How do you like this so far ,Mouse? Don't own – don't sue.

June 9th, 20001:00 PM

Teo stopped by "Leaves of Past," making the pair working behind the counter wince and tremble. She didn't seem to notice at all. "How much do we have of Chesterton? The detective stories?"

"At least one of most of it, Teo," wavered Tim, "why?"

"Just get it all out and leave it in the back room for me, I've got some research I need to do. Check it over, and if we're missing anything, fill it in from the library for me. Thanks." She walked out leaving the two of them standing behind her, mouths open.

"Has she forgotten, Lotte?"

"No, she wouldn't forget! She's probably doing research on how to get rid of us!"

"From old detective stories? Maybe, but I'm going to get the books out, maybe it'll go easier on us."

Teo ran up the steps to the apartment, but Kenshin wasn't there. She called downstairs to talk to the prep staff. They told her that he'd gone with Feo to the produce dealers and had asked Choon Kim to come along with them to make sure all of the usual arguments were fair. The door buzzer rang. "Lt.Gaudro, it's Myojin." She punched in the code to let him up and sat down to write her nezumo a note. He came in and stood waiting for her, looking with interest around the apartment.

"Well?"

"The address is in Nyack, and he won't talk on the phone. If we want to see him we can come or don't bother."

"Fah! Just what I need, a jaunt to Nyack. All right, let's go. What are you looking at?"

"I've never been in your apartment before, just under the front stairs and in the playroom. It's nice here."

"Complaining?"

"No, Dom – Teo! I wouldn't think of it! Forgive me?"

"Yes. You're a good boy." She lightly caressed his face with the back of her hand, and he rubbed his cheek against her skin. "But you still complained. I hope you enjoy washing windows. I'll be watching closely to make sure you do a good job, and I'd better be pleased. Right?" He nodded happily. "Come on, let's go to the boonies." She left the note by the phone. It said, "Koi, I've got to work crazy hours, things are starting to break. DO NOT go out of the house or restaurant alone! Call me later. T."

4:30 pm

Sanos had finished a meeting with his editor about the developments in the case. He sat at his desk, wondering if he should go to the bistro for dinner. It was a public place and he didn't think Kenshin would have him thrown out – maybe if he saw how bad he felt about this whole mess, the little man would at least talk to him.

His ringing phone brought him out of his daze. "Mr. Sanos, This is Captain Carl Shou. I'm calling you because I want an independent witness for something I hope to find tonight."

"What's that, Captain?"

"Well, thinking about Gaudro's husband set some wheels going in my head. You know he fits the description common to all the vics? I dug around and found some pretty disturbing info on Gaudro's past."

"Yes, I found some of that out myself. Do you think she's involved? Is Kenshin in danger?"

"How well do you know Mr. Boldt?"

"I…spent some time with him the other day, just an hour or so, but he seems to be a good man."

"That's even better, if I find what I'm afraid of – he's going to need a friend. He's agreed to let me come in to the brownstone late tonight. I want you to come."

"What time? And how will you keep Gaudro away?"

"I'll call you around midnight tonight. There's a stakeout planned for Washington Park, some suspicious activity was reported in that area. She'll be out of the way. Say you'll come, please, I really want another pair of eyes on what's going to happen tonight."

"Of course, Captain, I'll be glad to. I'll be in the bistro's area before midnight, call me."

"Thank you, Dave. And keep away from Boldt – we don't want Gaudro getting suspicious."

Sanos hung up and nibbled on a thumbnail. It seemed as if he wasn't the only person worried about Teo Gaudro. (… "she stopped working with men, said it was too easy to damage them"… the flame of the wooden match reflecting in jungle cat eyes above the thin black cigar… the whip coiled on the back of the chair… Myojin on his knees, panting after the hard strikes with the nightstick…) Shou probably had dug up even more on her and her past. She had crouched so casually next to the murdered boy. The boy who distantly resembled Kenshin, with his dark hair and tiny build- who had been a street kid, as the older man had been so long ago. Who had been known to Teo Gaudro – she even knew his name?

He wouldn't have thought twice about following her into an alley! She was a friend of his benefactors, a cop, a woman ("a woman probably wouldn't be seen as a threat" … "she can do damage"… "You're in danger, not me"…) She would have had plenty of time between 9 AM and the briefing at 11 to take out the boy and get cleaned up, it was so close to her house. She had been so adamant about brushing off Shou's theory of a female perp, even using her own tendencies as a joke ("Thank you for the correction, Captain, may I have another?) A joke no one else got but he, who knew her past.

And which Kenshin knew, the beautiful, delicate man who made Sanos shake to think of their brief time together, he knew her past and disregarded it. It wasn't part of them, she was someone he loved – probably loved enough to be blinded by his feelings for her. She had no problem using a knife – she had threatened his abusive ex-lover with one, coming out of nowhere to pin the man against a wall. ("It was a like a dream or a nightmare I had seen before, Teo with the blade shining before her." "I'm a cop, I can make you disappear"…) She was strong enough to take on a grown aware man without hesitation – how much easier to abuse an unconscious, helpless victim?

Had Kenshin seen it before and repressed what he saw, buried it under the gratitude he owed her for saving him from the streets? He knew of more than one case where a man or woman had lived alongside a killer for years without ever noticing or wanting to notice the things happening around them. Someone caught between need and gratitude could be that blind. He could be an unconscious accessory, giving her a thin film of geniality to the world, making people see her through his eyes.

His huge, beautiful, violet eyes that seemed to cut right into a special place in Dave's heart. Sanos was a grown man; he was too old to think that there was such a thing as love at first sight. But it seemed as if he had looked down into those eyes in a distant past, and finally got the response he had wished for so long ago. His kisses were so sweet, his slim body unexpectedly strong. That tender, hot body writhing in his arms…

Sanos shook away the feeling- pushed down the tightening in his crotch. He had royally fucked it up by telling the man he had talked to Teo, now he was pissed off. And she knew that someone had been at him trying to get him away from her. The last crime was so close to her home; would the next be even closer? He sat back in his chair, thinking of the angry green glitter of jungle cat's eyes. The eyes of a killer.