Steve was still chuckling when he walked into Homicide an hour later. Mike, in shirtsleeves and reading glasses, was on the phone, the inner office door closed, so he stopped at his desk and took his jacket off. He dropped into his chair and began to check the few telephone messages stuffed under his own phone.
When he caught his partner hanging up out of the corner of his eye, he dropped the pink phone messages on the desk and crossed to the inner office, not even bothering to knock as he opened the door and entered. Mike glanced up and smiled, then pointed at the phone before taking off his glasses and tossing them on the desk.
"That was Gerry. I want to make sure Turley doesn't try to pressure the M.E.'s office into turning his wife's body over to him prematurely. And I've asked Bernie to keep the body for at least another two days, in case there are bruises that don't show up for awhile."
Steve nodded with an impressed facial shrug. "Good thinking."
"So? Did you come up with anything?"
The younger man grinned and sat back, lacing his fingers behind his head. His chuckle sounded almost cruel. "Oh yeah…"
Mike lowered his head and smiled expectantly. "What? He stopped people while he was jogging and introduced himself?" he asked facetiously and his partner laughed again.
"Pretty damn close. It wasn't random people on the street but close enough. He went into a bakery and bought a coffee and a Danish."
Mike raised his right hand. "Don't tell me - he introduced himself."
Steve nodded slowly. "Yep, to the girl behind the counter. And told her he was from -"
"St. Louis, yeah, of course he did…" Mike's gaze drifted away slightly and he chuckled. He rubbed his right hand over his face and shook his head. "How in the world could he possibly think doing that would constitute a viable alibi?" he asked rhetorically, a touch of genuine wonder in his voice.
Steve raised his eyebrows and shook his head slowly. "So have you heard anything from Bernie yet?"
With a quick shake of his head, Mike pursed his lips. "No, it's too early. We might get something later today but he knows about my desire to keep the body for a couple of days so he might drag it out to give him a legitimate excuse not to release it, in case Turley puts in a formal request." He shrugged. "Who knows? He might not but I don't want to take that chance."
His partner nodded in agreement.
"But I'll tell you what I want to do. I want to find out more about that towel ring. I'm gonna give the hotel a call and talk to that… that Charles guy. I want to visit a room exactly like the one the Turleys were in and I want to do a little experiment." He smiled coyly. "I have an assignment for you that I think you're going to like."
Steve took his hands from behind his head and sat forward with a smile. "Oh yeah, what would that be?
"Well, you are… acquainted with the, ah, the female contingent in every department on the force… are you not?" Mike asked carefully.
Frowning warily, the younger man pulled back slightly. "A passing acquaintance, yes…"
"Passing acquaintance," Mike echoed softly, "right, yeah…. Anyway, ah, are you aware of anyone, any female officer about the size and weight of our Mrs. Turley?"
Steve smiled. "You want to see if she had the strength to pull that ring out of the wall?"
The older man nodded slowly.
"Well, off the top of my head, there are a couple of women I think fit the bill. One of them is in Vice, the other in Records." He smiled like the Cheshire Cat. "You, ah, you want me to… approach them and see if one of them is interested and available?"
With a smirk, his partner nodded again. "Yes, ah, I want you to… approach them."
Steve shot to his feet and started for the door.
"Set it up for tomorrow morning," Mike called after him as he crossed quickly to his desk and grabbed his coat on the way to the door. "I'll set the time after I talk to the guy at the hotel."
Acknowledging the request with a wave of his hand but without a backward look, the young inspector fled the Homicide office as his partner's laugh filled the room behind him.
# # # # #
"I'm really glad you're doing this, Lieutenant," the snappily-dressed day manager muttered as he slipped the key into the lock. "This hotel has an exemplary safety record and if the towel-ring coming out of the wall like that was partially responsible for that poor woman's death… well, you know what that can do to our reputation." He glanced over his shoulder as the tumblers clicked over and he turned the knob, opening the door for the small law enforcement contingent.
"That's why we're here, Mr. Charles," Mike said flatly as he led his partner, a crime scene tech with a videocamera and a female officer from Vice into the empty hotel room.
"That's good to hear because Mr. Turley has everyone on edge."
As the others continued on to the bathroom, Mike turned to Charles. "What do you mean?"
The older man took a deep, steadying breath, avoiding the suddenly concerned blue eyes that were staring at him. "He demanded access to his old room last night, saying he needed to get something in his wife's suitcase that he forgot. Well, our night manager didn't think that was going to be a problem, so he let him into the room with another man."
"Another man?"
Charles bobbled his head, obviously embarrassed by this breach of protocol that had happened without his knowledge or approval. "I wasn't on duty, Lieutenant Stone, or I wouldn't have allowed it, you can be sure of that. As a matter of fact, I didn't find out about it until I arrived this morning."
"That's, ah, that's fine but… who was this other man, do you know?"
The day manager exhaled loudly. "It turns out he's Mr. Turley's lawyer."
"His lawyer?" Mike was trying to keep his growing anger under control.
"Yes. And before my man could stop them, they had disappeared into the bathroom and were taking photos of the bathtub. I have a feeling Mr. Turley is going -"
"To sue, yes," Mike finished for him, nodding. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, let's see what we find out here right now and then we'll know where we all stand. How does that sound?"
"Thank you, Lieutenant. I appreciate it."
Mike slapped him on the shoulder then headed towards the bathroom. The young blonde woman, Officer Susan Colton, her shoes off, was already standing in the bathtub, both hands on the towel-ring; Steve, his shoes on, was also in the tub, standing behind her. The tech was standing a few feet away from the tub with the camera at the ready.
Steve nodded as his partner appeared in the doorway. "We're ready to give it a go."
Mike glanced at Charles, who was standing slightly behind him at the entrance, then nodded. Colton, who was looking at the lieutenant, fixed her attention on the towel ring then, with all her might, threw herself backwards. The ring held as her backward momentum was abruptly interrupted and she began to quickly slide on the slick enamel. Steve grabbed her to prevent her fall; she laughed as he caught and steadied her.
With an embarrassed chuckle, she looked up at the lieutenant as she got back on her feet. "Let me try that again."
Mike nodded once, grandly, and gestured with his right hand. "By all means…"
She glanced back at Steve and smiled. "Want to do that again?"
"As often as you want," he laughed, flashing a cheeky grin towards his partner.
Colton looked at the tech with the camera. "Ready?"
He nodded. "I'm still filming…"
After a beat, she threw herself back again, with the same result. Mike stole a quick glance over his shoulder at Charles; the manager was looking downright relieved.
"Lieutenant Stone, I'd like to do it once more, okay?" Colton asked quickly. "I'd like to throw myself more downwards… you know, like she would do if she slipped and went straight down…?"
Mike nodded. "Sound good to me. Steve, are you okay to be her catcher again?"
The younger man shot him a reassuring glance and nodded. "I'm okay, don't worry." He punctuated his answer with raised eyebrows and a second nod.
"Okay, have at it," Mike said softly.
Colton hesitated for a beat then, both hands once again on the ring, threw herself down as if she was falling. The ring continued to hold and she slid frighteningly quickly towards the tile wall; Steve's arms shot out to grab her, enfolding her waist just before she hit the wall. It was so startlingly fast that even Mike had reached out automatically to break her fall.
Still in the inspector's arms, she looked up at the very concerned lieutenant staring at her worriedly. "Sorry, sir, it won't budge."
Mike began to chuckle. "Don't be sorry, Officer. You just proved what we've been thinking all along. Are you okay?"
She chuckled as she got her feet under her and stood up; laughing slightly as she slowly pried Steve's arms from around her waist. "Ah, I'm okay, Steve, you can let go now…"
The inspector looked up at his partner and chuckled self-consciously.
# # # # #
"You're sure you're okay?" Mike teased with a smile and a chuckle as he led them into the bullpen. "You had to do some pretty exhaustive catching there, and you're not a hundred percent yet, you know…"
"I'm okay… you can stop asking me…" the younger man replied snarkily as he drifted towards his desk. As Mike headed to his office, Steve shrugged his jacket off. "I'll head down to the M.E.'s office in a few minutes and see what Bernie has for us so far. What are you gonna do?"
Mike looked back as he took his hat off and dropped it on the coat rack. "Me? I'm gonna give the police department in St. Louis a call. If Turley is already thinking about suing the hotel, what are the odds, you think, that's he has a huge life insurance policy on his wife as well?"
"Oh, I'm liking them odds, Lieutenant," Steve chuckled as he headed out the door again, rolling up his sleeves as he went.
Mike dropped heavily into his chair and picked up the receiver of his black phone. As he called the switchboard, he mumbled under his breath, "Boy, I'm gonna enjoy slapping the cuffs on this guy…"
