Jesse had refused point blank to stay in hospital overnight, insisting that there was nothing wrong with him. Mark agreed to let him leave on the condition he came and spent the night at the beach house where he could keep an eye on him. After Steve had finished taking Amanda and Jesse's statements all four of them had gone back to the beach house and had a meal which Steve picked up from BBQ Bobs.

"Well, considering the amount of food you're putting away you must be feeling back to normal," commented Mark, as Jesse polished off not only his own food but the rest of Mark's as well.

"I've got to keep up my strength," said Jesse selecting another rib. "Anyway I need all this protein to help the wounds heal."

"What wounds?" asked Amanda.

"How's the case coming?" cut in Mark to prevent any disagreements.

"Well we found out who our man is," said Steve. "We managed to lift some prints and DNA off that scalpel."

"Oh good, who is he?" asked Mark.

"One Daniel Chancer," said Steve withdrawing a printout and showing it to Amanda who nodded silently. "He lives at Greenwood House, Flat 3. I have it under surveillance but so far he has not been home. Wanted for questioning about a number of small time burglaries and a suspected armed robbery. And guess what kind of car he owns?"

"A blue Sedan?" offered Mark.

"You got it in one."

"So, maybe the hit and run wasn't an accident and Chancer was deliberately trying to kill Finchley. But why did he want to kill him in the first place?" asked Jesse.

"Maybe Chancer burgled Finchley and Finchley found out who he was and Chancer was afraid he would hand him over to the police."

"It still seems a lot of trouble to go to for something as minor as a burglary," said Steve. "Anyway I checked, Finchley has never been burgled."

"Well, that's that idea out the window," said Mark.

"There are a few things I just don't understand," said Amanda. "Firstly how did Chancer know that Finchley wasn't dead after he hit him with his car and second of all how did he ever convince the paramedics who brought him in that he was dead?"

"I was beginning to wonder that myself," said Mark. "But with all that's happened today I never stopped to think about it."

"You know Dad, I'm sorry to say it but to me this all points to one thing."

"What's that?"

"Inside help. Especially those paramedics who brought him in to Amanda."

"Who? Carl and David? I can't believe they would ever knowingly aid such a man."

"I'm only stating the way the facts point at the moment. I went over that hotel room with forensics after they called me to say they had a DOA and we found nothing, no suggestion of foul play or even that anyone had been occupying the room. According to the manager that room wasn't even supposed to be let out and he'd never seen the dead guy before. I think I'll have a little chat with Carl and David in the morning."

"Ohh, you know what?" said Jesse suddenly dropping a rib onto his plate and making them all jump slightly. "When I entered Mr Finchley's room and saw Chancer over by his bed, he was holding up a jacket and patting it down as if he was looking for something. Maybe Finchley had something that Chancer wanted."

"Why on earth didn't you mention this to me before?" asked Steve, sounding amazed.

"When?"

"When I was taking your statement!"

"I've only just remembered it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but I had just been knocked unconscious by a big scary man."

"Okay, I'm sorry. When I saw Chancer he didn't appear to be holding anything, so maybe he never found what he was looking for," said Steve starting to get excited. "Jess, what do you do with all a patient's things when they come in?"

"We bag them up and keep them in a room until the patient is better or relatives come to collect them."

"Did any relatives come to see him or collect his things?" said Steve, practically bobbing up and down.

"No," said Mark, also starting to look excited. "All his relatives were abroad. We managed to get a hold of them though and they are catching a flight over as soon as possible."

"You mean his stuff is still at the hospital?"

"Well yes."

"Great! Maybe we can find what Chancer was after and maybe that can shed some light on things. I'm going to go in now and take a look through his belongings," said Steve, leaping out of his seat and grabbing a set of car keys.

"I'm coming with you," said Mark, also leaving the table. "Amanda would you mind staying over for a while and keeping an eye on Jesse?"

"No, not at all, the kids are over at a slumber party so I don't need to get back."

"Thanks," said Mark ignoring the indignant look on Jesse's face and rushing out the door after Steve who was already revving the car. Jesse leaned over to Amanda with a big grin.

"I helped."

Just then Steve ran back into the room and Jesse noticed Amanda give a violent start. "I forgot my badge," he said picking it up off the sideboard and dashing out again.

"Amanda, are you okay? You seem a little tense this evening."

"I'm fine." said Amanda getting to her feet. "I'll make us some coffee if you can clear the table."

"Sure, okay." Jesse cleared the table and then sat down on the couch waiting for Amanda to bring the coffee in. She appeared carrying a tray a couple of seconds later. Just as she was crossing the room the phone rang. Amanda let the tray drop from her hands and it crashed to the floor. She took a step backwards, a scared look on her face. Jesse was beside her in a second.

"Amanda, what is it? What's the matter?"

"Nothing. You better answer that phone, it might be Mark," she practically snapped back. With a worried glance at Amanda, Jesse picked up the phone, but it turned out to be a window salesman and Jesse soon hung up. He went over to where Amanda was attempting to clear up the mess and took the brush out of her hands.

"Amanda, seriously, tell me what the matter is. You haven't been yourself all evening. You practically jumped out of your skin when Steve came back to get his badge and then you looked petrified when the phone rang." Amanda starred at Jesse for a moment and then to his horror she burst into tears.

"Oh Jesse, I'm so scared. When Chancer attacked me, I thought he was going to kill me. I was so frightened. And now I can't seem to get him out of my head, I keep thinking what if he comes back to get me."

"Oh Amanda," said Jesse drawing her into a hug. "Why didn't you tell us you felt like this?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you, and I thought it was just the initial shock and that it would all go away, but now…it's night time and it's all so much worse. I don't want to go home. I don't want to be alone."

"It's okay, everything's going to be alright," said Jesse in a comforting voice. "I won't let anything happen to you. You can stay over here tonight, I'm sure Mark won't mind. Besides I need someone to keep an eye on me, we can keep each other company, okay?"

"Thanks Jesse," mumbled Amanda into his shoulder. "I feel better just having talked about it."

"Next time don't keep it a secret," said Jesse leading her to the couch. "Not that they'll be a next time of course, it's just that…what I mean is…"

"Thanks Jesse," said Amanda, and despite her tears she smiled.

"I'll make us some fresh coffee," said Jesse.

"I feel so bad about smashing Mark's crockery," said Amanda beginning to sound like the Amanda Jesse knew.

"Nonsense. You've seen how much of the stuff he's got, he won't even notice anything's missing."

X X X

Meanwhile, Mark and Steve had reached the hospital and after a little searching they discovered the plastic bag containing Henry Finchley's belongings. Mark patted down his clothes while Steve searched through his bag.

"Found anything?" asked Steve after about five minutes.

"A wallet containing cash, credit cards, receipts, that kind of thing. Nothing else though. How about you, any luck?"

"Well maybe. He's got a letter addressed to Oklahoma, a set of house keys, a camera with case, a shopping list and a Mars bar."

"Hmm, who's the letter to?"

"I don't know, there's no name, just the address and I'm not permitted to open it."

"But the man's dead."

"Even so, I have to ask permission from the station if I want to know what's inside. It's up to them to decide what gets opened in the course of a murder investigation and what gets left to the family."

"Well, will you do that?"

"Of course. I'll also ask for the camera pictures to be developed. You never know what they might produce."

"Yes. You know I get the feeling that letter may be the key to this whole thing. There doesn't seem to be anything here worth stealing or murdering a man for, but it must contain some information that Chancer didn't want made public."

"You may be right about that," said Steve. "Come on, I'll swing by the station on our way back and give these to the boys. Maybe they will be done by morning."

"I hope so," said Mark. "We need a lead in this case."