"She Michael'ed you."
Steve decided to put his observation out there, interested to see how Mike would react. As both Detectives ducked the yellow crime scene tape that followed the length of the docks, the Lieutenant seemed unusually uptight about the situation.
Even though the wind died down somewhat, the earlier sun had been clouded over by a thick bank of fog that had moved in off the bay, causing the temps to drop and the damp air to chill them to the bone.
"I've known her for a while.", Mike responded dryly and came to a halt at the spot where Gino was crushed to death. Seemingly unwilling to let the conversation go any farther, he knelt down at the low spot where the remnants of blood were still visible.
"But she's a woman.", Steve insisted with a cheeky smile, earning him Mike's disgruntled stare, "…And she Michael'ed you."
From his position next to the Lieutenant, he could see his partner's head drop to his chest in annoyance, before he took a deep breath and stood back up.
"Nancy and I went to High School together. She was a few years behind me and we met during a basketball game one day. We became friends. She went on to go to college. I went to the Pacific. End of story. Are you happy now?"
Grinning even wider, Steve met his partner's eyes, trying to find the actual truth hidden behind a very elaborately crafted façade. The one beyond the plain words he'd used to describe a past Steve had yet to learn more about.
When he reduced his answer to a perceptive nod, Mike reached over and symbolically straightened out his jacked collar where the wind had blown it askew. Steve looked down and followed the motion, wondering if Mike briefly considered choking him out with his purple tie, when the Lieutenant's strong hands came to rest on his shoulders, squeezing them tightly.
"Where would I be without your great attention to detail, your deeply engrained need to meddle in other people's lives and your unyielding persistence, Buddy Boy?", Mike asked facetiously, as his hands kneaded away at his partner's shoulders, "Just remember to use those remarkable skills on your job every once in a while, too. As in…right now. Stop standing around and get busy looking for anything we might have missed. Get moving, Inspector."
Mike let go off his shoulders and pushed him farther down the docks, as Steve chuckled away.
Truth be told, he enjoyed working his partner's nerves every once in a while. If nothing else, it changed up their morose daily routine.
Leaving Mike behind, he walked down the dock to the small nearby warehouse that had since been cordoned off. Even though they had checked it out top to bottom, there was always a chance that the morning sunlight could hide evidence that the afternoon light exposed.
Straightening out his tie and briefly considering closing his jacket against the cold breeze, Steve followed the deteriorating concrete pathway to the large sliding door. With its skylights busted out and many of the metal sections of the roof showing daylight, he wondered when the building had been maintained for the last time. Then again, it made for an attractive and unsuspecting trading spot for the local drug industry.
Steve had barely made it past the large sliding door when a row of fiber shipping drums collapsed on top of him.