Chapter 4
Getting out of the car Mike could feel the tension building up in his young partner. He gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.
"Relax and keep your cool. I know it must be nerve wrecking, but the sooner we deal with it the sooner it is over and done with."
"Sure, Mike. And thanks for being with me."
"Remember, buddy boy, it is Mary and her little lamb, though I haven't quite figured out who is who. You fit the bill of the woolly lamb better, but it's me who does the following." Realizing that he was getting himself confused, Mike added with a huff, "Never mind!"
Steve chuckled and followed Mike across the road to the restaurant where they had arranged to meet Richard.
Mike opened the door and scanned the dimly lit interior for the man who claimed to be Richard Keller. There he was in a quiet corner, perusing the menu. Mike waved a quick greeting to Giorgio, the head waiter and pushed Steve towards the seat next to the man. He headed for the chair opposite the possible brothers, determined to watch every move. The man who called himself Richard got up and held out his hand to Steve.
"Little brother, let me have a proper look at you! My, you have grown up, little Stevie. Hope you don't mind me calling you Stevie. "
"Steve will do." Steve shook the extended hand and sat down.
"Will you introduce me to your friend?"
"Mike Stone, homicide. You must recall that you met last night, though I'm not sure if you were formally introduced." Steve could barely suppress the sarcasm in his voice.
Richard broke away from the older man's scutinizing gaze and directed his response to Steve instead. "You must understand, it is not easy to re-establish contact after such a long time. I felt the need to get to know you a bit and find out if I really wanted to meet you. Forgive me, but the last time we met, you were just a little kid in dungarees."
"And you have decided that I'm worth knowing, or was last night a chance encounter?"
"I had hoped to introduce myself in a less dramatic fashion, but never mind. Here we are!" He smiled broadly.
Mike watched the exchange between the two men with interest. A lot of reservation and almost hostility radiated from Steve, while the other person appeared superficially polite and friendly, but Mike assumed the friendliness was only skin deep and not genuine.
"How about ordering, then we can go into the family history." Mike suggested.
"Sure, but I had actually hoped for a one-on-one with my brother."
The mask of friendliness slipped for a split second.
"Mike is family. So what you have to say to me concerns him, too."
Steve's outburst deeply touched Mike. Of course, to him Steve was family and though he had always assumed that the younger man felt the same about him, none of them had ever said it.
"Okay, okay. Let's order and talk and see if my explanation satisfies the detective."
A cool customer, Mike thought as he watched the alleged brother savouring the pasta dish he had ordered. Steve only toyed with the Caesar Salad in front of him.
"Please allow me to explain and prove my identity to you. Here is my passport, my birth certificate and here is a photo you might recognise."
He put a slightly frayed black and white photo on the table. Steve looked at it and swallowed. He handed it over to Mike. A handsome man in his late forties holding a happily grinning toddler, a gangly teen standing next to them, smiling fondly.
"My father, myself and who I assume is my brother," Steve explained. He swallowed again.
"I've never seen this photo before."
"Your mother took it with my camera on my last weekend visit with our father. He was in the car accident shortly afterwards."
"Why did you disappear?" Steve blurted out the question that had been bugging him all along.
"Well, little brother, you obviously didn't know my mother. She was an alcoholic and addicted to prescription drugs. With our father gone there was not much reason for me to hang around, so I upped and left. Went over the border to Mexico and then further south, eventually worked a passage on a ship to Europe and did some more travelling."
Mike leafed through the passport, checked visas and tried to memorise as many places as possible without being too obvious. Richard offered a bit more about had travelled and how life on the road treated him.
"And now, nearing middle age I decided to go back to where I came from. It's time to settle down and maybe reconnect with my past. Though it seems I made a mess of reuniting with my baby brother."
He smiled warmly but Mike felt the smile never reached his eyes.
Steve asked a few more questions, about the past and future plans. Mike remained silent; to an onlooker he just seemed to concentrate on making short works of his chicken dish.
Mike kept glancing from the photo to the two men opposite him. He could see a likeness between the chubby cheeked toddler and the Steve Keller he knew, but maybe only because he knew him so well. As for the other man, he couldn't help but ask himself if he resembled the teenager in the photo. To the casual observer, yes maybe even more than baby Steve resembled adult Steve. So it must be a matter of whether he trusted what the man said or not. Maybe a job for the experts in the lab. Mike thought he could perhaps try to analyze the boys' facial features himself. Through his own observations at the forensics lab, he had picked up a few things. A person's ears for example, he learned, never changed with age. He looked up at Richard Keller and took in his fashionably long hair hiding part of his ears. Unfortunately the faces in the photo were too small for his eyes to pick out the finer details. Mike wondered what other surprises the aunt's photo album would yield.
After a cup of coffee and small talk, Mike felt that they had achieved all they could for the first encounter.
"Well, Steve, it sure was great catching up with your brother, but we need to get back to work. Homicides don't solve themselves. "
Throwing some money on the table for the bill Mike dragged Steve with him, adding, "I'm sure we'll meet up again soon. Just ring Homicide and ask for Inspector Keller. Really sorry for cutting this short, but we have overstayed our lunch break."
Outside the restaurant Mike pushed Steve towards the car and hissed, "Let's get around the corner and stalk the stalker! He didn't see us coming and doesn't know what our car looks like."
"Sounds like a plan. " Steve readily agreed and got behind the wheel.
A short time later the person of interest came out of the restaurant and got into a black Mustang. He cruised leisurely and seemingly aimlessly, all the while testing Steve's skills to stay on his tail undetected. When he eventually stopped at a bar in a rather seedy area, Mike leaned back in his seat and stretched.
"Not much point in going in after him. Do you think he knew we were on his tail?"
"Almost positive," Steve answered, working out a crick in his neck, too.
"Yeah, that was my impression as well. We'll hang around for a bit and maybe get highway patrol to hassle him for drink driving later on." Mike paused for a moment, trying to find the right opening "Now, buddy boy, just first impressions. Do you think he is your brother?"
Steve thought carefully before answering. "I'd be disappointed if he was. I don't like him one bit."
"Neither do I." Mike laughed. "But I can't decide whether he is the real McCoy or not."
"You mean the real Keller?" Steve quipped, and then turned serious once more. "Don't you think that I'd know somehow if he was related to me?"
"You mean blood ties and all that? Nah, I don't think so. And besides, look at some families, the siblings definitely hate each other!"
"But Mike, if he turns out to be my brother, what do I do?" Steve's plea sounded very young and very vulnerable. Mike's heart went out to the young man.
"First of all it depends whether he has a hidden agenda why he wants to see you after all these years. Just remember, you don't owe him anything. He was the one who walked out on you, on his family. If anyone owes someone anything, then it's him who does the owing and plenty of it. Now, let's go back to the Bureau and see what reports have come in. We have to swing by Tonio's. I arranged with Giorgio to save us a glass with Mr Keller's fingerprints. We'll ask the black and whites to keep a lookout for him and keep tabs on his movements. No harm when he notices he's being watched."
Mike spent a few minutes filling in the Captain on the recent developments, while Steve collected all the notes he had compiled earlier, checked for phone messages and collected the Missing Persons file on Richard Keller that Mike had asked for earlier.. Then Mike insisted once again to end the day earlier than usual and headed for his house. He wanted as much privacy for his friend as he could give him, knowing how secretive he was about his past. He only stopped at a pizza parlour to order some takeout. "Keep the car locked until I come back", he warned, partly in a joking manner but also hinting that he wanted Steve to be careful.
Steve laughed "Yeah, and don't talk to strangers and don't accept any candy. I know, I know!" he held up his hands in mock defence.
Mike was happy to hear him laugh and at the same time a little concerned on how easily the fiercely independent young man complied with all the restrictions he imposed on him.
When they arrived at Mike's house, Steve carried the pizza box, pretending to struggle with the load and the many steps. He made a beeline for the kitchen, Mike on his heels.
"Wow, no anchovies!" Steve peeked into the box. "You must really be worried about me."
"I am and don't you dare mock an old man's fears. Besides, I won't give you an excuse to refuse eating the pizza; I noticed you barely touched your lunch. Dig in!"
"Yes, sir!" Steve took a slice and started eating.
After dinner, with a ball game on TV playing in the background, they studied the reports.
"Nope!" Steve yawned and rubbed his neck "Nothing strikes me as unusual, but I don't really remember much. My only hope to fill the gaps is Aunt Ruth."
"Let's call it a night then and wait for the wise aunt to answer our questions tomorrow. What you need is a good night's rest. When does your aunt expect us?"
"Any time in the morning, and Mike, go easy on the breakfast tomorrow. My aunt is going to cook lunch and she is used to cooking for a house full of hungry kids."
