Steve sprinted after Carl Baxter as he left the parking lot and ran down the street. Steve was in good physical condition, but so was Baxter and he had the head start. There was a gap of about ten meters between them but slowly Baxter was beginning to tire and Steve was gaining on him. Carl glanced over his shoulder and saw Steve just behind him. He suddenly changed direction and ran across the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by cars, who screeched to a halt and hooted at him. Steve followed, sliding over the hood of a taxi to get through a small gap.
They were nearing a library which had a long set of steps leading up to two big wooden doors. Steve saw his chance and put on an extra burst of speed. He raced up and along a couple of steps and managed to get nearly level with Carl before he hurled himself off the steps and onto Carl's back. They both fell to the floor with the impact but Steve maintained a firm grip on Carl and managed to handcuff him before hauling him to his feet.
"Carl Baxter, I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest."
X X X
"So, why don't you tell us what really happened?" said Steve, after they had returned to the police station. Mark had joined them again in the interview room along with two guards.
"I already told you."
"Okay, okay. Let's try this one again. Do you know this man?" asked Steve holding up the picture of Daniel Chancer again. "The guy you took to Dr Bentley yesterday."
"I told you, no."
"Huh, that's funny, because I have just had these photos developed from a camera that belonged to a patient who was murdered in the hospital yesterday. And guess what they show?" Carl just glared at Steve. "Look here, these first few show the nice architecture on these old buildings. Isn't that a nice bit of carving round the balcony there? But these next ones show two masked men with shotguns entering a jewellery store on West Street, the same store that happened to be robbed by two masked men yesterday morning."
"I read about that," said Mark. "It was in the papers this morning."
"But that's not all. They also show the same two masked men leaving the store and getting into a car and, rather foolishly, removing their masks. Look, look here at this one," said Steve, thrusting the photo into Carl's face. "See. There is a nice close up of the two men in the car. I'll give you two guesses at who they are." Carl continued to glare at Steve, but Mark noticed there was fear behind his eyes. "Give up? Look here's our 'dead' man Daniel Chancer and that's you sitting beside him. So for the second time Baxter, what is really going on?" Carl opened his mouth and seemed about to say something when his face suddenly drained of colour and he put his head in his hands.
"Answer the question," said Steve, leaning across the table.
"I owed Daniel Chancer money. A lot of money," Carl blurted. "I got into financial trouble last year and he lent me some money to pay off my debts. But then last month he started to demand his money back with huge interest that I just couldn't pay. He was getting more and more threatening, but then he said he knew of a way I could pay him off."
"By helping him with the armed robbery?" said Mark and Carl nodded sadly.
"When we came out Chancer noticed a guy taking photos of us from across the street. He was furious and ran the guy over as we were getting away. He thought he had killed him. I wanted him to let me out the car so I could look over the man, but he wouldn't let me. He said he wanted that man dead and that if I gave myself up or confessed to what we'd done, he would kill me." Carl paused and put his face him his hands again.
"Go on," pressed Steve. "What happened next?"
"Chancer realised that even if the man were dead those photos could still incriminate him. He needed to destroy the camera."
"So you set up the scam to get him into the hospital," said Mark and Carl nodded again.
"Chancer told me to take him to the pathology lab and pretend he was dead. He himself made the phone call to the reception from the hotel informing them there was a dead body and then went and lay in the hotel room."
"How did he know you would be the one to find him?"
"I made David stop at this little café nearby for a coffee to ensure that we were first on the scene."
"But why go to the bother of pretending to be dead?" asked Mark. "Why not just come into the hospital with some minor injury?"
"Chancer didn't want anyone to recognise him and besides he thought it would be quieter in a pathology lab. Easier to get away. He didn't expect Dr Bentley to be free to do an autopsy straight away," said Carl, keeping his eyes fixed on the table.
"Okay. Then what?" asked Steve.
"I suppose he had trouble getting away, which was why he attacked Dr Bentley. Then when he found the photo guy's room he must have discovered the man was still alive and killed him. He was probably looking for the camera when Dr Travis came in," Carl glanced up at Steve, his face looked white and drained. "I'm really sorry; it wasn't supposed to go this way. No one was supposed to get hurt or killed."
"It's a bit too late for that now," said Mark gravely.
"Carl Baxter, I am arresting you for armed robbery, aiding a criminal, leaving the scene of an accident, being an accessory to murder, lying under questioning, perverting the cause of justice, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Need I say more? Take him away," said Steve, gesturing to the two guards by the door who escorted Carl out of the room.
"Well that's that," said Mark. "You know I never would have thought Carl capable of such a thing."
"Life's full of surprises," said Steve.
"How come you didn't know about the robbery that happened so near the hit and run?"
"I never actually went to the scene of the hit and run. I just got passed the information by someone else and they failed to mention it to me, I suppose then they didn't realise the significance. Then with all that happened at the hospital yesterday I never had any chance to investigate."
"Well that's understandable."
"There's just one thing left to do now."
"What's that?"
"Catch the killer."
X X X
That evening the four met up at the beach house again to discuss events. It had been a pretty normal day after the first excitement. Jesse and Mark had gone about their rounds at the hospital and Amanda had returned, somewhat hesitantly, to her lab. Steve had spent the rest of the day writing up the report on Carl Baxter and tracking down Daniel Chancer's known associates, for questioning about his whereabouts. However this had proved fruitless. Steve was the last one to sit down at the table, round which they were all eating pizza. He looked dejected and moody.
"Cheer up Steve," said Jesse, flicking a piece of pepperoni at him. "You nailed Carl Baxter this morning."
"But he's just small fry, it's the big fish I'm after," said Steve. "And I have no idea how to reel him in."
"Maybe you just need to you the right kind of bait," said Jesse.
"You know maggots make very good bait," said Amanda, joining in. Steve and Jesse exchanged a puzzled look.
"Would you mind explaining that?" said Steve. "How are maggots going to help me catch Daniel Chancer?"
"I thought we were talking about fishing!"
"I was speaking metaphorically. Look, never mind. The point is we need to catch this guy and I am fresh out of ideas on how to do it. No one seems to have seen hide nor hair of him since he murdered Finchley."
"I had an idea, before we started talking about fishing," said Jesse. "I was saying we need to use bait and not the wriggly kind."
"Go on," said Steve.
"Well, what is the one thing Chancer risked coming into the hospital to get? He didn't go there to commit a murder. He thought he had already got rid of Finchley."
"The camera," said Amanda.
"Right. Only the thing is, he didn't find it."
"But we did," said Steve.
"I know, but he doesn't know that. He doesn't even know whether it was in the hospital. For all he knows it might have been left at the scene of the hit and run."
"So what are you saying," said Steve, looking slightly confused. "You suggest we should stake out the scene of the hit and run and just hope Chancer will turn up to see if we left the camera? It seems a bit of a long shot to me."
"Well yes that would be," said Jesse. "What I suggest is that you put out a fake plea for people to look out for a discarded camera that you believe may contain some significant information relating to a robbery. Now only the robber, Chancer, will know exactly where the robbery and the hit and run took place and as he had no luck in the hospital I think he is bound to go back to the scene of the crime in the hope of finding the camera before us and getting rid of the evidence. You can be hiding nearby waiting to arrest him when he shows up."
"You know, that's not a bad idea," said Mark.
"Okay, I'll ask permission to put out a fake request in the morning," said Steve,starting to look happier.
"We'll call it plan B," said Jesse.
"Plan B? Why not plan A?" asked Amanda.
"Because plan A never works," said Jesse, as if it was logical. "People always have to resort to plan B. This will just save us some time."
"I don't care what you call it as long as it works," said Steve.
"Trust me," said Jesse. "Plan B never fails."
X X X
By midmorning the next day the fake request for people to look out for a missing camera had been broadcast. Steve had two officers in an unmarked car posted in a lay-by near the hit and run, and now all they had to do was wait. Steve drove to the hospital and picked up Mark for lunch. They were driving to BBQ Bobs and were stopped at a set of traffic lights when Mark suddenly let out a gasp.
"Steve, look over there to the left. Isn't that Daniel Chancer coming out of that hardware store?"
"What? Where?" asked Steve instantly on the alert. "My god it is! Dad you take over," said Steve abandoning the car in the middle of the road. "Call for backup, I'm going to follow him." Steve ran across the road and hid behind the corner of a shop peering out at Chancer who appeared to be talking to the owner of the hardware store. They shook hands and Chancer walked off in the opposite direction to Steve while the other man went back inside his shop. Steve followed, trying to keep partially concealed behind shop signs and flower stalls while stealthily gaining on him. Just ahead, Chancer turned right into an alleyway. Steve ran to the alleyway and followed him in. Chancer was directly in front of him now and Steve placed his hand on his gun.
"Daniel Chancer…" Steve began but then Chancer, glancing over his shoulder took off in a sprint further into the alleyway. Steve gave chase, dodging and leaping over boxes and planks of wood that Chancer pulled down in his path. Half way down, there was a metal chain link fence just above head height. Chancer took a jump and tried to grab hold of the top but Steve pulled out his gun.
"Stop or I'll shoot!" Chancer gave a look back to where Steve had his gun trained on him and slowly raised his hands while still keeping his back to Steve. Steve took a step forwards, put his gun away and reached for his handcuffs. As he was looking down Daniel grabbed hold of a thick plank of wood resting up against the fence and spun round, swinging it at Steve who only just managed to jump backwards in time. Daniel raised the plank and started to bring it back round for another swing when Steve grabbed hold of the other end. Then, bunching his muscles he swung the wood as hard as he could in the opposite direction. Daniel, who was still holding his end, swung round with it and smacked face first into the wall. He let out a cry of pain and leant against the wall.
Steve, feeling satisfiedthat Daniel was sufficiently winded, dropped his end of the plank and taking his handcuffs he moved towards him. All of a sudden Daniel spun round once again and having regained his hold on his end of the plank, raised it quickly and hit Steve around the side of the head before Steve realised what was happening. Steve's vision when black and he had a strange weightless, falling sensation before he hit the ground. Pain was shooting across his head and he blinked. His vision appeared blurry and he tried to get up but then he realised he didn't know which way up was. The pain in his head was making his eyes stream, and he put a hand up in an attempt to ease the pain. He felt a big wet patch on his right temple and when he lowered his hand he registered that it was covered in blood. He suddenly felt very cold and confused. He thought he saw strange shapes running towards him before he blacked out.