Ninety-Nine

 

‘Corinthos blew his brains out.'

That was the prison guard's matter-of-fact pronouncement as Marcus took a seat before the monitors. The phrase was a bit colorful, Marcus reflected, but in the end he was basically correct. The official cause of death for Michael Corinthos, Jr. – as explained to him by the prison doctor - was intracerebral hemorrhage . The doctor surmised that Sonny's stress levels had sent his blood pressure skyrocketing. The major vessels in his brain had been unable to handle the force and subsequently exploded inside Sonny's head like over-inflated balloons.

Marcus rewound the video and watched once again the final minutes of his half-brother's life. The time stamp in the bottom corner of the video screen indicated that the footage he watched had been taken at just before five o'clock that same morning. Pentonville's sleeping occupants were easily seen by the muted light that shone in the hallway outside their cells.

Sonny sat huddled tightly in one corner of his cell. He dozed fitfully off and on. There was a flurry of movement as he awoke with a start, apparently in response to his stomach's intention to empty itself of all its contents. Bloody vomitus exploded from the mobster's mouth.

Sonny stumbled to his feet. He looked like a poor imitation of the mummies from the cheesy Saturday morning movies Marcus had loved to watch as a child. Sonny's movements were jerky and uncoordinated and he lost his balance with every other step.

Marcus' cell phone rang. The tall detective impatiently placed the video footage on hold right at the moment when Sonny's fatal seizure began. “Yeah?”

“I have made arrangements for Corinthos' body to be removed to a local mortuary near Pentonville Prison. You need only accompany the body to the mortuary. Detailed instructions have been given to the mortician.”

“Cassadine, what the hell are you doing on my phone?” Marcus barked. Stefan Cassadine's air of arrogance and entitlement pissed Marcus off on a good day. And this definitely was not a good day.

“I am attempting to prevent Alexis from needlessly endangering her life and that of her young daughter.” Stefan spoke slowly, explaining his actions to Marcus as though the detective were a child. “If you care for my sister as you would appear to do,” he continued, “then I would suggest you put aside your male posturing and listen.”

 

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