A/N: This chapter is for Icewitch73 without whom it probably would have sat half finished on my tray for another week at least. Huge thanks to Kittyknighton for pre-reading after rewrite number 3 and assuring me it wasn't complete garbage.

Chapter 25

It was nearly three in the afternoon when Sam knocked at Callaghan's door. He'd left Andy at her apartment. She'd accepted his vague answers to her question on the drive better than he'd expected. He knew if he told her she would want to jump right in to help, it was one of the things he loved about her, but it was also why he wished he could keep her far away from this particular case. It would be just like Andy to put herself in harm's way to try and get them some usable evidence. Whether he'd killed Natalie Frances or not, Dubray was a dangerous man.

The blonde detective opened it immediately and stepped aside to let Sam enter before closing it firmly. Callaghan was the other reason Sam hadn't told Andy about the new development. Things were strained already on this case. The last thing any of them needed was to confirm Luke's suspicions about Sam and Andy. He would find out eventually, but if Sam had any say in the matter they would solve this case first.

"I was expecting you hours ago." Luke said without malice.

"I was out of town." Sam answered as vaguely as possible.

Luke's expression was guarded. "Well, thanks for coming."

Sam waived off the thanks, his attention focused on the test results sitting at the top of the paper pile on Luke's desk. He picked up the sheet and read it over three times before handing it back to the Detective. "Could they have mixed up the samples?" He asked, knowing he was pegging this shred of hope on something that rarely happened outside a truly bad movie.

Luke shook his head. "I got these results yesterday," he waved another identical looking paper, " So I had them run it again. It's not Dubray."

"Then he's working with an accomplice."

Luke glared in Sam's direction, but both men knew his anger wasn't really aimed at Sam. "I spent all week on this. Dubray is our only suspect. If you have a genius plan then share it."

"Bring him in, search his place..." Sam ran a hand through his black hair, "Hell, put a tail on him until he tries again."

"Without a warrant." Luke asked snidely.

"So get a warrant."

"We have less evidence today than we had three days ago. No chance in hell prosecutor will sign off on a warrant." He sank into a chair, cradling his head in his hands.

Sam leaned back against the wall, head falling back against the white plaster with a muted thud. For a long moment there was silence in the room. Callaghan was right. They'd hit a dead end. Sam was sure they had the right man, he felt it in his very bones, but without evidence, real, hard, irrefutable evidence, Dubray was going to walk. He resisted the urge to slam his head repeatedly into the wall. Luke could have told him all of this over the phone, but Sam had needed to see it for himself. Now he had and it still didn't seem real.

They'd been so certain. When he'd left the station Tuesday, Sam had been so confident that they would be picking Dubray up in a matter of days and booking him for four counts of first degree murder. Instead, the DNA that was supposed to seal their case had shattered it into a million jagged pieces, all too small to fasten back together into anything resembling a conviction.

There had to be something they'd missed. He straightened up and walked over to the white board where Luke had tacked up their evidence. A piece of paper covered in Andy's writing caught his eye and for a moment Sam considered calling her. But he changed his mind. Sure another pair of eyes would be helpful, but the reasons he'd kept the news to himself were still reasons. He had two days before she was back on shift. If he came up empty after two days, that would be soon enough to tell her.

The board held no new information. Everything on that board pointed to Dubray. The crime scene photos, the pages of notes from interviews and witnesses, all of it said Dubray was the only one at all crime scene. Which meant one of two things, either the cases were not related, or they'd missed something. Sam refused to believe that they just might not have any evidence. The crime scene unit had swept the park for hours after Natalie Frances' body was found, there had to be something. Some little, seemingly insignificant piece they'd overlooked when they found Dubray. It was there, Sam just needed to find it.

He picked up the Frances file. The first page was a copy of the DNA results. Sam stared at it for a moment, brow furrowed. "Callaghan?"

"Yeah?" Luke looked up.

"We had DNA from three scenes and none of them matched Dubray..."

"What's your point?"

"Did they match each other?"

One corner of Luke's mouth quirked in an almost smile as he shuffled through the papers on his desk until he found the paper he was looking for. "They didn't do a cross comparison the first time, but I asked them to yesterday. It looks like we have two completely different sets of DNA from evidence." He checked the numbers on the sheet against his notes, "The Frances case sample does not match the earlier samples."

"So, either Dubray switched partners..."

"Or they're not connected." Luke finished for him. "Frank will be disappointed."

Sam cocked his head.

"A serial murderer responsible for as many as ten victims, if we brought him in it would be huge for fifteen division."

Sam nodded his acknowledgement, already shifting his focus back to the file in his hand. Keeping the Staff Sergeant and the Commissionaire and the Mayor happy was all part of the job, but it was one part Sam had no real interest in. Another reason he would probably never make detective. He was much more focused on the day to day realities of the job than the politics of power. Sam would take a UC job any day over Frank's position.

He flipped past the DNA results and found the coroner's report. Knowing that the DNA on Natalie's file didn't match the other victims meant that, for the moment, her case should be treated as a single occurrence. Unfortunately, that would not make it easier to solve, if anything, it would probably make it harder.

Luke's phone rang shrilly and after a sort conversation, he stood and grabbed his coat. "I've got a case, let me know if you come up with anything."

Sam nodded, "Will do."

"Thanks." He paused at the door, "Don't stay here too long or Frank's already going to have my head for bringing you in on overtime."

Sam chuckled. It was a given that most of them worked a fair amount of overtime. It was part of the job. It would be impractical to expect them to finish every day half an hour before they were off shift so they could stay caught up on paper work and avoid overtime. It was the same at most divisions, but that didn't mean the budget was any more forgiving.

When Luke left, Sam took the Frances file to the copy room and made a second copy of it for himself before returning the originals to Luke's office. If he was going to be working alone it may as well be in the comfort of his house.

o o o

Andy hung the white dress up at the back of her closet, running her fingers over the soft fabric. It really was beautiful. Shame she may never get to wear the other dress she'd bought that day. Things had gone so well Thursday night, but by this afternoon it seemed like Sam was trying to forget the night before had even happened. He'd been quiet almost the entire drive back to Toronto. She'd asked him what was wrong, but all he'd been willing to say was that it was 'about a case' and 'don't worry about it.'

"Don't worry," She scoffed. He may as well have asked her to fly home. The latter would have been easier than trying to drown the obnoxious voice in her head telling her he was already regretting the night before, that when she asked him about it he would tell her it 'was what it was' and expect them to go back to being partners, friends, as if nothing more had ever existed. Her stomach churned at the thought.

They couldn't go back. Not again. She couldn't go back to working beside him day after day pretending she didn't know what his lips felt like against her own; pretending she didn't wake up in the night hot and wet, thinking of his hands on her skin. When she closed her eyes she could still see his hungry gaze as he pressed her against the guest room door. However he felt in the light of day, he'd wanted her last night. No, they couldn't go back. She just had to find a way to make sure they kept moving forward.

o o o

A/N: Please review :)