JACK
As usual when I'm in one of my black moods, I dropped in on Daniel. And he, God bless him, just let me in , and poured me a drink.
"Was it bad?" he asked sympathetically.
"The questioning wasn't too bad. It's everyone else. I just passed Siler and Rothman in the corridor. Rothman scuttled past like I was the devil incarnate. Siler told him off, said I was innocent till proven guilty.".
"Well, Rothman's always been a little afraid of you. Siler's a good man though.".
He topped up my drink. I didn't have to tell him what it was like, the constant whispering that followed me, the demarcation of the base into my allies and my accusers. Thankfully I had more friends than enemies, but how would that last.
"Before, " I said, stumbling over my words, "I was not a good man.".
I stopped. I was aware, that in some sense, Daniel looked up to me. Like Sam, he believed that my soul was good, even if the surface was a little rough. I hated to disillusion him.
"I know." Daniel said, simply.
"And then she came," I continued, hardly aware of him, remembering that first meeting, that first smile, that first spark. "Her eyes were glowing with admiration for this amazing man she'd conjured up from the Abydos reports.".
"And without knowing, you became that man." Daniel continued. "I do notice these things you know." he said, in response to my surprised look.
"They think I killed her." I told him.
"I don't." he said, loyal as ever. And I think he really believed it.
"Sure?"
"Of course I'm sure."
"Good. Because I'm not.".
Daniel stopped pacing and looked at me.
"Jack, what....".
"I used to have blackouts. I did a lot of things I wouldn't normally do. What if I've had them again?"
"Well, that's...that's ridiculous. Why would you kill Sam, of all people?"
"We argued." I admitted. "I was trying...I wanted to..tell her. I needed to know if she cared. I dropped hints, but she seemed distracted, like she hardly noticed me. I tried to tell her...but she just continued playing the good little Major, just calling me 'Sir' and not even looking at me! It was just so damn frustrating Daniel! All she had to do was give a little, show a little of what she felt, even just call me Jack! But oh no, she just stood there, calm and cool and saying 'Sir' and 'Colonel' as if she'd never worked three months flat out to get me back! I lost my temper. I stormed out. So there's your motive, right there."
He looked at me for a long time, then said,
"Jack, I don't believe you could have killed her."
"Then who did Daniel? Who else is there?"
***
MULLER
Jowell gets very self-important when he thinks he's solved a case, and he was sure puffed up now, his chest stuck out like a pigeon.
"It's him, I'm telling you."
"I'm not sure."
"He's the only one with means, motive, opportunity. He was seen leaving the scene. We know they had been arguing."
"I don't know. There's something we're not seeing here.
"
"It's him! He practically admitted he couldn't be sure he didn't kill her. We'll pull him in, lean on him a little, he'll crack eventually."
I didn't agree, but I kept my mouth shut. Time enough to shoot Jowell down when I had ALL the facts.
JACK
"I just want to see Sam's body." I asked. Janet shook her head gently, sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry Colonel, I've already sent the body to Mark."
"Yeah, I should have thought of that, I guess. I just..just wanted to say goodbye."
"Colonel O'Neill?"
I turned to see the NID guys. It was the tall blond one, the one with the pasted on smile who was speaking. The other one, the dark scruffy one, hung back, blocking the door.
"Yeah, what?" I said, more belligerently than I probably should have.
"I am arresting you for the murder of Major Samantha Carter."
Behind me I heard Janet whisper,
"No!"
"Please come with us." Jowell said.
I went quietly.
*******
MULLER
The more I see of this man, the more convinced I am that he is innocent. His friends -always the true measure of a man- refuse to believe that he could hurt her. It wasn't just his friends. There were a few in the SGC who'd got on the wrong side of his sarcasm that positively disliked the man. Everyone agreed he'd had a violent past, and that he had a great rage inside him. Yet no-one, not even Makepeace, would say that he could harm Major Carter.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised Jowell had gone the wrong way. He'd investigated this case as if it were normal. But the SGC wasn't normal. I had access to a few secrets Jowell didn't know existed, straight from Senator Kinsey himself. We had to look beyond the obvious. We had to look for the impossible.
******
JACK
I was confined to my quarters instead of a holding cell at Hammond's insistence. Teal'c and Daniel had come to join me, both convinced of my innocence. I wasn't. I remembered my blackouts, how I could recall nothing, how I'd almost killed a friend convinced he was an Iraqi spy.
And yet..I'd never touched Sara. But then again, things had never been as complicated with Sara as they had been with Sam. Maybe...just maybe.
"Okay," Daniel was saying, "assuming Jack's innocent,"
"Which I'm not convinced of." I murmured.
"Quiet, Jack. Assuming he's innocent, who does that leave?"
"Everyone else on the base has been eliminated." Teal'c said.
"So, if its not someone in the SGC.." Daniel said slowly
"Then's its someone from outside." Came a voice from the door.
It was Muller.
MULLER
I'd finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to find the real killer, and the only people who could help me do that was SG1.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jackson said, angry as hell. Can't say I blame him.
"Finding out the truth. I think there's a different solution..one where Colonel O'Neill is innocent."
"That's not what Jowell says.".
"Yeah, well, Jowell might do most of the talking, but I do most of the thinking."
We sat down round the table, a temporary truce established.
"Okay, I've been in touch with Major Davis. That man is a walking talking encyclopedia of all things SGC. I asked him which of the races you'd visited had the ability to become invisible."
"Why didn't we think of that?" Daniel said.
"Major Carter would have." Teal'c replied.
"The Ree'tu?" Daniel asked.
"No, this is not the Ree'tu style of attack." Teal'c answered.
"The Nox can make themselves invisible, I understand." I said.
"The Nox do not kill." said Teal'c
.
"But they are allied with the Tollan." O'Neill said slowly, and I could see the light of hope in his eyes. "They're technologically equal. They might have taught the Tollans how to be invisible."
"When we were on Tollan to defend Skaara." Daniel said excitedly, "Nareem tried to resume his relationship with Sam.".
"What relationship?" Jack asked indignantly.
"He claimed to love her."
"The son of a .....I never knew."
"Well, she turned him down. And last time we were on Tollana, Nareem was no where to be seen."
"Wait," I said, confused, "you think this Nareem guy is the one we're looking for?"
"I wouldn't put it past the slimy no-good son-of-a-bitch to have sneaked back with us." Jack said, suddenly alive again.
"He must have been here for months." Daniel said. "He could probably have knocked out the cameras. And once you got back from Adorra, and your relationship with Sam seemed to have disappeared..."
"He thought he'd move in, with his letters, and when she turned him down..."
"He killed her!"
"I'll kill the bastard." Jack hissed through clenched teeth.
"First we have to find him." Teal'c said.
"How do we find an invisible man?" Daniel asked.
"Heat." I replied.
As usual when I'm in one of my black moods, I dropped in on Daniel. And he, God bless him, just let me in , and poured me a drink.
"Was it bad?" he asked sympathetically.
"The questioning wasn't too bad. It's everyone else. I just passed Siler and Rothman in the corridor. Rothman scuttled past like I was the devil incarnate. Siler told him off, said I was innocent till proven guilty.".
"Well, Rothman's always been a little afraid of you. Siler's a good man though.".
He topped up my drink. I didn't have to tell him what it was like, the constant whispering that followed me, the demarcation of the base into my allies and my accusers. Thankfully I had more friends than enemies, but how would that last.
"Before, " I said, stumbling over my words, "I was not a good man.".
I stopped. I was aware, that in some sense, Daniel looked up to me. Like Sam, he believed that my soul was good, even if the surface was a little rough. I hated to disillusion him.
"I know." Daniel said, simply.
"And then she came," I continued, hardly aware of him, remembering that first meeting, that first smile, that first spark. "Her eyes were glowing with admiration for this amazing man she'd conjured up from the Abydos reports.".
"And without knowing, you became that man." Daniel continued. "I do notice these things you know." he said, in response to my surprised look.
"They think I killed her." I told him.
"I don't." he said, loyal as ever. And I think he really believed it.
"Sure?"
"Of course I'm sure."
"Good. Because I'm not.".
Daniel stopped pacing and looked at me.
"Jack, what....".
"I used to have blackouts. I did a lot of things I wouldn't normally do. What if I've had them again?"
"Well, that's...that's ridiculous. Why would you kill Sam, of all people?"
"We argued." I admitted. "I was trying...I wanted to..tell her. I needed to know if she cared. I dropped hints, but she seemed distracted, like she hardly noticed me. I tried to tell her...but she just continued playing the good little Major, just calling me 'Sir' and not even looking at me! It was just so damn frustrating Daniel! All she had to do was give a little, show a little of what she felt, even just call me Jack! But oh no, she just stood there, calm and cool and saying 'Sir' and 'Colonel' as if she'd never worked three months flat out to get me back! I lost my temper. I stormed out. So there's your motive, right there."
He looked at me for a long time, then said,
"Jack, I don't believe you could have killed her."
"Then who did Daniel? Who else is there?"
***
MULLER
Jowell gets very self-important when he thinks he's solved a case, and he was sure puffed up now, his chest stuck out like a pigeon.
"It's him, I'm telling you."
"I'm not sure."
"He's the only one with means, motive, opportunity. He was seen leaving the scene. We know they had been arguing."
"I don't know. There's something we're not seeing here.
"
"It's him! He practically admitted he couldn't be sure he didn't kill her. We'll pull him in, lean on him a little, he'll crack eventually."
I didn't agree, but I kept my mouth shut. Time enough to shoot Jowell down when I had ALL the facts.
JACK
"I just want to see Sam's body." I asked. Janet shook her head gently, sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry Colonel, I've already sent the body to Mark."
"Yeah, I should have thought of that, I guess. I just..just wanted to say goodbye."
"Colonel O'Neill?"
I turned to see the NID guys. It was the tall blond one, the one with the pasted on smile who was speaking. The other one, the dark scruffy one, hung back, blocking the door.
"Yeah, what?" I said, more belligerently than I probably should have.
"I am arresting you for the murder of Major Samantha Carter."
Behind me I heard Janet whisper,
"No!"
"Please come with us." Jowell said.
I went quietly.
*******
MULLER
The more I see of this man, the more convinced I am that he is innocent. His friends -always the true measure of a man- refuse to believe that he could hurt her. It wasn't just his friends. There were a few in the SGC who'd got on the wrong side of his sarcasm that positively disliked the man. Everyone agreed he'd had a violent past, and that he had a great rage inside him. Yet no-one, not even Makepeace, would say that he could harm Major Carter.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised Jowell had gone the wrong way. He'd investigated this case as if it were normal. But the SGC wasn't normal. I had access to a few secrets Jowell didn't know existed, straight from Senator Kinsey himself. We had to look beyond the obvious. We had to look for the impossible.
******
JACK
I was confined to my quarters instead of a holding cell at Hammond's insistence. Teal'c and Daniel had come to join me, both convinced of my innocence. I wasn't. I remembered my blackouts, how I could recall nothing, how I'd almost killed a friend convinced he was an Iraqi spy.
And yet..I'd never touched Sara. But then again, things had never been as complicated with Sara as they had been with Sam. Maybe...just maybe.
"Okay," Daniel was saying, "assuming Jack's innocent,"
"Which I'm not convinced of." I murmured.
"Quiet, Jack. Assuming he's innocent, who does that leave?"
"Everyone else on the base has been eliminated." Teal'c said.
"So, if its not someone in the SGC.." Daniel said slowly
"Then's its someone from outside." Came a voice from the door.
It was Muller.
MULLER
I'd finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to find the real killer, and the only people who could help me do that was SG1.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jackson said, angry as hell. Can't say I blame him.
"Finding out the truth. I think there's a different solution..one where Colonel O'Neill is innocent."
"That's not what Jowell says.".
"Yeah, well, Jowell might do most of the talking, but I do most of the thinking."
We sat down round the table, a temporary truce established.
"Okay, I've been in touch with Major Davis. That man is a walking talking encyclopedia of all things SGC. I asked him which of the races you'd visited had the ability to become invisible."
"Why didn't we think of that?" Daniel said.
"Major Carter would have." Teal'c replied.
"The Ree'tu?" Daniel asked.
"No, this is not the Ree'tu style of attack." Teal'c answered.
"The Nox can make themselves invisible, I understand." I said.
"The Nox do not kill." said Teal'c
.
"But they are allied with the Tollan." O'Neill said slowly, and I could see the light of hope in his eyes. "They're technologically equal. They might have taught the Tollans how to be invisible."
"When we were on Tollan to defend Skaara." Daniel said excitedly, "Nareem tried to resume his relationship with Sam.".
"What relationship?" Jack asked indignantly.
"He claimed to love her."
"The son of a .....I never knew."
"Well, she turned him down. And last time we were on Tollana, Nareem was no where to be seen."
"Wait," I said, confused, "you think this Nareem guy is the one we're looking for?"
"I wouldn't put it past the slimy no-good son-of-a-bitch to have sneaked back with us." Jack said, suddenly alive again.
"He must have been here for months." Daniel said. "He could probably have knocked out the cameras. And once you got back from Adorra, and your relationship with Sam seemed to have disappeared..."
"He thought he'd move in, with his letters, and when she turned him down..."
"He killed her!"
"I'll kill the bastard." Jack hissed through clenched teeth.
"First we have to find him." Teal'c said.
"How do we find an invisible man?" Daniel asked.
"Heat." I replied.