"So what did he say?" Charlie asked when Mike returned to the room. The crime scene investigator was sitting in the desk chair, making notes on the hotel notepad; Steve was on the phone, standing between the beds.
The lieutenant chuckled as he moved deeper into the room. "Well, he wasn't too thrilled when I told him what we wanted to do, but when I mentioned it would probably save the hotel a massive lawsuit, he began to see the light. I just need to give him a shout when we have everybody here and then he'll let us into the other room."
"Okay, thanks, see ya soon," Steve finished the call and hung up. He turned to his partner with another scowl. "I don't see why -"
"No," Mike said firmly. "How many times do I have to tell you? You're not back on full duty yet… sort of," he said quickly when Charlie's head snapped towards them both, frowning. He cleared his throat and raised the cast on his forearm. "And neither am I," he confessed with an insouciant shrug. "And I don't want you to do anything to set your recovery back."
The analyst's frown deepened. He pointed at Mike. "I can see what your problem is, but what's wrong with him?" He gestured at Steve.
Before the younger man could respond, Mike explained quickly, "He's still stiff and sore from the… you know… the earthquake."
Charlie's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, I forgot you guys were caught up in that warehouse collapse. That sure was nasty," he muttered almost under his breath as he returned to his note-making. "Oh, ah, John is on his way here with the camera."
"And Bill'll be here as soon as he can, with his sneakers," Steve offered, frowning dejectedly, "I still say I could do it."
"I bet you could," Mike commiserated, "but you're not going to get the chance to try, not this time. I need you in one healthy piece."
Steve growled and shook his head, putting his hands on his hips and taking a short circular walk between the two beds. When Charlie had told them what he wanted to do, Steve had immediately volunteered and Mike had immediately vetoed him. After a brief, mostly one-sided, argument, they had decided Bill Tanner would be their best bet.
With a glance and a smile at his partner, Mike drifted into the bathroom. He was staring down into the empty tub when Steve joined him.
"So, ah, if this experiment of Charlie's works, what do you want to do next?"
"Well, I still want to wait for Bernie to finish the autopsy and I want to hear from the St. Louis PD, so Turley can cool his heels until at least tomorrow. Did you ask Bill if there were any messages from him or his lawyer?" "Yeah, there weren't. Maybe Turley and his Shylock are trying to figure out how to get her body home before we figure out what he did."
Mike chuckled, his eyes running slowly over the bathtub and the broken tile wall. "I think you're giving him too much credit. I think he's already convinced he has us fooled and he's just biding his time until he thinks we finished with him."
Steve grinned. "Yeah, maybe."
# # # # #
Forty-five minutes later, Day Manager Jonas Charles let the five men into the unoccupied room they had used for their first experiment. "Just so you know, Lieutenant, I have been on the phone to our CEO and, after I explained everything to him, and I do mean everything…" The dapper hotelier cleared his throat softly. "Well, he saw it your way as well."
Mike smiled. "I thought he might."
Charlie had stepped into the tub for a closer look at the towel-ring while Tanner sat on the toilet to change his shoes. After studying the ring and the way it was attached to the tile wall, the big man grabbed it with both hands and gave it a mighty pull. It held. With a slight smile, he glanced at the manager and smiled. "Your hotel is very well maintained, Mr. Charles," he chuckled as he got out of the tub.
Looking a little flustered, Charles nodded. "Ah, thank you. We try."
Charlie turned to his tech with the videocamera. "John, I'm gonna need you to get into the tub."
Everyone looked at him. Frowning, John moved closer. "In the tub?" he asked hesitantly.
Smiling, the big forensic expert pointed at the end of the tub with the showerhead. "Yeah, in the tub - that end."
"Okay," John said tentatively, carefully stepping over the side, wishing he was wearing sneakers instead of his leather-soled dress shoes. Mike looked at Steve and they shared a confused shrug.
Charlie looked at Tanner. "Ready?"
The black inspector got to his feet, grinning. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. What do you want me to do?"
The scientist beckoned him closer and pointed at the tub. As Tanner lifted his right leg to get in, Charlie grabbed his arm and stopped him. "No no no, not from in it…" He pointed at the ring. "From here."
Everyone else frowned. "From out here?" Tanner asked.
Charlie nodded. "Umh-humh. The base of the ring was bent slightly on the right side, and that wouldn't've happened if the ring was pulled straight down. So the pressure to pull it off the wall had to come from this direction."
The partners looked at each other and Mike raised his eyebrows. "That makes sense." He looked at Charlie. "We were trying to figure out how Turley could've gotten the ring off the wall without A - getting wet, or B - doing it before he killed his wife without her hearing him do it."
Steve snorted slightly. "I actually thought he might've held her under and drowned her, then drained the tub so he could get the ring off the wall and put it in her hand, then filled up the tub again."
Charlie looked at the young inspector with appreciation. "I like the way you think, Steve. That would've been a way to do it. Unfortunately the evidence points to the pressure coming from outside the tub." He laughed. "But good try."
Preening slightly, Steve grinned at his partner. Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head, chuckling.
"Okay, Bill, try to pull it off with both feet on the floor," Charlie instructed.
Nodding, Tanner wrapped both hands around the ring and pulled with all his strength but it held. He glanced at Mike and shrugged slightly. The lieutenant smiled encouragingly.
"Okay," Charlie said, his brow furrowing as he studied the ring and the wall again, "put your left foot on the edge of the tub, then rear back with all your might." He positioned himself behind the young inspector.
Taking a better grip on the ring, Tanner braced himself then, after taking a deep breath, threw himself backwards. The ring held but they could all hear a crunching noise that sounded suspiciously like a tile cracking. Tanner glanced over his shoulder at Charlie, who nodded encouragingly. Tightening his grip again, Tanner repeated the move; with a grinding pop, the ring snapped off the wall. Tanner tumbled backwards into Charlie with a loud "Hey!" then brandished the ring in his right hand. "I did it!"
"Yes, you did!" Mike laughed as he took a step closer to his inspector and slapped him on the shoulder. "Well done."
Laughing, Charlie took the ring from Tanner's hand and gave it a closer look. Almost immediately he held it up for the others to see. He pointed at the base. "Look here," he said with satisfaction, "this one's bent the same way as the other one." He glanced at the tile wall. "This is definitely the way he did it."
Grinning, Mike patted the scientist on the back. "Thank you very much, Charlie. You've just answered a lot of questions for us."
"Glad to be of help," came the deep-throated chuckle as he stole a glance at the hotel manager, who was looking a lot more relieved than when they had arrived.
# # # # #
Mike was almost whistling as the entered the bullpen and crossed to his office. Steve stopped at his desk, starting to flip through the pink phone messages as he took his jacket off. As he read one message, he lifted his head and his voice slightly. "I got a call back from one of my lawyer friends. Maybe he has some dirt on Turley's mouthpiece for me."
"Good," Mike called back, dropping his hat and jacket on the rack before circling the desk. He checked his own messages. "Nothing from St. Louis yet but I got a call from Neil and one from Washington." He frowned. "Well, I guess I have to wait to hear back from them…" He sunk into the chair. "Damn, I knew I shoulda picked up something to eat on the way back," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Steve asked as he crossed to the office door, his phone messages in his hand.
Mike looked at him almost guiltily. "I can't leave until I hear back from Neil and Washington, and I have some reports I have to go over tonight anyway…" He glanced at his watch. "Damn…"
Steve smiled. "Tell you what. Let me call my lawyer friend back and then I'll go out and get you something to eat. And then maybe I can get out of here in time to take Jennifer to dinner…?"
Mike grinned. "That works for me. Does that work for you?"
Steve's smile got a little wider, and a little naughtier. "Oh yeah, that works for me."
# # # # #
Mike drained the last of the ginger ale then dropped the can in the wastepaper basket. He adjusted his glasses slightly as he pulled the report closer, leaning over his desk, when the phone rang. "Homicide, Stone."
"Hey. Mike, it's Neil. Wow, I didn't expect you to be at work this late. How are you doing?"
"Neil. I'm doing great. How are things with you?"
"Busy, man, busy. There's a whole lot of new stuff going on, good stuff. Listen, ah, I won't keep you but I was wondering if you might have some free time in the next few days. I could use a hand. It's not anything labour intensive, I just need somebody to bounce some ideas off of and to help me pick up some stuff, you know, for the school."
"Ah, sure," Mike said, trying to figure out if he could do it. "Look, ah, Steve and I are up to our eyeballs in a case right now but we should be able to wrap it up in the next day or two. Why don't you call me back two days from now… that's be Friday, right? And I'll let you know. I might be able to take the weekend off. Would that do?"
"The weekend would be incredible. Oh, and I can introduce you to my new wheels," Neil laughed.
"You got the van?"
"Sure did. With insurance and everything. I'll tell you all about it when I see you."
"All right, Neil, look forward to it. Talk to you on Friday." He was smiling long after he hung up. It didn't take long for the phone to ring again. "Homicide, Stone."
"Lieutenant Stone, this is Benny Washington. You got a minute, sir?"
"You bet," Mike chuckled, taking off his glasses and tossing them on the desk. "How's it going out there, Benny?"
"Well, sir, that's what we wanted to talk to you about. I know none of us has checked in with you or Steve in the past couple of days, but that's because we haven't had anything to report. There's just been nothing happening, sir."
Mike frowned and rubbed his eyes with his left hand. "Yeah, that's what I figured. Have you seen them at all?"
"Well, between all three teams, we've seen Brother Samuel four times in the past ten days. The women we see more often but… well, nobody's done anything the least bit suspicious. And everybody in the neighborhood seems to love the Brother."
"Yeah, I hear you." Mike exhaled in frustration. "Well, Benny, let's persevere until the two weeks are up, okay?"
"You bet, Lieutenant."
"Thanks for checking in."
"You're welcome, sir. Have a good night."
"You too." Mike hung up then sat perfectly still. Were they wrong? Was Brother Samuel as pure as the driven snow like he seemed? He took a deep breath and let it out in a frustrated rush. In his heart he knew he was right, but the seed of doubt in his mind was beginning to grow.
