"It just doesn't want to stop raining, does it?"
Taking a bite of his bacon and egg sandwich, Steve glanced through the large window overlooking 3rd Street, noting the deepening puddles between the road and sidewalks, that were occasionally drained by cars getting too close to the edge. And more than once since they'd sat down, an unlucky pedestrian ended up getting a shower from said maneuver.
"They claimed it won't let up until later tomorrow evening. They already cancelled a few flights out of SFO due to flooding."
Mike's random comment made Steve look up suspiciously, his senses telling him that there was a lot more to his words than what the Lieutenant led on.
"You've already talked to somebody at the airport, didn't you?", washing his bite down with some coffee, the young Inspector smiled confidently, and pointed his chin at the case file lying on the edge of their small table, "You were busy booking a flight to Indiana. Care to tell me when we're leaving so I can at least pack some clothes?"
Pretending to be offended, Mike put a hand over his heart, a distraught expression on his face as he ate another spoonful of chili, before answering.
"I think you're getting a bit paranoid on me. I haven't done anything yet. What's this? We work together for a couple of years and you act like some jealous housewife? Try to relax sometime, Buddy Boy."
"I am very relaxed.", Steve argued and finished his sandwich, then wiped his hands on the nearby napkin, "But I also know how your mind works and how you like to be two steps ahead of me. But you better watch out, I am catching up, Lieutenant."
They shared a hearty chuckle, oblivious to the curious sideways glances from the servers at the nearby waitress station, watching the unlikely pair with growing interest.
"So tell me, my young friend, what do you make of this case? Let's assume for a moment that it wasn't an accident…"
Reaching for his glass of fresh-pressed orange juice, Steve hesitated briefly, then leaned back in his chair and ran a hand across his blue-checkered tie in unmasked insecurity.
"Well…the murder method indicates strong feelings of hate, possibly betrayal. The ehm…suspect…went as far as beheading the victim, rather than just killing him with blunt force trauma to the head once he was down. This is clearly an anger-driven and well planned out act. There's also a certain symbolism in decapitation. Removing the face, the thoughts, the minds, so to speak, from the body by using excessive, physical force, such as a knife or saw…like Bernie said, it takes a while to sever the head from the body, so it wasn't a quick, impulse-driven act. It's really an intense, premeditated act of shaming, even de-facing the victim."
Steve hesitated when he noticed their waitress standing a few feet away, holding onto a tray of biscuits and listening to their conversation intently. Smiling at her awkwardly, he fell silent, causing Mike to turn around and take in the scene.
Caught in the embarrassing act, the young girl grinned back at the two detectives, before carrying on with her work.
"Isn't there any place we can go without you batting your eyes at the ladies?", Mike grunted and turned back around to finish his chili.
"Batting my eyes? I was talking to you about beheadings. I wasn't batting anything. She just stood there eavesdropping."
Highly amused by the bantering he'd started, the Lieutenant ate another spoonful, before shoving the deep bowl away from him and wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin.
"See, it's become second nature with you. You don't even realize when you're doing it anymore, Romeo."
Preparing for an emotional outburst but then thinking better of fighting a losing battle and deciding to fall quiet instead, Steve resorted to sipping on his juice, as he watched it swirl around in the tall glass, patiently waiting for the Lieutenant to finish.
"Well, for what it's worth, I think you are right.", Mike finally said as he drank the last of his coffee and reached for his billfold, "Somebody had it out for our guy. Hated him possibly. Bernie's tox screen should be in this afternoon, until then, let's see what we can find out about that…that processing facility. I want to be well prepared before we fly into Indianapolis first thing tomorrow morning."