"Hunh, so that's what Stockholm syndrome is…" Mike was staring into the void somewhere between the coffee table and the TV, frowning slightly, his lips pursed. He snorted a chuckle as he turned to the young man sitting beside him. "Well, it's a good thing one of us keeps up to date on that kinda thing." He reached out and patted Steve's knee again.
Laughing softly, Steve shook his head in affectionate despair. He inhaled deeply and carefully, well aware that he still couldn't take a full pain-free breath as yet but not wanting his partner to notice. "So, ah, do you think that's what maybe happened with Sykes'… women?" he asked, still not sure, like the others, what to call Brother Samuels' followers. Even after all this time they still hadn't settled on a term that satisfied everyone… or anyone, for that matter.
Dropping both hands in his lap and staring at the coffee table, Mike raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. He shrugged slightly. "Who knows, but it sorta does sound like it, doesn't it?" He fell silent for a long beat. "If it's true, it almost makes me feel sorry for them." He turned his head slightly. "What do you think?"
Steve made a face, looking down, and he shook his head slightly. "Well, it would explain a lot, wouldn't it? I mean, if they really didn't have anything to do with the murders, and they didn't even know about them… which is the way things are pointing right now, according to Norm and Dan… well, what other way is there to explain it…?"
Looking into space again, Mike nodded slowly. "Yeah. But what I want to know is… why does he have these women… following him to begin with? I mean, if he's not… having his way with them… sexually… or he's not abusing them in some other way…. Well, then, what kind of hold does he have over them?"
"Well, that's what the Stockholm syndrome is all about. Making people believe that… that a new reality, even one that's… detrimental to them… is the only one they can believe in…"
There was a brief silence as they both mulled this concept over then Mike looked at his partner again. "That's kinda scary when you think about it, isn't it? Being able to control peoples minds like that…. I guess we're lucky it's only small groups of people that seem to be… under a spell like that."
Steve snorted. "Well, that's not really true, is it?" He looked at the older man and raised his eyebrows. "How do you explain what happened in Germany under the Nazis?"
Mike's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. "Oh, jeez, you're right." He looked back down at the table again. "Goddamn it."
Another silence fell over the room as they let the weight of the revelation settle over them.
"Here we go," Haseejian announced as he led Healey back into the living room, both of them carrying two cups of steaming fresh coffee. As he handed one of the mugs to Steve before settling back into the armchair, he glanced at Mike. "So, ah, just so you know, Lenny is chomping at the bit to interview Brother Samuel's women at length. He wants to find out what makes them tick, why they followed this guy, you know… what kind of hold he had - still has, probably - over these women." He glanced at Healey and chuckled. "I think he has visions of a book somewhere in his future."
Healey rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his own coffee, once more back on the kitchen chair.
"You mean like that new book that just came out about the Manson Family?" Steve asked, looking from one sergeant to the other. "'Helter Skelter'?"
"Yeah, that's the one," Healey laughed and Steve nodded knowingly.
Frowning in confusion, Mike was looking from one to the other, his stare finally settling on Steve. "Like I said, it's a good thing one of us keeps up." The other three laughed.
Haseejian settled back in the armchair. He gestured towards Mike with his cup. "So, did Steve tell you about his little… escapade at the bodega that night?"
His brows knitting slowly, Mike's head swivelled deliberately in his partner's direction. "Escapade?"
After throwing a visual dagger in Haseejian's direction, Steve tried to hide behind his mug, taking a long sip and avoiding the intense blue eyes boring a hole into the side of his head.
Getting no response, Mike's eyes flicked towards Haseejian. "No… he didn't."
After an uncomfortably long second, Healey cleared his throat demonstrably. "Ah, Norm, I'd, ah, I'd like to step outside for a smoke. Why don't you join me?" He was staring at his partner pointedly. Haseejian, on the other hand, was looking from Mike to Steve and back again with a gleeful grin. Healey cleared his throat again. "Norm!"
Haseejian's head jerked slightly. "What?"
"Join me outside, will you?" Healey reiterated loudly, starting to get to his feet, taking his coffee cup with him.
The Armenian sergeant glanced at him, obviously annoyed, then froze briefly. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Oh…." He looked at Mike and Steve sheepishly. "Oh, ah, yeah, sure…" He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his cup and following his partner to the door. Healey held it open as Haseejian brushed past him, then threw an apologetic glance at the two men on the couch as he followed, closing the door behind him.
Mike turned slowly to look at the young man beside him again. "Since when did Dan start smoking?" he asked deadpan.
Steve snorted a laugh, shaking his head.
The older man chuckled, then slid to his left, a little further away, so he could turn and face his partner more comfortably. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. "So… what's this little… escapade you have to tell me about?"
Steve stared at him for a long beat then sighed. "Look, ah, I have a feeling my… story is a little longer than yours." He smiled. "Did you have a suspicion about Carol Stayner when you went looking for that baseball bat?"
It was Mike's turn to snort, the question catching him by surprise. "Ah, no…. No, I was just looking for nails."
"Nails?"
The older man nodded. "Yeah. Neil and I were doing really well putting those desks together, but we ran outa nails. We knew we were gonna have to go back the next day to finish up but things would be closed, of course, it being Sunday, so Neil said he knew a store nearby that sold them. So while he went out, I decided to check upstairs on the second floor."
"Carol wasn't there?"
Mike shook his head. "No, she'd gone out - to make a phone call or run some errands, I'm not sure. I just knew she wasn't there." He paused and stared at the younger man, his brows knitting. "I had no idea, I really didn't. I was up in the office, looking at the school supplies on the shelves, looking for nails, and I noticed the closet door was open. There were boxes on the top shelf and on the floor and some clothes hanging from the crossbar." He chuckled dryly. "The light was abysmal - there was only daylight coming in from the window, and I was just about to leave when I saw the knob of a bat." He was staring into space; he paused and bit his bottom lip. "It was like a lightbulb went off. I could feel my heart start to pound…" He snorted quietly, a soft smile curling his lips. "I used my handkerchief to pick it up and I took a step back so I could see the head of the bat in the light… I thought I could see blood but it was so dim I wasn't sure…" He paused and took a deep breath. "I put it back, exactly where I found it, and I started to back out of the closet… and I heard a sound…" He shrugged slightly. "I'm not even sure what it was, maybe a footstep on the carpet, I don't know, but I know I turned my head just enough to see something coming towards me and I got my arm up…" He shrugged again, pursing his lips. "I don't remember anything after that, until those flashlights in my face when you found me…" He looked at his partner with a small but warm and grateful smile.
Steve smiled back. "Thank god for that cast, hunh?"
Mike chuckled dryly. "Oh yeah…. the damn thing saved my life." He looked down at his left forearm, now unencumbered. After a couple of long seconds, he raised his head and let the blue-eyed stare pin the young man where he sat. "So that's my story, what's yours?"
Steve smiled. "Mine? Well, mine's a little more convoluted, I guess." He raised his cup to his lips and took a big sip, then nodded at his partner's mug. "Ah, you might want to drink that before it gets cold," he chuckled.
With a benevolent scowl, Mike picked up his cup and took a sip, then settled into the corner of the couch, bringing his right knee up onto the cushion and cradling the mug in both hands as he waited for the story-telling to begin.
Steve laughed. "Comfortable?"
Mike smiled smugly. "Very." He nodded once, deeply, as if giving the younger man permission to begin.
Steve chuckled again, then shifted on the couch, settling in a little more himself. "Well, like you I had no idea that Carol Stayner was involved in the Brother Samuel thing at all. But the FBI report had come in and I brought it home in case I had some time to start going through it. And I did. And that's when I saw that Benjamin Sykes had a sister named Carol, who married and divorced a guy named Stayner."
"Another one of those lightbulb moments, hunh?"
"It was a whole goddamn chandelier," Steve said with a mirthless laugh, shaking his head in wonder. "And I don't know if I was more shocked or… worried. I knew you were with her and I, ah…. Well, I called you, your house, and when there was no answer, well, I, ah…" He paused and looked down, exhaling loudly. "Anyway, I hightailed it over to the bodega -"
"You went alone?" Mike interrupted, trying to keep the alarm out of his voice.
Steve froze briefly, meeting the intense blue eyes for a silent beat before he nodded. "Look, I wasn't sure if you were still there or if you were on your way home… and I wasn't even sure of the exact address. I mean, I knew where it was but I didn't know the address and if I called it in and it turned out everything was fine and you were on your way home, and then everybody arrived lights and sirens, then we'd've tipped our hand and Brother Samuel and his… entourage would disappear and we'd have blown our case altogether." He stared at his partner as if daring the older man to contradict him.
Mike glared back for several long beats then nodded slowly. "What did you do when you got there?"
Steve relaxed slightly. "Well, the first thing I noticed was the place was dark and it looked deserted. I checked the door after I parked and the place seemed empty, and I was heading for a payphone to give your place another call in case you'd gotten home when I found your car." He paused, a tiny smile playing over his lips. "I checked out the local restaurants in case you and Neil were having dinner somewhere nearby but that turned out to be a bust…" He paused once more and looked down. He took a deep breath.
"Something didn't feel right," he started again after a long silent beat. "In my gut… something didn't feel right. I knew you were in trouble… and I knew I was the only one who could find you."
