The vivid images never left his mind as Steve walked the barren corridors of Claire Gifford's apartment complex, hoping to find more bits and pieces to the ever-growing puzzle that was their current case.
When he'd entered the building, every window and balcony of the impressive four story complex was filled with curious onlookers, taking in the scene of such heartbreak with the eye of a curious spectator watching a TV- show, seemingly not caring the least that two police officers had perished in a horrific, man-made explosion an hour earlier.
Husbands, fathers, local heroes; their deaths negated over pathological public interest.
Mike had instructed him to do some legwork, walk each floor of the apartment building, talk to everyone who might have seen something, anything that would help them figure out what exactly had happened to Gifford- and the diseased police officers.
In the meantime, the seasoned Lieutenant would stay back with Staff Sergeant Morris, taking over the Chaplain role as more law enforcement rolled in, more hearts broke, and a decision had to be made as to who would inform next of kin.
Steve knew that between his background with the Catholic Church, and his caring and empathetic spirit, there was no better place for Mike right now than to be exactly where he was, offering comfort and words of wisdom where pain cut oh so deep for so many of them.
His first trip had led him to Gifford's apartment, checking it top to bottom for signs of forced entry but finding none. There was no broken furniture or blood suggesting a struggle. If anything, the place looked eerily quiet.
Dishes had been done, bed made, an open book laid by the nightstand, an untouched coffee right next to it.
Leaving the place to the lab crew with little faith that their professional syndicate would be dumb enough to leave prints; Steve knocked on the neighboring two doors, not getting a response although he felt fairly certain that the tenants were home.
The third door yielded a response, when an elderly lady appeared beneath the chain lock.
"Can I help you, young man?", she asked with a raspy voice, her eyes looking him up and down apprehensively.
"I hope so…", Steve countered and fished his badge out of the breast pocket of his gray overcoat, "My name is Stephen Keller. I work for San Francisco PD. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions, Ma'am."
Studying his credentials intently for a few brief seconds, the lady nodded, then closed the door to undo the chain and let him in.
"I was wondering how long it would take you folks to show up.", she said as she walked away toward the living room, "My name is Sally Irwin. I've been living here for four years."
"Looks like a nice place…", Steve commented cordially and took in the dated furniture, the walls that were in dire need of a new paint job and a couple areas in the ceilings where bubbles had formed from water damage up above.
"It's alright for the money. Not too great, not too shabby. Something in between that my budget allowed."
With a quiet sigh, Sally dropped back into her love seat, then gestured for Steve to sit down on the adjacent couch.
"I won't lie to you, young man. That explosion scared me. Aaron next door said that…that there were still policemen in that car when it exploded. Is that true?"
"Unfortunately, it is true."
Steve found his own voice quivering at the haunting situation taking place down below, his grief mixing with guilt for having assigned the uni to keep an eye on Gifford.
"I am so sorry to hear that. I can't begin to imagine how that affects you as a police officer. Your job is hard enough as it is."
An uncomfortable silence spread between both of them as Sally stared at him intently, expecting some sort of emotional reaction that never came.
Instead, Steve kept his features guarded, never looking up as his mind continued to piece together what had occurred thus far.
"Misses Irwin, did you by chance hear anything strange right before the explosion? Voices of people you didn't recognize? Doors being opened? Cars coming or going?"
"Not that I can think of…", the older lady replied while kneading the bony fingers of her right hand, "I had just made some coffee and was getting ready to read the paper when I heard…when I heard that terrible explosion. It made the ground shake, the…the whole building shook. It scared me so much."
"I understand.", Steve said soothingly, giving the lady a few moments to calm back down before trying a different angle.
Ultimately, their conversation was destined to end when a knock on the front door disrupted the silence.
Sharing a brief glance with Sally who shrugged insecurely, Steve stood back up to answer the door, not surprised to see a Sergeant awaiting him.
"Inspector Keller, Lieutenant Stone is requesting for you to meet him downstairs."