Simon's Office

As the group filed into Simon's office, the big man downed three aspirin tablets. Blair frowned in concern. "You ok, Simon?"

Banks just glared at them. "Pre-emptive strike. Now what have you got?"

The group listened as Sandburg and Ellison brought them up to date on what they had found at the mall, editing slightly the discovery of the perfume, in deference to the outsider that was with them. Jason explained the significance of the costumes, and how he had recognized them.

"What background did we find out about Marilyn?" Jim turned towards Rafe and Henri for the next piece of the puzzle.

Henri opened the file they had brought in. "For starters, she goes by Gayle Adams, but her real name is Gayle Sheldon. She's been working as a Marilyn impersonator for about three years. A little over two years ago she was hired as a full time Marilyn for Elvis International. It only took about six months for her duties to be expanded to include being David Hayes's private secretary. Scuttlebutt has it that she is the real power behind the throne."

"Sheldon...?" The expression on Meade's face told Ellison and Sandburg exactly what he was thinking. Blair leaned forward, excited by the possible connection.

"What about family?"

Both Rafe and Henri searched through the file until Rafe came up with what they were looking for. "Here it is; father died in 1983, mother lives in a nursing home outside of Tacoma, one brother, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound three years ago."

Jim was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he asked anyway. "What was the brother's name?"

Rafe nodded. "Robert, Robert Sheldon."

"Robby..." Jason whispered his question. "Did he kill himself in late March?"

"March 29th, how did you know?" Henri closed the file as he waited.

Jason rapped his knuckles on the table, obviously distraught. "The third weekend of March is a big one if you're an Elvis or want to be. How well you do at the competition gets you established for the rest of the year. There's big money in impersonating if you get the right connections and the right contract."

"You were there?" Megan laid her hand over Jason's arm.

"Yeah, I was there, so was Robby. You've got to understand, Robby was like two different people. In costume, up on stage, he was Elvis. He had it all, the walk, the hips, the voice, the singing. He was good, really good."

"And off stage?"

"He was this weird little guy that made funny noises and would swear to himself. He did real good in the competition, but then he was kicked out because of his backstage behavior."

Blair threw down his pen. "Which was because of a medical condition that he had no control over. Damn it, when are people going to get out of the dark ages?"

Meade gave a rueful smile. "It gets better. The judge that tossed him out was David Hayes."

Simon took control, looking directly at Jim. "Let's go through the timetable, starting three years ago, March."

Blair listed off the first event as he stood up and moved to the white board. "Mid-March, Robby loses his shot at his big break because of something he had no control over." The younger man's anger over the injustice was apparent as he wrote on the board.

Jim picked up the thread. "Days later, he kills himself." There was a momentary pause as Blair wrote that fact on the board.

Rafe fished out the paper he needed before handing the file over to Brown. "Less than six weeks later, his sister, using an assumed name, is hired by the man she blames for her brother's death."

"How many different characters do they have there? I thought they were just Elvis's." Simon glared at Sandburg, daring him to correct his term for multiple Elvis.

Meade interrupted whatever comeback Blair had planned. "She's the only one. For a while it was kind of a publicity stunt. They'd have Marilyn surrounded by a dozen different Elvis Presleys."

"What happened?" Brown's face turned dreamy as he thought about Marilyn.

"I'm not sure." Jason frowned as he leaned forward. "Hayes started acting jealous, then the next I heard she was his private secretary. Guess she caught his eye."

"Or another body part." Megan's comment had the men choking.

Jim started thinking out loud. "She had more and more control over the daily operations of the convention."

"When things fell apart between the convention and the people in Seattle, she was the go-between, the only one who really knew both sides." Sandburg continued the thought.

"The next thing anyone knows, the convention is moved from a large convention hall to a shopping center with lots of stores to rob." Megan picked up the thread.

The theory bounced back to Ellison. "Robberies that are committed by someone wearing her late brother's Elvis costumes. She and her accomplice get a fortune in diamonds and the man who destroyed her brother is blamed."

Simon looked at his people. "Good theory, now how do we prove it?"

"For starters, guess who she had breakfast with this morning?" Megan gleefully looked around the room before she laid out her trump card. "Alan Parker, son and sole heir to Parker's Jewelry and Antiques."

"How very interesting. I think it's time to talk to the young Mr. Parker. What do you think, Chief?"

Blair grinned back at his partner. "After all, he's sure to want an update on the robbery before he collects all that insurance money." He paused as another thought crossed his mind. "Our robbery suspect knew about the safe and the diamonds in it. At the other stores he just stole what was in the display cases."

Jim agreed. "The diamonds at Parker's were the main target, the rest was icing on the cake." He turned to Simon. "Do we still have uniformed officers at the mall?"

"There's a total of four. Two are on roving patrol and two are stationed outside the store that hasn't been hit yet. We've kept them pretty visible because of the media's interest in the case."

"Those reporters have been falling all over themselves trying to explain their bungling at robbery number two." Blair blushed as the rest of the group chuckled at him. The reporters at the scene had certainly learned a great deal about evidence collection that day. Much more than Serena had wanted to teach them.

"Have two of those officers bring the younger Mr. Parker in. It's time to discuss the situation with him."

Jim gave a brief acknowledgement to Simon. "In the meantime, we've got more video tape to watch."

"Have fun, we're going to lunch." Megan gave a cheeky grin as she and Jason left.

Conference Room

"Here we go." Jim leaned forward and watched the screen as their mysterious Elvis disappeared behind the now familiar greenery. "Now let's see who comes out." Less than five minutes later, a figure in dirty coveralls and a cap pulled low came out from behind the same greenery. Plastic bags filled the cart he was pushing and Jim squinted to see them.

"What else do you see?" Blair couldn't see much detail in the grainy image.

Jim's eyes never moved from the screen in front of him. "Those garbage bags, do you see them in the cart?"

If Blair moved any closer, his nose would have been touching the glass. "Yeah, I think so. What about them?"

"One of them is shaped like a guitar. I'll bet the costume and the diamonds are in the other bags. He just dumps everything into garbage bags and nobody pays the slightest attention to him."

"Nobody pays attention to the janitor, man. That's par for the course." As they watched, the figure picked the bags up out of the cart and walked through one of the exterior doors, passing the arriving officers on the sidewalk before moving out of camera range.

Blair sat back, amazed. "Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. When did she come out of there?"

"Good question. Let's fast forward, see what we find." Jim watched intently as the tape sped through the next hours. When they got to the time where the second robbery had occurred, Blair hit stop.

"I don't know how she slipped out of there, Chief, but I sure didn't see her. Where's the tape showing the corridor near the second robbery?"

"Here." Blair slid the next one into the player. "Serena and the cadets labeled all of them for us."

"Sandburg..."

"Yeah, Jim?" Blair was bent over, fast-forwarding to the needed time mark on the tape.

"In case no one else says it, that was pretty impressive work yesterday." Jim waited to see what the response would be.

Blair straightened up and turned around. "Yeah, those cadets did a great job with all the data. It sure saved us a lot of time."

Jim wasn't sure if his friend was being deliberately obtuse or if he really didn't understand what he had accomplished. "You, Sandburg. You turned what was suppose to be a punishment into a learning experience. I checked, some of those cadets were on the verge of being washed out of the program, and this afternoon they are asking questions about investigative procedures that their instructors are having a hard time answering."

"I guess part of me will always be a teacher." Blair shrugged his shoulders. "Their enthusiasm was there, it just needed to be focused. No big deal. All right, this is the same time as our suspect left the first access closet."

Jim let the change in subject slide. He knew how uncomfortable his partner was with praise, so he moved closer to watch the tape.

Again the same pattern repeated. Within moments of the robbery, Elvis had slipped into the janitor's closet and only minutes after that an undistinguishable janitor strolled out to move unnoticed through the mall.

Tape three yielded much the same results, only this time the mystery janitor strode out with only the bags; the cart had been left behind.

"Damn." Jim leaned back, frustrated, while Blair tried to look at the bright side.

"So, she must have been in there earlier, checking them out. When we find her, we'll find a way to connect her to the robberies."

Jim stood up and gathered the scattered tapes. He thought while the last tape was ejecting then turned to his partner. "I hope so, Chief, because otherwise she's going to walk." A disgusted look crossed his face before he spoke again. "They should be bringing Parker in about now. Let's go."

Interrogation Room

Alan Parker glared at the men across the table from him. "Detectives, I really must be getting to the hospital to see my father. I hope you have some good news that I can pass along."

Ellison went straight to the point. "Mr. Parker, how many people know about the wall safe?"

The question seemed to throw Parker off track. "What? What does that have to do with anything?"

Sandburg leaned forward, not bothering to hide the surprise on his face. "Excuse me, this was a robbery, remember? Somebody broke in and robbed your store. Somebody who knew about the safe and specifically told your father to open it. Now, how many people knew about the safe?"

Parker sagged in the chair. "I don't know how many people my father told."

"And you?" As Parker shrank back, Ellison moved forward, never leaving the man's personal space. Parker looked up defiantly.

"You act like you think I'm involved."

Sandburg leaned back, casually flipping through the folder of crime scene photos. "Wouldn't be the first time our victim and suspect turned out to be one in the same."

"Why would I steal from myself?" Parker looked between the two men, his mood changing to anger.

"How about $100,000.00 in insurance money?" Sandburg continued the investigation, allowing Ellison to monitor the other man's reactions.

Parker snorted. "That will go to paying for the diamonds. Barely."

"You'd still have the diamonds." Parker's response to the accusation was quick as he stood, knocking his chair over in the process.

"I didn't steal them!"

The two detectives shared a look, then changed the tenor of the interview. Ellison leaned back now and forced himself to project a relaxed image. "Tell us about Gayle Adams."

"What about her?" Parker slumped further into his seat. "When she thought I was going to be wealthy, I was the greatest thing in her world. Now that I'm broke... she dumped me this morning at breakfast." Silence greeted him, forcing him to draw his own conclusion. "You think she's involved."

Sandburg kept his words soft. "Did she know about the safe?"

"Yeah." Parker buried his face in his hands. "She knew about the safe, and the shipment of diamonds." After a moment, he looked up at the two detectives. "She played me for a sucker, didn't she?"

"It's beginning to look that way. I'm sorry." Sandburg studied him for a minute. "It would help you if you could prove you weren't part of her scheme."

"How?"

Ellison answered his question. "Agree to a DNA test. It's the easiest way to rule you out as her accomplice." Parker appeared to give the suggestion some thought before nodding his agreement.

A few swipes on the inside of Alan Parker's cheek were all that was necessary for a DNA sample. The lab assistant gave him a shy smile as he left the room and she returned to her work. Ellison and Sandburg observed the quick test before moving on, themselves.

Mid-day found the break room quiet. Jim dug through his pockets for enough change to retrieve two candy bars from the machine while his partner poured them each a cup of coffee. As they sat down to enjoy their break, Jim pulled out the blurry picture of their suspect again. Blair watched as sentinel vision raked over the image. "What's bugging you about that picture, man. What do you see?"

Everything finally clicked for the other man, and he looked up with a smile. "It's not what I see, it's what I don't."

Simon Banks' Office

Grinning, Ellison laid the photo on the tall captain's desk. "See what's missing?"

Banks looked back and forth between the two men standing over his desk. "Is he playing a game with me, Sandburg? The mayor is going to be calling soon for an update, again."

"Sorry, Simon, if there is a joke, I haven't been let in on it yet." Blair hitched one hip up on the wooden surface. "Whatever was nagging him about that picture, he finally figured out, though."

"So let's have it. What did you finally see?"

"Didn't." Blair's mutterings caught Simon's attention.

"Didn't what?"

"Didn't see. He finally noticed what he didn't see." Banks just shook his head at the younger man and turned to Ellison.

"I don't know what your partner's babbling about, but give me something to tell the mayor."

Ellison's grin widened as he turned the photo slightly, pointing to the fuzzy figure caught on it. "It took me a while, but look at Elvis' neck."

Banks just raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry." Ellison looked a little contrite, but didn't lose his smile entirely. "There's no visible adam's apple."

"Are you sure?" Banks mentally kicked himself as the words passed his lips. Not expecting an answer, he adjusted his glasses as he studied the photo. Finally he looked up. "I can't see anything, but if you say so..."

Blair snatched up the picture and started laughing. "Are you telling us that he's a she?" When Jim nodded, Blair continued his train of thought. "And she's her?"

Again Jim nodded, noticing the confused look on his captain's face. "Nobody to split the diamonds with."

Blair tossed the picture back on Simon's desk. "So how do we prove it?"

With a start, both men answered the question. "The DNA sample." Blair continued the thought a step further.

"Even without another sample to match it to, the profile will tell us if it came from a man or a woman. That's all we need to know right now. Thanks, Simon." Blair hurried to catch up with his partner.

Simon stared at the closing door. "You're welcome, but for what, I have no idea."

Forensics Lab

Serena looked up as the two men barged into her lab. Ellison started speaking before his partner had fully cleared the door. "Serena, do you have the results on the tissue we found at the mall?"

"Yes, I do -- and you're not going to believe what I discovered." The dark skinned woman smiled. Rarely did she have the chance to give Jim Ellison surprising news.

Before she could give her report, Ellison jumped in. "Let me guess. Our Elvis is a woman, right?"

There was dead silence, then Serena slammed her folders onto the countertop. "You always do that to me, Ellison."

Office of David Hayes, Director of Elvis International

Marilyn, AKA Gayle Adams, AKA Gayle Sheldon sat at her desk, filing her nails when the two detectives walked in. She looked up, mask already in place. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but Mr. Hayes isn't in at the moment." She leaned forward; making sure the taller of the two men had a good view of her cleavage. "Or is there something I can do for you?"