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Morgan Benson 6

Morgan checks into the Port Charles hotel Saturday morning but stays only long enough to drop off his weekender bag. It used to belong to the Quartermaines but they had sold to Jasper Jacks in a weak moment. Morgan had rented a car at the airport and driven himself. Mom’s place at Shadybrook is outside of town. Michael had left Miami on Thursday morning and headed to Washington, DC for the Zambian embassy thing. Friday he’d been in Boston doing fund raising there. So Morgan had actually beat Michael to Port Charles despite working a regular work week. Mom is not an early bird. She liked to stay up late and get up late so there would be time to get some stuff done in the morning. Like contacting Georgie at Scorpio Investigations to get a read on Macon no known last name.

“I’ll be right with you.” The cheerful voice calls out from the back room of the investigation agency.

“Take your time it’s just me.”

“Morgan!” Georgie runs out of the back room. “How are you? Oh look at that tan. There won’t be anything like this in Port Charles for another 4 months.” She gives him a big hug.

“Hey Aunt Georgie.” Morgan gives her a hug back. Georgie and Lucky had always been good to him. He’d realized after the fact that their access to him had been limited by Sonny. Only after Sonny’s incarceration did he start getting relatives coming out of the woodwork. Georgie is Robin’s cousin. Lucky is his mother’s cousin. “How is business?”

“Booming.” Georgie’s voice is wry. “Corporate is always huge. And then investigating for people who really don’t want to go to the cops. And Lucky refuses to maintain regular hours or answer the phone.”

“He always has.”

“Well it’s not fair. He gets all his work done and makes work for the rest of us. But enough to that. You’re up for your mother’s birthday?”

Morgan nods. “Michael is probably flying in today. He had something going in Boston.”

“And I’m your first stop. I’m flattered.” Georgie takes a look at Morgan. Nobody has a better poker face than Lucky but Morgan is giving her his version and it’s putting up flags. “Or maybe there is a reason why I’m your first stop.”

“I need someone I can trust to dig up some information.”

“You know I’m there. Whatever it is, Morgan. Come on into my office.” Georgie leads the way to an office that has very high windows. Higher than the site line of her computer screen. Lucky screened for bugs and other electronic devices frequently but they believed in prevention rather than coming at things from the already screwed and who knows by how much angle. “What’s up?”

“Dating a girl down in Florida. Before she moved to Florida she and her mother were receiving threats from a guy up here in Port Charles.”

“You’re dating a homegirl!” Georgie teases.

“Not too likely she’ll be heading home anytime soon, Georgie. Sounded like she is still afraid of this guy– and this is while he’s incarcerated.”

Georgie gets serious. “Do you have a name?”

“Just one name, Macon. I have no idea if that is first or last. He was the leader of a gang in a crap section of Port Charles eight years ago. He’s doing 10-25.”

“Well that’s a bit. What about her?”

“Her name is Lisa Pappas. Her brother’s name is Anders Pappas. He testified against Macon. Evidently the threats kept coming after Macon was incarcerated. It’s one of the reasons Lisa and her mother moved to Florida.”

Georgie is already in the court house search engine going with the name Anders Pappas. If he was a witness then his name would be in the legal record. And since it’s been less than ten years good chance of still finding it in the active part of the system. “Found Pappas, he testified in a number of cases ah there it is --Constantine Macon. I can understand him going by Macon. Much better for a tough guy than Connie. He was actually popped while doing a burglary and then they nailed him for the assault on Karin Quartermaine and Mark Griffith. Juvenile record sealed. You’d have to get Lucky to get that for you. He cleared a bunch of burglaries in order to only be charged with one. That one was a plea bargain. Then the assault on Karin and Mark counted as one episode. He’s on two strikes but that 10-25 was a gift.”

“Yeah, that’s what Lisa said. Sounded like she didn’t want to be the guy’s third. I get the feeling this is a bad guy and that at least for the first couple of years working on a payback plan. I need to know if he still is– without drawing any attention to Lisa or her mother.”

Georgie pushes back from the desk and leans back a little. “You’re not going to like it.”

“What?”

“You really want to know about this guy– fast and dirty then you need to contact Mouse over at CSMC. If Macon is making threats against Anders Pappas’ family they’d be right on top of it.”

“And drawing attention to Lisa again.”

“She’s not going to get a lot of support through the system. She isn’t listed as a victim or a witness. No police reports filed on attempted witness tampering. Which is no big surprise, CSMC doesn’t generate a lot of police reports unless they’re building a trap for someone.”

“Next option?” Morgan demands tersely.

Georgie shakes her head. “I don’t know if it’s still true. When Sonny was in prison, there was a lot of rumors that Jason had people inside to make sure he had protection but that was ten years ago. If this guy is reaching out from inside prison-- maybe you need to find out who he is reaching out to?”

“How?”

“All prison phone calls are recorded. You may be able to get something there under the freedom of information act but I don’t know how long they’re kept or how long it would take for you to get them. It’s primarily used to track escape and security issues. Letters are searched too unless they are attorney. Same reason escape and security. Maybe a visitor list– especially if threats are being made. Someone had to receive and deliver them. Visitor’s list would be a good place to start.” Georgie starts doing a search entering the New York Prison System Database. This is all public information and wouldn’t go into a lot of detail but it should tell her where Macon is and on what status.

“Georgie, You in here?” A voice from the reception area calls out.

“I’m in here, Dad.” Georgie calls out not looking up from her task.

“I stopped and picked up some dough...” Mac comes to a halt. “I didn’t know you were in a meeting.”

“Morgan, you remember my dad, Mac Scorpio?”

“I thought you were police commissioner.”

“Retired and now working back in the PI business. Marcus Taggart took over as police commissioner.”

“Yeah, like that is going to last.” Georgie mutters. “He’s good but he’s so not political.”

“See and this is where I think his wife is an asset to his career.” Mac says cheerfully offering Macon a doughnut. “Anyone messing with Marcus is going to be taking on Mary and whatever desperate lawyer she can get over in that firm of hers.”

“Marcus Taggart is married to a lawyer?”

“Better.” Georgie looks up. “The office manager for Jensen, Campbell and Winthrop. Nothing goes out of that place without Mary Taggart knowing about it.”

“Ah, say no more. If it’s anything like the office manager at the firm I work at down in Miami...” Morgan shakes his head.

“Dad, you know maybe you remember this guy... Constantine Macon, goes by Macon. Gang banger busted for burglary and assault about 8 years ago. Anders Pappas and a few others from his crew flipped on him.”

Mac gets serious. “You’re asking about this guy?” He looks at Morgan.

“The girl I’m dating down in Miami, Lisa Pappas, says that Macon continued to make threats against her and her mother. Which is one of the reasons why they moved to Florida. It’s also one of the reasons I couldn’t talk her into coming back to Port Charles for the weekend.”

Mac grabs a cup of coffee and pulls up a chair. “That was a crazy year. Had all kinds of stuff happen that year: plane crash in a residential neighborhood. Baby killed Patience Dillon. Macon was basically a blip compared to everything else. He always seemed to skate. The burglaries... he cleared like 50 of them... no charges on 49 and frankly a minimum sentence on the one he copped. The assault, guy liked to play with knives– neither Karin nor Mark could testify against Macon. It would have been a press nightmare for the Karinens and Mark was trying to keep his face out of the paper too. They were both out of the country when the ADA was trying to make the case.”

“Who was the ADA? Do you remember?”

“Probably Serena she was specializing on the gang task force back then.”

“She’s the DA now. Appointed by the AG office to fill a vacancy and will be running in the next election probably.” Georgie fills Morgan in. “Serena Baldwin. Her father was DA for awhile too back when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, cept Serena isn’t as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. She takes after her grandfather Lee rather than her father, thankfully.” Mac nods. “Scott used his father’s reputation for a lot of years to whitewash his own.”

“Morgan, it looks from the public information that he is still incarcerated and he’s at Sing Sing– a max security lock up which may be because of the assault charge or it could be because he’s been a jerk inside. Considering what Lisa told you, hopefully it’s him being a jerk and he’ll be serving longer than the minimum.”

The next stop is General Hospital. Often times it can be a two birds with one stone situation and he can catch up with Robin and his grandmother, Bobbie Spencer, in the same trip. Bobbie has advanced to head of nursing and had been that position for as long as he’d been keeping track. Which meant that most of the time she was a Monday thru Friday eight to five office bound administrator, and she hates it. So she’d sneak in on Saturdays to do a little nursing work. Aunt Robin is in the same boat. As chief of staff, most days she’s stuck in the office doing budget and other administrative duties, so she’d sneak in on a Saturday morning and keep her hand in.

He finds them both working in the ER. Bobbie is running the hub assigning triage and Aunt Robin is just stepping out from curtains with a chart in her hand when he walks thru the ER doors. He smiles as he walks up to the hub. “Maybe someone could help me; I’m looking for my grandmother.”

Bobbie turns around and grins seeing him for the first time. “Well that couldn’t be me. I’m too young to have a grandson who graduated the top of his class from the University of Miami and who is now working at the top international law firm in the whole state of Florida.” She makes sure her voice is loud enough to carry-- after all this is her grandson, the lawyer. She’d do the same thing for her grandson, the doctor.

“Hey Grandma.”

Bobbie comes out from behind the desk and gives Morgan a hug. “Robin, look who is here!”

Dr. Robin Morgan puts the chart down on the counter and impatiently waits her turn to give Morgan a hug. She’d had primary maternal duties from the time the kid was 7 until he was 17. And even then when Morgan had to get out of town with all the pressure of Sonny’s execution... he’d gone to stay with her mother in Europe. Even if she understood, it’s still hard that Morgan had just dropped Port Charles from his radar, only returning one weekend a year. “Hey handsome.” Robin finally gets her shot at a hug. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for hours for you to show up.”

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure you guys were ready to go on break when I showed up.”

“Sure, sure.” Robin looks around the waiting room and then at the board. She glances over her shoulder and makes eye contact with the next senior doctor in the ER. He gives her a nod (and why wouldn’t he considering she is his boss). “Looks like a good time to go on break. I have my pager.”

“We’ll call if there is a bus accident.” The ER attending nods.

With an arm around both of the women, Morgan heads toward the cafeteria. “So fill me in. You and I are going to see Mom this afternoon right?”

“Everything is set.” Bobbie declares. “Have everything staged over at my house so it’s just a matter of picking it up and taking it to Shadybrook: balloons, cake, ice cream, beer. We’ll just have to stop to pick up a pizza on the way.”

“Jason has made there will be a pool table and a jukebox in the commons over there. Your mom is fine but they have to be so careful to make sure that nothing could be used by the patients to injury themselves. Jase says your mom may not remember the last pool game she played with Jason but she’s getting good enough to beat him on a regular basis.”

“Have you heard from Michael?” Bobbie changes the subject.

Jason, Carly and Robin’s relationship is a mess and always had been. Jason seldom fought anything where Robin was concerned. Whatever his wife wanted she got except for two things: Jason out of the business, and Jason giving up Carly. Robin knew of course that Robbie is Jason’s son with Carly, but that at least had happened before she’d moved back in with him. It had been one of the reasons why she’d moved back in with him... to take care of Robbie.

“He was down in Miami on Wednesday had a couple of charity gigs, one in DC and the other in Boston. He should be arriving anytime.” Morgan nods accepting the change in subject.

“Happy Birthday, Caroline.” Bobbie gives her daughter a kiss on the cheek. The birthday party has taken over one of the commons room and they’d already been there for a while setting up.

“Hey Mama.” Carly gives her a hug back. “I totally blew it off. I’m glad somebody remembered it.” She jokes. “Jase!” She goes over to the older man who luckily never seemed to change much with his hair cut short enough that the grey didn’t show.

“Hey Caroline.” Jason gives her a hug and kiss. Then he steps back. “This is your son, Michael. He flew in from Africa for your birthday. And this is your son, Morgan who flew in from Florida.”

“They’re so big and grown.” Carly shakes her head in disbelief. The nursing staff had been prepping her for this today making sure she’d been checking out her photo albums. Some days it even works and today the timing had been right. She might be disbelieving but she isn’t agitated or hysterical. Both of which have happened in the past.

“You aren’t kidding.” Bobbie agrees cheerfully as she fills in the blanks. “I almost didn’t recognize Morgan when he came into the hospital to pick me up this morning. He might work in a stuffy law office but he seems to be getting plenty of sunshine. Probably that house of his that is right on the water in Miami.”

“Hey Mama.” Morgan gives his mother a kiss. It’s always weird because the only reference point Carly has was his birth and even that she didn’t remember. The only one of her children she remembered, really remembered is Michael and then as a seven year old freckled skinny boy. Which is harder on the sons of Caroline Benson? Hearing that she doesn’t have a son named Morgan? Or what Michael would hear– that he wasn’t her son?

Michael comes up and gives her a kiss and a hug as well. “Hey Mama.”

“You know that Africa thing is all Jason’s fault. He would always read to you from that Africa book.” She gives Michael an extra squeeze. Of course what she just said is the exact same thing as she said every year before.

Michael is playing pool with his mother. Bobbie is getting things ready for the candles and cake. It gives Morgan and Jason time to catch up.

“You still pissed at me.”

“Not really. I expect stuff like that from you. But I’m serious, Uncle Jason, if there’s a problem then just let me know and I’ll handle it myself.”

“Morgan, there is always going to be a problem. If it isn’t my business then it’s Baby’s. You’re connected to both– like it or not– no matter how much you protest, nobody who is going to be coming after you gives a rat’s ass. They’re going for a target that would hit, and you would.”

“Baby doesn’t care. She’s never said a word to me. Showed up at graduation and that was it.”

“For your own protection.” Jason says reluctantly. It has never bothered him that there is distance between Morgan and Baby. “Maybe I should have broken down the barriers a bit more there after Sonny died but the distance was already entrenched by then. And the whole thing with the will ticked me off. Having Baby coming to the table dictating terms....” Jason shakes his head. “We stay out of each other’s backyard. The truce has held since your father was incarcerated– and that is because of Baby. “She made sure you were taken care of, at least as much as she could. That Visa card she gave you for graduation?”

“Yeah.”

“Linked to an account in both your names. It’s not a credit card, Morgan. It’s a debit card. Money is deposited every month and has been since your graduation from high school. It’s... clean. Having it in both your names, Baby’s been paying the taxes on it.” Jason makes a so so motion with his hand. “Just like I was putting money in an account for you ever since your father died.”

“My part of the will.”

“Your income from the part of the will I administer. Baby’s been doing the same thing. That way your hands are clean. It’s one of the reasons why she was so adamant Robbie be the beneficiary of all the ELQ stock. So he has an income separate from The Business. If you want to have a relationship with Baby don’t blow it off by thinking she hasn’t been interested in you. She may have been keeping it cool and distant in public but you can bet she’s been doing the same thing I have ever since you moved out of the penthouse.”

“You’re saying that she has a spy at my house too. Damn it, Uncle Jason! Lisa is not some CSMC stooge.”

“You’re probably right. She’s just shown up in the last 4 months. You moved down to Florida nine years ago.” With that Jason gets up and cuts in on Michael dancing with Carly.

The party is breaking up at least most of it. Michael and Morgan along with Bobbie would soon be heading out. Jason would stay awhile longer with Carly stretching the birthday for as long as he could.

Morgan is ticked. He’d made a phone call after his conversation with Jason-- over five million dollars. There is over five million dollars in that account, $50,000 a month for the last nine years regular as clockwork plus interest. Maybe Uncle Jason was putting a like amount into his trust. The one from his portion of Sonny’s business at the time of his death. If he had ever decided to run for office or something, this could really mess him up. It’s a good thing he’d never had political aspirations. He’d never tapped that trust knowing where the money came from. He’d used one for college, the trust from Alan and Monica set up for just that reason. He’d used the one from Aunt Courtney to buy the house. But in general he liked to live within his income and pay his own taxes.

Giving everyone hugs, handshakes or kisses depending on the person, Morgan is soon on his way in the rental car. First stop Harrison Pier. Pulling out the business card, he calls the emergency number. “This is Morgan Benson. I’m in Port Charles, at the Harrison Pier and I want to talk to you and Kristina both, Mouse.”

Mouse is slow to respond. “The launch is on the way.”

Morgan hangs up the phone with a snappish flip.

When he arrives over at Wyndemere he is escorted through the tunnels to the hunter’s cabin some distance from the house. When he questioned the use of the tunnel.

“You want to see Mouse right? This the fastest way.” The guard/escort retorts.

“I actually wanted to see Kristina.”

“Nobody sees Baby without an appointment and you don’t have one.”