"That's some impressive machinery."
Mike had circled the massive firetruck a couple of times before Chief Vasquez appeared from behind the long corridor leading into the interior of what was Fire Station One of the Midtown Terrace Fire Department.
The lanky man in his mid-fifties eyed the Lieutenant with a mixture of curiosity and disdain, his mannerism that of a junkyard dog sensing a rival in his area.
Keeping his body language non-threatening, Mike put on his most cordial smile, arms crossed behind his back, as he sauntered toward the front of the fire engine to greet the other man.
"Lieutenant Michael Stone. I called you earlier."
"That's right, I remember.", Vasquez said, his tone suggesting a certain sense of irritation of having his daily routine interrupted by police business.
Bypassing the need to flash his badge, Mike pointed his chin to the corridor the other man had appeared from, then cleared his throat.
"Is there a place we could…say…talk in private?"
If the condescending glance from his dark brown eyes and the soft snort were any indication, the Chief wasn't taking the visit seriously.
"That's about as private as it gets, Lieutenant. The phone in my office never stops ringing. We'd never get past informal niceties."
"You could let the answering machine take it, couldn't you?", Mike returned facetiously, intentionally poking the bear that afternoon, only to see Vasquez run a hand through his short black hair as he exhaled audibly.
"Maybe you can do that in the police force, but fire service is a different animal. We can't push off issues until we have time to deal with them. Too many lives and properties are at stake."
The underlying insult wasn't lost on him, making Mike wonder if he hadn't hit gold, when he continued to smile, his cheerfulness eating away at the other man's nerves.
Studying Vasquez' white shirt with the gold badge and the five starts on his collar intently for several long seconds, enough to cause the other man to shift nervously; Mike finally nodded and glanced back up.
"Very well then. I was just stopping by to ask you a few questions about Sarah Milan."
Snorting again, the Chief took a step back as he shook his head vigorously.
"Don't you guys ever talk amongst each other? You already know everything we do."
"We just like to ask the same questions over and over again, see if the answer changes.", Mike pried matter-of-factly, seeing the other man's eyes growing dark with unmasked anger, "Now, it said in the report we received that she was a Captain in your station, is that correct? The ehm…the first female to be promoted to that rank."
"That is correct.", Vasquez answered, annunciating every word carefully.
"And she'd just been in that position for a couple of moths before she disappeared."
"That is also correct…listen Lieutenant, I am a very busy man. How long is this going to take?"
"As long as it has to.", Mike countered evenly, then gestured toward the waiting Galaxy, "If you'd like, we could continue this conversation downtown. It's much quieter there."
At his words, one of the inner alarms rang, causing a multitude of firemen to appear out of nowhere, before manning one of the nearby firetrucks, and rush out of the open garage as if the devil himself were after them.
Mike watched the impressive scene for a fleeting moment, enthralled by the perfectly synchronized protocols each member of the squad followed, then returned his attention to the visibly annoyed Chief.
"Milan was the Captain for a couple of months before she disappeared, that is correct.", he grunted, then crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Were there any…say…personnel issues when she was promoted? Did any of your men have an issue with her receiving that rank?"
Raising his eyebrows at what he seemed to consider a frivolous question, the Chief shook his head again.
"I run a tight ship here, Lieutenant. My men know what kind of behavior is expected of them. Around here, rank is earned, not given, and Milan earned her rank. As a matter of fact, I was on the board when the decision was made and I can assure you it was unanimous. She was a great fire fighter and did good work as a Captain."
The past tense.
Mike picked up on it immediately. Although it might just be a figure of speech, a silly oversight on Vasquez' part, he still took note of it.
"Then let me ask you this, Chief Vasquez…what do you make of her disappearance? If she was happy with her job, things were going well as far as everybody was concerned…do you think her disappearance was by choice…or by force?"
The Chief rolled his eyes, then turned halfway toward the corridor, as if considering to walk out on him.
"I can't make a determination on what goes on in people's lives. All I know is that while she was here, working under my command, Captain Milan was an outstanding member of my team."
Shaking his head, Mike stepped closer to the other man, meeting his eyes in unmasked urgency.
"That's not what I was asking, Chief. Do you think her disappearance was by choice, or by force?"
Biting his lip, Vasquez drew in a deep breath, the corners of his mouth twitching as if wanting to say something but instead decided to hesitate.
Finally, he clenched his jaws and his features softened.
"Sarah seemed to genuinely love her job here. She excelled at it. I never heard her talk about any issues outside her job. She was a very career driven individual and worked hard every single day. To be perfectly honest, she was Chief- material. When she disappeared, I thought maybe she'd moved back in with her parents, that something happened she didn't tell anybody about, or that the pressure of her promotion was too much. But according to you cops, that's not the case. So if it were truly my opinion, Lieutenant, then I'd have to say…well, completely off the record…I'd have to wager that her disappearance was not by choice."