So not the longest chapter, but hopefully you all like it. Enjoy and please let me know what you think

"What about McGarry?"

Brenda asked lieutenant Wilson while getting up and walking away from the victim.

"What about him?"

Really for such a good detective, which he undoubtedly was, the head of Robbery/Homicide could be extremely daft at times.

"What did he have to say for himself?"

She clarified. She had been a police officer long enough to know that alibis could be faked, yet the fact that there current suspect had three different alibis made it less plausible. Not that they were all equally reliable, but still. One was a meeting with his business partner, one with a client and one was his brother. The circumstances were suspicious, he'd dated all three victims for about a month until they showed up dead. Another thing that bothered her was his lack of grievance, given the time span of the murders he moved on real quickly. Yet, she needed to keep in mind that there remained a possibility that the man was innocent.

"Says he didn't do it, that he must've been framed and we looked into that, but so far nothing."

She cast a last look on the victim before moving on, lieutenant Wilson in her wake.

"We can take it from here, thank you. If you could send the tapes from earlier interrogations to Buzz please."

She said over her shoulder, dismissing the man behind her. This just became a little more complex. If the man was telling the truth and someone really was trying to frame him this case could become messy real quick. Brenda knew from experience that lots of emotions were involved in those cases.

"detective Sanchez, lieutenant Tao, please run a background check on McGarry's alibis. Sergeant Gabriel, Buzz, lieutenant Wilson is going to send you the previous interviews with the suspect, see if there's anything interesting."

She divided the tasks between her subordinate officers. As they took off, she stood with her hands firmly planted on her hips, watching them hurry away, leaving her with lieutenants Flynn and Provenza.

"What are we going to do?"

Provenza asked gruffly, looking at her sideways.

"Well obviously interviewing McGarry yet again would be a waste of time, since robbery/homicide were gracious enough to have checked his alibi already. I'd say it's time to try something different, don't you?"

"Excuse me?"

Uh oh, that really wasn't the right thing to say Brenda realised as soon as Sharon's voice changed from her usual alto to a low and dangerous tone. The conversation hadn't started out well in the first place. Not that she'd expected it to. Raydor had been dismissive of the plan, arguing that "some people actually had a job to do". The nerve of that woman! She'd been up since … am, she knew what it was like to have a job thank you very much. But that was beside the point. No, the exact moment when all went wrong was the moment the captain had sent her what she liked to call the eyebrow of death. Though she was sure there were a few more original names in circulation. She had said it in a flare of frustration, the worst possible thing to say in the current situation. "I could always phrase it as an order." She had hissed before thinking better of it.

"Need I remind you that this is well beyond my job description?"

She was right of course. Why did she always have to be right?

"I know, I know, I can't order you to help me, but think of the victims. Three women have already been brutally murdered and if this continues in the same rate, we'll soon be adding a new picture to the board."

Silence followed, in which Brenda tried to gauge the Captain's reaction.

"I know you care about this sort of thing."

She continued when the silence became uncomfortable. Raydor looked pensive and she was certain that the woman was at least considering her proposal.

"Well, I need to finish my audit somehow and I am not leaving this task to anyone else in my division as long as you and your team continue to be uncooperative."

Oh that woman! Trust her to bring up the stupid audit. Nevertheless, annoying as it may be, she could see where the Captain was coming from. Major Crimes division hadn't exactly been helpful to her, but Brenda was sure that they would trample anyone else from IA. Grudgingly she had to admit to herself that is wasn't an unfair request.

"Let's make a deal then, you participate in this operation and I'll make sure whoever replaces you on the audit will receive full cooperation from every single member of my team. You have my word. And you'll have this week to tie some loose ends yourself, giving us time to come up with a plausible background story for you."

For a moment Raydor stared at her with those piercing green eyes of hers, her head slightly tilted, her lips pursed. Then she nodded slowly, and Brenda felt relief wash over her. She'd already suspected that, despite the whole façade, Raydor did care, but using that information as an argument had been a bit of a gamble.

"Deal"

Sharon was almost out of the door when she turned around again to look at Brenda.

"Oh and Chief? I want to catch this guy just as much as you do."

There was a kind of determination in the her voice that Brenda hadn't heard before. Of course the captain was the epitome of cool persistence, but this was something else entirely. More like the smouldering remnants of a fire, ready to burst into flames at the slightest hint of a breeze.