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It was 7am on a Monday morning in the middle of August and Cascade, Washington was in the grip of a heat wave. The citizens were beginning their third straight week of record-breaking temperatures with no relief in sight. Their frustration at being unable to battle the forces of nature led them to turn their anger toward each other, and in some cases toward themselves, making the crime rate rise right along with the temperatures. There was a significant increase in murders, rapes, armed robberies, domestic violence and even suicides. The phones in the Cascade PD bullpen were already ringing off the hook as detectives scrambled to answer the calls in the rising crime wave.

Detective Lt. James Ellison and Consultant Blair Sandburg were already seated at Jim's desk in the squad room, going over paperwork, and filing reports.

"Ellison, Sandburg" Jim looked up at the sound of Captain Banks' voice. "Would you two come into my office, please?"

"You wanted to see us, Sir?" Jim said as he entered the office.

"Close the door gentlemen, and have a seat," Simon said as he resumed his seat behind his desk.

"Captain, is anything wrong?" Jim asked noticing the look on his friend's face. Simon was visibly upset, his features drawn and pinched. As he picked up a file from his desk and handed to Jim, his hand trembled slightly.

As Jim took the folder, opened it and looked inside, his face lost all color. "Oh, my God!" he whispered as he looked at the photographs inside. Blair, surprised by Jim's uncharacteristic remark, got up from his chair to look over Jim's shoulder.

"Trust me, Chief, you don't want to see this," Jim said as he quickly closed the folder before Blair could see the contents.

But Blair was not about to be deterred. If the usually stoic James Ellison had that kind of a reaction to something, he was determined to know what it was.

"Hey, man, come on. I'm not exactly a kid you know. I have traveled all over the world and seen just about everything. I have been on expeditions where we have found people who have been sacrificed and I've opened mummies' tombs. Man, do you know how the ancient Egyptians mummified people? The vital organs were all put in separate jars so that..."

"All right, Chief, have it your way, but don't say I didn't warn you," Jim said as he handed over the file.

When Blair opened the file he immediately decided that examining thousands of years old mummies and looking at police photographs of a recently murdered girl were two entirely different things. He thought he was going to be sick. The body was that of a young woman. She was naked and had apparently been stabbed numerous times. But it was much worse than that. The body had been cut open and the internal organs were lying beside the body. Blair closed the file and wordlessly lay it back on Captain Banks' desk.

"The body was found by joggers this morning in the woods behind Rainier," Captain Banks said as he poured each of them a cup of coffee. "She has been identified as Mary Hughes, a student at the university. She lives off campus at the Glen Wood apartments on Whitmore Drive. The roommate, Sharon Maxwell, said the Hughes woman hadn't been home for three days. Apparently this was very out of character for her. According to Ms. Maxwell, Ms. Hughes always let her know if she was going to be working late or was staying late at the university to study. When she didn't come home Tuesday night, Ms. Maxwell called the police Wednesday morning, only to be told she had to wait the obligatory twenty-four hours. She called back Thursday morning to file a missing person report. When Officer's Tucker and James went to the apartment to take Ms. Maxell's statement, she repeated what she had told the police when she made the original call. She still insists Ms. Hughes is not the type of person to stay away from home this long without letting anyone know where she was. The victim's clothes and personal belongings were found near the body. Her wallet and I.D. were in her purse along with about fifty dollars in cash. She was also wearing a gold necklace and watch. Needless to say, we have ruled out robbery."

"Did Ms. Maxwell say if the victim had a boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, co-worker, anyone she might have had an argument with?" Jim asked as he picked up the file and began to read Sharon Maxwell's statement.

"No, Jim," Captain Banks replied. According to Ms. Maxwell, Mary Hughes got along with everyone. Everyone she met seemed to like her instantly.

No apparent motive can be found. It's the same way with the others."

"What others?" Blair asked as Jim handed him Sharon Maxwell's statement to read while he went over the coroner's report.

Simon closed his eyes as he leaned back and sighed. "It seems," he replied in a tired voice, "this is the third victim in the last two months. All of them young, attractive co-ed's. Detectives Parker and Simons out of homicide had been assigned to these cases until the commissioner had them sent up to us."

"They were all students at Rainier," Blair asked surprised. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"Homicide had been trying to keep a lid on it to avoid panic, but somehow there was a leak to the press. And of course, they jumped all over it. They have already dubbed this guy the 'Cascade Ripper' along with the usual remarks regarding the ineptitude of the police. So now, of course, the commissioner is on my back and he wants results as of yesterday. I'm sorry, I know I'm handing you a real hot potato with this one. It turns out the latest victim is none other than the mayor's niece and if we don't get results soon, believe me, heads will roll over this one. I'm to use whatever man power I need on this to make sure the guy's caught." Simon sighed again, looked over his desk at them and continued. "You know one of the things, hell one of a hundred things, that really gets me about this? The latest body was found at seven this morning. According to the coroner she died sometime between midnight and three. If we could have started the investigation when Ms. Maxwell first reported her missing, she might still be alive. I know there are reasons for the twenty-four hour rule, but sometimes... Well that's all water under the bridge. The girl's dead and we have to concentrate all our efforts on finding out who did it."

"We'll start by going to see Ms Maxwell again," Jim said getting up and heading for the door. "Maybe she has remembered something else or there might have been something she didn't feel was important at the time."

"Chief, did you happen to know this girl?" Jim asked as they walked to the elevator.

"I'm not really sure without checking the records in my office, but I think I had her in my Anthro 101 class in the fall semester. If she is the girl I'm thinking about she had excellent grades, but dropped the class. She said she liked the course but she had to work to pay tuition and so she was going to have to cut back on a few of her classes in order to be able to work part time. Man, I know how that is. I've been in college since I was sixteen and I still haven't gotten my doctorate. It takes forever when you have to cut back or take time off to work to get enough money for tuition."

"You know, Chief, there is something I don't quite understand here," Jim said as they got into the elevator and rode down to the garage.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Well, doesn't it seem a little strange that the mayor's niece would have to work in order to pay her tuition?"

"Yeah, man, now that you mention it. You would think as rich as that family is, money would be the least of her worries. And, The Glen Wood Apartments on Whitmore Avenue are not exactly the kind of place where you would expect someone like her to live. I mean, it's not exactly the blue light district but it does have a reputation. It's mostly college kids and the police have been called out there pretty often. From what I hear they have some pretty wild parties around there. Mostly drunken disorderly and disturbing the peace but there have been a few arrests for possession, mostly pot."

They reached the truck and Jim unlocked the door and reached over to unlock the passenger door for Blair. "I can not believe you lock the truck in the police garage! That is so paranoid, Jim. You are way too cautious here. You know you really should consider counseling."

"Too cautious am I?" Jim asked as he leaned over and gave him a long and deep kiss while his hand grabbed Blair's cock and stroked it until it was hard. Abruptly Jim pulled away and started the car. "How's that for cautious, Chief?" he asked as he drove out of the garage. When Blair didn't answer, Jim stole a glance at him out of the corner of his eye. Blair was just sitting there with his mouth slightly opened and a stunned expression on his face. Jim had to smile as he thought to himself, 'Wow, I've finally found a way to get him to stop talking.'

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