"It was not unusual for Detective Graham to place his strong hands on young Inspector Hicks' shoulders, trying to convey support and friendship in a simple gesture that seemed benign to the credulous onlooker, but yet barely touched the surface of a strong bond formed after years of partnership, years of terror and angst, years of protecting that badge in their pockets with their lives…I think I am going to get sick."
"Keep on reading, Buddy Boy, just keep on reading…"
Swallowing hard as they crossed town on their way to the Hall of Justice Building, Steve tried to keep his composure, knowing that a furious outbreak was useless considering that Mike felt the exact same way.
"Few people were aware of that unusual friendship and those lucky enough to witness it knew it was a rare commodity in a world full of crime, hatred and death. The older, veteran Lieutenant who lived and breathed the streets of this town, pairing up with the young, idealistic war protestor turned Inspector. And yet, despite their physical and psychological differences, these two men shared a passion for law enforcement, for helping those down on their luck, for changing things for the better. Bonded for eternity, and willing to give their own life to save that of their partner, they roam The Streets of San Francisco in the cloak of their plain clothes, one facetious comment or charming grin at a time, unknown to most while closing murder cases and giving peace to so many. The straight-backed Lieutenant with a heart of gold and a fierce sense of protectiveness, and the attractive Inspector, a match that wasn't made in heaven, but at the 4th floor of the Hall of Justice Building downtown."
With a theatrical sigh, Steve put the paper back down; woefully realizing what would await them at their destination once word about the latest article got out.
"At least she said I was attractive."
Not acknowledging his half-hearted remark altogether, Mike steered the Galaxie through the heavy rush hour traffic down Bryant, his eyes stubbornly fixated ahead, as his mind attempted to deal with the multitude of challenges the latest situation had brought.
"I'm going to head straight up to Conden's office once we get in. I'll also take Rudy with me if he's around. This has gone too far. I am sick of reading bits and pieces of my private life in the San Francisco Telegraph!"
If Gifford hadn't gone too far initially when tackling their partnership, she had done so by now, meticulously analyzing their relationship down to non-verbal communication, hyper-emphasizing each gentle touch or nudge in the right direction, picking up on Mike's need for physical contact at all times and putting it out there for the world to see.
It didn't take a genius to realize just how much this overstep had not just infuriated the Lieutenant, but to an extent also hurt his feelings by disturbing his privacy, cheapening the meaning of those amicable gestures by putting them out there for the whole town to dissect.
"I ehm…I put a team on Willis' place last night too. And a trace on her phone.", Steve finally said, steering away from the aggravating subject in hopes of settling both of their tempers, "Records of the previous few weeks should get dropped off today. Talked to her manager but that was a dead end. I called Franklin Hospital to see if there's any way that we could get a record of any living person in this city who's missing a limb but I am running into patient privacy laws and they want a warrant, so I was going to grab one from Gerry. At least we could ask them if anybody contacted them about this…this replacement surgery. I just can't get that one question out of my mind…"
"The question about how Willis found this medical team willing to do the surgery?"
Mike never glanced over when he said that, focused entirely on keeping his temper at bay and navigating the Galaxie into the underground parking garage of the Hall of Justice Building.
"That'd be the one, yeah."
"I've been thinking about that myself.", the Lieutenant answered as the pulled the tan sedan in park, "While I am up at Conden's office, get with R&I and see if they can figure out what magazine and newspaper subscriptions she has. Maybe there was some…covert message in one of the small ads meant for people like her. It's gotta be something like that, something that's right in front of our eyes…"
"You got it, Lieutenant.", Steve answered flippantly, only to earn himself a warning glance.
"Keep a low profile upstairs and tell the guys to mind their own business when they try to poke fun at this…abhorrent article. I don't care how I'm going to do it, but I am going to put an end to this nonsense this morning."