Disclaimer - I do not own any part of CSI.

Chapter 10 – The truth will out

"Mr Potter, you told us the first time we arrived at your house that you saw the car that Jack's girlfriend drove parked in front of your drive the night he died." Brass stated.

"That's right."

"Then why did the rest of your neighbours say they hadn't seen it? And that we have eye witnesses that saw that same car parked elsewhere for the whole evening."

"Ok, maybe it wasn't there last night, it was there the night before. It's not really a big deal."

"It's the difference between wasting police time, perverting the course of justice and murder." Brass growled.

"No! You've got it wrong! I didn't mean to. Please believe me." Peter exclaimed and Brass looked at him with relief, knowing that the case was wrapped up.

"I know you didn't mean to kill him Peter." Grissom responded softly, causing both Brass and Peter to look at him in surprise. Peter sighed sadly.

"He was a really good friend; he was more like a brother than a neighbour." He looked down at his hands. Grissom placed photos of the evidence in front of Peter as he began to speak.

"I think you knew about Dana's affair and you were angry for the way she was treating Jack. It must have been hard when he didn't believe you, and I guess your friendship suffered?"

Peter nodded solemnly in response.

"He thought I was jealous 'cause he had a girlfriend and a relationship and I didn't."

"And what did you do?"

"I got proof. I saw that car one day when I was out shopping and she was there with her other guy." He lowered his eyes to concentrate on the table.

"I'm not proud of what I did, but it was the only way he'd believe me. I called Jack and asked him to meet with me to apologise for what went down before. Only, I went home." Peter's eyes filled with tears.

"He showed up thinking you were sorting everything out and instead you're not there and he sees his girlfriend with another man." Brass finished pointedly.

Peter wiped the tears away.

"I saw him get back and I phoned and got no answer but I could hear him crashing around his house. I knew he was drowning his sorrows. I thought he'd get over it. But"

"Dana showed up at his house; one of your neighbours said there was a commotion." Grissom finished and Peter yet again nodded.

"She was banging on the front door and calling him, but there was no response. I went out and told her to leave, that he didn't need a tramp like her hanging around. She started getting mouthy back, but then Jack opened his door and she went inside to talk to him. That was the night her car was parked outside. She eventually left in tears and I was gonna see if he was ok, but I thought I'd leave it till the morning, you know let him sleep it off."

It was Grissom's turn to nod.

"I went to work and tried to forget about it. When I got home, I couldn't hear anything. I just thought we would talk about it and get it sorted out." The tears fell again and he put his head in his hand for a few minutes.

"I went around there and at first he was being quiet and wasn't really saying much. Then he got louder and I realised he'd been drinking again. He started shouting at me, saying it was my entire fault that if I hadn't tricked him into meeting me then none of this would be happening. I told him that if I hadn't done it then he would have been in love with someone who didn't love him, and that he was an idiot to accept being treated that way." He mumbled, the tears mingling with his words.

"And that was when you fought. He sustained a few bruises and you lost one of your teeth." Grissom pointed at the photos of his tooth and of Jack's bruises which made Peter recoil.

"I pushed him to get him off me and he stumbled backwards and knocked his head on the shelf and then"

"He fell into the tree and made it fall over, trapping and squashing him underneath it. The marks we found on Jack's neck were made from the tinsel from the tree pressing on him" Grissom explained to Brass as Peter lost control of his voice and instead sobbed heavily.

"So instead of dialling 911 immediately and confessing to what you did, you called anonymously before going back to your house and acting like you didn't know what was going on. Why?" Brass asked.

"Because if you thought it was just an accident you wouldn't have looked into it."

"You wanted revenge for what Dana had done. So you made it look suspicious and then told us that she had been there the night he had died." Grissom informed.

"She had no idea what she had done and how much pain she had caused. And I was being blamed for it. I didn't wanna frame her; I just wanted you to interrogate her. I wanted her to suffer."

"She did Peter. But there were other people involved. You know that other guy? One of his daughters has just been murdered. And you've just added this on top. Do you think he's suffered enough?" Grissom asked sadly and Peter lowered his head crying quietly.

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That scene has had so many re-writes it's untrue!