Since Rachel's death, now almost six months ago, she had begun spending all of her free time down there and been more or less accepted by the street people Downtown. Candy had been the most friendly toward her, and Roxy was beginning to warm up to her as well. Several of the other girls paid no attention to her as she walked and watched. A couple times she had carried an old sleeping bag out and bundled up in a doorway as so many of the homeless did, discreetly watching the traffic.

She stayed on the fringes of the Portland street community, learning about the different "families" and the individuals in each group. There were a few core groups that stayed in the city year round and as long as she didn't push too much, they allowed her a certain leniency. She had found out that some of the families were more like gangs, without the names. They were violent and dangerous.

In the last couple weeks, several lonely, older homeless men had disappeared from their usual haunts. Nobody was talking, but she noticed that more of them were starting to use a buddy system, two or three of them sticking together. She was frustrated that they wouldn't talk to her. She wanted to help, to take care of the threat.

Still now she wanted to take care of the girls. She had found out which organization Rachel had been working with and had basically taken her place. It was something she had never considered doing, and she found that she actually felt some satisfaction from it. It also helped her find the dregs of society that preyed on women. Most of the men that picked them up just wanted a release, but there were a few that took things too far.

The northwest had quite a reputation for having serial killers. Between Washington and Oregon, even up to Vancouver, B.C., there were at least a dozen men who chose prostitutes as their victims. Dana had been reading up on them. Those are the ones that were finally caught. There were almost certainly more than that, those who had been lucky so far who hadn't been found out. Being closer to the girls, she thought that she had a better chance of finding one.

Roxy had pointed out a certain customer that had been giving her a few problems. An older man with long gray hair that he kept tied back in a pony tail, he had been coming around for about three or four weeks. The last couple times, he had gotten pretty rough with her. Dana told her if he got any worse, that she would take care of him. Just like she had taken care of Donald, she said silently in her head.

When she got to the street, it was nearly empty. It was still fairly early, but she wanted to catch either Candy or Roxy before they got too busy for the evening. She headed east toward the bridge, holding her head forward, but glancing around rapidly. Two of the older women were loitering on the next corner; she got a nod from one of them but a definite feeling of "don't stop here".

It had been a few days since she had been able to make it downtown; her job had kept her too busy. She thought that her boss Jeff might be doing it on purpose to keep her completely occupied so she wouldn't think about Rachel. It was a nice thought, but he didn't need to worry.

She spoke to Rachel often and saw her a lot at night before she fell asleep. Dana was pretty sure it was her spirit coming back to comfort her. That would be a very Rachel thing to do. Rachel should have lived to have a lot of kids; she would have been the best mother ever.

Sometimes Rachel wasn't very nice though. Dana was the only one who knew that. Rachel had told her that she was very proud of her for taking care of Donald, he was a very bad man and Dana had done a very good job.

For about forty-five minutes, she had been walking up and down the blocks when she finally saw Candy. She ran across the street against the light as several car horns blasted at her.

Candy wrapped her up in a big bear hug, and then pulled her off the sidewalk around a corner. "Roxy's missing," the tall woman said, "She's been gone for four days already and nobody has seen her."

"Did anyone she who she was with last?�" Dana asked, a nervous catch in her voice. Candy shook her head. "She just didn't come out that night. I walked her home the night before and made sure she got in. Then the next night, she didn't come out. Her door was locked and she ain't answering."

"Okay, I'll get it checked out," Dana told her. None of these girls would call a cop for any reason. She got the address from Candy and walked up the street until she found the closest pay phone. She would have to fib a little to get the cops down here, but she had a couple ideas on how to do that. Maybe tell them she lived next door and there was a smell from the vents, or that she was Roxy's sister and she missed a lunch date. Even talk to Detective Allen, who she had called so many times trying to find out how the case was going.

That was the best one, call the detective. She picked up the receiver and put the coins in the slot. At the dial tone, she called the police non-emergency number and asked to be put through to Detective Allen. Ringing four times, the call went to voicemail. She left a message, then pushed the button to be put back to the operator.

"I've left Detective Allen a voice message, but it's kind of urgent that he gets it. Is there any way you can get a hold of him to let him know?" she asked.

The operator told her she would call him to have him check his messages and that was the best she could do. Dana thanked her and hung up. She hoped he would get back to her before long; she had left her cell phone number for him to call her back as soon as possible.

She left the phone booth and walked back up Burnside toward Fourth. Candy had disappeared and the streets were starting to fill up with the bar crowds. Tonight was going to be a bust, she could tell already. She decided to go home and wait for the detective to call her back.