The following morning Mark left the kitchen to collect the morning mail and newspaper. He browsed through the paper; it all seemed very depressing. A famous actress had died, two robbers had gotten away with thousands of dollars worth of jewellery from a store and there had been a small earthquake in Japan, killing 37 people. On his return to the kitchen he smiled to see Amanda and Steve sitting round the table while Jesse served up pancakes with maple syrup. Not his kind of breakfast, but Steve certainly seemed to be enjoying it. Mark helped himself to toast and a banana and sat down at the table.

"Morning Amanda, sleep well?" He and Steve had arrived home last night to find Jesse washing up and Amanda asleep on the couch. Jesse had told them of Amanda's concerns and they had agreed not to mention it to her. Mark was relieved to see that she looked bright and cheerful this morning.

"Yes, thanks Mark. Sorry for falling asleep on your couch. I remember feeling tired and then the next thing I knew it was morning."

"Not at all, you are welcome to stay over any time."

"So what did you find out last night?" asked Jesse, sitting down with his own stack of pancakes.

"Not a lot," said Steve. "The most interesting things were a letter and a camera. We went by the station on our way home to ask for the pictures to be developed ASAP."

"So what's the next step?" asked Amanda.

"Well, I'm going to interview those two paramedics to ask how they missed the fact that the guy was still alive when they brought him in," said Steve.

"I'll sit in with you if you don't mind," said Mark. "I would like to hear what they say."

"Sure thing. I will need them to come down to the station though. Any idea how to get them there? If they are guilty of something I don't want to let them know we are on to them."

"I am sure we could have them sent there to deal with an injured officer," said Jesse with a mischievous grin. "Lots of dangerous people in police stations: anything could happen."

X X X

An hour later Steve, Mark and Jesse, who didn't need to be in work until the afternoon, were all sitting in Steve's office while Jesse called the hospital and got them to put him through to the paramedics.

"Hello, I need you to come to the Police Station immediately. We have an officer who is… err, choking on a doughnut." Steve put his head in his hands. "What's that?" asked Jesse. "How did it happen? Well, you see, he was trying to show off to his police pals about how many doughnuts he could fit into his mouth at once and he managed to fit in quite a few, but then he started choking. Err, yes he's still conscious and breathing but he's…choking," said Jesse.

Mark looked at Steve who was shaking his head in disbelief and chuckled. "Hit him on the back, no I haven't tried that, hang on." Jesse looked around for something to hit and his eyes landed on Steve. He went towards him and hit him hard twice on the back. Mark had to stop himself laughing out loud as Steve made 'you're dead' gestures towards Jesse who had picked up the phone again. "No that's not helped; he's actually starting to turn purple now," said Jesse sounding quite delighted. "Oh, you'll be here in two minutes, yes that's good. Patient's name? Oh its, Steve…phen Spielberg. Yes…ok…Thank you." And with that Jesse hung up the phone.

"So let me get this straight Jess," said Steve. "The paramedics are coming here to save a policeman who goes by the name of Stephen Spielberg who is going purple and choking on a doughnut!"

"It was the best I could come up with," said Jesse as Mark laughed.

"I'll be surprised if they turn up at all," said Steve. "And what's with the hitting me?"

"They said I should try hitting the patient on the back to dislodge the food."

"Well was I choking?"

"No, but…"

"So did you need to hit me so hard?"

"It made it look realistic," persisted Jesse.

"Realistic to who?" said Steve accusingly. "You were on the phone! I should arrest you for assaulting a police officer."

"Steve, there're here," said Mark looking out of the window.

"Ok, I'll go and meet them. You stay here and I'll bring them in one by one for questioning. I'll get St Jones to look after the other one. And you," he said turning to face Jesse. "Stay out of trouble."

X X X

While Mark sat at the interview table Steve went and fetched the first paramedic to be questioned.

"I'm Lieutenant Steve Sloan and this is Dr Mark Sloan, who is a police consultant. We would like to ask you a few questions about a patient you established was dead and brought into Community General Hospital yesterday. For starters, could you just confirm for me that your name is David Looper and that you were one of two paramedics who delivered a man to Dr Bentley's pathology lab yesterday afternoon."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Is this the man?" asked Steve holding up the picture of Daniel Chancer.

"Yes I think so, but I can't be sure. I only saw him for a second."

"How is it that you took this man to be dead? When he was in fact very much alive, and subsequently went on to attack three people within the hospital?"

"We were told over the radio that the guy we were going to see was already dead. Then when we got there my partner, Carl, checked him over and confirmed he was dead. I just believed him. I know I should have double checked but I trusted him." David had his hands resting on top of the table and was nervously twisting a ring on one of his fingers.

"What were you doing at the time, while your partner was checking over the patient?"

"I was setting up the stretcher. I had my back to them most of the time."

"And when you brought him in?"

"We just took him straight to Amanda's, Dr Bentley's pathology lab as we do with all DOAs."

"What made you call me to tell me about the body – why not call the police directly?"

"Well you see Carl didn't want to call you at all. He said there was no suggestion of foul play and that the guy appeared to have died of natural causes. But I said the phone call to the reception was suspicious and so we agreed to call you as a compromise. I thought you might be in the hospital and could tell Dr Bentley to expect us, and then you could decide what action needed to be taken." Mark could tell that David was very nervous but he also sensed that he seemed eager to tell all he knew. "Carl didn't seem to be very happy about it, to tell you the truth. Said I was making a fuss and wasting police time."

"No, not at all, you did the right thing. Only next time call the police not just me. Oh and check that your patient really is dead before you bring him in," said Steve, as David turned slightly red.

"That's all for now. You may go."

"Thank you," said David, standing up and looking slightly amazed. "Oh, and Lieutenant, I really am very sorry about what happened to Dr Bentley and Dr Travis." Steve just nodded and David left the room.

"Do you believe his story?" asked Mark breaking his silence.

"Yes, I would have to say I do. However I think we need to have a little chat with Carl. Him I'm not so sure of."

"Oh I agree. Let's fetch him in." Steve went out and collected Carl and brought him into the room and began the whole process again.

X X X

"Could you confirm for me that your name is Carl Baxter and that you were one of two paramedics who delivered a man to Dr Bentley's pathology lab yesterday afternoon?"

"Yes I am."

"Is this the man?" asked Steve holding up the picture again.

"Yes."

"Do you know him?"

"No."

"How is it that you took the man in question to be dead? When he was in fact very much alive and subsequently went on to attack three people within the hospital?"

"We were told by dispatch that the man was already dead. When we got to the room we checked him over and he did appear dead," said Carl, staring at Steve defiantly.

"So you determined he was dead? How did you come to this conclusion?"

"He didn't have a pulse. How else do you think you find out if someone is dead?"

"Well did you try to resuscitate this man?"

"…No."

"Why not?"

"He was already cold. It was obvious he had been dead for some time, there was nothing we could do."

"Oh I see. So, explain something to me. How is it that a man who has, by your judgement, been dead for some hours, suddenly springs back to full health within minutes of entering the hospital?" Carl remained silent and continued to stare at Steve. "Well?"

"I don't know. I've heard it can happen with some patients."

"Only under extremely rare circumstances," said Mark. "And not when the patient has been, as you put it, long dead." Carl remained emotionless.

"Ok, let's see if you can answer me this one," said Steve. "Why is it that you didn't want to inform the police that you had found a dead body?"

"There was nothing to suggest that the man's death had been brought on prematurely. It looked like a natural death and not something the police needed to be informed of. Look, are we done here?"

"Why were you so concerned not to get the police involved?"

"Do you have enough so called evidence to arrest me?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"Then I am out of here," said Carl rudely, standing up and marching out of the room.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you Baxter," called Steve after his retreating back.

"Well that went well," said Mark. "Do you believe his story?"

"Nope. Not for a second, but I can't hold him on any charges at the moment."

"It's a shame. I'm sure he's not telling us everything. Did you see the way he was sitting throughout the interview? He kept his hands in his lap and sat very still."

"I know. And he kept staring at me the whole time," said Steve.

"It's almost as if he was trying to keep his emotions under control," said Mark. "He was worried he might give something away. But it wasn't natural. Now, if you consider the way Carl was acting…" Just then there came a knock at the door and a policeman came in.

"Lieutenant, here are the photographs from that camera as you requested, and you have been given permission to open the letter.

"Thank you," said Steve, taking the pictures and letter. He opened the letter first and scanned the words. He soon dropped it looking disappointed. "It's a letter to his mother." Steve then glanced down at the first few photographs before leaping to his feet. "Oh my God, we need to stop Baxter before he disappears!" With that he dashed out of the room and along the corridor. Mark feeling very confused picked up the photographs and was soon rushing out of the room after his son.

X X X

Steve pelted along the corridor towards the exit and didn't stop to apologise when he collided with someone carrying a large stack of files which spilled all over the floor. He burst through the front doors and was relieved to see Carl Baxter in the middle of the parking lot, walking fairly slowly and sipping a cup of coffee. He had obviously stopped at a vending machine to get himself a drink. Steve thanked his luck and ran towards Carl. Carl realised someone was running towards him and turned to face Steve just as he drew near.

"Carl Baxter, I am placing you…" began Steve, but he never got to finish as Carl threw his hot coffee into Steve's face and punched him, catching him unawares and sending him reeling backwards onto the floor. Then Carl took off at a run. Steve furiously wiped coffee out of his eyes, picked himself up, and gave chase.