above you? If you
asked Jason to choose between being in the
mob and being your husband, what do you
think he would choose?”

“It’s not that simple..” Carly begins,
unsure of where she lost control of this
conversation.

“It should be.” Robin shrugs. “If you
weren’t such a vindictive bitch, I’d feel sorry
for you.”

“I’ll show you vindictive,” Carly nearly
screams at Robin. “You cost me my son you
little ....” Carly reaches out to slap Robin but
Robin catches her arm and holds it in a tight
grip.

“I swore to myself three years ago that
I would never let you hurt me again. Lower
your hand before I break it and don’t even let
it cross your mind that I’m kidding.” Robin
says the words casually, but there’s something
in her eyes that makes Carly lower your hand.
“As for my ruining your life, bullsh*t. You
built this house of cards based on a pack of lies
and then you blame me when it comes
tumbling down. How long did you think you
could keep your secret? God, Carly this is Port
Charles. No one here keeps a secret forever.
Ask Laura Webber Spencer Cassadine that the
next time you see her. You might have held
your lie for a your or two or even five, but not
forever. And how much worse do you think it
would have been for Michael to have realized
at ten or twelve or even twenty that the two
people he loved most lied to him his whole
life? It would have hurt him like hell, believe
me I know I’ve been there.” Robin has
delivered her speech in an even and quiet tone.

“At least he wouldn’t be raised in that
mad house.”

Robin sighed. “You don’t get it. I think
maybe you and Jason do deserve each other.”
Robin unconsciously echoes Frisco’s earlier
words. “When was the last time you saw your
son? I thought so. Well I saw him yesterday at
AJ’s. They were watching Aladdin together.
Michael was laughing. He was giggling. He
was enjoying his father’s company.”

“He deserves to be with his mother and
father. Just because Jason threw you over..”

Robin shakes her head. “This is getting
tired. We’re not in high school Carly so grow
up. Michael does deserve to be with his
mother. You don’t deserve to be with him
right now. I hope someday that changes for
both of your sakes.” Robin smiles at Frisco.
“As for Jason, let’s make this official. You can
have him. Is that clear enough? I don’t need
him, I don’t want him. I don’t love him.”

“Then why....”

“Why the water?” Robin indicates
Frisco. “Him you can’t have. Him I do need
and want and love and all the rest of it. You
can have Jason, I have something better.”

“Him? You’re with him?” Carly can’t
hide her shock and jealousy.

“Or he’s with me. We like to think of it
as we’re with each other. He has a name, it’s
Frisco Jones. As in your former brother in
law?”

“Hi,” Frisco greets Carly. “I wanted to
make it to your wedding, but by the time I got
a day off you were already divorced weren’t
you?”

“Oh God,” Carly shakes her head. “I
can’t believe this.”

“Believe it,” Robin says. “This is the
man I am going to marry and spend the rest of
my life with.”

Frisco looks at Robin. “I am?”

“You are.”

“Is this an official proposal?”

“It is.”

“Then I accept.”

“You really didn’t have a choice
Jones.”

“Haven’t since that day in Paris.”

The two smiled at each other,
completely ignoring Carly and the rest of the
onlookers.

“What is going on here?” A cold voice
breaks through the crowd and Jason enters.

“Your little slut of an ex-girlfriend
attacked me, that’s what?”

“Robin? What?” He approaches Robin
only to find his way blocked by Frisco.

“Get lost Jones, this isn’t any of your
business.”

“Oh it is. You see Robin is my
fiancée,” Frisco tests the word out and likes it.
A lot. “So if you want to get to her, you have
to go through me.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed by
this Neanderthal like display of over
protectiveness?’ Robin steps between the two
men. “You,” she points at Jason. “take care of
your wife.” She turns away from Jason and to
Frisco. “You take me home,” her voice lowers
, “and take care of me.”

Frisco sighs. “Are you sure I can’t beat
him to a pulp?’

“I have other uses for those hands of
yours.”

“In that case,” Frisco grins at Jason and
leads Robin out the door.

Jason stands in stunned silence while
Carly tries to ring her clothing out and brush
her hair back.

“Jason.”

“Jason.”

“She’s marrying that creep.” Jason
doesn’t even acknowledge Carly.

“Forget it,” Carly mutters. “I’ll get
home on my own.”

Outside the nightclub, Robin and
Frisco look at each other.

“Did we just become engaged?” He
lets out a low breath.

“Yeah. Are you sorry?” she asks
anxiously. “I know we’ve never really talked
about the future because of my HIV status but
I meant what I said about wanting to spend the
rest of my life, however long that is, with
you.....”

Robin’s speech is interrupted by a long
and passionate kiss from Frisco.

The kiss is interrupted by a call on the
cell phone.

“Scorpio.”

Robin goes pale. “Damn. Double
damn. How long? All right, don’t touch
anything we’ll be there ASAP. Call the lab
boys and every forensics expert you can get. I
want the family contained in isolated rooms
under guard. No not Lila. Have Reginald stay
with her. Double the security. I don’t care how
many uniforms my uncle has to pay over time
for. No I’ll take care of the secondary target.
I’m on my way.”

“Why do I get the feeling that we
won’t be able to celebrate our engagement this
evening?”

“They found Edward Quartermaine’s
body on the mansion grounds. He’d been
shot.”

Frisco’s eyes go automatically back to
the nightclub.

“How long ago?”

“Preliminary guesses are that he was
killed about two or three hours ago.”

“Plenty of time....” Frisco indicates the
nightclub.

“You don’t think?”

“Yeah, I think. Tell me you disagree?”


Robin nods heavily. “No, I don’t
disagree. The question is which one?”

“Or both?’

The question hangs in the air as they
make their way to the car and to the
Quartermaine Estate.