A/N: Thank you all for all the faves, follows and reviews. Thanks to Bailey for being the best beta.

I publish all your reviews but please let me ask that you keep them civil. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I love that we get to express them in this forum. Please be respectful of one another, and I'll ask, of the show and its writers too. They're why you fell in love with these two beautiful idiots in the first place.

Ryan sat behind the desk in Holly's old lab and sipped her coffee slowly. She and Holly had finally fallen asleep after watching The Thin Man. Technically, Holly had fallen asleep before the movie was over but not before she could deliver an informative monologue on Myrna Loy, one of her favorite actresses. It had taken Ryan a lot longer to fall asleep. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.

Holly glanced over from her microscope, "You look like shit, Ry. I'm the one that had the breakdown last night. I should be the one that looks hungover."

"Who said you don't?" Ryan didn't open her eyes.

"Harsh," Holly smirked. "But, really, thanks. I…"

"Stewart."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

At that moment, a crime tech swung open the door, which banged into the wall, and ran into the lab. "Dr Stewart! Dr. Stewart! We…"

Ryan jumped up, dropped her coffee, drew her weapon, and only barely managed not to shoot him. He fainted and fell to the floor with what Ryan would have characterized as a satisfying thud. "Goddammit! I wanted to yell at him," Ryan said as she holstered her weapon.

"If you yell at him, he's going to piss himself," Holly replied calmly.

"You think?" Ryan smiled widely.

"Really?" Holly shook her head. "Help me get him comfortable. I have some ammonia salts in the first aid kit unless they've changed it. I kept it in there for the rookies watching their first autopsy."

"Fine, but I'm shooting the next one," Ryan said as she knelt down next to him.

"Just watch him while I go get them." A minute later Holly returned and waved the activated salts under the tech's nose.

He came to like an unpaused movie. "Dr. Stewart! Dr. Stewart! We were able to get a clear pic of the suspect. We were able to clear up the distortion and re-pixelate the image. I think we have a good image from the camera over the bar," he said as he tried to sit up.

Ryan held him in place and stared at him with steely blue eyes. "How nice. What's your name?"

"Jeff…Jeffrey," he stammered.

"Alright, Jeffrey. You know that Dr. Stewart is in protective custody. Correct?"

"Yes."

"So, now do you think barging into a room unannounced with an armed federal agent on the other side of the door is a good idea?"

"N…no?" Jeffrey replied as Ryan helped him sit up.

"No. It is not," Ryan spoke from between clenched teeth.

"Agent Parker, perhaps we can forgive Jeffrey just this one time?" Holly threw herself into the fray. Ryan shot her a look that said quite clearly – No. "Okay, Jeffrey, where is this image?"

"Oh," he looked around. "I must have dropped it." The next few moments were spent with Jeffrey on his hands and knees looking under some of the cabinets and tables. "Got it!" He stood up and handed it to Holly.

"This is as good as you were able to get it?" she asked.

"Yeah, but we think it'll be okay. We're running it against facial recognition software now. Starting with criminal databases."

"Holly, how long will that take?" Ryan asked.

"Too long. We need a place to start. Unless she has a record in Canada, we need to be able to narrow it down," Holly replied.

"Okay. I'll call someone in for duty here. I'm going to see if Nash wants to go with me to talk to the victim's roommate. Show her this see if she's seen her." Ryan pulled out her cell phone and called Luke first to update him.

As they drove to the victim's apartment Traci turned to Ryan, "Who's going to show the photo to the bar staff?"

"Not sure. I think Luke and maybe Gail," Ryan responded and Traci sighed. "Look, if you think you'll have any more success keeping Gail out of this than you did before be my guest."

"I never agreed with Holly to not tell her. I know why she did it. She was trying to keep Gail as far away from it as possible, trying to protect her. I knew it was irrational and would piss Gail off but that doesn't mean though that I'm all for Gail exposing herself up to another possible sniper attack. You know if they went after Holly, Gail is certainly a target too."

"I think the killer wouldn't let Gail off that easy. The killer has been building this up for months. Torturing Holly. With every body we found, Holly folded into herself a little bit more. We contacted Toronto PD for the records with the first body. Superintendent Peck contacted us almost immediately and brokered a deal that would keep Gail in the dark."

"And ordered Oliver not to tell her before he sent her away undercover," Tracy added.

"Wow."

"It didn't surprise me. You know when Perik asked to speak to her the last time one of his apprentices abducted a girl, Steve basically sat on me for the day in Guns and Gangs and Frank tried his best to keep Gail from it. She had to beg to do it. She got what she needed from him though."

"I gotta tell you I was impressed as hell with her interrogation skills. You teach her that?" Ryan asked.

"Nah. Gail came that way. Mama Peck may be a piece of work but she taught Gail how to be a great cop. Think of the Peck household as ancient Sparta."

"Hmmm. Raise yourself? Scrounging for food? Being a good soldier? Is that right? Western Civ was a long time ago."

"Yeah. Gail has a set of survival skills that a Special Forces soldier would be proud of. She hates camping though. I think her parents ruined it for her," Traci said as she looked out the window.

Ryan laughed. "I can't imagine Peck camping."

"Well, neither can she," Traci laughed lightly as they pulled up in front of the apartment building. It was a factory built in the 1920s, had just been renovated and was quite the coveted address for the up and coming artist crowd with the spacious loft apartments. "Which one is it?" Traci asked.

"330. Nice view. I'm not sure how they afforded it even together."

"Victim didn't make that much as a waitress. Well, not that she reported anyway. I ran the roomie. Her parents are wealthy also. Maybe they didn't cut her off."

"Maybe. We should ask and by 'we' I mean you. Good cop it," Ryan said.

"Alright, but if we're doing that we should go and get McNally. McNally is the best 'good cop' I've ever seen."

"I get that. She kinda looks like a puppy. But you're going to have to manage on your own."

"I can do that."

Vanessa West was an attractive brunette with green eyes. She opened the door to them still in her pajamas. Her eyes were puffy and Ryan couldn't tell if it was because they woke her up or because she'd been crying. She suspected both. "Ms. West, we have some more questions. May we come in?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course," Vanessa said as she gestured with her arm for them to walk into the apartment.

Traci took in the apartment. It was one open level with a wall of new windows that were made to look like they were much older than they were. The dark hardwood floors were polished and gleamed in the midday sunlight. There were large prints on the walls that added color to the obviously original brick. The furniture looked expensive. "Nice place," Traci stated casually.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if I'm going to stay here though. I mean I can afford it but I keep expecting to see Maggie come out of her bedroom. It's…hard."

"Is there someone that could come stay with you?" Traci asked sincerely.

"My boyfriend is here most every night. I wouldn't feel safe now otherwise. I know it didn't happen here but…still…"

"I understand," Traci said. And she did.

"So, you had some questions?"

"Yes," Ryan began, "is this a good time?"

"It's fine. I'm sleeping for shit anyway. Rob left at eight this morning and I've been tossing and turning ever since. My shift starts at four. What can I do for you?"

"We have a picture of who we believe might have been with Maggie at the Blue Parrot on Thursday. Did you know that Maggie…dated women?" Ryan asked.

Vanessa made a face. "Of course I did. We were best friends. It wasn't something she told a lot of people but I knew."

"Did you know where she was going on Thursday?" Traci asked.

"No, but I knew she was going to meet a new girl. I'm not sure that they had decided what they were doing yet. I was on a double at the restaurant and a few of us went out for drinks afterward. I didn't get home until almost two a.m. and went straight to bed. I didn't realize she hadn't come home until the next day, and didn't start worrying about her until she didn't show up for her shift at work Friday night."

"Was this a first date?" Ryan asked.

"No. They had been out for coffee. They met running one morning. The girl fell and twisted her ankle and fell in a puddle. Maggie helped her to her car and gave her a towel to put down in her car for the ride home."

"When was this?" Ryan asked.

"Like…two weeks ago? They had been texting I remember Maggie saying that she'd been texting pics of the towel's adventures and had asked her out on a coffee date for 'ransom' for the towel's safe return. They'd been out like maybe twice before this. She really liked her. I could tell."

"Do you have a name?" Traci asked.

"Nope. She just called her 'runner chick' to me. It was something we did until they got serious."

"Here's the photo of the woman that was with Maggie when she was at the Blue Parrot. Do you recognize her? We think the hair is a wig," Ryan finished.

Vanessa took the photo and looked at it for a long while. "No. Nothing."

"Vanessa, is there anything at all that you can tell us about this woman? It might seem insignificant now but anything at all will help us." Traci put her hand on Vanessa's knee.

"She mentioned once that she had to cancel a date on short notice. Said she got called into work for an emergency. She was a flight attendant and I said something stupid like, 'I didn't realize pretzel distribution was an emergency' and we both laughed."

"That's good. That's really good. Do you know what airline?" Traci asked.

"No. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. That's good that's really good." Traci repeated. "I think that's all the questions we have but if you think of anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us." Traci handed her a card. "I know it's hard to stay in the place where you lived when you lost someone but one day it'll get easier."

"Thank you."

"Besides, you already have it decorated the way you want it," Traci smiled.

"Yeah. Maggie did that. She had this massive crush on a girl she went to university with who was a graphic designer. That's why none of the other girls were serious. She had this massive crush on Brandy but never did anything about it except buy her art."

As they left the apartment, Traci asked, "Are you going to tell Brandy?"

"No. I can't think of any purpose it would serve," Ryan sighed.

"Do you think the killer told her the truth about what she did for a living?"

"You ever worked undercover, Nash?"

"No."

"Well, it's easier the less lies you have to tell. If you can come up with something close to the truth, it's easier to remember. Lies are surprisingly hard to keep straight. She's gotten away with five murders so far. I'm sure she thought we'd continue to look for male suspects. I think there's a good chance that she did tell her the truth. It might not be the truth, but we have to work it like it is. What do we need to do to get a warrant for those text messages?"

"Let me take care of it," Traci said as she took out her cell phone.