Chapter Five

Dupree looked skeptically at Jaime and Steve. "So you're telling me that Oscar Goldman shot Jack Hansen to protect you, Miss Sommers, but you'd never shot him to begin with -"

"Right."

"And the person who actually fired the fatal shot to his chest was Jack Hansen himself?"

"Now you're getting it," Steve told him. "Oscar's shot made no difference in terms of the end result. Hansen killed himself, and he hated Oscar, and the OSI as a whole, enough to frame him. He knew the only way to get Oscar to take a shot would be to threaten someone he loves."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Dupree remarked. "Goldman's in love with your fiancee' and you're ok with it? You expect me to buy that? This is not Peyton Place."

Steve shrugged. "Oscar's feelings for Jaime have always been one of the worst-kept secrets at the OSI. Oscar made a choice, though, to stay married to his career. The way he put it, no one else would want it. After the last day and a half, I can sure see his point. I could put at least a half-dozen people on the stand who'd testify to his feelings for Jaime. I could also get any jury in the country to find there was extreme provocation and emotional duress. If you insist on going forward with this case, I guarantee that Oscar Goldman will be found not guilty."

"Very nice little speech, Colonel, but where is the actual physical proof?" Dupree demanded.

"There's a storm drain in back of the parking garage, and the gun is down there; I saw it. Jack wasn't wearing gloves, so his prints will be on it. If you test his hands, you'll find he did fire the gun. The coroner is prepared to testify that the chest wound is at the right angle, in a close enough range, that Hansen could've done it. He'll also tell you that Hansen was only minutes or less from death, with or without Oscar's shot, and any intent on Oscar's part was to protect a loved one and defend her honor, not to kill."

"Alright - ok; I'll look into it," Dupree conceded.

"And you'll let Oscar go?" Jaime prompted.

"If everything you've said is true, then I'll have no other choice."

------

Three days later, Jaime and Steve stopped at the Tranquility Fountain on their way into OSI Headquarters. It seemed an entirely different world they were entering from the one of just a few days earlier. The Fountain was actually tranquil, and the walkways and lobbies teamed with people who were once again going about their business with their heads held high, some of them even daring to smile. Steve had done an admirable (and unenviable) job holding things together in Oscar's absence, but it was as though the heart and soul had been wrenched away and now had been returned.

They walked through the huge front door and were surprised and shocked to be greeted with applause and adulation. It shouldn't have been such a shock; if the heart and soul were back and life's blood once again pumped through the agency, they were the two people who'd made that happen. Standing in the middle of the group, holding out two glasses of champagne for them, with the biggest smile of all, was Oscar. The world was right-side-up again, and this was the team to make sure it stayed that way.

END