Mike returned to the office after a quick lunch stop at Harvey's Hot Dog stand.
His morning had been a flurry of meetings and court appearances, leaving the leg work of the Malcolm case on his partner's shoulders. Turning around the corner, he entered the homicide bullpen, automatically scanning for Steve. When he was nowhere to be found, Mike steered towards the lonely soul manning a desk during lunch break.
"Tanner, have you seen Keller?"
The African American Inspector looked up from his report, his warm brown eyes watery from too much research.
"Hey Mike…yes, he stopped in not too long ago. I think he went to grab some lunch. Should be back any minute."
Nodding in gratitude, he headed toward his office and shed out of his overcoat and fedora. With a tired sigh, he slid into his chair, trying to move on from the usually busy morning and return his focus to the perplexing murder case on his hands. Scanning through the notes on his desk, he made out a handwritten piece of paper on top of the sizeable pile.
And he knew too well whose handwriting it was.
"Mike, got the bar. And then some. Be back at one."
Checking the nearby clock, he was satisfied to see that it was quarter to one. Busying himself for the remainder of the time, Mike shuffled through his notes of missed called, until he saw the outline of a beige sportscoat in his peripheral vision. Steve stopped by his desk to reach for a file, before heading straight into his office.
"How was your morning?" the young Inspector asked genuinely, as he slid into the guest chair.
"How about I don't bore you with the details." Mike offered and pointed at the file, "What have you got?"
"Well, I eh…I spent most of the morning with the guys down in Vice. There are a surprising number of gay bars in the area, so we narrowed it down to the most likely ones."
Handing the Lieutenant a map of the northwest side of town, Steve pointed at the two red dots. Both were close to the apartment complex that Glenn Malcolm was last registered to live at.
"I asked them if they had heard of a Ludwig, and believe it or not, he's a popular name around Vice."
Reaching into his file, Steve retrieved a DMV picture of a thirty-something man with a heavy tan and receding hairline.
"Two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Two counts of distribution, but he got off on technicalities. They know he's grown to be a busy little player on the southside. Mostly cocaine. He just recently has been seen hitting up the gay bars on the northside though."
"Mh…mhm."
Leaning back in his chair, Mike crossed his arms before meeting his partner's gaze again, "I guess that explains why he didn't want to be on the missing person's report."
"But it doesn't explain the large livestock sedative in Glenn's system." Steve countered and ran a tired hand through his wavy hair.
"No…no, it doesn't. But let me ask you something about your time at Vice, Steve.", receiving his partners full attention, Mike leaned forward on his elbows and clasped his hands, "How hard would it be to lace cocaine to add some sedative? Possibly replace the cocaine altogether?"
Steve pondered the question for a while, but then shook his head decisively.
"The market is constantly changing, so I guess it could be possible, but it still doesn't add up. There were no signs of previous addiction and Malcolm doesn't fit the profile of the typical user. Suppose this Ludwig wanted to kill him, he could have easily done so with the cocaine itself, no need to taint it and go through the extra work. The guys downstairs also reiterated that he doesn't have a history of violence at all. More like a happy go lucky kinda guy."
"Do they know he is gay?"
Mike's question made his partner hesitate for a second before shaking his head.
"No. I …I didn't ask. I guess I just assumed that they knew being that we were talking about gay bars. I'll go back and check with them.", clearing his throat momentarily, Steve straightened his maroon tie, "I also checked out Glenn's apartment. Like we expected, it was pretty scarcely furnished."
Mike nodded in acknowledgment and reached for his coffee cup.
"He was a man on the run. Mostly from himself, I would bet."
"Now, the interesting thing I found was a ton of stationary material for letter writing. I think Glenn had a pen pal. But I didn't find any response letters and he was pretty secretive about the letters he wrote as well."
Frowning, Mike took a deep breath before answering.
"Meaning he either led a very one-sided relationship, or he did receive responses and the letters were so important to him that he took them along on his trip up north. It'll be hard to tell just what thoughts he was sharing until we find his pen pal."
"Now wait a minute though, what about Ludwig? You don't think those letters were addressed to him?"
Mike brought his gaze back up, then shook his head slightly.
"Buddy boy, those two years of psychology classes you took, what did they teach you about happy-go-lucky small-time drug dealers and their choice of communication?"
Smiling sheepishly, Steve rubbed the back of his neck.
"You don't think those letters went to Ludwig. You think there's another player? Maybe Glenn had an affair?"
"That's possible. Or maybe he found his soul mate. Maybe he had an old friend up north. I won't jump to any conclusions until we talk to this Ludwig guy."
"Sounds good. I'll go and double check with the guys to see if they have a record of him being gay."
Getting up from the chair, Steve reached for the file again, ready to leave for Vice, when Mike called him back.
"Want to bet what the answer will be?"
"What? You don't think he's gay?"
Shaking his head assertively, Mike stood up slowly.
"I think that Ludwig is busy building a network of mules to grow his market share on the northside of town and put on a good show convincing Glenn that he's his best friend. And I think that Glenn was looking for understanding and acceptance; but instead, he walked into a web of lies. And dollars to doughnuts, our third player has some sort of connection to either one of them and lives up north."
# # #
Ten minutes later, Steve returned to his office with a victorious smile on his face.
"They say he's straight as can be. Got a list of girlfriends and hookers longer than your phone number, Mike."
With a satisfied nod, Mike got up from his chair and reached for his coat.
"I had a funny feeling."
"Well, he could still be bi-sexual." Steve suggested when he returned the case file to his desk, causing a few raised eyebrows amongst the other detectives.
"Yeah, well maybe. I think it's time we ask him ourselves."
Grabbing his fedora, he joined his partner out in the bullpen.
"What? Now? You…you want to check out these gay bars now?"
"Why not? You got a schedule full of appointments, Inspector?"
Steve shook his head and hesitantly reached for his sportscoat. When he saw a flash of unease cross his partner's face, Mike gently squeezed his arm.
"Just relax. It can't be worse than visiting Misses Malcolm."