Steph7085 – Ronon is beginning to doubt Sheppard's guilt but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer for the Sparky element of this story, I promise it's coming though.

Fyd818 – Teyla is beginning to convince Ronon and I'm glad you like the phone conversations between John and Liz, I'm trying to keep them both in character so it's good to know that's working out. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Jasminesmommy – I do feel kind of bad in this fic but this chapter has a revelation from him which will hopefully make him a little less helpless. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Germangirl – I'm glad you like this story and I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 10

Elizabeth sighed as she sat down at her temporary desk at the LAPD. Her conversation with Sheppard that morning had left her with a lot to think about. She wasn't sure why she had told him about his partner but something had told her he was honestly concerned about her. She didn't even register Ronon's presence until he sat down nest to her and she turned to look at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Sheppard called me again this morning," she informed him flatly.

"What, why didn't you say anything?" he questioned in concern.

"I was going to when I saw you."

"What did he say?"

"Not much, he didn't seem to know about his partner and when I told him he sounded genuinely worried about her," she stated.

Ronon sighed, he had been beginning to doubt Sheppard's guilt for days now and he really didn't believe that he would have sent someone to kill Teyla.

"Listen Elizabeth, I'm not so sure that Sheppard is our guy," Ronon told her.

"What?"

"It just doesn't add up, we can't come up with a single motive or even make insanity stick, this guy has devoted his life to saving people and he's damn good at it. He and Emmagan are two of the best detectives the LAPD has ever seen and I really can't believe that he was responsible for the attack last night."

"Ronon all the evidence is there, everything is pointing to him," Elizabeth reasoned.

"Think about it, for months we couldn't get anything on this guy, four murders and not one clue as to who it was, then on the fifth all the evidence we could possibly need just falls into our lap. It's too convenient and you know it is," Ronon explained.

"I think maybe you're spending too much time with Detective Emmagan."

"Elizabeth," Ronon said. "You know I'm right, you're instincts are telling you exactly the same thing so for once just listen to them, you've got good instincts you always have you just need to learn to trust them."

Elizabeth stared at Ronon for a moment wondering exactly when he'd gotten to know her so well. Over the three years she had been working with him she had never realised just how well he knew her.

"Just think about it okay?" he asked and Elizabeth nodded her head before he stood up and once more left her to her thoughts.

- - -

Teyla had reluctantly agreed to allow Ronon to sleep inside her apartment. He would sleep on the couch that way he could be nearby if anyone else tried to kill her. The attack last night had left her more than a little shaken up, she'd had trouble concentrating at work all day and she couldn't help but get mad at herself for it. She was a trained detective with more than enough experience; she should be better able to handle the situation.

A shuffling sound diverted her attention to where Ronon was sitting at the table with the box he had brought with him. He was pulling several files out of it and placing them on the table in front of him.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.

Ronon looked at her for a moment before answering. "These are the files on all five of the murders; I thought we'd take a look at them and see if we can find out for sure who the killer is."

"You're helping John?" she questioned.

"I'm trying to find out who the killer is, if it's Sheppard I'll put him away if it's not then I want to find who it is."

Teyla was speechless for several moments as she just stood there her brown eyes locked with Ronon's green ones. During this entire thing she'd felt completely alone, Rodney and Sumner had done what they could but there was a limit in the help they were able to offer her. If Ronon was beginning to doubt John's guilt, if he was willing to look deeper then she may have all the help she needed sitting right in front of her.

"Thank you," she said barely above a whisper and he nodded his head and gestured to the chair next to him. She sat down and he handed her a file, she opened it to find information about the first murder.

- - -

She sat down in her apartment and switched on the T.V hoping to take her mind off everything for a while but her brain wouldn't seem to disengage from the thought that had been bugging her all day. Maybe John Sheppard was innocent.

She placed her head in her hands and closed her eyes, Ronon had been right her instincts were screaming at her trying to tell her Sheppard was innocent. She'd been ignoring them instead focusing on what she knew, on the evidence which all pointed to him.

His voice when she'd told him about his partner wouldn't leave her head. He had sounded genuinely fearful as though he really hadn't known about the attempt on Emmagan's life and desperately wanted to be sure she was okay. The evidence had come to them far too easily and she knew part of her had known that all along.

The case against him was slowly falling apart, she was sure she would still be able to convict him but right now she wasn't sure she'd be convicting the right man. Everyone around her was telling her that Sheppard was innocent and she had refused to listen, refused to take it in, until now.

- - -

"There doesn't seem to be any connection between the victims, it's as though they've all been picked at random," Teyla stated in frustration. She and Ronon had been examining all the information from all five of the murders and yet to find anything that didn't implicate John.

"We've looked at this from every possible angle, there is no connection," Ronon told her.

"Different weapons, different people, different places, the only thing these victims have in common is the blue star."

"Are you sure you don't know what it means?"

"I'm sure."

"Maybe Sheppard will know," Ronon said and Teyla froze, should she tell him that John hadn't recognised the symbol either. It would mean admitting that she did have contact with him, that she'd met with him that day in the park. She couldn't tell him, she was beginning to trust him and was fairly certain she was earning his trust and to confess to that now might destroy whatever level of trust she had already built up. She couldn't risk it, she needed his help.

She stood up and walked over to the fridge. "Do you want a soda?" she asked.

"Yeah,"

She grabbed two sodas from the fridge and once again joined Ronon at the table placing his in front of him.

"Thank you detective," he said as he picked it up.

"Teyla," she told him, if they were going to be spending as much time together as it seemed they were going to he might as well call her by her first name.

"First name basis," he stated humorously.

"Right now you're my only ally, besides you're staying in my apartment and no one calls me detective when I'm not working."

- - -

John was getting more and more frustrated as he chased up dead end after dead end. If this was indeed a personal attack then the killer had to be someone he knew or at had known, someone he did something to that made them hate him. During his time with the LAPD he had put a lot of people away even before he'd made detective.

There had to be someway he could find out who was behind these murders, he thought back to all the details of the cases that he knew. The only thing that stood out was the blue star, it had to mean something. Now that he thought about it, it did seem vaguely familiar.

He tried desperately to remember where he'd seen it but he couldn't quite figure it out. That's when it hit him; he knew where he'd seen the star before…he knew who the killer was.

TBC