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After being up most of the night and spending the day working on the case Jim fell asleep on the couch waiting for Blair's call. When he jerked awake at seven-thirty the next morning, he hoped with a twinge that, in spite of his promise, Blair had caught a cab back to the loft and gone upstairs to bed. He extended his hearing to pick up the familiar heartbeat but knew already, it wasn't there. Blair was not home. He called Blair's office. But that number and his cell phone went unanswered.

He got into his truck and siren blaring fled to the campus trying to assure himself that Blair was only sleeping at his desk; that he was okay. But a nagging feeling, whether it was his cops intuition or the Sentinel and Guide connection, told Jim something was definitely wrong. When he arrived at Hargrove Hall, students were going to their early morning classes. Jim raced up the steps to Blair's office. The door was unlocked and he found Blair's backpack on his desk. Calm down, Jim kept telling himself. It's possible that Blair had gone home and just returned to the University early. But something in the back of Jim's mind kept saying, something's wrong. He would have awakened me when he came in.

Jim started asking the students in the hallway if they had seen Blair that morning. But no one had seen him since the day before. One of the instructors told Jim that he had found Blair's backpack in a classroom and taken it to Blair's office. After talking to Blair's advisor and the dean of the anthropology department, Jim tried the cafeteria and the student union. No one had seen Blair at all that day and there was no sign of him anywhere on campus.

Jim finally called Simon to tell him Blair was missing.

"Now calm down, Jim, maybe he just went for a drive or to grab some breakfast."

"Sir, he didn't come home all night. He rode with me yesterday and his car is still at the loft. His backpack is on his desk in his unlocked office. I think his disappearance may have something to do with the case. Blair was going to ask some questions here at the University and see if he could get any leads. You know how he is, there's no way of knowing what he's gotten himself into this time."

"Look, I'll send Rafe and H over there to help you look for him. But I'm sure everything is okay. You know it's probably something real simple. Maybe he just met a cute young co-ed and spent the night. Think how embarrassed we're all going to be when he comes waltzing in bragging about his latest conquest."

"Simon, I can assure you that is not the case. There is something that you and I need to talk about. But right now all I can think of is finding Blair."

"Alright, I'll have Rafe and H there in about half-an-hour"

"I'll meet them at Hargrove Hall. In the meantime, I'm going to talk to campus security and see if I can get any leads there."

~*~

The office for campus security was in the administration building. The head of security, George Wright, was an ex-police officer who liked Blair and was very concerned when Jim told him of his disappearance.

"We've beefed up security here since those co-eds have been murdered. I go out at night and patrol the student's parking lots myself. I saw Blair last night talking to a young woman in the parking lot near Hargrove Hall. She got into her car and drove away and he started walking back toward his office. I didn't see where he went."

"Did you happen to recognize the girl?" Jim asked.

"No, I can't say I did, but it should be easy to see what classes are held there at that time of night and start asking those students if they've seen him. Maybe the young woman was in his class. That parking lot is very poorly lit and all the women who attend classes or work here at night are very nervous about walking to their cars."

"I'm sure that Blair would have a schedule and a list of the students names. Thanks for your help," Jim said as he started to leave.

"Wait and I'll go with you. The students here know me; they may be more comfortable talking to me than they would to the police."

~*~

When they arrived at Blair's office Rafe and H were waiting for them. They went through the papers in Blair's desk and found that the class he had taught the night before was his Anthro 101 class. They then located the class roster and got the names of the female students. Wright called his office to get the addresses of the students. "If the students have a parking permit we have a record of their names, address and phone numbers," he explained.

They divided the list with Rafe and H taking half and Jim and Wright taking the other half. By ten o'clock Jim had only one name left on his list, that of Jennifer Stone. She hadn't been home when he called so he left his name and cell phone number on her answering machine and asked that she call him back immediately. Just as he took out his phone to call Simon it rang.

"Ellison."

"Detective Ellison, my name is Jennifer Stone. I got home and got the message that you were trying to reach me. You said it was urgent?"

"Yes, Ms. Stone, we are trying to locate anyone who might have seen or spoken to Blair Sandburg last night."

"I spoke to him; as a matter of fact he walked me to my car. Why do you ask? Has something happened to Mr. Sandburg?"

"Yes. Blair has disappeared and we are trying to get some information as to his whereabouts. You said he walked you to your car last night. Did you happen to see where he went?"

"Oh, God, I can't believe this. No, I didn't see where he went. He started walking back toward Hargrove. Oh, God, Detective Ellison, if this is because of what I told him then it's all my fault."

"Ms. Stone, what did you tell him?"

"Well, it was about the first girl that was murdered. Oh, I knew I shouldn't have said anything. I don't want to get involved now. I told Mr. Sandburg and now he's missing. I'm scared, Detective."

"Look, if you know anything about these murders or Blair's disappearance you need to tell me before someone else is killed."

"I'm scared, Detective," she shouted. " I don't want to get involved. Can't you understand that?"

"I can put you in protective custody until this person is caught. Or if you refuse to cooperate, I can arrest you and hold you for obstructing a police investigation. Now, what's it going to be?"

"The first victim, Patsy Shields, I knew her. She was having an affair with a member of the faculty. She was pregnant. He's married and she was afraid to tell him. She was really upset. I told Mr. Sandburg about it last night. He said that he thought I should tell the police. Now he's disappeared."

"Ms. Stone, I need the man's name."

"Surely he didn't... I can't..."

"Ms. Stone," he said very slowly and distinctly. "I need the man's name, now."

"It was Professor Stan Goldberg from the English Department."

"Thank you," Jim said. "Stay put and I'll get an officer over there to stay with you." With that he hung up the phone and called Simon.

"Simon, I've come up with some information on Blair's disappearance and a possible suspect in the Ripper murders. A Professor Stan Goldberg of the English department. He was dating the first victim and she got pregnant. A co-ed told Blair about it right before he disappeared. I don't know if there is a connection but it looks like it. I'm going over to the English Department to see if I can locate him. I'm going to bring him in for questioning on probable cause. I need you get an officer over to Ms. Stone's residence, I promised her protection until this guy is brought in. It will reassure her until we can get the guy into custody."

~*~

Blair slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. He was sitting on the floor with his ankles bound and his hands tied behind his back. It looked like he was in a small cabin. The only furnishings were an old wood burning cook stove, a table and two chairs. There was a bed against the far wall.

There was a man sitting in one of the chairs. Blair still couldn't see him clearly. His head hurt from the drug he had been given and he was dizzy.

What am I doing here? What happened? He thought vaguely. Then he remembered walking Jenny back to her car and the attack on him in the parking lot.

"Why did you do this?" Blair mumbled as he struggled with the ropes on his wrists. "What do you want? Why did you bring me here?" He looked down at the ropes on his ankles and a thought occurred to him. Rope! A Hemp rope! Oh God no it can't be. Blair quickly closed his eyes hoping he hadn't been heard.

"So, you're awake," he said as he came over and knelt beside Blair.

"Why are you doing this," Blair asked again. "Why did you bring me here? You kidnapped me and you're holding me prisoner I think I at least deserve to know what I did."

"I had to stop you."

"Stop me from doing what? Man, just tell me and you can consider it done."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anymore out of you. You want to know why I brought you here? What did you think I was going to do, let you steal her from me? She liked me, she wanted to be with me. Then you came along and started sweet-talking her. You're trying to take her away from me but I won't let you. Do you hear me?" he shouted, drops of moisture spraying Blair's face.

"It was you wasn't it? It was you the whole time. They would have liked me all of them but they couldn't be faithful. It was all because of you wasn't it? Answer me wasn't it?"

"You're the one that's been killing those women," Blair blurted unthinkingly. His own anger rose. "They trusted you. They would never have had any reason to believe that you would hurt them. How could you do it man? How could you do something so horrible to those innocent women?"

"Those innocent women," he shouted as he became more and more agitated. "That's a good one. Those women weren't innocent; they were nothing but whores, tramps. They cheated on me, they were unfaithful. It was you the whole time wasn't it; flirting with them, coming on to them?"

"Look," Blair said softly trying to calm the man down. "I'm not trying to take anyone away from you."

"Oh, you tried it all right. You almost succeeded too. You didn't plan on me finding out until it was too late. But I did find out and now that you're out of the way. Jenny will come back to me. The funny thing is up until I saw you with Jenny last night I would never have suspected. I thought you and that detective were a couple. I never would have guessed that you swing both ways."

"Jim and I are a couple. I'm not trying to take Jenny away from you."

By this time he was almost incoherent with rage as he paced the floor and shouted at Blair. "Don't even try to lie to me. I saw you with her last night," he said as he stopped and knelt in front of Blair again. A calmness came over him. "But the lies are over and I'm not going to let you ever stand in my way again," with that he closed his fist and hit Blair so hard that he knocked him unconscious.

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