"Man oh man, remind me never to eat that spicy Italian chicken again. All I can taste is garlic, onions, vinegar and basil…", Steve complained half-heartedly as they headed west on the unusually empty Geary Boulevard.
"Tell me about it.", Mike countered in feign annoyance and reached for another piece of gum in his coat pocket, "That's all I've been smelling all morning. It's coming out of every pore of your body. Here, have some more gum before you wake our dead body with that smell."
Gratefully accepting the foil wrapped offering, Steve cleared his throat as he slowed down on a red light.
"Well, being that he was found on Marshall's Beach, there's a chance it's a floater. That close to the Golden Gate Bridge, could be a holiday hopper. "
"Don't call them that."
Glancing over at his partner disapprovingly, Mike clenched his jaw, dreading the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's, when suicides spiked significantly around the area. He'd never known what it was that drew people to the Golden Gate Bridge, but sadly enough, it had become a very iconic spot to jump to one's death.
"So…eh…is Jeanie going to bring the boyfriend with her, when she comes to visit next week?", Steve pried, trying to improve the solemn mood filling every crevice of in the Galaxy.
"I was going to ask her that when I talk to her tonight. I don't want a man sleeping in the same bed as my daughter…under my roof, nonetheless."
Steve chuckled, unable to hide his amusement over his partner's apparent lack of trust when it came to Jeanie's relationship.
"What? You think this is funny?", Mike grumbled and glared at the young Inspector.
"Absolutely.", Steve countered laughingly and held his belly, "You've ran that guy through R&I how many times? You pretty much know more about him than your daughter does at this point…and you still don't trust Jeanie around him?"
"Trusting my daughter with a man she met in college just two years ago? No."
Shaking his head, Steve chewed away on his gum for a while, his eyes drifting across the deserted road ahead, the heavy dew forming on the cars parked along each side of the boulevard, lights being turned on in some of the houses along their nightly route. It seemed that other than a few stray cats, they were the sole travelers on that early Christmas morning.
"Well, Lieutenant, from a purely investigative standpoint-", Steve began, before bursting out into laughter again.
"Purely investigative? Funny that should come from you, Smiley. Remind me again why I should listen to parental advice from a guy in his thirties who can't retain a relationship for more than a week…"
"Think about it that way, Mike…", the young Inspector tried again, catching his breath in between laughs, thoroughly unaffected by the Lieutenant's attempts to get him to change the topic, "You could keep a much better eye on him while he's at your house. Can't do that if you make him sleep halfway across town…"
"He most definitely couldn't come close to my daughter if he wasn't allowed into town to begin with…"
"Aw, come on now, you gruffy old man…", Steve teased and tapped his partner's arm, "You're going to spend the entire holiday season fretting about this guy? You honestly think they would do something in your house that they haven't already done on campus?"
"Oh geez, will you get your mind out of the gutter. This is my daughter we're talking about here!"
"She's not five years old anymore, Mike! She is a young woman. You can't protect her from life forever."
Steve's reminder caused a familiar sting in his heart as Mike pursed his lips, leaning back in the Galaxy as they swung north onto Lincoln Boulevard. Falling quiet for many long moments, it was the young Inspector who finally broke the silence.
"For what it's worth, I am heading up to Tahoe next weekend for the New Year's Eve party. If it's easier on everybody, they can stay at my apartment. Right now, it's about as sparsely furnished as a hotel room."
"And have my daughter and her boyfriend overnight in the proverbial love shack?", Mike countered, this time a faint smile appearing on his lips, "That's ok. We will see what she says tonight. I knew this had to happen sooner or later."
A few yards ahead stood a black and white with its lights on, waiting on their arrival. Steve flashed his brights a couple of times, and watched as the other car did a three-point turn before heading down a side street toward their body.
"Well, you know it could be worse…this whole thing with Jeanie…", Steve hinted as he followed the patrol car down the bumpy two-track.
"How's that?"
Holding on to his fedora as if he was afraid it would fall off amongst the shaking and rattling caused by the plentiful assortment of potholes, Mike looked over at his partner, who smiled cheekily.
"What if she had a cop for a boyfriend…?"