A knock on the doorframe made Mike's head snap up in an instant. Bypassing the usual protocol, Harrison stood by the entrance to his office, flanked by an anxious Steve.
"Roger.", he greeted in unmasked surprise and stood up from behind his desk, "Come on in. I didn't expect you to make the trip up here."
Fumbling with the files in his hand, the ME entered cautiously and slid into the guest chair with a sigh, stretching his long legs. Mike sat down across from him, and Steve closed the door before leaning against the gray file cabinet.
"Well, this particular one is a bit interesting. So I wanted to talk to you guys about it."
"You've got our undivided attention, Rog."
Mike's gaze intensified immediately, sensing that things were undoubtedly steering into the direction he feared they would.
"First of all, I established a couple of facts for you. He was still alive when he hit the water. Cause of death can be ruled as drowning."
When the ME hesitated for a moment, Mike cleared his throat, unable to hide his impatience.
"Tell me that's not the interesting part."
"Oh no…no." Roger answered hastily and shook his head, "The bruising on his face and torso, as well as the right side of his hip, indicated that he fell into the water at a rather… uncontrolled fashion. He didn't look like the bridge-jumpers I typically see coming in. I don't think he fell from a large distance either. Twenty, maybe thirty feet max. If I were to kill myself, I'd pick a higher spot to jump from."
"So, somebody threw him perhaps. Or he tripped and fell during a fight.", Mike hypothesized and leaned closer.
"That's possible. See, initially, I wasn't sold on that because of the lack of defensive wounds, but most importantly, I didn't find any signs of struggle once he hit the water. It's like he just went under quietly."
"So, you think he was unconscious? Could it have been from the impact once he hit the water?", Steve asked and crossed his arms over his chest.
"At that short of a distance, that would be hard to do. I mean, not impossible, but hard. To rule out an accidental knockout, I analyzed his brain, and I couldn't find any obvious signs of blunt force trauma, where something…or somebody could have caused him to lose consciousness. I will admit, it had become very…shall I say…liquid…so there is a small margin of error. But what I found next is what steered me to agree with you, Mike."
With a faint grunt, he reached into his files and pulled out two pieces of paper, handing one to each detective. Mike put on his reading glasses and quickly scanned the report.
"Is this from the lab? Can you translate it please?", he requested irritably, but added a smile when his gruff tone made the ME hesitate.
"This says that they found significant traces of detomidine hydrochloride in his system."
"Hydrochloride…isn't that a form of salt to allow for easier absorption in the intestinal tract?", Steve speculated and continued to study the report.
"Very good, young Inspector Keller." The ME applauded and received a proud smile from across Mike's desk," These salts are often used in conjunction with various medications. In this case we are dealing with a sedative. One for large animals only."
Both detectives stared back at him, their surprised expressions mirroring each other.
"Large animals? That's a new one.", frowning, Mike leaned back in his chair and returned his reading glasses to their spot on his desk, "So, we are looking at a homicidal veterinarian?"
With a shrug, Harrison looked back and forth between both detectives.
"It's possible, Mike. But honestly, anybody with livestock could have had access to this drug due to its widespread use. It is a controlled substance yes, but easily prescribed for anything from in-field wound treatment to livestock maintenance, even behavioral issues. You are looking at anyone who owns large livestock…or friends of people who own large livestock. Or friends of friends."
"Yeah, I get the idea.", Mike grunted and put the piece of paper back on his desk, "You think somebody injected him with the sedative and threw him off a bridge? That seems like a whole lot of trouble to go through if you wanted to kill somebody. Why not knock him over the head, then drown him?"
"Well, that's for you guys to figure out; I am just giving you my facts here. In my professional opinion, whoever did this could have been weaker, maybe not able to take on our victim in a fight. There's still a small chance for an accidental contact with the drug and somebody panicked and wanted to dispose of the body."
"How about an overdose? Could it have been a bunch of friends trying out the latest and greatest ways of getting high?", Steve pried before sharing a worried glance with his partner.
"Slim chance." Harrison answered confidently and turned around in his chair to face the young Inspector, "Steve, there are only two ways the drug could have entered his system; by injection or orally. I didn't find any injection marks. My guess is he ingested it, but normally the bitter taste would have given it away. I checked his stomach contents, but the results were a bit fuzzy due to the prolonged time in the water. There were small traces of ethyl acetate in there, commonly known as red wine. But the intestinal tract was too damaged to find out if they were ingested at the same time, possibly to mask the taste. At any rate, oral ingestion or injection doesn't change the outcome. Let's suppose he swallowed some of it. The drug wouldn't have taken effect for at least 20-25 minutes. Once it did, the sedation would have kicked in almost immediately, his heart rate would have slowed considerably, BP lowered...with the amount of sedative in his system, he would have lost consciousness quickly. No cheap highs, just a complete blackout. There are no reversal drugs for this, but with supportive care, he would have been up and about in a few hours without any lasting effects. "
"Except somebody didn't want him to wake up." Mike's frown deepened as he let his hands run over the lab report once more, "…and without the external trauma, it almost looked like an accidental drowning. I sense intent right there."
The three men pondered quietly for a few long seconds, before Steve took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
"Did the Coast Guard say anything about the currents? If not, I can give them a call shortly."
"Oh yes. I called my friend Frank. He said with the weather we've been having, the body came from up north. Maybe a couple hours out. Somewhere near Jenner or north of there."
"Hold on a second." Steve's eyes widened, his long fingers nervously fidgeting with the piece of paper in his hand, "Can you run the victim's description by me again please, Roger?"
"Sure.", with a quick nod, the ME backtracked a few pages in his file folder." Male. Caucasian. 5'8". I narrowed him down to early thirties. About one hundred-eighty pounds. I got the dental records if you need them."
Steve froze in his spot, deep in thought, his eyes focused intently on a random spot on the floor.
"Mike, I know who our John Doe is…hold on a second, I'll grab the file."
Without hesitation, the young Inspector rushed out the of the office and over to his desk, leaving the two remaining men in stunned silence.
"I've been watching you guys work together for a while now, and I really like this one, Mike." Harrison finally whispered with a smile and pointed his thumb back at the open door, "He's a quick study."
"You have to be in this line of work." Mike replied, a deep measure of pride in his voice, "Best partner I could have asked for. He does keep me on my toes though."
"The old Iron Mike isn't getting soft on me now, is he? That young blood will do an old soul like yours a lot of good, my friend."
Roger winked smilingly, immediately lifting the Lieutenant's spirits on that otherwise somber day. Mike was about to rebut when he saw Steve return to the office, his cheeks flushed in excitement.
"Glenn Malcolm. Thirty two years old. Last seen hitchhiking up north by Point Reyes two…eh…two weeks ago."
Accepting the file he offered, Mike began to comb through the paperwork until he saw the picture of a sandy haired young man smiling shyly at the camera. Knowing the answer immediately, he turned the photo around for Harrison to see.
"I'd say that's him. Now that I have a name to go on, I can compare the dental records to make a definite determination."
"I remembered the file because something struck me as really odd about the case.", Steve continued and nervously straightened out his tie against his plaid dress shirt, "It says that his mother is still alive, living in the Potrero neighborhood, father died in a car wreck a few years ago. He also has a sister, which is listed as the point of contact. She lives in Presidio Heights. What caught my attention was that it says specifically not to contact his mother for anything regarding his disappearance."
"Interesting." Mike leaned back in his chair and studied the young Inspector curiously, "So our…our Glenn Malcolm here…maybe he didn't leave on the best of terms. Family troubles perhaps."
"Correct. This was one of the first files I looked at, so I talked to Stan down at Missing Persons. He said that there'd been a fallout between Glenn and his mother shortly before his disappearance. They figured he ran away to be with friends up north. He had a license but didn't own a car. Maybe he didn't trust anybody to drive him to wherever he was going."
Beyond his usual carefree façade, Mike could sense a hint of sadness in Steve's words. It was the same sadness felt by that somebody who spoke from experience.
"Maybe it wasn't all friends waiting for him up north.", the Lieutenant pondered and bit his lip, "It's getting late, let's go ahead and split up so we can start talking to this Misses…Malcolm, as well as his sister. Why don't you take on the mother and I will see if I can roust his sister a bit. See if he had any friends that could have been a bad influence. Let's meet back at my house around 7."
Steve raised an eyebrow and looked at the Lieutenant questioningly, before an insecure smile spread on his lips.
"Why…why do I get the angry mother? You are much better at schmoozing up to these kinds of people. I could take on the sister instead, she's about my age. See if I can charm her into letting me talk to his friends."
"I bet you could.", Mike said and returned the grin, "But you are going to talk to the mother instead, Inspector."
Having his rank annunciated made Steve back off immediately. Swallowing his grievance, he breathed a tortured sigh.
"Somehow I feel like I am about to walk into the lion's den…"
Watching the exchange, Harrison chuckled light-heartedly, drawing the attention of both men his way.
"Steve, you gotta give yourself some credit. Nobody could stay mad looking at that angel face of yours.", he teased, much to Mikes amusement.
"Look at that, you got Roger hooked already, buddy boy. Just keep up the smiles. You will do just fine.", barely able to maintain his neutral expression, Mike slapped his partner on the back before pushing him out of the office, "Just remember to smile. Don't stop smiling. I'll see you at 7."
With one last indignant glance from his desk, Steve grabbed his badge and sportscoat and walked out of the bullpen.
"Thank you again, Roger. This was great work." Mike reiterated, his gaze following his partner out the door before he focused on the ME once again.
"My pleasure, Mike.", Harrison said and accepted the pat on his shoulder from the Lieutenant. "I gotta tell you, sometimes I feel like you guys get the raw end of the deal up here. I just deal with dead bodies. You guys have to handle the lives ones. They can still talk back."