"There… I've told you everything… Now tell me how he is doing…"

"I said that I would tell you how he was doing if you told me the truth."

"I did tell you the truth!"

"Oh, come on! I've heard much better lies than the ones you're pushing!"

"They're not lies."

"All right then. Give me a name. I need the name of one person. Just give me one single solitary person who can corroborate your story."

"Corroborate? Just what exactly do you mean?"

"Someone who saw you two that night…"

"Saw us? Why would anyone have seen us? What the hell is wrong with you? I don't fuck with an audience!"

"Really, O'Neil? Since when?"

"Just tell me how he's doing!"

"Tell me who knew about your… relationship…"

"As far as I know… no one…"

"So… Your story can't be corroborated. You're a fucking liar, that's what you are…"

"DAMNIT AITURRO! I NEED TO KNOW!"

"Why? Why do you need to know so badly? Huh? Really why do you care how he's doing?"

No, he would never get him to admit that.

"Damn it O'Neil tell me!"

"You wanna know, huh? You're gonna make me say it?"

What? Say what? Just pretend that you know… "Yeah, I wanna hear you say it!"

"I LOVE HIM!"

OK. Whoa. That was completely unexpected.

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As ridiculous as his story was, Jeffrey certainly sounded convincing. Gus was even almost buying it, or, at least, he was beginning to want to. "Sandy is… On a respirator… They think that he's going to survive, but at this point, they can't really be sure… And… They don't know when he's going to wake up…"

Jeffrey breathed a sigh of temporary relief.

"But even if I were to believe your story, there's still one problem."

"What is it?"

"If nobody knew about you and Sandy, then why was he targeted? Why was that note delivered to your door? And most importantly, who did it?"

"I don't know… I don't know… I don't… I don't know how anybody could've found out… I mean we were so discreet… I mean… At least I thought that we were…"

"Who would do something like this?"

"I don't know!" Jeffrey said. "I mean… When I got the note… My first thought was Solerno, but… then I thought… why didn't he just kill me… Or... at least... try to kill me…"

At the mention of the name, something seemed to click in Gus' mind. "No… That would've been too obvious…"

"What?" Jeffrey didn't quite get it, at least, not just yet.

"Killing you… It would've been too obvious. The DA gets murdered so soon after the explosion that…" Gus still felt weird saying it. "Killed my sister…"

Jeffrey wondered if he was getting somewhere, or if Gus had merely switched to good cop mode.

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Reva sat next to her son's hospital bed, just looking at him. He looked so frail and lifeless. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it softly; some small part of her expecting him to squeeze back. She knew that she wanted to say something to him, but she wasn't quite sure exactly where to start. She wanted him to know the truth. She wondered if maybe her lies were what led her son to hang around people like Jeffrey O'Neil. He'd probably been looking for a father figure. And who better than someone who looked exactly like his father? Or at least the man that she'd told him his father was. "Sandy…" she started. "I need you to wake up from this. Please…" It was hard for her to get the words out. "There are… things that I need to tell you and… I want you to be awake when I tell them to you…"

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"Let's just say… that… hypothetically speaking of course… I believe you…" Gus didn't know how to phrase what exactly he was trying to get at.

"Yes…" Jeffrey was growing increasingly impatient.

Frank burst the door open. "That's it Gus… I'm taking over from here. I don't care what the Attorney General says about a conflict of interest. From what's been said in here, it sounds to me like you have one too, and you're not doing a very good job questioning the suspect!"

"Why, because I think that there might actually be some truth to this? I'm doing this interrogation, Frank, not you! Now, get out and let me finish my job!"

"It's my job! And my police department!"

Amidst all of the commotion, Jeffrey got up out of his chair and quietly headed for the door.

"Get back here O'Neil!" Gus turned and grabbed him.

Damn! It was like the man had eyes in the back of his head. Jeffrey sat back down and looked between Gus and Frank. "You both know that you don't have enough to hold me. I've told you everything, now just let me go!"

"You've told us nothing!" Frank bellowed. "Now you are going to sit back in that chair and tell us the truth!"

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