“…and there Justus was, a grown man trying to eat a sandwich, with Mary Mae steadily stuffing napkins beneath his chin. You know he just shook his head…”
Keesha smiled as she moved past the table full of older ladies. All around the room, friends and neighbors had settled into little groups to laugh and reminisce and enjoy the enormous variety of food available.
At
a table far across the room, Edward Quartermaine was now holding court.
It was several hours later and the old man had obviously recovered from
his momentary weakness earlier in Mount Hebron Church.
Edward
was surrounded by every dark-suited politician and businessman who had attended
Justus’ memorial service. The
knot of men there in the far corner was a virtual ‘who’s who’ of the Port
Charles upper echelon.
Keesha
idly wondered why Ward House did not tilt over in their direction.
The combined weight of the men’s wealth was definitely sufficient
enough to accomplish such a feat.
“The
old man has already started.”
Jason
Morgan’s voice sounding just beside her caught Keesha completely off-guard.
She had not heard his silent approach nor had she seen it from the corner
of her eye. Keesha turned, being
careful to maintain a neutral expression for the benefit of anyone watching.
“Why
are you still here, Jason?” She
tempered the anger in her voice. Keesha
reminded herself that Jason, much like Justus, had chosen the unsavory
lifestyle of Mob living. Any anger
she felt about their decisions was to be reserved solely for mob boss Michael
‘Sonny’ Corinthos. Had he truly
cared about the two men, Sonny would have turned them away.
“We
need to meet before you go back to Philadelphia,” he replied simply.
Keesha
could not keep the incredulous expression off her face.
“I can’t think of one possible reason – with the exception of you
telling me who did this to Justus – why you and I have any reason at
all to ever see one another again.”
Jason
met Keesha’s gaze evenly. “Justus
knew that something like this could happen.”
He shrugged slightly. “There
were things he wanted me to tell you. Things
about Ward House and the Old Man.”
“I
used to talk to Justus at least twice a week.
If there was something he’d wanted me to know, he would have told
me.”
“Every
time he tried, you didn’t want to hear.”
The cold, unfeeling individual who occupied the body of the man Keesha
once loved did not sugarcoat his words. “You
hated the life Justus chose,” Jason Morgan responded.
His words, issued without an ounce of inflection, nonetheless seemed to
drip with accusation. “Even
though you both knew the truth, Justus had to pretend he wasn’t a part of that
life just so you wouldn’t cut him out of yours.”
Jason
watched Keesha struggle for a response. “Are
you going to meet with me or not?” he asked.
“Fine,” Keesha finally bit out. “Tomorrow at ten.”
