Steve flinched when the smell of strong disinfectants filled his sinuses. Following Mike down the long corridor to the morgue, he let his eyes drift up and down the sterile olive tile walls. For the longest time, this place had filled him with anxiety, as if the presence of death would somehow cast a foreboding shadow upon him.

Lately however, Steve found it to be a place of answers to questions few were brave enough to ask. It gave him a certain sense of pride, knowing that his long nights and hard work made a difference in the lives of so many. It was a lesson Mike taught him early on- and one he wouldn't forget.

Without a warning, he found himself running into his partner's back, when Mike had stopped to open a door. Bouncing back quickly, he mumbled a brief apology before meeting the Lieutenant's stern blue eyes.

For once, Mike decided to remain quiet, although Steve knew too well that this incident would get filed away in one of the many intricate compartments of Mike Stone's brain, only to be brought up as supporting evidence of an argument later on.

Resigning to the inevitable fate, he ran a nervous hand through his hair and continued to follow his partner down the next corridor, before they came to a stop in front of a windowless pasty-green office door.

Looking up at the name tag, Steve knew they had arrived at their destination.

Mike knocked twice and waited for an acknowledgement from the other side, before entering.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't San Francisco's finest. How are you doing, Michael? ", Dr. Burkall noted and greeted them with a smile. Still wearing her white lab coat from this morning, she had tied her medium long brown hair into a small bun and rested her glasses on top of her head.

"Nancy.", Mike breathed in a tone that led Steve to believe it was a name he said many times before.

Maybe even outside of work.

"Doctor Burkall…",the young Inspector added and followed the Coroner's lead for both men to sit down in her guest chairs.

"I didn't want you to feel like I am rushing, but there were a couple of things I found that I didn't want to wait on sharing.", she explained and reached for a manila folder off her desk, "I already sent the finger prints and dental records…or what was left of them in Gino's case, over to your office. R&I should be able to confirm the findings shortly."

Mike nodded approvingly and leaned forward in eager anticipation.

"Here's where it gets interesting.", Scanning through the file, the doctor seemed to look for a specific picture as she continued her explanation, "I finished Gino's autopsy early because some of the findings need to get verified by our lab. With such severe damage to the body, the physical examination will yield limited results. We're currently doing some tox screens and I am analyzing the dirt we found on his shoes, just in case. Well, when I started to work on the other guy, the one you seemed to think was his bodyguard, I found…this right here."

Presenting an image from the neck of their body, it showed a rectangular shape that seemed to be burnt into the side of his throat. Mike took the picture and glanced at it for a brief moment, before handing it over to him.

Steve used his finger to trace the outline of the hollow rectangle, noticing the unusual size. Judging by the picture, whatever caused this wound was at least a couple of inches wide. The skin beneath the injury was dark blue and purple, as if a large amount of blood had gathered as a result.

"Is this what killed him?", Mike wanted to know and leaned back into the chair again, crossing his legs along the way.

"Primary cause of death, yes.", the Doctor confirmed and pointed at the side of her own neck, "This is an electrical burn mark. So whatever device this is, it seems to have caused enough of an electric impulse to blow his carotid into shreds. I will list the secondary cause of death as drowning, but truth be told, he was likely dead before he hit the water. Bleed-out would have occurred within a few seconds. He would have lost consciousness almost immediately."

"Two bodies almost next to each other, two methods of murder…", Mike mused as his eyes remained focused on the file ahead.

"Well, could it be that Gino was killed the same way? There just wasn't enough tangible evidence left to find the…the injury?", Steve suggested, only to earn the doctors discontented glare.

"First you put all the faith in the world into my line of work, then you double-cross me and doubt my findings, Inspector. You're young enough to be my son. Better start showing some respect for your elders."

Freezing in his spot, Steve waited for a cunning smile to appear on the doctor's face, indicating that her complaint wasn't as whole-hearted as it had sounded. Before he could even come up with a fitting apology, she cleared her throat once again.

"Believe it or not, I thought of checking on the very same thing. As a matter of fact, contrary to other parts of his body, Gino's neck was still pretty intact. But no sign of this device. And no sign of struggle either. If you were to ask me, he was unconscious when he was crushed to death. I am checking his skull for any trauma as we speak but this…well, it's a pretty delicate puzzle, if you get my drift."

"Yeah, we get the picture.", Mike interrupted and ran a hand down his blue vest to flatten it, "It still doesn't explain this scenario. Steve…let's head back to our murder scene again, see if we missed something this morning. Then let's get with R&I, confirm our findings before we shake Johnny a bit. We're going to have to dig into your Vice past a bit for that one."

"When you do, ask him how he pulled it off. Two men killed and no signs of struggle. That makes no sense to me."

Steve looked up at the Coroner's words, sharing the same unspoken worry his partner did. The local mobsters had long been known to get creative in their killings, but this was changing the game by a mile.

Then again, if Johnny was involved, it didn't surprise him much.

After all, during his time in Vice, they called him DeSoto Loco for a real good reason.