"Are you sure you're up for this?"
It was the third time Steve asked since they'd left headquarters. Watching the tan sedan make its way down Sunset Boulevard, Mike inhaled deeply before trying himself in a smile.
As his patience was wearing thin, so was his ability to offset his partners anxiety. He knew they had to find Chantal and do so quickly. But fretting wasn't going to change a thing.
Before leaving the office, he'd called Orelli at Child Protective Services, giving her a heads-up of the situation. He also advised her to mobilize any resources possible to find the girl before Dylan could. He'd be damned if another child would be hurt or worse in the wake of their case.
"My knee is fine. It's just a little stiff, that's all."
Steve didn't buy it, but knew him well enough to back off the topic. Instead, the young Inspector cleared his throat before running a hand across his freshly shaven face.
"You know, there's one thing about this whole case that still doesn't figure. The belt marks and the bruises to her face. You can't tell me that this Dylan character seems like somebody who'd beat her."
"No, I agree with you.", Mike said worriedly and pursed his lips, "He's a resourceful kid. That stunt he did on the tires…that was pretty good for a kid his age. Show's me he has brains. Enough brains not to beat a girl. But I sure am worried about what he will do to Chantal. Something happened for him to hang around that long and look for her. "
"Well, let's go over things again. Suppose her good-for-nothing daddy found out that she was pregnant and beat her as a result of it…", Steve began and Mike noticed the slight quiver in his voice, "And she flees to the city, finds a friend in Chantal, she ends up getting killed and now the boyfriend is chasing Chantal…I don't know, Mike. That seems like a lot of stuff bad stuff to happen all at once. Something tells me that we're missing a piece of information."
"We could always go back to Rhonda and ask if she had another vision…"
Mike's attempt to cheer up his partner didn't work when Steve glared at him in annoyance.
"You know, for being all about facts, you're putting a whole lot of faith into a woman who has done absolutely nothing to deserve it. I already proved her wrong once; I will keep doing so, if that's what it'll take to get her off your mind."
"You're just mad because she called you a tiger cub."
"I am mad about a lot of things, and that's one of them. But how I feel about this doesn't matter. What matters is that we need to continue to evaluate the information we're getting on this case very carefully. Because it's becoming more complex by the hour, and I am not liking that one bit. Our victim and her unborn baby deserve us doing the best we can to solve their murder and thoroughly check out every legitimate lead. We need to do better than to jump to conclusions based off what one woman said, who, by the way, did a real good job telling you everything you want to hear, Mike."
"You've become a hell of a cop in a few short years.", Mike said proudly, before turning his attention back to the beach houses and condos lining the road, "Let's just make sure that whatever we do, we have each other's back. This is a strange case and I don't like where it's headed either."
"Inspectors 81, this is headquarters, please respond."
Both detectives shared a nervous glance when the radio came to life. Mike reached for the receiver before clearing his throat.
"This is Inspectors 81, go ahead."
"Inspectors 81, we just received report of a Dylan Harris being spotted by a police officer near Noriega Street and 44th. Officer was in pursuit but lost the suspect. Request backup."
"10-4 headquarters, we're just a few blocks away. Headed that way now."
Steve turned on the sirens as Mike reached for the emergency light and placed it on the roof.
"Mike, how much do you want to bet that if we can find him, Chantal will be close by?"