A/N: Just like to say thank you so much to all who have reviewed me,
that's Tracy1, Sally1 and Alf, I do appreciate the feedback, like to know
what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Thank you!
~~
At lunchtime the same day, Mark walked into Jack's room to find him hunched over a pan, vomiting into it, whilst Amanda held his forehead and rubbed his back soothingly. Mark turned back into the hallway and requested a nurse to fetch a glass of water immediately. He went back in, and saw that Jack had finished and was lying back on his pillow, pale, panting and glazed in a film of perspiration.
"Jack, are you okay?" Mark asked, handing him the glass of water that the nurse had just given him. To see Jack being sick was the last thing Mark had expected to find on walking into his room.
Jack took the glass gratefully and took sips of the water, cooling his raw, stinging throat. "Yeah, I'm okay, my lunch just didn't like me, I'll be fine," he assured both Mark and Amanda, who were giving him looks of concern.
Mark suspiciously asked, "Is that chocolate still there?"
"Chocolate? Why wasn't I informed?" Amanda asked indignantly.
"Yes, the chocolate's still here," Jack said, bringing it out from behind the flowers as proof. "Look, I'm okay, okay?"
"Okay," Mark said, chuckling, satisfied for the moment. He clapped his hands together and addressed the subject at hand. "So, let's get down to business. It's ladies first, so Amanda, tell us what you found out."
"Well," she began, perching on the foot of the bed whilst Mark placed the fan on the floor and took the chair, "there is a man at Oakes Valley with a rather big motive for killing Anthony Holmes. He's a doctor called Forrester, the other paediatrics doctor in the hospital. Both were up for promotion a month ago, and Forrester should have got it - he's been at Oakes Valley for eighteen years, and was apparently better with the kids there. But, someone told the Board that Forrester had once had a drinking problem, and even though he'd got it under control and sorted out, Holmes still got the promotion. From what the nurse I talked to said, it looked like Holmes tipped off the Board."
"You were right, Jack, someone had lost out to 'the new kid', and I'll bet that someone is not all that happy at the moment," Mark said, seeing that two heads were definitely better than one.
"Oh, I'll bet he is," Amanda said knowingly. "Forrester was moving into his new office as I left, the one with the sign on the door that read: Head of Paediatrics Department."
"It's gotta be him," Jack said, clapping his hands together.
"Hey, you haven't heard my story yet," Mark said in indignation. "Steve and I went to visit Maria Chartham yesterday, and she's not been knocked off the suspect list by any means. One flaw is that she's got an airtight alibi - Amanda, do you know whether Forrester has an alibi for Friday evening?"
"I don't know, Mark - I thought I'd leave that side of the investigation to you and Steve," she said.
"Okay, good girl," Mark said, not wanting Amanda to place herself in anymore peril than was necessary. "Anyway, Maria was chaperoning at the Lincoln High School Senior Prom, and we've got video footage to prove it. But, she's got real motive - she was engaged to Anthony before he suddenly broke it off, for starters. She claims that it was so that Anthony could work on his career, but Steve and I think that there's more to it than that. Also, since Holmes broke their engagement, her bank statement says she's been making regular and substantial withdrawals."
"Blackmail," Amanda stated. "Holmes was blackmailing her after he broke off their marriage plans. But why?"
"That's what I intend to find out," Mark said.
"So, that's two people that benefit from Anthony Holmes' death," Jack said, trying to summarize the evidence. "One of them must have killed him."
"But the question is, which one?" Amanda said, thinking that it could well have been either of them. "Even if Maria had been at the Prom all evening, she could have still hired someone to do the dirty work for her."
"That's possible," Mark said, pondering this, "but I think that if Maria wanted Anthony dead she would have done it herself. Steve said that there was a rope backstage, attached to one of the backdrops. When we visited Maria's house, her hallway was lined with hundred of medals and trophies, all for gymnastics. She would have had no trouble negotiating the rope, even in the dark."
"We'd have a better idea of things if we knew why Maria was being blackmailed," Amanda said.
"Well, Steve's on his way over there right now. He watched the tape this morning, and said that he found something very interesting on it, and he's going to talk to her about it. After that, I'm going to have a look at the crime scene, and then probably see Doctor Forrester at Oakes Valley."
"And then you've got rounds this evening," Amanda reminded him.
"When does he sleep?" Jack wondered out loud.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have an autopsy to do," Amanda said, getting up from the bed. "See you later, and hope you feel better, Jack."
"I feel fine!" Jack insisted as he called it to her. He turned to Mark and repeated, "I feel fine, discharge me already!"
"Oh no, my friend, you're staying exactly where you are," Mark said firmly. "I don't like the look of your colour right now, and I'm not even going to consider discharging you until you can stomach solid food. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it," Jack mumbled. "Here, take the rest of this, at this rate I'll never get to eat it."
Mark nodded and said, "I'll take it, for your own good, of course, I wouldn't want you tempted to eat and then throwing it back up again. See you later," he said, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts, and Jack had quite a few at this point in time.
Until he started looking at it another way, he was sure that either Maria Chartham or Dr Forrester had been the murderer, but then a thought had occurred to him. Anthony had tipped off the Board about something in Forrester's life, something incriminating, in order to get what he wanted and progress in life. What if that hadn't been the first time he'd done that?
Jack remembered well how competitive some people at Medical School had been, and he had the feeling that Anthony Holmes had been no different from these people, bearing in mind the incident concerning the promotion in the Paediatrics department. Jack suspected that Holmes may have done the same thing in Medical School, maybe even before, and he knew exactly how to find out.
~~
"Oh, Lieutenant Sloan, you're back," Maria Chartham said wearily, looking at him in the same way you might look at a scruffy stray that had followed you home. "How can I help you?"
"Another few questions to ask you, if I may," Steve said, armed and ready with ammunition this time. He'd been down to see Mr Wood that morning, and sure enough the videotape revealed that she had been telling the truth. But, he'd discovered more than he'd bargained on.
"Come in," she said, sounding slightly irritated at his appearance.
"Hey, Maria, who was that?" A male voice called down the stairs. Steve watched Maria cringe, and knew that although he'd come at an inconvenient time for Maria, he'd come at a very convenient time for his investigation.
"Ask him to come down," Steve said, feeling that there was no point wasting time explaining that he had figured her out. "He's got a part in the story I'm about to tell you."
Maria knew that she was well and truly beaten. "Sam, could you come down a second, please?"
Sam walked into the living room, wearing only his jeans, and gasped. "You're a cop - Steve Sloan! My mom knows you, what are you doing here?"
"Cool it, Sam," Maria said, knowing that she was in a lot of trouble as it was, and she didn't need his fiery temper landing her in any more.
"Where shall I begin? All right, firstly, you lied to me yesterday, you were being blackmailed by Anthony Holmes, and now I know why. Anthony broke off your engagement when he found out that you and Sam over there were together. But, he didn't leave it there; he knew a way to get back at you. Sam, what are you now, just turned eighteen? Back then, he was fifteen, and that meant he was below the legal age. Anthony thought to himself, she's sleeping with one of her pupils, who is underage. She could lose her job, at the very least. So, Anthony began blackmailing you, which gives you, Maria, plenty of motive to kill Anthony Holmes."
"But, you must have checked the tapes, I have an alibi for the time of his murder," she said insistently, feeling frustrated. She really was telling the truth this time, he had to believe her, she never left the prom.
"Oh, I know that," Steve said, "but it doesn't mean that you didn't get someone else to kill him for you, like maybe Sam here, the young, budding gymnast. You'd do anything for Maria, wouldn't you?"
"I draw the line at murder," Sam said indignantly.
"Even knowing that Anthony had the power to split you two up?"
"I would never kill anyone," Sam repeated. "Look, check the video closely, you'll find I was at the Prom."
Steve watched Maria cringe again, and she realised what had led Sloan to realise how she was being blackmailed. Steve smiled slightly. "I know you were at the Prom, Sam. That's how I realised why Anthony was blackmailing you." As well as seeing Sam and Maria on separate occasions throughout the tape, he had found something more interesting. He had seen footage when someone had put the camera down in the kitchen during the clean-up process, and left it thinking that it was switched off. Sam and Maria had had a moment alone in the corner of the kitchen, kissing passionately.
"Detective Sloan, are you going to arrest Maria?" Sam asked timidly, looking like an innocent teenager should at that moment, his blue eyes wide with fear as the reality of the situation struck him.
"Well, the only person that knew for sure is dead, so I don't have the evidence to say that when you and Maria slept together, you were a minor," Steve said. "You'll only both deny it in court. But, Maria is still a suspect for Holmes' murder. Ms Chartham, do you own a gun?"
"No, I don't," she told him, irritation glazing her voice. She'd had just about all she could take from this meddling policeman. "Are you about done, Detective Sloan?"
"For now," Steve said, getting up from the chair. "Don't leave town, either of you," he advised as he left the house. He didn't really suspect Sam of murdering anyone, but Maria's cool reception had not put him in the best of moods. That, and they still didn't have a murderer.
~~
~~
At lunchtime the same day, Mark walked into Jack's room to find him hunched over a pan, vomiting into it, whilst Amanda held his forehead and rubbed his back soothingly. Mark turned back into the hallway and requested a nurse to fetch a glass of water immediately. He went back in, and saw that Jack had finished and was lying back on his pillow, pale, panting and glazed in a film of perspiration.
"Jack, are you okay?" Mark asked, handing him the glass of water that the nurse had just given him. To see Jack being sick was the last thing Mark had expected to find on walking into his room.
Jack took the glass gratefully and took sips of the water, cooling his raw, stinging throat. "Yeah, I'm okay, my lunch just didn't like me, I'll be fine," he assured both Mark and Amanda, who were giving him looks of concern.
Mark suspiciously asked, "Is that chocolate still there?"
"Chocolate? Why wasn't I informed?" Amanda asked indignantly.
"Yes, the chocolate's still here," Jack said, bringing it out from behind the flowers as proof. "Look, I'm okay, okay?"
"Okay," Mark said, chuckling, satisfied for the moment. He clapped his hands together and addressed the subject at hand. "So, let's get down to business. It's ladies first, so Amanda, tell us what you found out."
"Well," she began, perching on the foot of the bed whilst Mark placed the fan on the floor and took the chair, "there is a man at Oakes Valley with a rather big motive for killing Anthony Holmes. He's a doctor called Forrester, the other paediatrics doctor in the hospital. Both were up for promotion a month ago, and Forrester should have got it - he's been at Oakes Valley for eighteen years, and was apparently better with the kids there. But, someone told the Board that Forrester had once had a drinking problem, and even though he'd got it under control and sorted out, Holmes still got the promotion. From what the nurse I talked to said, it looked like Holmes tipped off the Board."
"You were right, Jack, someone had lost out to 'the new kid', and I'll bet that someone is not all that happy at the moment," Mark said, seeing that two heads were definitely better than one.
"Oh, I'll bet he is," Amanda said knowingly. "Forrester was moving into his new office as I left, the one with the sign on the door that read: Head of Paediatrics Department."
"It's gotta be him," Jack said, clapping his hands together.
"Hey, you haven't heard my story yet," Mark said in indignation. "Steve and I went to visit Maria Chartham yesterday, and she's not been knocked off the suspect list by any means. One flaw is that she's got an airtight alibi - Amanda, do you know whether Forrester has an alibi for Friday evening?"
"I don't know, Mark - I thought I'd leave that side of the investigation to you and Steve," she said.
"Okay, good girl," Mark said, not wanting Amanda to place herself in anymore peril than was necessary. "Anyway, Maria was chaperoning at the Lincoln High School Senior Prom, and we've got video footage to prove it. But, she's got real motive - she was engaged to Anthony before he suddenly broke it off, for starters. She claims that it was so that Anthony could work on his career, but Steve and I think that there's more to it than that. Also, since Holmes broke their engagement, her bank statement says she's been making regular and substantial withdrawals."
"Blackmail," Amanda stated. "Holmes was blackmailing her after he broke off their marriage plans. But why?"
"That's what I intend to find out," Mark said.
"So, that's two people that benefit from Anthony Holmes' death," Jack said, trying to summarize the evidence. "One of them must have killed him."
"But the question is, which one?" Amanda said, thinking that it could well have been either of them. "Even if Maria had been at the Prom all evening, she could have still hired someone to do the dirty work for her."
"That's possible," Mark said, pondering this, "but I think that if Maria wanted Anthony dead she would have done it herself. Steve said that there was a rope backstage, attached to one of the backdrops. When we visited Maria's house, her hallway was lined with hundred of medals and trophies, all for gymnastics. She would have had no trouble negotiating the rope, even in the dark."
"We'd have a better idea of things if we knew why Maria was being blackmailed," Amanda said.
"Well, Steve's on his way over there right now. He watched the tape this morning, and said that he found something very interesting on it, and he's going to talk to her about it. After that, I'm going to have a look at the crime scene, and then probably see Doctor Forrester at Oakes Valley."
"And then you've got rounds this evening," Amanda reminded him.
"When does he sleep?" Jack wondered out loud.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have an autopsy to do," Amanda said, getting up from the bed. "See you later, and hope you feel better, Jack."
"I feel fine!" Jack insisted as he called it to her. He turned to Mark and repeated, "I feel fine, discharge me already!"
"Oh no, my friend, you're staying exactly where you are," Mark said firmly. "I don't like the look of your colour right now, and I'm not even going to consider discharging you until you can stomach solid food. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it," Jack mumbled. "Here, take the rest of this, at this rate I'll never get to eat it."
Mark nodded and said, "I'll take it, for your own good, of course, I wouldn't want you tempted to eat and then throwing it back up again. See you later," he said, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts, and Jack had quite a few at this point in time.
Until he started looking at it another way, he was sure that either Maria Chartham or Dr Forrester had been the murderer, but then a thought had occurred to him. Anthony had tipped off the Board about something in Forrester's life, something incriminating, in order to get what he wanted and progress in life. What if that hadn't been the first time he'd done that?
Jack remembered well how competitive some people at Medical School had been, and he had the feeling that Anthony Holmes had been no different from these people, bearing in mind the incident concerning the promotion in the Paediatrics department. Jack suspected that Holmes may have done the same thing in Medical School, maybe even before, and he knew exactly how to find out.
~~
"Oh, Lieutenant Sloan, you're back," Maria Chartham said wearily, looking at him in the same way you might look at a scruffy stray that had followed you home. "How can I help you?"
"Another few questions to ask you, if I may," Steve said, armed and ready with ammunition this time. He'd been down to see Mr Wood that morning, and sure enough the videotape revealed that she had been telling the truth. But, he'd discovered more than he'd bargained on.
"Come in," she said, sounding slightly irritated at his appearance.
"Hey, Maria, who was that?" A male voice called down the stairs. Steve watched Maria cringe, and knew that although he'd come at an inconvenient time for Maria, he'd come at a very convenient time for his investigation.
"Ask him to come down," Steve said, feeling that there was no point wasting time explaining that he had figured her out. "He's got a part in the story I'm about to tell you."
Maria knew that she was well and truly beaten. "Sam, could you come down a second, please?"
Sam walked into the living room, wearing only his jeans, and gasped. "You're a cop - Steve Sloan! My mom knows you, what are you doing here?"
"Cool it, Sam," Maria said, knowing that she was in a lot of trouble as it was, and she didn't need his fiery temper landing her in any more.
"Where shall I begin? All right, firstly, you lied to me yesterday, you were being blackmailed by Anthony Holmes, and now I know why. Anthony broke off your engagement when he found out that you and Sam over there were together. But, he didn't leave it there; he knew a way to get back at you. Sam, what are you now, just turned eighteen? Back then, he was fifteen, and that meant he was below the legal age. Anthony thought to himself, she's sleeping with one of her pupils, who is underage. She could lose her job, at the very least. So, Anthony began blackmailing you, which gives you, Maria, plenty of motive to kill Anthony Holmes."
"But, you must have checked the tapes, I have an alibi for the time of his murder," she said insistently, feeling frustrated. She really was telling the truth this time, he had to believe her, she never left the prom.
"Oh, I know that," Steve said, "but it doesn't mean that you didn't get someone else to kill him for you, like maybe Sam here, the young, budding gymnast. You'd do anything for Maria, wouldn't you?"
"I draw the line at murder," Sam said indignantly.
"Even knowing that Anthony had the power to split you two up?"
"I would never kill anyone," Sam repeated. "Look, check the video closely, you'll find I was at the Prom."
Steve watched Maria cringe again, and she realised what had led Sloan to realise how she was being blackmailed. Steve smiled slightly. "I know you were at the Prom, Sam. That's how I realised why Anthony was blackmailing you." As well as seeing Sam and Maria on separate occasions throughout the tape, he had found something more interesting. He had seen footage when someone had put the camera down in the kitchen during the clean-up process, and left it thinking that it was switched off. Sam and Maria had had a moment alone in the corner of the kitchen, kissing passionately.
"Detective Sloan, are you going to arrest Maria?" Sam asked timidly, looking like an innocent teenager should at that moment, his blue eyes wide with fear as the reality of the situation struck him.
"Well, the only person that knew for sure is dead, so I don't have the evidence to say that when you and Maria slept together, you were a minor," Steve said. "You'll only both deny it in court. But, Maria is still a suspect for Holmes' murder. Ms Chartham, do you own a gun?"
"No, I don't," she told him, irritation glazing her voice. She'd had just about all she could take from this meddling policeman. "Are you about done, Detective Sloan?"
"For now," Steve said, getting up from the chair. "Don't leave town, either of you," he advised as he left the house. He didn't really suspect Sam of murdering anyone, but Maria's cool reception had not put him in the best of moods. That, and they still didn't have a murderer.
~~