Chapter Twenty-Seven

"I'd like to give my statement now," Rudy told the investigators.

Steve shook his head. "Line forms behind me, Doc."

"Stop it! Both of you just stop it!" Jaime insisted, rising unsteadily to her feet. "Nobody else is taking the blame for this! I mean, none of it would've happened if it wasn't for me!" She stepped toward the three investigators (where Trudeau was trying to figure out WHO to slap his cuffs on) – but Steve held her back.

"None of this would've happened if it wasn't for Michael," he corrected softly. "Period."

Jaime sat down on the edge of her bed – her legs were shakier than she'd expected – and calmly faced the Suits. "Still, I'm the one who decided to go and see him -"

"Michael called her," Steve interjected.

Trudeau frowned. "We know that. Mrs. Marchetti, how did you get to Maryland?"

"I drove her," Steve answered. "I snuck her past the guards and opened Michael's cell so Jaime could see him. And...he tried to kill her."

Slowly at first, Steve and Jaime shared the story of what had happened, with each of them trying to shoulder the lion's share of the blame. As they reached the part where Michael had first been injured, the words flowed out like water from a crumbling dam – faster and faster until they reached the end.

"I made Steve take me back to the river afterward," Jaime concluded. "I'm not sure why, though...maybe just to think."

The three suits stood silently for a few moments, taking it all in, then Hansen was the first to turn to Rudy. "Doctor? I'm guessing you have something to add...?"

Rudy took a deep breath. "When Steve helped me on the side of the road, I didn't see Jaime in the car – but I knew right away where Steve had been. I didn't ask him about it and I didn't call to have the guards check on Michael. If I had, maybe he could've been saved."

Steve shook his head. "He was dead when we left, Rudy."

"Are you sure?" Trudeau asked. "Did you check his pulse?"

"Well, no – but I'm sure. When I carried Jaime out, I turned her around so she couldn't see him. It was that bad."

"And you didn't bother to alert anyone or see if he could be helped?"

"My main thought was to get Jaime out of there safely."

Trudeau chuckled...and sneered. "I think your main thought, Colonel, was covering up a crime and trying to ensure you wouldn't get caught."

"To tell you the truth," Steve admitted, "that never entered my mind. Jaime had been hurt – again – by that psycho and I just wanted to get her out of there and back where she could be helped."

"And she was unconscious?" Trudeau probed.

"For the most part. She was drifting, but more out than in."

Trudeau nodded. "That makes you the responsible party, Colonel. And you're under arrest." He snapped the handcuffs around Steve's wrists and pulled him away from the bed.

"NO!" Jaime screamed. "It wasn't his fault! He was protecting me!"

"Jaime...don't...." Steve cautioned softly.

"You can't take him!" Jaime cried as the men began to lead Steve away. "I did it – arrest me! I killed Michael!"

Rudy was torn between going after Steve and giving the suits a good piece of his mind...and tending to his distraught patient. The doctor in him took precedence, and he gently eased Jaime back onto her pillows, administered another pain shot and held her hand as she tried in vain to fight it off before she finally drifted into an uneasy, restless sleep.

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