"Hi Dad," said Steve emerging out of the elevator and walking to where his father was filling out a form at reception.
"Oh, hi Steve. Any luck with finding the driver from our hit and run?"
"None so far. All we know for sure is that the guy was driving a blue Sedan and you can only guess at how many of them are owned in L.A."
"A lot, huh?"
"You bet. I really need to talk to Mr Finchley to have any kind of a chance of catching this fellow."
"Well you're in luck. He's had his leg plastered and seems rested enough. Come on, I'll show you to his room." They headed off down the corridor.
"By the way, you wouldn't happen to know how Amanda's getting along with the autopsy, would you?"
"No, sorry. But we can stop in and see her. I know she'd like to see you." They walked along the corridor towards Amanda's pathology lab.
"That's odd," remarked Mark as they drew closer. "The lights are off."
"Maybe she finished early and has gone to rest in the staff room?"
"No, that's not possible," replied Mark. "I saw her not twenty minutes ago and she was only just starting. Steve, I get the feeling something's wrong."
"You and your feelings. But I'll check it out, you better stay back." Steve drew his gun from his waist band and listened up against the door. Hearing nothing he threw open the door and turned on the lights, still keeping his gun at the ready. "See Dad, there's no one here."
Mark appeared at the door looking confused. Just then they heard a metallic tapping sound that seemed to be coming from behind a trolley that was positioned in the middle of the room. Mark and Steve moved towards the sound and as they stepped further into the room they noticed that things were not quite right. The sheets from the trolley were torn, instruments were scattered over the floor and there appeared to be blood on the floor. They hurried around the trolley and found Amanda.
"Oh my god, Amanda!" exclaimed Mark sinking down beside her as Steve hurried to untie her. "What happened?"
"Man, dead man," said Amanda in distress. "Not dead, not dead. He got up, knocked me over, I stabbed him, he caught me, tied me up and left."
"You stabbed him?" asked Steve, as Mark helped Amanda up and gave her a hug.
"Not properly," said Amanda starting to recover. "I hit him in the arm with a scalpel. It's on the floor over there." Steve got a plastic bag out of his pocket and picked up the knife.
"I'll see if we can't lift some prints off of this and find out who this guy is."
"Mark," said Amanda. "I think he's still here, in the hospital. He said it wasn't me he wanted, we need to check on the patients." And she took a step towards the door before falling sideways into Steve, who caught her.
"You're not going anywhere," said Mark, kindly taking her arm. "I want to check out that big bump on your head and you've been through quite an ordeal."
"I'll call for backup and start the search immediately," said Steve and hurried out the door. "Don't worry we won't let him get away."
X X X
Soon the search of the hospital had begun. Jesse had insisted on helping after hearing what had happened to Amanda and was checking the patients on the second floor. He came to Henry Finchley's room and went in. The curtains were half drawn but as he walked closer Jesse was slightly surprised to see a man standing over Mr Finchley's bed. He was holding up a blue jacket and patting the pockets.
"Hey you, what do you think you're doing?" The man jumped, obviously not having heard Jesse come in. He turned to face Jesse and Jesse noticed there was blood seeping from a wound on the man's upper arm.
"You! It's you," exclaimed Jesse. "You're the guy who attacked Amanda, what are you doing in here?"
"Move out of my way, Shorty," said the man in a low menacing voice.
"No!" said Jesse bravely, and moved to block the doorway as the man walked towards him.
X X X
The man went cautiously to the door and seeing no one in sight he stepped out. Just then Steve came around the corner at the far end of the corridor, took one look at the man and broke into a run. The man darted back into the room he had just come from and slammed the door, ignoring Steve's shouts of "Stop! Police!" He ran to the window, threw it open and jumped.
Steve pelted down the corridor, positioned himself outside the room with his gun at the ready and kicked open the door. He rushed inside and immediately tripped over something on the floor. His gun flew from his hand and skidded across the floor. Cursing, Steve glanced back at what he had tripped over, and realised with a jolt that the thing on the floor was Jesse.
X X X
A little while later Jesse awoke to find himself in a hospital bed with Mark and Amanda standing over him. Amanda had a couple of butterfly stitches on the side of her head from where she had hit the sink but otherwise looked unhurt.
"How do you feel?" asked Mark, flashing a torch into his eyes.
"Confused," said Jesse. "What am I doing here?"
"It seems you disturbed our intruder," said Mark. "He knocked you out with a metal lunch tray to get away. Steve found you."
"Where is Steve?" asked Jesse, sitting up quickly. "Did he catch the man? Ouch! My head feels like someone has put it in a coffee grinder."
"He got away," said Steve in an annoyed voice, appearing round the door. "Oh, you're awake, how are you feeling?"
"Sore."
"I'll get you some pain killers," said Mark.
"Do you remember what happened?" asked Steve.
"I went into the room to check on Mr Finchley and the man was in there. He tried to leave but I stood in front of the door. He started walking towards me but then he stopped and looked past me and gasped. He looked really shocked. So I looked over my shoulder to see what he was looking at and… then it all went black. Oh, I feel so foolish," said Jesse in a small voice.
"Don't," said Amanda. "He tricked you, any one of us might have been fooled."
"What happened with Mr…" Steve began but stopped at a slight shake of the head from Amanda. Jesse looked from one to the other of them.
"What? What is it? What happened?" asked Jesse. "Come on Amanda," persisted Jesse as Steve suddenly became very interested in adjusting his badge. "Did something happen to Mr Finchley?"
"Oh Jesse, he's dead," said Amanda taking his arm.
"How?" asked Jesse, shock on his face.
"He was murdered, and the number one suspect is the same guy who attacked you and Amanda," said Steve.
"Then it's all my fault!" said Jesse in distress. "If I hadn't tried to play the hero and stop him from leaving, he wouldn't have had time to kill him."
"You're mistaken," said Steve. "Mr Finchley was already dead by the time you entered the room, there was nothing you could have done."
"You don't know that," said Jesse, starting to feel incredibly guilty.
"Jesse…"
"I still might have been able to save him had I just let that guy leave."
"Not unless you know how to cure a gunshot wound to the head," said Steve. "There is nothing you or anyone else could have done to save him."
"But I might have been able to prevent it from happening."
"Jesse, I looked at the scene and the body just moments after Steve chased the guy out of the room and found you. Mr Finchley's blood had already started to thicken and congeal. That wouldn't happen if the wound had occurred less than forty five minutes ago. Believe me Jesse, he was already dead when you entered the room. There is nothing, nothing you could have done for him."
"Don't beat yourself up over this," said Mark, coming back with a couple of pills. "Take these and get a little rest." Jesse nodded and swallowed the tablets, before closing his eyes with a sigh. Steve patted him on the arm.
"I'll be back in about an hour to take a statement. Amanda, if we could go somewhere quiet I need you to tell me exactly what happened earlier." Mark put his arm around her shoulders.
"I'll come and keep you company,"
"Thanks Mark." Quietly they left the room, leaving Jesse alone to rest.