"Lieutenant."
Haseejian's deep voice dragged him out of his thoughts and Mike glanced up from his desk, before pulling the black framed reading glasses off his face to acknowledge his visitor.
Holding a thick folder in his hands, the broad smile on the Armenian detective's face suggested some headway.
Entering his office and closing the door behind him, Norm ceremoniously dropped the folder on Mike's desk and helped himself to a glass of water.
"Damian Michaels, age 23.", he began his plaidoyer, then stopped for a sip, "Currently unemployed, has a prior for malicious destruction of property three years ago when he tore apart a whole row of seats down at the Castro Theatre. Apparently, the DA's office didn't buy his explanation of being an eccentric actor living on the streets and having a meltdown that day. He spent a month in jail and had to pay back all the damages. Been falling off the face of the earth ever since."
"Anything in here that ties him to our murder case?", Mike asked and began to skip through the file, his trained eyes looking for the tiniest of clues.
"Not really. Grew up in the Inner Parkside District and went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Played football for a while, and had a traumatic brain injury when he was in 8th grade. That put him into the Special Ed program until he graduated. Interestingly enough, according to the records, he refused to use that injury for a more lenient charge later on."
"Mhm…We should check if Erin McMillan was his teacher at one point.", Mike suggested, a foreboding worry rising in his gut, "Your kid Darrings, he was 23, wasn't he? Could have known him through interscholaric events. He could have had motive to kill McMillan since his school was overlooked for the donations."
"No history of violence though, Mike. According to his school records, he's a dreamer, a peaceful one at that."
"Yeah, I see that. But believe me; even the most peace-loving person on earth can turn violent with the right motive…"
Stopping a few times hoping to find a connection to their strange acronym, Mike scanned the school records, then the personal information gathered before he went to jail.
"That ehm…brain injury could have something to do with his odd behavior too. Doesn't explain the connection to the twine of righteousness expression he's using though. I wonder where he picked up that line."
Following his glance toward the interrogation room, Haseejian raised his bushy eyebrows.
"You still got him here? Did you press charges?"
"Nope, I was just waiting on the R&I paperwork. He's free to go."
"Does he know that too?"
With a broad smile, Mike shook his head, then leaned back in his chair.
"Well, he didn't ask."
