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“I got her affidavit back,” Lucy told Melissa.

“Who do we go see?” Melissa asked referring to the judge they believe was the most cop friendly.

“Ryan,” Lucy said.

“Yes, of course, Ryan. We better get over there before he thinks it’s time for Happy Hour,” Melissa said while putting on her coat.

“I’m gonna call, make sure he’s in,” Lucy said.

A minute later, Melissa heard Lucy say, “Okay, thanks, we’ll be there in a few minutes.”

The Minneapolis Police Violent Crimes Unit is located across Fourth Avenue from the Government Center. Despite the cold, it was quicker for the two detectives to go outside and cross the street. In less than five minutes, they were at Judge Ryan’s chambers. Instead of finding Ryan, who had left out the back door to his chambers, they found another judge looking for him. Heather Bloom, possibly the most criminal friendly judge in the county.

“He was here,” Judge Ryan’s clerk told them.

At that moment, Judge Bloom came out of Ryan’s Chambers.

“What do you need, Detectives?” Bloom asked.

“Oh, it can wait,” Lucy replied. “We were looking for Judge Ryan.”

Bloom, of course, knew Ryan’s reputation for being cop friendly. “Let me see the warrant,” Bloom said holding out her hand.

“It can…”

“Let’s have it, Detective,” Bloom said only this time, she made it sound like an order.

Lucy handed the paperwork to her. Bloom sat down next to the clerk’s desk, put on the cheaters she had dangling around her neck and started reading. When she finished reading Dr. Brie’s affidavit, she looked at the detectives with a skeptical eye .

“Seems to me your support for the search warrant is a little thin. Some things a middle school psychologist believes from a patient she hasn’t seen in years. Convince me this is necessary,” Bloom said.

Melissa almost pushed Lucy out of her way to step up to the judge. “Your honor, there are multiple homicides here. Brutal murders where all of the victims have a common tie, Robbie Powell. We believe there is probable cause to issue a search warrant for the home. There is also the fact that it could eliminate Robbie Powell.

“If we find evidence, the trial judge will have opportunity to exclude that evidence if he or she decides the warrant was wrongfully issued. We need to do this. Lives are at stake.”

Bloom looked at the stern face of Melissa for several seconds. “Okay,” she finally said then signed the warrant.

“Thank you, your Honor,” Lucy said when Bloom handed her the paperwork.

“I’m not as unreasonable as the police believe, Detective,” Bloom said looking at Melissa.

Once they were on the elevator, Lucy broke the silence by asking, “What was that about?”

“I’ve had problems with her before,” Melissa said.

“Okay, let’s get a search team ready.”

“I already did. While you were working on the affidavit and warrant. They’re waiting for a phone call.”

“There’s no one inside,” said Sergeant Randall, the police officer in charge of the search team of four uniformed cops.

“Take it down,” Lucy said.

“Not so fast,” Randall said. “Joey, do your thing.”

One of the team members, Joey Lakowski, removed a leather holder from his back pocket. He opened it to reveal a set of lock picks. Kneeling at front of the door, less than thirty seconds later, Joey turned the doorknob and the door opened.

“How…” Lucy started to ask Joey.

“Don’t ask,” Randall answered for him.

“I just remembered something,” Melissa said. “I don’t think Robbie lives here. She’s at St. Kate’s across the river. ”

“She’s living on campus?” Lucy asked while the crew entered the house.

“Yeah, I think so. When we got her information for the rape, I remember she gave her address as a dorm at St. Kate’s.”

“We’re gonna need a warrant from Ramsey County,” Lucy said.

“Yes,” Melissa agreed.

An hour later, they were done. Realistically, the only evidence they hoped to find was a hammer. Specifically, a claw hammer. They found two of them. Unfortunately neither one was a three-inch straight claw.

“According to Benny Shambhani, these are the wrong type,” Lucy told the sergeant when he showed them to her. “Bag them anyway. We’ll get them tested.”

“Sorry,” Randall said.

“It’s not your fault. You guys can take off. I’ll take the hammers. Thanks.”

Outside, Lucy asked Melissa, “Call your buddy over in St. Paul. See if he’ll do us a favor and get a warrant for us.”

“I knew you were gonna ask,” Melissa said.

There was a detective, now a lieutenant in St. Paul with whom Melissa had a brief relationship. It barely lasted three weeks. One night Melissa got a phone call from a very angry woman regarding her police officer husband. That ended it.

“You still have him listed in your phone?” Lucy asked when she saw Melissa dial him.

“You never know when you might need…hello, Jerry. Been a while…”

When the call was finished, the two women went to their car. Walking down the sidewalk toward the street, Melissa saw the inquisitive look on her partner’s face.

“We need to do the warrant for Ramsey County then email it and the affidavit to him. He has a judge he knows who will sign it. Okay?”

“Okay,” Lucy said.

“He’s actually a nice guy. Good looking, too,” Melissa said.

“He hit on you again, didn’t he? ”

“He did, yeah.”

“And?”

“I said no,” Melissa replied.

“Atta girl,” Lucy said. “What?”

“He is really good looking.”

“Just what the hell is going on here? What are you doing? Get out of my…” they heard then saw a young woman yelling at them from the dorm room’s doorway.

The St. Paul uniformed patrol officer went back to the door. He held up a hand to the girl to keep her out.

As he was doing this, Lucy went to her and Melissa retrieved a copy of the search warrant from Robbie’s desk top.

“We’re Minneapolis police detectives. We have a valid search warrant to search this room,” Lucy politely said. “Are you the roommate of Robbie Powell, Cynthia Palmer?”

“Yes,” the girl said. “Now I don’t care, get out or I’ll call my father. He’s very influential.”

“Swell. Go right ahead,” Melissa said while showing her Robbie’s copy of the warrant. “In the meantime, you’ll have to stay out.”

“You can’t look through my stuff,” she indignantly replied.

“Yes, we can. Now, please step back,” which Cynthia did. “Thank you,” Melissa said as she closed and locked the door.

“Stand in front of the door, please, Bob,” Melissa said to the uniformed cop.

Ten minutes later, while Lucy was going through Cynthia’s closet, Melissa was on her knees at Robbie’s bedside.

“What have we here,” Melissa said. While wearing surgical gloves, Melissa removed the object she found between the mattress and box spring and held it up for Lucy.

“Holy, shit,” Lucy said. “That looks like a three inch straight claw hammer.”

“It does, indeed,” Melissa agreed. She lifted the mattress up exposing the box spring. Then she placed the hammer back where she found it.

“What are those?” Lucy asked then looked over Melissa’s shoulder .

“Four diaries,” Melissa said. “Robbie has been making a record of everything.”

“Can we take them? They’re not specified on the warrant?” Lucy asked.

“We’re taking them. Let the lawyers fight about it,” Melissa said.

“Inevitable discovery,” Bob said.

Lucy and Melissa looked up at the cop by the door and Lucy said, “Yes, that’s right. We legitimately found them. Thanks for the reminder, Bob. Be sure to put this in your report.”

There was someone pounding on the door and yelling to get in. Cynthia Powell.

“Anything else?” Melissa asked.

Lucy went to Cynthia’s bed, lifted the mattress and found nothing. Melissa took several photos of the hammer and diaries where they were on the box spring. There was a one foot ruler in Cynthia’s desk. Melissa laid it next to the claws on the hammer and took several photos to show the length of them.

Bob was writing down notes while saying, “Sixteen inch, steel, straight claw hammer, three inch claws with a rubber grip handle. Four diaries.”

“I guess we’re done,” Lucy said.

The two women placed the hammer in a plastic bag and each of the diaries in separate, identical plastic bags. They would mark them back at their office.

On the way out, Cynthia, and several other students had gathered by now, cursed them as being Gestapo Nazis. When they got outside, Bob took a shot at Melissa by asking her for a date. Melissa politely lied and told him she was in a serious relationship.

“How come they don’t hit on me?” Lucy asked when they were back in their car.

“Could be the wedding ring you wear so they won’t,” Melissa said.

“Yeah, I should probably take it off. It’s been two years since the divorce.”