Mike couldn't resist a sigh of relief when he watched his partner exit the restaurant and cross the street. Dressed in his light gray suit paired with a checkered blue tie and lavender shirt, Steve looked stunning as usual.
Unfortunately, he also looked horribly out of place for the scene of the quaint little town.
Exiting the phone booth, Mike slowly walked over to the Galaxy, his partner meeting him halfway.
"What did you figure out, Romeo?", he asked, just to received a wide grin in return.
"Let's discuss in the car."
They sat down in the Galaxy and Steve took a deep breath, before hiding Malcolm's DVM picture back in the breast pocket of his dress coat.
"He was here. That's for sure.", reaching for his notepad, Steve passed a few pages before finding the pertinent information, "The restaurant owner said she saw him a couple weeks ago, on a Friday. But that he was alone. There was nobody with him when he ate or when he went across the street to the motel. We should check with the front desk and see if they saw him."
"Already done." Mike cut in and shrugged, "She's giving us the run around. Says she can't remember him checking in."
"Well, the lady across the street did see him stay here. I asked her if he'd said anything about heading up to Paradise Ranch but she said no."
"Considering the attitude we are getting, how much do you want to bet he wouldn't have mentioned where he was headed."
Leaning his head back, Steve rubbed his tired eyes.
"So where do you want to start?"
"I am not sure yet. But here's another fun fact…", Mike said and nervously looked around, not enjoying the feeling of being watched at all, "When I talked to Rudy, he said that Roger found something else. When he compared the dental records, he found a chipped tooth."
"A chipped tooth? As in there was a fight?"
Mike nodded, his steel blue eyes scanning their surroundings.
"So here's the interesting part. Roger thought the chipped tooth was a fairly new issue. But there was no bruising on the body when we found it."
"You think it happened here- and there was enough time for the bruises to heal before he was killed?"
Steve bit his lip, as the nervous tension once again filled the Galaxy.
"We can't be sure. But let's keep this type of evidence in the back of our minds. You never know what we may come across…especially in a place like this."
When Mike suddenly fell quiet, Steve leaned over to see his partner look out the passenger mirror intently. Behind them, the owner of the breakfast restaurant was talking to a man in a black sweatshirt. Pointing at the Galaxy, the woman seemed to have an animated conversation about her findings. Steve didn't remember seeing the man in the restaurant earlier and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I noticed him this morning.", Mike explained, seemingly reading his mind, "He was heading to Richardson's Meat processing. How about we pay them a visit before he makes it down the road?"