"He was only going to Sunset to go over Sullivan's statements and help Sullivan prepare for the court case this week." Lee sighed as he stared out of glass window that looked out of Mike's office into the bullpen. He still could not believe that Steve was really gone. "I teased him about trying to sneak off, while Mike was away, to flirt with that waitress at Julios."

"Lee…" Roy Devitt said softly, attempting to stop the younger man's self-recrimination. Lee had taken Steve's death hard, Roy sighed, they all had. Losing a colleague in the line of duty was extremely difficult for the whole department, even more so for members of the homicide team, but losing Steve because of a car accident, especially an accident as horrific as this one, made it a million times worse.

He was dreading having to break the news to Mike when they discovered where Mike was vacationing. Mike had simply told everyone was he was going fishing for a week and Steve had insisted on keeping Mike's whereabouts a secret, the younger man determined that his partner's long anticipated week off would not get interrupted by work. Roy sighed, he had attempted to contact Jeannie at her college to discover her father's current whereabouts but like her father, Jeannie's current whereabouts were also unknown.

Spinning back to face his lieutenant, Lee hit the wall behind him with his fist as he growled, "He was supposed to be going to Sunset, what was he even doing on the Saddle Loop trail?"

"I don't know, " Roy answered quietly, the same questions that Lee was demanding answers to were also going through his mind. Questions he had no answers to. He knew Steve could be a little impulsive at times, maybe today that impulsiveness got him killed.

A soft rap on the office door pulled Roy from his depressing thoughts and he looked up as Bill entered the office. Glancing at Lee who had turned back to stare out at Steve's desk in the bullpen before returning his attention back to Roy, Bill walked slowly across to the desk and handed Roy a slim manila folder. "Charlie's preliminary report of the accident."

Roy nodded silently and placed the manila folder unopened on the desk, not yet willing to read the forensic details of Steve's final moments as Bill sat down on one of the chairs in front of Mike's desk and hesitantly began to tell his lieutenant the forensic findings of the accident contained in the report. "The lab boys estimate Steve's car was traveling about 60 miles an hour before Steve…" Bill swallowed hard, casting a quick glance at Lee who did not seem to be listening before returning his attention to Roy as he forced himself to continue his report as professionally as he could, "Ummm… before the driver lost control on the muddy road causing the car to leave the road and crash over the embankment. The fuel tank was ruptured as the car traveled through the undergrowth and the fuel ignited when the car hit the tree, engulfing the car in fire… There…there was no chance for…" Bill look down, unable to look at the either man as he cleared the lump from his throat and continued, "There would have been no time for … Ste…for umm…anyone to escape, even if they were able to get out of the car."

"Was there any possibility of any other cars being involved?" Roy asked quietly.

Shaking his head, Bill answered, "There were no evidence that any other cars involved, all the tire tracks at the scene have been accounted for and there was no damage to Steve's car that indicated that he might have been forced off the road. All the damage to the car is consistent with what I would expect to see from such a high-speed collision."

"Could the accident have been caused by some mechanical fault with the car? Maybe Steve's brakes failed or the accelerator…"

"Charlie checked," Bill replied softly, before taking a deep breath as he looked across at Lee who did not even appear to be listening to the conversation before looking back at Roy, "The car was in good roadworthy condition before the accident, he ruled that speed and driver error were most likely responsible for the accident."

"He knew that road was dangerous when it's raining, why was he driving so fast?" Lee demanded as he suddenly spun around to face Roy and Bill, his anger, frustration and grief bubbling over.

"That's what we are going to find out." Roy reminded Lee quietly as they were interrupted by a knock on the door before a uniformed officer opened the door and entered.

"Excuse me, Sir, I have a gentleman who is demanding to speak with whoever's in charge of the investigation into Inspector Keller's accident. He claims he is Inspector Keller's father."

"Keller's father?" Roy asked in surprise, casting a quick glance towards Bill and Lee who both appeared as confused and surprised as he felt. He had always been under the belief that both of Steve's parents had died before Steve had joined the department. The younger man had never spoken about his family or what had happened to his parents, but Roy knew that Steve had listed Mike as his Next-of-Kin in his personal file shortly after becoming Mike's partner. Returning his attention back to the young uniformed officer standing in the doorway. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir," the young officer nodded his affirmation nervously. "I have him waiting to speak to you downstairs in Duty Sergeant's office."

Rising from his chair, Roy looked across at Lee as he rounded the office desk, "I want you to try and find out Steve's movements after he left the bullpen this morning. I want to know what he was doing on Saddle Loop drive."

Lee swallowed hard and nodded woodenly as he turned and left the office, hurrying across to Steve's desk to search for the address of the witness Steve had told him that he was going to re-interview.

"Bill, I want you to try and locate Mike," Roy ordered over his shoulder as they followed the young officer out of Mike's office, "I know that sometimes Mike heads to cabin in Yosemite when he wants to do some fishing and get away from everything for a few days."

"On it, Roy." Bill acknowledged the order as he changed direction and headed across to his desk as Roy followed the young uniformed officer out of the bullpen.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Lifting the radio mic up as he pressed the button, the park rancher turned towards the thick forest that lined the river bank as he asked, "Find anything, Tom?" Releasing the button, he sighed as his radio crackled to life and he heard his partner's negative reply.

"Nothing but some animal trails down to the water and some bear tracks along the water's edge. This guy went into the water about an hour ago, didn't he?"

Pulling the mic back up to his mouth, the ranger pressed the button, glanced across at the anxious man who had reported his friend's disappearance and sighed as he answered softly, "Yeah, would have been about an hour ago, give or take a couple of minutes."

"Well if he did manage to get out the water before his clothes dragged him under or hypothermia set in, with how thick the undergrowth is around here, the chances are we could walk right past him and never even see him."

Depressing the mic button again, the ranger glanced towards the icy water before looking back at the thick ferns and trees that surround the little clearing where the two friends had been fishing less than fifty yards from one of the most secluded cabins in the park as he agreed, "Yeah, I know, but keep looking. I'm gunna head back to the station and radio for more help with the search. I will also take his friend back with me, I think we had better start contacting the victim's next-of-kin and inform them about what's happened."

"Glad that's your job and not mine, Buddy."

"Gee, thanks!" the ranger murmured into the radio before he allowed his hand holding the radio to drop back down to his side before he walked back towards the upset man who was still scanning the banks or the river, searching for any sign of his friend. Placing his hand on the older man's shoulder, he ordered gently, "I need you to come back to the ranger's station with me. We need to call in more searchers and I also need to get a full statement off you about what happened as well as the contact details of Lieutenant Stone's next-of-kin."

"Mike's next-of-kin? Do we really need to contact his daughter yet? I … I mean, we haven't even found…" Eric stammered as he turned back to look at the river.

"I'm afraid so," the ranger answered gently as he began to guide the shocked man back along the trail.

"You're right," Eric agreed reluctantly, "But please, I was the one who talked Mike into joining me for a week's fishing here, I should be the one who tells her…"

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Humming as she carefully picked up her parent's wedding photos and wiped the dust off them, Jeannie smiled. She wanted the house to be sparkling, when her father returned from his fishing trip. She paused a moment as her finger traced lovingly over her mother's and father's smiling images before she gently returned the photo back onto its spot on the table and picked up the next photo of her father and herself at her high school graduation. Mike looked so proud.

She bit her bottom lip as she stared at her father in the photo, she could never imagine just how hard it was for him to lose his wife to cancer and be left raising a young daughter on his own. She remembered her own confusion and grief during her mother's illness and passing and how patient and gentle Mike had been with her, never once giving into his own soul shattering grief, instead he had stayed incredibly strong for her, always putting her first. And although there were times when she desperately missed her mother, she always knew Mike loved her with all his heart and would always be there for her no matter what.

Shaking her head at the melancholy thoughts away, she smiled as she imagined Mike's surprise to find her home for his birthday when he returned from his fishing trip. She had told him that this year because of the heavy study workload and exams that she would not be able to get away from college to celebrate it with him. As much as she hated to hear the disappointment that Mike tried to cover up in his voice, she wanted to surprise him with a special birthday dinner, a dinner with just the two of them, a dinner where she could tell him about her own exciting news.

"And news just in, a driver has been killed in a fiery crash on the Saddle Loop trail earlier this morning. Police state it is believed that speed and driver error may have contributed to the crash and the driver was killed when the car left the road at high speed after sliding in muddy conditions before becoming airborne and smashing into a tree, the car is believed to have erupted into flames on impact. The driver is believed to have been killed instantly. Although the driver's body has not yet been formally identified, an unnamed source from the San Francisco Police Department has stated it is believed the driver was San Francisco Homicide Inspector, Steven Keller."

Jeannie Stone felt the blood drain from her face as she stopped dusting and slowly turned towards the television, staring at Steve's photo as it was flashed up on the screen. There had to be some sort of mistake. She had only been talking to Steve earlier this morning as he helped her with her plans for Mike's surprise birthday dinner.

"The San Francisco Homicide department are refusing to confirm or deny that identity of the driver is Homicide Inspector Steven Keller or if the inspector may have been involved in a high-speed police pursuit at the time of the accident or give us a reason why the driver would have been traveling at such a high speed on a public road before the accident. We will bring further updates to this breaking story as they become available…"

She jumped as the phone began to ring before she turned slowly around and stared at it. Biting her bottom lip as she blinked away the tears, she forced herself to pick it up, knowing that the caller was probably Roy or Rudy, probably trying to call to break the news of Steve's death to Mike if he was home from his vacation. Her hand shook as she pressed the phone against her ear as she whispered through her tears, "Hello…"

"Jeannie, this is Eric Leeds..."