"Thank you so much, Marilyn!"
Hanging up the phone after a long conversation, Dan sighed.
He had been right about one thing.
This day wasn't getting any better.
Stealing a quick glance over at his partner sitting quietly in his office and studying some case files, Dan got up from his desk and helped himself to a cookie from a nearby tray, before joining him.
As he leaned against the doorframe, he studied Mike's intense gaze, as the Lieutenant scanned through the file in front of him, wanting to draw the clues out from beneath the ink.
After their candid conversation in the Galaxy turned into the same circular discussion they had back at Franklin Hospital, Dan had settled on letting sleeping dogs lie for the time being, feeling utterly uncomfortable getting dragged into the personal issues that had caused Steve to call it quits, and growing weary of Mike's continued argument that there was no way his best friend would let a temporary, stress-related problem like that prompt a life-altering career change.
It was as pointless of a discussion as it was infuriating, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it at the moment.
Giving his partner a few seconds to finish his train of thought, Dan let his eyes drift over the office, trying to calm down his worried senses, when he heard the Lieutenant clear his throat.
"Close the door behind you."
Following the order, Dan hesitantly stepped forward and waited for Mike to take off his reading glasses. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he leaned against the gray file cabinet and lowered his head, unable to face the Lieutenant.
"I have some news from my research that…that you may not like to hear."
Mike took a deep breath, a wave of dread washing over his features for a fleeting moment, before his expression turned guarded, almost sterile.
"Let's hear it anyways."
Clearing his throat, Dan clenched the metal edges of the file cabinet with his hands, trying to offset the nervousness to no avail.
"It's two things actually.", he said calmly, finally mustering the strength to look up, "First of all, I found the common denominator between all our victims. It didn't hit me until I talked to Marilyn and she had me check the transfer scripts for the two students."
Mike's bright blue eyes scanned his with foreboding certainty and Dan found himself shivering.
"I am so sorry, Mike…but Steve is definitely a common denominator..."
Watching the Lieutenant fight hard to keep his expression neutral, Dan waited a second, before he continued.
"The two students…they were both in his classes earlier this year. They transferred out shortly after he took over for…Professor Ferguson. Maybe they didn't like his teaching style or moved on for some reason, but they switched schools. Now the two professors are more interesting. I looked into the different conventions Berkeley frequently holds to promote their Criminal Justice Department and they attended the last four of them. Steve had to have come across them at one point, considering his position in the department."
Dan swallowed hard when he saw all the color leave Mike's face. Reluctant to accept the new information, the Lieutenant pursed his lips and took a deep breath.
"You said there were two things you found."
With his voice stripped of any emotion, the Lieutenant looked painfully lost. Glancing straight ahead, his eyes fixated at some indiscernible spot in his office, his mind seemed to be a million miles away.
"Yes, the…ehm…the other thing…well, once I found out about this situation, I did some digging. Into Steve's record…", everything about these words felt wrong, and Dan found himself weaving back and forth in agitation, "Well, did you know that he has two .38's registered in his name? The one he currently wears and another one he registered stolen about six months ago? He claims it was taken from his office."
A shudder ran through Mike's body as he quietly stared into the busy bullpen, forcing himself to contain his emotions. As a tense silence spread in the small office, Dan tried to come up with something to say, and yet no words seemed good enough.
Well aware of the incredible misfortune when it came to the Lieutenant's previous partners, he struggled with the latest development, hating the fact that he'd stumbled upon the connection to begin with.
"Another .38 you said?"
When Dan only nodded, he got up from his chair and put one hand on his hips, before mindlessly playing with the middle button of his blue vest.
"Impossible…It's absolutely impossible that Steve could have anything to do with this."
When he glanced over at his calendar, Mike took a deep breath before clenching his jaw.
"I want to talk to him again tonight when he gets done with his lectures. Maybe by then he will have calmed down a bit. At least enough to talk some sense into him. And we should check the .38 he still has for ballistics. It will come back negative, so that's a partial piece of evidence in his favor. Dan, get a hold of Lenny for tomorrow, I want him here around 4 in the afternoon and I am going to drag Steve into the office as well. See, if Lenny can help us narrow down our killer. And while he's at it, explain some of these changes that happened to my friend."
Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Dan stepped forward to join his partner at his desk.
"You…you want Lenny to psychoanalyze him? You think Steve wouldn't notice?"
"He will notice. But something has happened to him, Dan, and I need to find out what it is, so that I can help him. Because I am deeply worried about the direction he's currently headed. In the meantime, I am going to ask you a favor that I have never asked anybody before."
Looking up, he could see Mike's troubled eyes, as the Lieutenant struggled to find the right words. Eventually, he let out a pained sigh and smiled.
"Please hold off on writing your report on this until tomorrow afternoon, Dan. It should give me enough time to find evidence to clear Steve. I can't let anything happen to him… so I am begging you as a friend."