The Heart's Refusal to Believe – Part 2

Thanks to TZMaverick and NG for their huge help in Beta reading this chapter!!!

Thank you very much to everyone that reviewd chapter 1!!!

There are one or two swear words, so please be forewarned. It's nothing more than what you would hear during prime time.

Jack spent the next day desperately trying to prove, with a glimmer of hope, that Carter was still alive. Daniel, Teal'c, and General Hammond joined Jack in the SGC Conference room to go over the Police reports.

Jack called security and asked for all the base security tapes from 0200 – 0600 the morning Carter died.

"O'Neill. Have you discovered something?"

"Not yet. I want to create a timeline from when SG-1 arrived through the Gate until she signed out at 0410. I want to know why she left base after telling you that she was staying."

The men continue to pour through the reports until a Sergeant brought in a box. "Here are the tapes for the Gate Room through sub level 16, Sir. We will bring the rest of the tapes once we collected them all."

"Thank you Sergeant."

Jack began to mark down events they already knew had happened, before they started watching the tapes. "SG-1 arrived through the gate at 0215 the morning of October 5th."

"All three of us went directly to the infirmary. We waited for everyone to finish their exams, and then headed toward the locker rooms." Daniel added.

"Colonel Carter was the last to complete her physical exam. On our way to the locker rooms, she and Daniel Jackson agreed to remain on base due to the late hour. We then arranged to meet in the commissary for our morning meal at 0830. I believe it was 0330 when we last saw her, O'Neill."

"Alright. Well I checked with the Guard at the Security checkpoint and she checked out at 0410. So what happen between 0330 and 0410 to change her mind?"

Daniel pulled the VCR and TV over to the table. "Where do you want to start, Jack?"

"We have tapes for the Gate room all the way up to her base quarters including her lab. Let's follow your path. Start with the Gate Room and go from there."

The four men watched as SG-1 followed the timeline up to when they entered the separate locker rooms at 0330.

At 0352, Sam left the women's locker room and headed towards the elevators.

Now the four men became a little more tentative.

They searched through the tapes until they saw her exiting the elevator on sublevel 17 where her quarters were located at 0354. Just as she was putting the key in the door she jumped.

All four men jumped as well.

She pulled out her cell phone and appeared to be looking at the caller id and then at her watch. She sighed and apparently was trying to decide if she wanted to talk to the caller. She finally answered it and began to talk to whomever as she unlocked her door and went inside.

At 0400, she was leaving her quarters just finishing her conversation with the mystery caller. As she locked her door, she put her phone in her pocket.

She entered the elevator at 0402.

The other tapes had not been delivered yet, so Jack continued the timeline up to where they were now.

"Well, that proves she carried her cell phone and had her watch on when she left, unless she got rid of them somewhere between sublevel 17 and top side, which I seriously doubt." Jack said.

"Okay. When did the accident occur?" General Hammond asked.

Jack handed him the report. "According to the police report, a call came in at 0445 to the 911 dispatch reporting a car accident."

Jack continued to mark the timeline on the board. "At 0455 the investigating officers arrived on the scene. Pete Shanahan had arrived right behind them."

"It says that Pete identified the woman in the car as his fiancée and attempted to free her." General Hammond read.

"How did the accident occur General Hammond?" Teal'c asked

"An eye witness said a tractor trailer truck ran the red light hitting the Volvo … on the driver's side." Hammond added quietly.

Jack explained further with sadness. "The police officers couldn't get the drivers door open because of the damage caused by the truck. The car was pushed against a telephone pole preventing them from entering through the passenger side. Pete apparently entered through the back seat. The victim …" Jack still couldn't bring himself to say it was Carter. "… was lying across the seat with trauma to her head and entire left side."

"The damage to the car was extensive and they were not able to get to the victim to render assistance. The firemen arrived and used the jaws-of-life to allow the paramedics room to assist the victim. They were able to free her from the car and rushed her to the ambulance." Hammond read.

"They never revived the driver. They continue to work on the victim once they freed her from the car." Jack added.

"She was pronounced dead at the scene at 0559." Hammond read solemnly.

"She arrived at the hospital at 0630."

Daniel looked through the Autopsy report. "They started the autopsy at 0700."

"I received a call from the police department at 0800. I phoned the hospital at 0930 and by then the autopsy was already completed and the victim had been sent to the funeral home. The funeral home informed me the funeral was apparently already planned but not open for the public."

"So in 2 ½ hours the autopsy was completed and the funeral arranged? That's a little weird." Daniel added.

"What was she even doing on that side of town?" Jack asked curious.

"My guess is she was going to see Pete. The accident happened about 10 minutes from where he lives." Daniel added.

Jack was surprised. "I think we should pay Detective Shanahan a little visit to see if he can tell us why she left the base." Jack wanted to know what Pete could have said that made her leave the base so early. He was furious with Pete. He knew it wasn't rational, but he had to vent his anger somewhere. The most logical place seemed to rest with the person that apparently caused her to leave the base in the first place.

As they pulled up in front of Pete's house a tall stocky man with black hair and a mustache in civilian clothes was getting in a blue sedan and leaving.

They knocked on the door.

Pete was surprised to see them, but didn't move to invite them in. "Is there something I can help you with?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, we would like to come in and talk to you." O'Neill answered evenly.

"I'm kinda in the middle of something, come back later." Pete moved to close the door.

Jack slammed his hand against the door preventing it from closing. "I don't think you understand. We are here on official military business."

"What military business?" Pete asked angrily.

"We are investigating Colonel Carter's death and we would like to ask you some questions." Jack said with as much control as he could. He really wanted to push the door open and slam Pete against the wall until he got all the answers he came for.

Pete surprisingly opened the door. The three men walked passed him toward his living room. "Why are you investigating her death? The police have already done that, why are you butting in."

Teal'c moved toward Pete with an angry glare. "I would think you would assist us in determining the cause of you betrothed's death. Am I wrong to assume this Pete Shanahan?"

Pete took a couple of steps away from the angry man. "No. I just don't understand why you're conducting another investigation. The police already determined she died in an accident."

"We just have a few questions that might clear up some things for us." Daniel said trying to calm everyone down.

"Fine, what do you want to know?"

Jack was trying to control his temper. 'What did Carter ever see in this jerk?' "We understood that you called Carter's cell phone the morning that she died. What did you talk about?"

"That's none of your business." Pete snared. With that he confirmed he was in fact the caller.

"It looked like you're the reason she left the base." Jack couldn't stop the accusation.

"So that's really why you're here? You have to blame someone so you going to blame me? Is that it? Well I don't need this so get the hell out of my house."

Daniel stepped forward. "We don't blame you. We just want to know if you knew she was coming over here."

"And how did you know she was back in town?" Jack added.

"You know I talked to her. You've already made up your mind. Nothing I say is going to change that. Just leave me alone." Pete walked back toward his door.

Jack was kicking himself for losing control. "Alright. We're leaving, but we need her dog tags to make her death official for the United States Air Force." That wasn't completely true, but he was sure Pete didn't know that.

"I don't have them. They weren't sent with the rest of her personal belongings. I assumed you took them." Pete said glaring at Jack. The two didn't hide the hatred they felt for each other.

"How could I …" Jack was cut off by Pete answering his ringing cell phone.

After Pete ended his call, he opened the door. "Well gentlemen I have my own official business to take care of, so we'll have to continue this some other time."

"You can bet we will." Jack said walking out of the house followed by Teal'c and Daniel.

Once outside Daniel spoke up. "Jack, what do you suppose Pete meant when he said he assumed you took her dog tags?"

"I don't know, Daniel, but right now I'm more interested in seeing if Dr. Patrick can shed some light on this autopsy."

They arrived at the morgue to question Dr. Patrick who was just about to go on a break.

"Dr. Patrick did you conduct an autopsy on a Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, two mornings ago? There was an auto accident that was rushed through on the request of the Colorado Police Department."

"Yes. I performed the autopsy."

"I'm General O'Neill. This is Daniel and Murray and we're conducting an investigation for the Air Force on Lt. Colonel Carter's death."

"How can I help you?"

"We received a copy of your report. There wasn't a blood type listed. Do you know why that is?"

"There should have been. Wait here and I'll go get the original report."

Ten minutes later the doctor returned, flipping through the pages of the report with a frown. "That page is missing."

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. That page listed the blood type along with the size and weight of the heart."

"Would you have missed this?"

"Absolutely not. The state requires that we test the blood alcohol level for all accident victims. I remember checking her blood, but I don't remember what type she had."

"Did you find anything in her blood?" Daniel asked cautiously.

"No. There was no alcohol in her blood."

"Did you find anything else?" Jack asked just to be sure. There was no way he could have missed the protein marker.

"No. I checked for everything. Why?"

"We just wanted to make sure. The report said that Pete Shanahan identified the body. Did he identify her here?"

"Yes. In fact he waited around until I finished the report and read it once I completed it."

"Did you stay with him the entire time he read the report?"

"I stayed pretty much the whole time. However, I did leave for two minutes to answer the phone. They hung up after I got there."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The three men left. As they walked toward the SUV they were all deep in thought, until Jack spoke up. "If he ran any test on Carter's blood he would have found the protein marker. Either Dr. Patrick didn't run any blood tests or Pete Shanahan lied about who died in that car accident."

"Indeed O'Neill."

"Well how do we find out which one of them is lying?"

"The best way to do that is to exhume the body, and have Dr. Brightman do a DNA test. I guess we go back to the SGC and see if General Hammond can give us authorization."

TBC