Chapter Nineteen;
Samuel

"You were right," Max said finally. It had been almost twenty minutes since he'd returned from the nurse's desk and after realizing they both knew full well what the other was thinking, they'd lapsed into silence. Millie's eyes snapped up his, not just because it was the first words he'd said in ages, but because of what he said. She frowned lightly. "I should have pushed harder to follow it up."

Millie had realized a while ago, back when she'd first worked with DS Carter, that he was very hard on himself. She shrugged. "We know now. And to be fair sarge, you were the only one who listened to me when I said it, everyone else looked at me like I was mad."

"Yes, well, you're pretty good at reading people so…" the comment was off the cuff and he muttered it, but Millie heard it, and she hid a soft smile, knowing this conversation and the pain in her head meant she shouldn't be grinning in any way. He glanced back at the nurse's desk. "Didn't she say fifteen minutes?"

"You don't have to stay sarge, I'm alright."

He shook his head. "I told you I would." He pushed himself to his feet and started to the desk but before he managed even three steps his phone rang. Karen behind the desk looked up and frowned at him and Max had the decency to look sheepish as he fished out his phone. He frowned at it, glancing at Millie as he started to the front of the hospital, leaning against the wall just outside the main doorway as he answered. "Will?"

"Samuel Bolt's phone came back on."

Max frowned. "When?"

"Half an hour ago. It's still on, we're trying to triangulate the location, currently it tells us he's somewhere in Sun Hill." He paused for a moment. "He sent a text message to Ryan Trent, Craig Bolt's boat driver, the scruffy young man we arrested on June 1st." Max gave a soft 'mhm', only just remembering the kid. "Well Crime Scene just contacted us from a site in Kingmarsh – they just identified Ryan Trent's body in the mud."

Max frowned. So much had happened since he came to St. Hugh's and he hated that he was only hearing this now. He felt cut off from the action and he didn't like it that way. "Where in Kingmarsh? I'm coming back in. Tell DC Spark to meet me out the front of the station."

Will gave Max the location and agreed to get Hayleigh moving before Max hung up and went back into the station. He paused in front of Millie and she looked up. "Sam?" Max shook his head. "Then what?"

"Ryan Trent's body was found and Samuel Bolt's back in Sun Hill. I've got to go back in. Are you going to be okay?"

Millie chuckled softly. "I'm fine sarge." She glanced up at him, seeing the same face he'd made in the car, a look like he had indigestion. Her smile fell. "You don't have to babysit me." She held his gaze and this time Max looked away, shaking his head.

"I'm not babysitting you. I know how head injuries are, I just want to make sure you're okay." He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced at the nurse's desk again. No sign of anyone moving towards Millie.

Her anger ebbed and she turned her eyes down. "Sarge. Go." She smiled and finally Max nodded and started to the door, hands still shoved in his pockets, as Millie mentally chastised her warm cheeks. After a moment she picked up one of the many awful magazines on the waiting table beside her and then, settling in for the usual waiting game, started to read.

...

The Teasdon Rd canal path was quiet, being mid-afternoon, and the police car didn't pass anyone as they started down it. Halfway down Roger pulled up and came to a stop, stepping out, and Nate followed.

"So what do you think we're searching for?" Nate asked, looking around him, pulling on some blue latex gloves instinctively. He kept his asp nearby too, just in case. "Obviously Bolt couldn't have got here from Kingmarsh in less than an hour."

"If a game of chase is all he wants then I overestimated him. I thought he was smarter than that." Roger scanned the ground just off the main path. There was a small ditch at the edge of the road before it started to slope up away from them, the area beyond covered in trees. "If there's clues here about the Kingmarsh body then they're going to take ages to find." He looked at Nate. "Come on, let's get started."

But, five minutes later, they found what they were looking for and it wasn't hard to miss. About 20 metres up from where they'd parked, dumped in the ditch and covered by a dark blue tarpaulin sheet, was a body. Bloody, the hair matted, and… to Nate's rather obvious horror (he backed away as Roger donned his gloves and lifted the body to see its face), his face had been beaten to a virtually unrecognizable state. "Jesus…" Roger just breathed. Nate had turned away, looking into the canal, as Roger put the body down slowly and covered it again. "Call Eddie. Tell him w…" but Roger was cut off by a tinny beat coming from nearby. Nate frowned as he looked back at Roger and slowly they started towards the source of the sound. They found it behind a tree a few steps off the path – a dark blue Nokia. With a quick glance at Nate Roger grabbed the phone from the grass and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello? Who's this?" Roger realised it was a young girl's voice and frowned at Nate.

"This is PC Valentine from Sun Hill."

The girl gasped. "What? What's happened? Is Sam okay?"

"Sam? Sorry, whose phone is this?"

"My brother Samuel. Samuel Bolt." Roger frowned. "What's happened to him? Is he alright?" Roger's eyes fell to Samuel Bolt's body as he told Eleanor to wait. He grabbed his radio.

"I'm going to need CID down here. Someone from the Bolt investigation. We've found a body on the canal path off Teasedon Rd. We suspect its Samuel Bolt."