let's put a little bit more drama into the story

Chapter 18 – Ottawa

When the time arrived, the officers jumped into a big blue van. Luke was driving while Percy pulled out some electronic devices and gave a lecture.

"Give me your phones, guys." He collected them into a box. "I will keep them with me. Now here are your new best friends," he showed them another box with brand new cell phones. "All of them have eight megapixels camera so take pictures about anything and everything suspicious, and a tracking chip just in case the phone would be discharged or turned off due to troubles. And here are bugs, all of you put them wherever you want, but they will be with you all the time." It was a small black button barely noticeable. "You can wear it as jewellery or a pin it into your clothes, whatever. If you press it for five seconds the microphone will be activated." He showed them practical demonstration of using the bug and also everything was recorded to a computer in the van.

"Once we see your bugs and phones go different directions, we will call to check up. Better safe than sorry."

"Do we have any story?" asked Nick.

"You are young people who want to get to know the capital. Keep it simple. Don't call home, keep only contacts of each other and me and Luke of course." He pointed to the circle in the van. "I don't care where will you be hanging out, but I expect your calls every night, Diaz between ten and half past ten, McNally half past ten to eleven, Collins, eleven to eleven thirty, Epstein to midnight and Pris, you until one." All constables nodded in understanding. "I and Luke will be camping in the east Nepean, we will have fun with all these fancy electronic thingies and keep in touch with 15th division. Any questions?" They shook their heads they had none. "Have a rest until we get there."

Chris was the first one out and paired up with a woman who frowned at him. Obviously she would much rather work with a tough guy like Nick. Next was Andy who was expected by an auburn hair woman about forty years old, with a big smile and sparkling blue eyes. Then the car headed to the north leaving Nick in the care of a middle age blond man with short hair and lots of muscles. He looked like a military man so Nick was very pleased. Dov got off in Gloucester coupled with a young man who was similar to Chris, tall and cute.

"Your turn," called Luke to the last two undercover police workers. "Be careful." Gail could not speak, she felt like she had a lump in her throat.

"Yeah be careful," repeated Percy. "Holly will dissect me alive if you die." He pulled out keys. "It is just an apartment in a cheap block house with loads of annoying neighbours, because someone will notice if you were missing or something." He pulled them both into a hug. "Act fast –"

"– and think even faster," both women finished for him and left the car.

They entered the aparment. Indeed it was small. The main door led to the kitchen with a table in the middle, on the right there was a spacy bathroom and on the left there could be seen a bedroom with two beds, TV set and a wardrobe.

Gail sat on one bed heavily. "How long do you think we will stay here?"

"Until we get the bloody bastard," answered her companion setting her things into the wardrobe and drawer. "I can't believe Percy made me have a cell phone."

"Welcome to the world of technology," Gail commented dryly, thinking about unpacking now or later when she would need things. Laziness won. "So where do we start?"

"With a shower and then out to the streets. Hopefully we will catch some tracks."

Three days later they obtained a call from Percy that there was a dead woman under a maple tree with a maple leaf on the 'grave' in Kanata. Chris and his partner found it when they were playing golf.

"For heaven's sake, Percy!" yelled Priscilla to the phone quickly marching to a bus stop. "The… guys were supposed to guard every tree!" Obviously it was hard to speak in code words when anger shook her whole body and eyes turned the usual blazing green colour. "I will have their heads on silver plates… or you will first and then when I have my… work back I will finish their carriers off – I really do not care – Give me the position – Fine," she hung up and Gail had a feeling her colleague would throw the phone into the river if she could. She took a deep breath and held it because they were on the street with many people around. Then she turned around and smiled broadly. "Last night a guy told me about a great golf club in Kanata, let's try it!"

"I don't do sports."

"Just because you don't do balls anymore does not mean we cannot have fun," she teased. "At least there are holes."

The blonde did three long steps, wrapped her arm around her colleague's neck and ruffled her hair.

They arrived to the golf club. Luke and Percy showed their badges and officers let them all in.

The younger woman looked up at the tree. "I sucked at botany but I guess the leaf that was found on the grave is not from this tree," she stated and pointed at the trunk and up to the crown. "This one looks sick."

"Well observed, madam," said an elderly man who introduced himself as a forensic botanist. "This tree is very old and eaten by worms and bugs inside out," he pointed to a mouldered place of the trunk.

Meantime Priscilla was roaming around and unnoticeably sniffing, hypnotising the ground. "Weren't you the one who told me to look around and not just the ground," hinted Gail.

"There is nothing around," replied her partner frankly looking for something. "Hey, Docs, how long is the body dead?" she called to some forensics.

"Four days."

"Darn," sighed the brunette. "The grass is so short that any traces are long gone. It is someone small or at least skinny and light."

"So, we have a petite pathologist-chemist with inclination to sexual deviance. It gets better every day!" proclaimed Percy cynically.

Gail looked around the golf field. "Do you think there is a silver lining in putting things into holes?" Five heads turned her way with shocked expressions. In that moment the blonde realised how stupid it must sound. "Actually I mean it," she squinted at her thought. "The maple leaf was placed into the eyes and this club can be just a place to hide a body under a maple tree or if the killer is really a golf fan we should check the golf club members."

"You spend too much time with me," Priscilla said, standing up smiling. "You will have to ask a shrink."

"I'll call Meredith," suggested Percy and retreated from them.

"I will take you Downtown," offered Luke.

"What do we do?" asked Chris pointing himself and his female partner.

"Go to the bars and talk to people," replied Priscilla. "Also," she turned to the detectives, "let the media know about it. Hopefully the killer will back off for some time now when their tactic was revealed."

"Andy should be prepared for troubles. I don't believe there will be more murders in Kanata," suggested the blond officer.

Actually there were no murders or revealed murders for three weeks. Gail had the feeling she could pass the Downtown blindfolded, that good she knew the place. It was a hot summer day when the two female officers walked down the now familiar streets. Suddenly the younger woman stopped to look at a newspaper title 'The number of missing people increases'. She caught the sleeve of her colleague.

"Pris, make the call," she whispered and took the papers leafing to the missing persons section.

"Damn this phone," cursed the brunette fighting with the device.

"Yeah?" asked Luke from the other end of the line.

"Priscilla look, there is another missing blond woman," said Gail clearly but not attracting too much attention to them. "Remember the murder three weeks ago? Do you think this may be connected?"

"Call me morbid but better missing than finding dead," replied the other police worker shaking her phone. "What papers are those?"

"Ottawa Sun. Do you think guys had read that?" They made a pause before Gail snatched for the electronic. "And give me the phone before you harm someone," she took the device and disconnected the phone call. She returned the phone and they continued their walk. "This is bad."

"And it will get worse," commented Priscilla who was looking over her shoulder sniffing the air. Suddenly she pulled her companion in a narrow ally pressing her against a wall putting her hand on one side next to her head and the other one on her waist. The blonde freaked out a bit but before she could ask aloud the other woman started talking.

"You look really hot in this dress," she said seductively pushing their bodies together.

"Thank you?" Gail replied still confused. She could not say the touch was unpleasant, alas she was absolutely perplexed.

"You have these sparks in your eyes during days like today and your lips look very kissable right now." Now the constable was ready to freak out aloud as her partner leant closer. Before their lips met the brunette snatched for something slamming it against a wall. It was a boy about twelve years old screaming.

"What do you want?!" shouted Priscilla. "Why are you following us?!"

"¡Dejame! ¡Dejame!" he yelled.

"¡Dime que quieres!" demanded the smaller police worker. The boy kept screaming, so the woman growled deeply and pressed her cramped hand over his mouth. "Yo juro que te como si no dejas de gritar, ¿entiendes?"

Gail looked from one to another. Her knowledge of Spanish told her that Priscilla was demanding what the boy wanted and that she would eat him if he did not stop yelling.
The boy was scared, whining with tears in his dark eyes while the older officer kept growling, her eyes blazing green and her colleague could swear her teeth were not very human-like either.

"¿Que quieres de nosotras?" asked the brunette again.

"Esa rubia para el club de mi tio Paco," he said pointing to Gail. He wanted the blonde for his uncle's club, WHAT?

"Javier!" called a man who appeared in the ally with them. He was tall, rough, Hispanic type. "Ven."

The boy ran to his uncle and hid behind his leg pointing to the blonde woman. "Es quapa pero bollera."

"Lo no importa."

"What am I?" asked Gail. She was missing some slang words.

"Beautiful but dyke," answered the other officer still watching the newcomer. She stood in front of her partner protectively, even though she was three inches smaller. "¿Que quereis de nosotras?"

"One of my girls not showed up for three days," he said with a strong accent. "I need to replace her. She," he pointed to Gail, "is perfect match. I pay good, every night, after work."

"What kind of job is it?"

"Come and see," he said and offered his business card to Gail.

"A STRIP CLUB!" the police worker yelped, reading the card properly but the man was already gone.

Priscilla looked up at her with pensive look. "No, you are the perfect match to a girl who hasn't showed up at work for three days."

"Well, I am hot," replied the constable still staring at the card.

"You are blond."

The younger woman sent her colleague a deadly glare but did not see any teasing, just the pensive look. "If I try not to take it as an offence then –" Immediately the wheels in her brain started working. "Oh shit!"

Gail's phone rang. She picked up and saw Percy's ID. "What's up? Did you get the call about missing people?"

"Yes, where is Priscilla?"

"Here with me," she frowned. "Why?"

"Her phone is moving west along the river."

"Pris, where is your phone?" she asked, watching her partner scrabbling her pockets.

"Bloody b-boy!" she yelped and rushed forward.

"Later Percy, we are gonna hunt a little kid who stole it," she disconnected and ran after her friend.

"¡Oi, ladron, esperame!" yelled Priscilla over the street. The constable did not think that screaming at a thief to wait up would help, but he was a child after all.

After two minutes of running the brunette caught him behind his t-shirt and slammed him against a wall again. "¡Dame mi telefono!" she growled again. And for the effect she looked him straight in the eyes, showing him her teeth. She offered her other hand and Javier returned the phone, shaking from fear. The older officer hid her cell back into her pocket and took the boy sending him into a trash container.

"I see it is your favourite way of dealing with men," commented the blonde folding her arms on her chest.

They turned around to leave the place when they heard a blood freezing shriek. They turned around and somebody else was in the container. That person looked around frantically and left the bin in dirty clothes. Priscilla rushed after that someone, even though the stranger started climbing the brick wall up and disappeared on a roof running away. Gail had to run after her friend and jumped on her to take her down from the wall she was already climbing as well.

"What the hell?" the younger woman wondered, ignoring the screaming child behind.

"Haven't you noticed?" Priscilla asked in awe.

"A smelly street jumper?"

"So you haven't." She looked back over the wall and the roof where the person had run away. "She was a lycanthrope."

The kid kept screaming and Gail was at the edge of her nerves not to burst out. "WHAT?!" she snapped at him and the boy pulled out a human hand from the container. "Just great," the blonde sighed, rolling her eyes and they called the detectives.

The two trackers had observed the scene until the forces arrived.

"Ladies, what did you find?" asked Percy, treating them like any witnesses.

"Cute blonde, without heart after wild sex and a smell of ammonia," the brunette responded fast in a whispered then looked up to her old partner's eyes. "The boy stole my phone, I ran after him and threw him into the trash as he belongs, then he started screaming and we found this. I will need a stripper therapy," she sighed. Gail raised her eyebrows and nudged her ribs. They all kept façade faces until the police let them leave.

"You just had to mention it, didn't you?" asked Gail angrily.

"Huh?"

"The strip club. I am not going there."

"What?" her colleague asked, looking puzzled. The younger officer pulled out the card they had got hours ago. "Oh no, I mean most likely yes, but that was not what I had in mind."

"What are you talking about?" frowned the younger woman.

"You will see later."

Without any more words they went to their temporary home, got showered and prepared some meal.

Somebody rang the bell and Priscilla jumped up from her chair and opened the door. There was a fireman. Percy as a fireman! In one hand he had a recorder and in the other a big bouquet of flowers, birthday balloons and a bag. Gail looked very surprised but did not let a sound out.

"Madam, I heard there was a fire to be extinguished," he said teasingly.

"Right inside of me, my saviour," the brunette said seductively and pulled him inside. She pointed to the bedroom and the guy went in and played the recorder.

A mix of music and women's giggling and laughing came from the device. Percy intensified the volume, put off his jacket and the three police workers gathered on the ground. From the balloons, bouquet and bag, the detective pulled out photos and articles about the missing women and they started talking about the whole situation.

"You start first," asked the man so his colleagues told him everything what happened that day. "Ah well, I found the girl's files. She was murdered six days ago."

"But why was she found in a trash container?" asked Gail.

"Because the killer had not found the new way to mark their work, yet," replied her partner. "Every maple tree is guarded so they have to find other way. I assume she started to smell badly so the killer wanted to get rid of the body not really thinking about how. Also I believe our murderous pathologist is forensics. Both of the women in the golf club and in the container, were tainted with ammonia so neither dogs could sniff any traces or smells."

A loud banging was heard as someone tried to get into their flat. Gail stood up, took off her dress and put on Percy's fireman jacket. She ruffled her hair and smeared the lipstick. Her companions stopped the recorder.

"Yes?" she answered the door with the sweetest smile she could place. On the other side there stood a middle aged man in flip-flops and dressing gown over his undershirt and shorts.

"We are trying to sleep!" he snapped angrily.

"Oh I am sorry, sir, my friend is celebrating her birthday," the blond woman apologised with the same sweet voice. "Do you think you can excuse us for this night and put earplugs?" she batted her eyelids.

"Go to the centre to celebrate, here are people who want to sleep!"

"Come on darling," purred Percy wrapping his hands around her waist from behind. "Oh hi," he greeted the stranger like he had noticed him just then and offered a hand to shake. Gail sneaked a peek at the male friend because she did not feel the rough material of his fireman trousers. At the sight her jaw almost dropped on the ground. Percy stood there just in male black thongs. She had to admire what was hidden under the fireman uniform and all clothes actually. This man was slim but all muscled that medics could learn anatomy from him. He was not overbuilt just enough to show every muscle when he tightened them.

"I am sorry, Mr," said the detective in a dreamy voice. "I am just doing my job." He leaned closer to him over Gail's shoulder. "These girls are… wow," he winked at him but it seemed that nothing could move the grumpy older man until Priscilla came to the door. She hit the nail on its head when she came –as the blonde noticed– completely naked.

"Come on guys," she said leisurely, "oops," she said and quickly hid behind the young man but she reveal everything for long enough to change the expression on the older man's face. "You fireman," she said annoyed, "you are supposed to extinguish the fire with your big fire hose and not spend your best youth here talking to a grandpa. We don't pay for chat but… fun."

"You…" said the older man annoyed.

"No, you go home, man up and be louder than us. Chocolate, strawberries, champagne, foreplay and… well. Unless you have a problem with that part?"

"Of course I don't!" and he marched away puffing from anger and maybe determination for his new mission.

The tracker rolled her eyes and went to dress up, also the detective pulled back his t-shirt and trousers and Gail changed to a shirt and jeans. They replayed two tracks back and played the recorder again this time just a little quieter.

"Back to the case, we are still screwed and girls keep missing," noted the older woman.

"Actually I believe the club is a good track. The last missing girl is from the club you have invitation to, so I suggest you to go there tomorrow. Look around, observe, then apply for the job, you Gail as the stripper the man wanted and Pris, you as a waitress."

The youngest of them let out a deep breath. "Where am I supposed to pin the bug if I am naked?"

"Wherever you wanted, earring, pendant, pin in the hair, it is multifunctional."

"I really have to do this, huh?" she asked desperately. "Holly will kill me."

"Why?"

"Jumping on someone else? Even if it's undercover, it's still cheating."

"Do you really think I would let you do something like that?" asked Priscilla sternly. "And you should define cheating with Holly." The blonde howled sadly. "But to make you feel better in good clubs there is 'No touching' policy, so it will be up to you how far you will let it go."

"Really?" she looked up hopefully. Her friends nodded with smiles.

They settled some more details and Percy promised to send Chris and Andy to the Downtown as well to help with investigation there.

Gail woke up in the middle of the night alone in the room. She frantically looked around and got up from the bed. They were a team. They were supposed to look after each other and now her so-called-partner disappeared?! "Priscilla?" she asked worried.

"In the kitchen."

The younger woman let a breath out when she heard her friend's voice. Her brain started working and she entered the other room and noticed her colleague sitting at the table, laptop wide open, typing something. "What are you doing here at 4 o'clock?"

"Research of endorphins."

"This early in the morning?"

"Hm." She pointed out of the window. "Full moon. Insomnia."

"I would expect you to howl at the moon not to play with electronics."

"Just because I have a habit of losing phones does not mean I am a complete cripple when it comes to electronics… Shoot the booze!" the older police worker yelped, reading something on the screen and she took a sip from her glass.

The constable moved up and looked over her colleague's shoulder. "Bimbo69," she read her friend's nickname on some chat server.

"The sillier the more people to join the conversation."

Then Gail noticed the articles and way too many misspelling. "You have a horrible grammar and don't tell me it's the undercover being silly part."

"Alcohol may have the effect on me."

For a moment the blonde watched between her companion, the chat and the glass. She grabbed it over, sniffed it and took a sip. "Eww, this is one strong coke."

"Yup, improved with rum."

"You barely drink when we are at a bar and now…" Gail looked around and noted an empty plastic coke bottle and one quarter from the rum battle was gone as well. "What is this, your fifth drink?"

"It's a way to make the world brighter. The violence is killing the beauty of the world."

"Oh my God," the blonde groaned and sat down heavily next to her tipsy friend. She supported her head with her hand, looking drowsy.

"Why do animals kill?"

The younger police officer was thinking for a while if she really should respond. After a moment of silence, she did. "To eat?"

"Go on."

"To protect their territory or themselves."

"And now tell my why people kill."

"Priscilla, I am sleepy," Gail moaned, jawing.

"Exactly, it would take you until morning to make the list. But tell me why… why are humans considered to be on higher pedestrian than animals when humans are stupid? You can make pages and pages of situation when people killed other people. But why?! What was the cause? We have boundaries with other countries that are quite solid. Cannibalism is not very often these days and we have all these enforces to keep people safe, so why the f*k do they kill?!
"Also this whole raping shit. Why do people do that if they are supposed to be these higher sophisticated creatures with improved brains?! Animals don't rape. If the female does not want it, she barks or snarls or takes a swing at the randy male and he goes to find some other playmate.
"Humans are so low. Being an animal should be considered as an honour not offence."

"Priscilla, let's sleep it off and let these theories for a shrink. I am a cop."

"I cannot. I have a dude here who is…" she looked at the screen, "still writing and describing every human known endorphin and my insomnia wouldn't let me anyway. You go." She returned back to her screen and squinted and some new popped chat. "What?!" she exclaimed, her eyes blazing green. "'Short and thick or long and thin'… I am afraid he is not asking about sausages."

"Well, tell him you are a vegetarian and you prefer flowers."

"I do that and the next question will be if I am a man or lesbian. You see, that is another problem of humans –they always label things and give them names and call them somehow. Why can't people just be who they want to be without categorising?"

"You have too many why questions in the early morning."

"No, really. Can you label yourself as a lesbian? Can you truthfully say you will never be attracted to a man anymore? That you are certain there is no man who could sweep you off your feet?"

"And we switched from why questions to can," sighed the blonde. "Well, I hope so because I have no intention of letting Holly go." Interesting that instead of a snarky comment her confession came first.

The older woman burst out laughing. "Very good answer, Peck," she grinned widely and the constable smirked back. "Go to bed, you still have a few hours to get your beauty sleep."

I might get a little carried away with the ramble about violence and rape, but it is something that is totally illogical for me and I still have to wonder why sophisticated human race does that... ?! :S

thank you for reading!