The overbearing anxiety was back, worse than any other case before, engulfing not just his office but slowly creeping through every crevice and spreading like a wildfire.
He could see it in his detective's eyes long after Steve and Janine had disappeared, getting the attractive young woman set up for protective custody thanks to his urgent and passionate pleas in Devitt's office an hour ago.
Thankfully, the patrol unit in front of the young Inspector's house had been spared by the recent surge in murders, in fact both officers had been entirely unaware of the situation beyond noticing Janine leave in a hurry but following their order to stay in place and keep an eye on the apartment, not its inhabitants.
Why Janine chose not to approach them and instead drove herself to the Hall of Justice Building in a manic hurry would be for Steve to find out at some point.
With a deep sigh hidden behind the closed door of his office, Mike pursed his lips, eyes drifting over to the warehouse receipt once more, his mind starting to spin in circles at the idea of just how wide-spread this operation might be, and how many people truly were involved in its coverup.
A high stakes poker game where human beings were used as expendable objects for medical research, fueled by the despair of those who'd lost a limb, funded by blood money channeled through various offshore bank accounts.
And in the midst of it were two San Francisco Homicide detectives trying to put a stop to the mass murder.
Taking another sip of cold coffee to revitalize his overwhelmed senses, Mike sighed again, loathing the Brass meeting that had been scheduled for later this afternoon in light of the latest developments.
He knew that both Devitt and Conden would push to get the Feds involved by now, possibly forcing them to hand over the case altogether due to its grim and accelerating nature, two dead cops stood as a silent reminder of that.
Mike's deep brooding was disrupted when the phone rang.
Expecting anything from another missing person, a new homicide or a 10-20 from his partner, Mike swallowed hard before lifting the receiver.
"Homicide, Stone?"
"Talk about a tone of voice that can scare you from dozens of city blocks away. It's me, Mike…"
Feeling an instant wave of relief wash through his body upon recognizing Jeannie on the other end, he rubbed his eyebrows for a moment, trying to turn from homicide detective back to father in a flick of a switch.
"I am sorry, hun. It's been a long day. How are you doing?"
"I figured as much when I didn't hear from you about our dinner plans. The patrol car is still parked down here so I take it things aren't going well…?"
There was a slight disappointment in her voice, a welcome substitute for the unbearable worry she'd feel had he told her the whole truth about his haunting premonition that the game had changed, putting both he and Steve in the middle of the 3-Ring Circus that made up this messy case.
At this point, he didn't even have the heart to tell her about the murdered police officers.
"Something like that, yeah. I am fine with whatever you'd like to make, hun. If you need me to pick something up on the way home, I'd be happy to."
"Well, we are in dire need of tomatoes and also some oni-"
Mike glanced up when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Sekulovich stood outside his door, waving a small note in his hand.
With a slight nod of the head, Mike gestured for the Sergeant to enter, mouthing a quiet thank you when he reached for the note, identifying it as a call that had come into dispatch from Steve a few minutes ago.
According to it, the young Inspector had dropped off Janine securely and asked to meet him uptown at the Marino Motel on Lombard, hoping to check out another lead.
The prospect of a step in the right direction on a case that was quickly becoming too close for comfort made him momentarily blank out, wondering what Steve had come across in the past hour to change his plans.
Hopefully it was a strong enough lead to help them close this case once and for all.
"…and maybe some dinner rolls too, I think that should sum it all up.", Jeannie had continued undisturbed, completely unaware that he'd blanked out for several long seconds, "Thanks for grabbing all that. I will see you tonight, Mike!"