"No Ray, I don't mean to imply that I dislike you sister, or that I don't enjoy her conversation. Quite the contrary, Francesca is a kind, intelligent, beautiful young woman."

"But . . ." Ray prompted as he lead the Mountie though the bullpen.

"I simply can not take two weeks off work to escort her on a cruise through the Caribbean."

"Thatcher, huh?" Ray asked with a sly smile as he looked back at his friend.

Fraser was trying not to react to the detective's comments, which meant he kept an almost comic straight face, looking straight ahead. As a consequence of this emotional squelching he forgot about the waist can next to Ray's desk. He tripped over the thing and nearly fell on top of Elaine as she walked by.

"Hay, Fraser." She said, laughing lightly. "You Ok?"

"Yes." He said curtly. All his mock composer had been lost when he tripped and the pure terror that he has been compressing showed on his face. Ray watched, very amused. "Yes, I'm sorry."

"What for?" Elaine asked, confused.

Fraser glanced at Ray, begging for help. None was offered. "Tripping." He finally said.

"Sure, Fraser." Elaine said nodding slowly. "Any time."

"Can we help you, Elaine?" Ray asked, trying very hard not to laugh out loud.

"Uh, there's a guy here to see you Ray. He says he knows you." She pointed to a man standing nervously in the doorway to the squad room. He was wearing a coat that was heavy for the weather, which was chilly but not sub-zero yet. Both Ray and Benny looked at him curiously, without recognition until Fraser caught a whiff of him. "Garret." The Mountie said out of the blue.

"Who?" Ray asked.

"The homeless man who assisted us in finding Miss Madison last year."

"The Psycho?"

"Perhaps the word you're looking for is Psychic."

"Sure," Ray said shrugging his shoulders, "If you think so."

"Hello Mr. Garret." Fraser said smiling broadly, He offered his hand to the homeless man, who reached out and took it.

Flash

She walked into the room. Fraser's heartbeat doubled, either from fear or elation or an odd combination of both.

Flash

"Mr. Garret," Fraser's voice cut through the vision. "Are you alright?"

The homeless man blinked a few times and re-oriented himself with his surroundings. Once done, he turned to Fraser, there was an intensity in his eyes that frightened the Mountie. But what he said frightened him more. "She needs you. She's depending on you. If you don't come, she'll die!"

***

Fraser and Garret were sitting in interview one. The Neon lights and the mint green walls created a tint that was supposed to be calming but in actuality was more garish. If you were looking through the tinted two way mirror, as Ray was, the effect was even more bizarre.

Fraser had wanted to question Garret alone. Ray could understand that. When you mixed Fraser with girls the oddest things happened, situations became complicated and more often than not embarrassing for someone. Ray would Respect Benny's reasonable request for privacy, to a point. There was also this matter of a murder. As a cop Ray had a responsibility to protect whoever this victim was, and to do that he needed all the information he could get. Elaine had given him a nasty look as he walked into interview two and turned the lights out, but for all he knew she could be the murder victim. He didn't let a glare stop him.

In the interview room Benny was leaning over the table. He looked composed but Ray could tell that he was very nervous. "What did you see?" He asked gently.

"Someone was following her. It was late. She was walking outside, carrying something that was big."

"Do you know what she was carrying?"

"No, it's too dark. But she was looking over her shoulder. Then a big pair of hands grabbed her. She screamed you're name. Then she was tied up, by a tree, and she was watching something, the kidnappers."

"Can you see where she is?"

He shook his head. "You're afraid of her though. I saw her walk into a room and you were afraid."

"Great," Ray mused quietly, "That narrows it down to every girl he's ever met."

"Afraid?"

"Nervous."

"Nervous?"

"Like you were afraid of what she was going to do, and then what you were going to do back." The man paused. "You care about her a lot, I can feel that. She trust you, you can't let her down."

Ben licked his lips and leaned in further "Can you describe this woman?"

"Dark hair, it was in her eyes."

"What color were her eyes?"

"I don't know, they were in the shadows."

"Do you know how tall she was?"

"No."

"If you saw her would you recognize her?"

"Yes."

Fraser nodded. "But you can't describe her beyond dark hair."

"The harder I try to see her, the vaguer her features get."

Fraser stared at the ceiling for a second. He seemed to be focusing on one ceiling tile, as if adding up the holes in it would give him the answer to his problem. It didn't.

"She trust you, she depends on you. You have to be there for her." Garret was desperate. He may not have known this woman, but he felt her pain, acutely.

That's when Elaine poked her head in. "Call for you Fraser," she said softly, as if she didn't want to disturb the heavy mood in the room. "It's the consulate."

Fraser nodded, "Thank you Elaine. I'll be out presently." He stood up but before he left the room he turned to Garret. "If you see anything more . . ."

"I'll try." Garret promised.

Fraser nodded again and walked out of the room with determination. Ray scooted out of the observation room and had to jog to catch up to the Mountie's quick pace. "You know who it is?" Ray asked.

"The consulate." Fraser replied matter-of-factly.

"No, not who's on the phone. Who the girl is? You know the one who scares you with the brown hair and the tied wrist."

Fraser glared at his friend with contempt that didn't even go skin deep. "You were listening."

"As a cop I have a responsibility to the victim."

Fraser nodded, knowing full well that it was not civic responsibility that lead his good friend to ease droop as much as it was curiosity. "And?"

"I got a list."

"List?"

"Do you want to hear it?"

They had reached the detective's desk and, without responding to his friend's question, Fraser picked up the phone. "This is Constable Fraser." He said with measured voice. He listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. "I see." He clipped after what seemed like an unusually long time. "Yes, I quite agree. Inform the Inspector that I'll be there presently." He paused, then added. "And pleas tell her that I'll be at her disposal all evening. Thank you, Turnbull." He hung up the phone and turned to Ray, who was playing with one of the toys that were hidden throughout his work space. "Could you give me a ride to the consulate?"

"Sure," Ray shrugged. "But what about our psycho?"

Benny glared at his friend, "Psychic."

"If you insist."

"Mr. Garret has given us all the information he was given. Questioning him further won't avail us. Elaine!" He called across the room. The young woman looked at him, but didn't move or say a word, silently waiting for a command. "Could you pleas tell Mr. Garret that his assistance has been most helpful and very appreciated, but something has come up and I'm afraid I had to leave." The Mountie asked as he got closer to the young woman.

"Sure, Fraser." She said.

"Also be sure to tell him that if he should happen to see anything else we would be most appreciative if he shared it."

"Yha, but why don't you tell him yourself?"

"The Dragon lady calls, Elaine." Ray supplied helpfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The young woman said as she walked towards interview one to carry out her assignment.

Fraser watched her go with a curious expression. "Ray what did Elaine mean when . . ."

"Never mind, Benny." Ray said grabbing his friend's arm and dragging him out of the station house.

***

"So," Ray prompted once they were in the Riv and half way to the Consulate. "The girl."

Fraser licked his lips, but didn't say anything.

"You know who it is?" Ray asked.

"Know, no."

"What?"

"I don't know who it is."

"I was afraid of that."

"Do you know who it is?" Fraser asked, hoping against hopes that his friend would say yes.

"Like I said I've got a list."

"Let's hear it." Fraser said, shifting in his seat so he could focus fully on the detective.

Ray took a deep breath. "Franny."

Benny shook his head, smiling slightly. "It's not Francesca."

"How can you know that?" Obviously the very thought of his little sister being in that kind of situation terrified him more than if it had been himself bound and gagged.

"The last time I saw her was three days ago. At that time her bangs had just been cut and she complained that they did not cover enough of her forehead."

Ray chuckled. "She was really pissed about that."

"Garret said that the woman's hair was in her eyes. Unless you're sister's hair has grown exponentially since the last time I saw her, it's not Francesca."

"Thank God." Ray muttered. Fraser could feel his friend release all the fears for his sister, oddly it made Benny somewhat envious. He wished he could have had a bother, or sister, or someone in his life that he cared that much about, for no other reason than they existed. Relationships like that were so pure.

"Was she the only person on you're list?"

"Elaine."

"It's not Elaine. Garret said he would recognize the woman. He saw Elaine and didn't try to warn her, nor did he tell me to protect her."

Ray nodded. He looked like there was one more thing he wanted to say, but couldn't quite figure out how to say it.

"Anyone else?"

Ray licked his lips, turned and looked his good friend right in those clear blue eyes. "Victoria."

Fraser wasn't surprised, which surprised Ray, but it shouldn't have. "No," Fraser said, almost sadly. "It's not Victoria."

"Good," Ray said. Not because he didn't want Victoria to be hurt, quite the contrary, he would have prayed that the banshee be run over by a semi every Sunday at Mass if he thought that God would let him get away with it, but if Victoria was in trouble then Fraser would have to save her. Which would mean that he would have to see her, witch was something Ray hoped would never happen ever again. "How do you know?"

"Garret said that she trusted me." Fraser's voice had a sad tone in it that Ray hardly ever heard. "Victoria doesn't trust me."

Ray wanted to contend that, but didn't. In general it's a good idea not to pick at a slowly healing wound. "So who does that leave us?" Ray asked, in many way's relived that no one in his list was in any imitate danger, but frustrated that they were back to square one.

"Inspector Thatcher." Fraser said, looking out the windshield, playing his 'I don't have emotions I have honor' game that never got him anywhere.

"What?" Ray nearly yelled. "You're kidding right. This is one of those stupid jokes that you find so funny and no one else gets."

"I'm very serous, Ray. I think that the Inspector might be in real danger."

"But . . ."

"She fits all the criteria."

One of the Criteria was that Fraser cared for the woman, but Ray was not about to point that out. Fraser had slipped, and Ray would store that information until it became relevant. "I thought you said you didn't know."

"And I don't. But I suspect it is the Inspector."

"How are you going to protect her? I mean, if it were Elaine and Franny they would just love having you hang around and keeping the bad guys away, but Thatcher . . . I don't think she'll appreciate the gesture."

"Well, naturally I'm going to tell her about the situation, and . . ."

Ray couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I would love to hear that conversation."

"Ray," Benny said with annoyance

"No, no, what would you say, 'Hay Meg, guess what, you're gonna be kidnapped soon!'"

"Ray!"

"How do you think she'll take that? How long do you think you'll be on guard duty?"

"The Inspector is a perfectly reasonable woman."

"Reasonable in whose eyes? Reasonable people don't make their inferiors go into burning buildings to get dry cleaning."

"The Inspector didn't make me do that," Fraser tried to interject, but Ray didn't give him the chance to say much more.

"If you go into that room and ask her let you tag around because some street person told you that she'll end up bound, gagged and with hair in her eyes she's gonna have you committed before you can say Exchange Rate."

Fraser didn't say anything to refute his friends arguments, mainly because in-between the exaggerations he had caught the truth. Even if Thatcher did give credence to his warnings, she wouldn't let him protect her.

They were silent the last two blocks, and it was only after Fraser was out of the car and about to close the door did Ray ask, "Whatch'a gonna do, Benny?"

"All I can." The Mountie said honestly.

"It could be someone else entirely, someone we forgot about, or you haven't met yet or something."

"It could be." Fraser's voice made it clear that he didn't believe it.

"Anything you need me to do?"

The Mountie thought for a split second, "Do you think you could fetch Diefenbaker?"

"Sure."

"I don't know when I'll be home, and I don't want Willy to feel he has . . ."

"Say no more, the wolf is as good as here."

"Thanks Ray." Fraser said as the Riv drove off.

To Be Continued . . . .