Here's another day of "Cop Story" - I just couldn't think of a better title than the one the Mouse gave it. Thank you,Marlingirl, for your kind review. I'm still on the Hiko/Saitou story but that's turning into a novela pretty fast and this story was a nice change. Finally - we strike lemons in this installment, but some of my lemons taste a little different and it was interesting to write that scene. Also "Domina" is pronounced in the Latin style, with a long "O". Finally, this is for amusement only!

June 8th, 2000 11 AM

Teo Gaudro stood out in front of a diagram board in the detectives section. "Here's what I've seen so far. The crimes occurred on an average of once a month for 18 months. In the six months since, the frequency and severity of the attacks are increasing- to one every ten days or so. The perp's previous attacks appear mainly to shame and traumatize his victims. Now he-"

"Or she." said Capt. Shou, rubbing at his hair with a towel.

Teo rolled her eyes. "Or she- has started trying to do as much damage as possible -without killing, so far. One of the last three vics is out of a coma, but he doesn't remember a thing. His coma was due to blood loss only. The last two boys will end up with colostomies until they heal, if ever."

Sanos spoke up. "When you say "boys" Lt. Gaudro, do you mean that all the victims are young?" He took a sip of the coffee that the Lieutenant had bought him.That was oddly nice of her.

"No, Mr. Sanos, they aren't. The ages of known victims range from 46-17 years old. The common thread is they were all dark brown or black haired and under 5'5". Not all of them are gay men either, just most, it seems that as long as the fill this man's –"

"Or woman's." added Shou.

"Or woman's, thank you Captain for the correction – may I have another? As long as they fill the perp's vision of a victim and are vulnerable, they are prey. Times of attack vary as well. From as early as seven AM to as late as 4 AM when the bar's close. The vics have all been alone and had no idea they were under watch or threat. Then Bam! They are knocked out and assaulted. Though forensics thinks that the last vic may have been conscious for at least part of the attack. There are some injuries which would have been caused by the young man trying to scramble away, even though he was tied up with black tape. He was our first vic to be gagged too. Any thing else from you gentlemen and ladies?"

"I'd like to know why you think it may be a female perp, Captain Shou?" asked Sanos, pen in hand for the notes he'd been taking.

Shou ran his hand through his short hair and put down the towel. "First off, these sorts of crimes usually have a sexual component, but there is no sign of any body fluids at the crime scenes except the vic's. Two: the men report seeing no one threatening around them before the attack, but a woman isn't usually seen as a threat and they may have overlooked her without even noticing. Three: the small size of the victims point to the perp's need to have a way of controlling the situation, a woman would go after men who are smaller than average. Violent crime isn't just for men anymore, Lt. Gaudro." The others at the meeting nodded their heads in agreement with this theory.

Teo put her hands on her hips. "I agree with you that women are able to commit violent and horrific crimes, sir. But, with a few exceptions, their victims tend to be acquaintances or their own families. Unprovoked, no matter how lame-ass the provocation, attacks on strangers are rare for women. I see this perp as a predator, possibly a closeted homophobe. He can't get into men himself, so he uses objects to do his dirty work. At the same time, he punishes them for his sins. The smaller the man, the easier the work."

"How do you explain no one noticing?"

"As I went walking up the stair/ I met a man who wasn't there... I don't know yet how he makes himself invisible in plain sight, but I will. The next attack will probably be a fatal one. Any thing else? Then get to work, people."

Sanos followed the Captain back to his office. "You almost missed the meeting, sir. What happened?"

"My own lame ass fault. I got a big coffee and when I tried to take the lid off I ended up wearing it. Lucky I wasn't scalded and had a change of clothes in the locker room so I could shower and change. What do you think, so far, Sanos?"

"I think that Lt. Gaudro is a very determined, smart cop. Whether she or you are right remains to be seen, but I think that once she gets into a problem she doesn't let go till it's solved. I'm going to give her some info I picked up. See you, sir."

Sanos walked back to Teo's desk, but she was gone. He left his contact's info on her desk and went out. Spotting her at the far end of the hall, he began to approach her. She was talking to a young cop, who was handing her a sheaf of paper. He had been introduced at the meeting as Officer Katsu Myojin. Teo seemed pleased with the man's work and reached out to pat his arm. Myojin grabbed her hand and tried to press his forehead to it. She shoved him back, suddenly rigid with tension. Then she indicated he should follow her and strode off down to one of the interview rooms.

Sanos ghosted behind, unseen. The door hadn't quite closed behind Myojin and he could see a little and hear very well. Teo's voice was sharp and hard. "What do you think you are doing, ahou?"

"I was so happy to please you, Domina! I got a little too excited, I guess." The young cop stood at rigid attention. Teo pulled his nightstick from his belt and pointed to the floor. He fell to his knees - head down and looking at the floor.

She pushed his head up and back with the stick. "This is work, not playtime, fool! My name is Lt. Gaudro, even Teo if you wish. Not Domina! That's for other times. If you make the same mistake again, there will be no "other times," ever! Understand?" She pushed harder and the young man's eyes widened.

"Yes, Lt. Gaudro!" he croaked.

She let him breathe and walked behind him. "Here's something for the mistake and to improve your memory!" Sanos heard one sharp hard blow across the young man's ass with the stick. Peeking in he saw Myojin groan in pain, but he also was obviously excited as well. He started to pull at his zipper. "No! You keep off that until I tell you that you can! Understand, bakayaro?" Another whack.

"Yes, I understand! Thank you for teaching me to behave. I won't make the same mistake, I promise. Thank you for allowing me to serve you." The young cop was shaking, but in pleasure or fear? The woman held the nightstick before his lips and he kissed it with reverence. Teo dropped the stick on the floor and walked out, barely giving Sanos a chance to duck into the next room. He slid out after she was gone and peeped back into the room where she had left her victim. He was on his hands and knees, panting as if he had been running, but he was smiling. He stood up, smoothed back his black hair and went over to the video camera in the room to plug it back in. Sanos ducked back in the other room till he passed, walking a little stiffly, a caressing hand on his nightstick.

Sanos sat down, hard, on a chair in the empty room. So that was Tammy Claire Goro in action! Damn! How did Kenshin live with her? Or was he one of her "servants"? He had to see him and find out. The Captain's arguments rang in his head. A big, strong woman, who hated men (...she stopped working with men, said it was too easy to damage them...), all of the men attacked so far had the same general description as Kenshin! He practically ran out of the building.

He got to the bookstore at 1:30. Kenshin was behind the counter, smiling at him. "Hi! You're early. The twins aren't back yet. I get the feeling this was going to be a three-hankie lunch, they may be a little late."

"Why don't they talk at work?"

"Because they wouldn't work, they'd talk. Teo's rules for the twins: no personal lives on the job. After work, they usually can't stand each other, because they're so alike, so this keeps every body happy. "

"More rules from Teo, huh?"

"What's wrong? Did you get in an argument with her, Dave?"

"No, I hardly spoke to her this morning, she was busy. I saw her disciplining a young cop though. Are you ever afraid of her, Kenshin?"

Kenshin gave him an odd look. "Afraid of Teo? No, she doesn't frighten me; she wouldn't even want to try. If she was ripping some young cop a new one, he must have messed up. She's really serious about her work and doesn't suffer fools." He walked around the counter and picked up some books. "I have to reshelf these, come along."

They walked back into the store. It was a mixture of old and new books and had the wonderful smell of old leather and the faint trace of cigar smoke. Kenshin hopped onto a footstool to put two volumes up on a shelf. "I knew that the little idiot who had me take these down wouldn't know Voltaire from a hole in the ground, he just wanted to look at my ass!"

Sanos couldn't help but look himself. Kenshin was in a dark tee shirt and jeans today with sandals. The play of his muscles was clearly visible as he reached up to put away the heavy books. When he had tucked them back, Sanos took the opportunity to sweep the slender body into his arms for a deep kiss. Kenshin was startled at first, but kissed back enthusiastically. Sanos stood cradling the man in his arms, afraid for him and wanting him terribly.

The door opened with a bang and a jingle of bells. "We're back!" said two snuffly voices. Sanos put Kenshin down and tried to smooth everything down that had been mussed up. As they came around the aisle, Sanos saw two people, almost exactly alike in size and coloring, one male, one female. Both had short blonde hair and light blue eyes.

"Dave Sanos meet Tim Bradshaw and Charlotte Maul, the "twins" of song, story, and nightmare, as Teo would say. Nice lunch kids?"

"All men are bastards!" said Tim, sniffling.

"All men except you, Kenshin." said Charlotte, handing Tim a tissue. "Why won't you run away with one or the other of us?"

"Because then you would say I was a bastard too, and then who would you have to love? Say hello to the nice man, kids." The two figures sniffled and gave Sanos weak waves. "Okay? Back to work now or I'll tell Teo you're slacking and she'll cut back on your discount program again." Both of them nodded yes and waved Kenshin and Sanos out of the store.

"We interrupted something, didn't we Lotte?"

"Oh yeah, that big boy's after our Kenshin. The bastard!" They sniffled together some more. Then Charlotte began to giggle, "Wait till Teo finds out! He better be nice to Kenshin!"

Tim laughed too. "Yep, that should be fun to watch!"