A little quickie chapter because it's been a very monday-ish Monday.
"What took you so long to get up here? I called twenty minutes ago."
The half-hearted sternness in Mike's voice wasn't lost on his partner, as Steve passed Tanner's desk and arrived at his own, carefully draping the dress coat over his chair before entering the lion's den.
"Could you be a little more grateful that I am here in one piece? I almost got raped downstairs.", he countered in slight irritation and adjusted the Windsor knot on his pink tie, literally and figuratively giving himself more room to breathe.
"What in the world are you talking about?", Mike grunted mockingly and got up to close the door behind them, "That hot air downstairs giving you hallucinations? My partner almost got raped…what's next…?"
Deciding that the argument wasn't worth either one of their time, Steve sighed and slid into the guest chair, resting both hands behind his head and stretching his back.
"It sounded like you needed me up here…urgently?"
"We've got an ID on our victim.", Mike explained matter-of-factly and leaned up against the desk right next to him, one hand wrapped around his chest, the other one absent-mindedly playing with the collar of his bright red vest, "Missing Persons brought the file up. Sarah Roberts. She was reported missing two weeks ago. Her parents think she rode off into the sunset with a guy name Luigi to attend some sort of Hippie Camp up north. I also talked to Bernie again on the autopsy findings. That's where it gets interesting…"
Leaning into the chair, Steve studied the seasoned Lieutenant curiously, his mind racing at the new information trickling in.
"You were right about the thumb. He feels that it was ripped off during the crash and thinks it might still be underneath the car. Or scattered anywhere in San Francisco for that matter. I already alerted dispatch in case a call about a rogue thumb comes in."
"The intercourse…", Mike continued, upon his partner's eager nodding, "The intercourse was consensual. No defensive marks, no signs of forced entry, no rips or tears. "
"If they didn't use protection, this could have impregnated her. Maybe our killer wanted to prevent that."
"She wasn't on birth control as far as he can tell, but Bernie said she wasn't in the…the right part of her cycle.", Mike stumbled through the explanation and reached forward to tap his partner's chest, "Whether our killer knew that or not is a different story though. But we're not done yet. It gets better."
With his eyebrows raised in surprise, the young Inspector waited patiently for Mike to reach for his coffee and take an overdue sip, before clearing his throat.
"The tox screen came back too…", he then explained and returned his hands to his lap, "Seems like our Sarah Roberts was indulging in a lot more than just peace and love at that camp she went to…"
Intrigued by the cryptic explanation, Steve reached for some sunflower seeds in his pant pocket, his eyes never leaving his partner.
"She smoked grass?"
"And then some. How well do you know the California State Flower, Buddyboy?"
"The what?", chewing on his treat, Steve fell quiet for a moment, feeling the pressure of Mike's questioning eyes on him, "It's that…that yellow poppy, isn't it?"
"Very good!", the Lieutenant praised and reached back to retrieve the lab report, "Says here they found traces of both, the Californian, or Golden poppy also known as Eschscholzia californica in her system, along with trace amounts of Valerian."
"So it's a seeds and stems kind of Camp…", Steve mused and scratched his chin for a second, "Advanced narcotics 101. Depending on how much they found, she could have been so doped out of her mind that she never realized she had intercourse. Would explain the lack of defensive wounds."
"It's possible. Bernie did reiterate that at the time of her death she would have been reasonably conscious, and that the drugs were compounded in her system, meaning she-"
"She'd been doing them for a while…", Steve continued his sentence and stared straight ahead, eyes glued to skyline of downtown San Francisco, "Mixed with some grass, she could have been on a high lasting for days. Probably just came off it when she got back into town. So where is this camp?"
"Don't know yet. I've got Tanner putting out some feelers around the building. I was thinking you and I could hit up the streets, ask some questions, see if anybody in the scene has heard of a nudist camp that caters to the alternative user crowd."
"Did you just say nudist?", Steve said smilingly, causing Mike to reach forward and pat his cheek amicably.
"I knew you'd pick up on that right away, Smiley."
Standing back up and reaching for his black overcoat, the Lieutenant hesitated when Steve didn't move right away, a broad grin on his face.
"Suppose we find out where that camp is, Mike… do we get to go undercover?"
