Motive: The Dead Hand

SYNOPSIS

The victim: Nancy Bailin, a bright high school student and writer for her school's newspaper. The killer: Rand Hardy, a teacher at the school and faculty advisor for the newspaper. The case of Nancy's murder takes an interesting turn six months after the fact when a woman enters the Metro Vancouver Police office with a bomb strapped to her person, she demanding the release of the person who confessed to the murder, Josh Martin, who she claims did not murder Nancy. Angie, Brian and Paula are among the hostages the woman holds in custody. Oscar, Angie, Brian, Paula and Betty all were not involved in Nancy's case/Josh's conviction so have to come up to speed on the details. The detectives quickly discover that the bomber has special interest in the case: she is Josh and Nancy's mother, Susan Bailin, Josh and Nancy being half-siblings hence their different last names. In reviewing the interrogation tape where Josh confessed, Angie, Brian and Paula find that there is a forty-five minute gap within the interrogation, from the time that Josh, a drug addict, states that he doesn't know what's going on because he was high, to the time of the actual confession. In the process, Angie is able to convince Mrs. Bailin to allow both Brian and Paula to leave the office to investigate what happened, partly about that forty-five minutes that made Josh change his mind about confessing. In the process, they also discover that Mrs. Bailin is a naval soldier with bomb expertise, she who has rigged the bomb so if she dies, the bomb will be detonated. As their investigation progresses, Angie begins to believe that Josh is indeed not the killer. As such, Angie has to strike a fine line in doing what she believes is the right thing, which is find the real killer, while protecting all in the Metro Police office from Sergeant Blunt, the tactical team leader whose sole mission seemingly is to take out Susan at any given opportunity. Brian and Paula discover one important fact about Nancy's being, which if they dig a little deeper may uncover the last "unofficial" story she herself was investigating and the reason for her murder.