Chapter 2: Back to the Police Station

In the Custody suite of the police station Susan was arguing with the arresting officer. "How the blazes can this Jack Adams be the one responsible for the murder? He reported it. And what is he supposed to assault?" she demanded.

"We did a ballistic check on the gun he gave Brice, they match up with the bullet in that Professor Blythe bloke. His gun, his bullet, he's guilty." The officer replied.

"Okay then, what about the assault? Who did he assault?" She pressed the second question.

"Benny the Fence over there, he swears that Jack invaded his flat and began shooting up the place. That's when we got called. When we arrived here, he identified the person getting into your car as the one who did it, even called him by name. So again he's identified and so he's guilty, open and shut case." the officer said smugly.

Susan nodded again and then spoke to the custody Sergeant. "Can you get that Jack Adams from upstairs down here and we'll have an identity parade for the victim to identify the one," she said.

"Hey, you can't do that! It's against all rules!" The smug officer started to protest.

Susan2 pulled a gun and jammed it against the officer's groin. "You interfere in this again, and you're going to lose more than your pension," she warned.

"Pulse, put that gun down ... I'm sure the officer doesn't mean anything, he's just trying to protect his job." Lloyd said as he noticed the safety catch was on.

Susan2 looked back at her partner and then sighed, "Okay you're right. But if he tried to..." she didn't finish the statement but everyone there knew what she meant.

Susan1 whispered to Jack, "She's very good at the bad cop side, isn't she?"

Jack whispered back, "So that's what you do, as well?" Susan1 didn't answer, but her smile said enough.

The Custody Sergeant put the phone down and then nodded to an interview room, "He can wait in there until we've processed the prisoner," he said and then asked the officer for his report.

"About half an hour ago we received a call to an address in town. The address is known to us as that of a fence—"

"'Ere what you going on about? I'm a respected reseller!" The aggrieved man Benny, said.

"Quiet, Benjamin Quinn, you're only here as ... Just why is he here?" The Custody Sergeant said and then nodded to the officer to continue.

"When we arrived, the victim, positively identified as one Benjamin Quinn, was lying on the ground. When we asked him what had happened he began to get violent. He started shouting in an incoherent manner. Ascertaining that some kind of altercation had taken place there, we arrested him for breach of the peace. When we arrived at the station, he identified the other man known as Jack Adams as the person who accessed his premises and caused the damage." The officer paused for a moment as his colleague reminded him of something, "Oh, yes — while at the premises, we removed a number of bullets found on the site along with cartridges." He sneered at Jack. "We've yet to have the bullets checked, but they are from the same type of gun that this other person Jack Adams handed over to Detective Inspector Brice. And so I arrested him and brought him here charged with assault and murder." He finished with a self-satisfied smile.

"I see. Do you, Jack Adams, have anything to say regarding this matter?" The sergeant asked.

Jack nodded. "Just one point. You say that you got the report half an hour ago?" he asked the officer who agreed. "That's strange ... if you study the records, you'll find that I was securely locked up for the past two hours. How can I be in two places at the same time? Unless it was your Jack Adams that did it?"

The officer was nonplussed. "But that can't be right. He identified you, your bullets match the ones with the Blythe scene. You have to be the one," he insisted.

Jack Adams arrived from upstairs and entered the Custody Suite. "What the blazes are you doing here still? I thought you went some time ago," he said to Jack1.

The custody sergeant looked at the pair of them and addressed Jack2. "Detective Sergeant Jack Adams, where have you been for the past few hours?"

Jack2 shook his head in confusion. "I've been upstairs working on the arrest record, I phoned for figures a quarter of an hour ago. My D.I. can confirm this," Jack2 said.

The custody sergeant called Benny over. "Okay, Benny, which one of these two attacked you?"

Benny looked from one Jack to another. "What the ... Are they twins or something? Anyway looking closer at them ... neither; that other one was unshaven, his clothes were torn, he acted as if he was frightened. But he knew what he wanted..." Benny's voice trailed off as he realised that he was saying too much.

"You see Sergeant; there is no evidence that this Jack Adams, or that one, is the guilty party. We can prove that this Jack Adams was not in Benny's apartment at all, so the only evidence is that of the ballistics, but since Adams is now under department four's control, it's no longer your case. We've taken over that aspect." Susan2 said to the custody sergeant.

"No, Miss, you don't understand. Once this prisoner was brought into this suite, then he's part of our system, he doesn't leave here for any reason." The Custody Sergeant persisted.

Just then the chief superintendant came into the suite, "Just what's going on? There's talk that ... What the hell are you doing here? I want you out of this place. Get back to Blythe's place and his ghosts! I don't want to see you again." The Chief superintendant said to Jack2, who pointed to Jack1

"Sorry, Sir, but that's the one you should be talking to, not me."

The superintendant shook his head, walking out of the suite. "I don't know ... beards and then no beards..." he said cryptically and quietly as he left, but Susan1 heard him.

"There's something wrong with that man." She said to no-one in particular.

"Oh, he's just superstitious, and having duplicates running around has his radar peaking." Jack2 said.

"Superstitious people have no place in the modern police. He shouldn't be here; it's not right." Susan2 said.

"We haven't got time for that, we've got to get troops around that house and get the machine secured so as soon as we can I've got to get you two out of here," Lloyd said.

"All units, all units. Officer down. Repeat: officer down, location town centre by the old Woolworth's buildings." The report came over the active radios in the Custody suite. The officers there stopped their normal work and began rushing to the cars parked outside.

Susan2 looked to the Custody Sergeant. "What's happening?

He shrugged, "Beats me. But the Woolworths building is covered by the CCTV system. You might see what's happening from there."

The scene in the CCTV monitoring room was one of chaotic organisation, if such a thing existed. The Chief superintendent was already in the room talking on his radio. "Look, surround the bastard and get ARU's into the area. Shoot to kill; I'm not going to risk any more casualties. He's known to be armed and is very dangerous. For the sake of the world, you have to kill him."

Susan2 spoke up, "NO. He's not to be harmed. Surround him and contain him. department four is taking over." She showed her identification to the people in the room.

"This is my town, I decide what happens here, and I'll do what I have to do to protect it. Ignore her." The Chief superintendent said, turning back to the screen where an image of Jack could be seen on the screen.

"Another one! Just how many came through the window?" Lloyd said.

"That's the one who killed Professor Blythe. He can't be allowed to live." The chief superintendent said pointing to the figure on the screen.

Jack shook his head, "But I wouldn't ... I mean, I couldn't ... No he didn't."

Susan1 looked at Jack. "But how else could your gun have shot the Professor, unless it was his gun that did it? That would fit the reason for the bullets matching."

Jack shook his head. "It's not the way I am Susan, I objected to being issued with a gun in the first place. No, he's not the killer, and we've got to get him out of there."

Susan2 thought for a moment. "Alright, issue orders to contain him." She looked at the chief superintendent as if daring him to contradict her. He swore and then stormed out of the room.

Susan1 looked back at the screen again at the Jack, who was crouched behind a waste bin. The figure was unshaven and his clothes seemed to be a mess. The figure struck a note with her memory. She stared at the door where the chief superintendent had gone out. "Bearded and not bearded? Haunted house?" She said quietly and then turned to her twin. "Why were Professor Blythes requests not followed up?" she asked.

Susan2 frowned. "We never received any messages from him. We would have responded as soon as we could; he might be a crackpot, but some of his inventions could have helped us with the Chinese."

"But I read some notes in his rooms; he said that all his request were ignored ... why?" Susan1 asked. "Jack you need to be armed, get a gun and come back here. Susan, go to records and find out what you can about Blythe and his requests. You go with Jack and authorise the arms." She directed Jack2, and both went off.

Lloyd looked at Susan. "So what are you planning?"

"I'm not sure at the moment, I'm just thinking how Jack reacted to the news of Blythe's murder. I know he couldn't kill anyone in cold blood, but..." she paused and Lloyd filled the gap.

"But you said that dimensions are different, isn't it possible that somewhere else Jack could be a psychotic killer? What if that is him?" Lloyd said pointing to the screen.

Susan shook her head. "What's the word on the downed officer?" she asked.

"Broken leg; he used a tree branch on the man." A CCTV officer said.

"He didn't use the gun?"

"No, he took out the pistol afterwards and ran to the shop. He seemed surprised to find it closed." The officer replied

Susan turned to Lloyd. "You see, he had the chance to kill the officer, but only used a branch. It was only later that he got out the gun." She looked to where the bearded Jack was shouting something. "What's he saying?"

Another officer who was listening to the radios responded, "He's demanding that Susan Pulse or whatever her name is meets with him, he says he'd surrender to her only."

Susan nodded. "I see ... tell them that Department 4 will be arriving soon and Susan Pulse will meet with him." She turned to Lloyd. "What's the word on the troops?"

He seemed nonplussed, but got out a mobile phone and dialled a number. "There's a holdup at the house. It seems the police won't move out of the way," he reported.

Susan closed her eyes for a moment. "We need to have someone at the house to convince the police to move on, and I need to get to the town centre to convince that Jack to come back with me."

Susan2 entered the room at that time. "You mean with me! This is my world, not yours. If anyone's going after him, it will be me."

Susan1 shook her head. "No, it's my responsibility; I know more about the machine of the professors than you do, I have the experience and seniority. Now, back off."

The Susan's stared at each other as if daring each other of them to blink. Lloyd risked everything to stand between them. "Hold on, we're not getting anywhere here. We've got to get that man out of the town centre as quickly as possible, by any means. We also have the situation at the house to sort out."

Reluctantly, both Susan's gave a nod and stood back. Just then, Jack re-entered with Jack2. Lloyd nodded. "Okay then, let's go ... You'd better stay here Adams, there's too many of you around as it is," He said to Jack2 and looked at the screen where the bearded Jack was still shouting.

They got to Blythe's house and found that a uniformed army officer was talking to a police officer. Susan2 and Jack got out of the car, Susan going to the army officer, and Jack to the police.

As Jack approached him he recognised the officer as Piper, who in his world was a desk sergeant, not a beat officer. Piper nodded to Jack as he neared. "Just what's happening here, Adams, and why are you here?" he asked.

Jack realised that Piper still thought of him as their Jack Adams and smiled. "Orders from high up; there's a situation brewing and they want the Army to take the flak. We need to be squeaky clean. So I've been sent as a liaison to keep an eye on them. Anyway, these others need an escort to the problem at the town centre. I know I can trust you to keep them under guard," he said, shifting an eye to the army men who were standing around as if not trusting them.

Piper gave a smile. "Oh yeah, that would just serve them right. Okay, Jack, we'll let them carry the can." He turned to the other officers surrounding the house. "Alright guys, we're pulling out and leaving this to the army to deal with." He winked at Jack, who smiled and nodded before going back to Susan.

" ... So you see this man has knowledge about the equipment here and should be treated as a member of department four, he'll tell you more should he think it's necessary. I've got to go." She nodded to Jack and went back to the car.

The Officer saluted Jack. "Captain Smythe, of Her Majesty's Third Fusiliers. What are your orders, Sir?"

Jack gave a half-hearted attempt at returning the salute. "Don't bother with that, Captain. Now, we need to have guards inside the house and in the basement; there is a machine down there that needs guarding," he said, trying to remember what Susan had said in one of the previous worlds they had travelled to. "Position guards inside the room and in the doorway. There's a possibility of travellers arriving from that side. We need to ensure that they are safe to enter this world." he said, leading the way to the front door.