"So nothing on Roberts', eh? Not one single thing…"
The frustration in Mike's voice resonated throughout the whole office as both detectives looked at each other in growing unease.
"No priors. No suspicious behavior. Not even a parking ticket. I checked with Bay City Insurance to see what the reasons for his dismissal were and they said it was strictly a personnel cut to decrease payroll. Twenty other guys were dropped the year Jason lost his job. Had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of his work."
"Mhm."
Lowering the file in his hands back down onto the desk, Mike frowned for a moment and pulled off his black reading glasses to face his young partner, who was sitting in the guest chair.
"Okay. I guess it's just as possible that he's your regular, harmless weirdo who happened to ask suspicious questions during our…conversation. It's also just as possible that there's more going on in that household than what we're being told."
"We could do a stakeout…"
Steve's had voiced the suggestion hesitantly, as if even he didn't believe in his own suggestion.
"We don't have enough to justify a stakeout- not yet."
Falling quiet again, Mike drew in a deep breath and looked at his hands weaved on the desk.
"Tell you what, Buddyboy. Let's have Tanner talk to some of the Robert's neighbors over in Oakland, see if there's some dirty laundry that hasn't made it into files yet. If he doesn't come up with anything useful, I want him to talk to Martha Roberts' coworkers. There has got to be something, I can sense it."
Nodding in agreement, Steve absent-mindedly played with the pencil in his hand, before glancing up again.
"Nothing useful came back on your request either. So we're pretty much at a standstill. What are we going to do next, oh wise leader?"
Chuckling, Mike pointed his chin to the nearby clock on the east wall.
"It's still early in the day, how about we take a trip over to Las Trampas. With good traffic, it should take us three hours to get where we want to go. I'll call the Sheriff to let them know we'll be in the area."
With his eyebrows raised, Steve paused momentarily, as if to find the right words.
"You want to check out the site where this…this festival is? Why?"
"Because whether or not this…this apothecary was directly involved in Sarah Roberts' murder, whether he had intercourse with her or not, something tells me that he can give us some much-needed answers."
Hesitating again, the young Inspector never lost his frown as he glanced back up, a shadow of worry flooding his green eyes.
"The area is nothing but abandoned farmland, overgrown fields and forests. What makes you think you are going to find that guy on a whim? I mean, R&I couldn't even find anything on him. We have no address, no picture, no phone number. Not even a general idea where he might be or what his name is. Even if he does live near the campsite out in the middle of…in the middle of nowhere, he may not be there right now. What makes you think this will give us any answers?"
"A hunch."
"You are hunching on me again?"
"Mhm hm."
Nodding slowly, Mike pointed outside, where many of the rain clouds were slowly moving out of the Bay Area.
"It's about the only break in the weather we're going to get this week. I say let's give it a try. See if we can find any signs to this…this nudist hippie camp and it's questionable shaman out east."
