When their conversation reached a standstill, Mike excused himself a moment to check on his partner's progress and, for his own personal reasons, put some distance between this case and himself.
Elvis Lindstrom had always been a man of such grace in the face of disaster and personal tragedy. To this day he remembered having to walk up the stairs to his house in Elmwood and deliver the sad news, along with the Fire Chief at the time. Seeing a good man like him go through such a tragic loss once again, was beginning to raise his ire.
Much to his surprise, Steve was still standing by his phone, elbows parked on his desk, back arched and holding both, the receiver and his head low. As he approached, Mike could see him rub his temple in agitation, a sure sign that things weren't going too well.
"Yes, ma'am, if you could tell him to call me back as soon as possible, I'd appreciate it. Thank you very much…yes, thank you!"
By the time Mike leaned up against Steve's desk in silent solidarity, the young Inspector hung up the phone in frustration, running a hand across his chin before straightening back out and facing the Lieutenant.
"You won't believe this Mike, I swear…you will not believe this…"
Resting his hands calmly in his lap and smiling when all he wanted to do was frown; Mike hoped to channel his partner's irritation into something more productive.
"Tell me anyways, will you?"
Steve grunted, running both of his hands through his wavy brown hair, before resting them on the back of his head. With a deep breath, he looked back over at his partner, allowing the Lieutenant's calming body language to settle his own senses.
"So…I talked to this Sherriff Watson. The reason we didn't stumble across his report on the body they found was because their Coroner filed it under a drowning accident. And because they've been so…gasp…busy up there, he hasn't had a chance yet to enter the death into the database, so her name never popped up in my research."
"A drowning accident? Wait…what? Why? Because she was wound up in the propeller?"
"Pretty much. Her wallet was still in what was left of her pants, so that's how they identified her as Emily Smith. I asked him if they'd seen any incision marks on the body, like the ones we'd seen on our victim and he did admit that there was something, quote on quote, funny about the body. The coroner filed those findings in his report, including the fact that she was missing some organs, not as many as our guy, only her kidneys, heart and lungs…and yet he blamed those injuries on the propeller incident and ruled primary cause of death as drowning. He cited the incisions and lack of organs as results from the impact with the propeller as well as scavenging activity. Apparently, when they found her, all that was left of her body was a crumpled-up mess of skin, clothing and tissue small enough to fit into a 16-gallon tote…"
Mike couldn't resist a frustrated chuckle himself when he heard those words. Shaking his head, he tapped Steve's chest before pointing at the file on his desk.
"Did you ask them to send us a copy of that report? I want that along with every single picture they have. Anything that might help Ed figure out if there's a connection."
"Man oh man, what do you think I've spent the past twenty minutes doing? I am already two steps ahead of you, Kemosabe…", Steve mocked, the cheeky grin returning to his tired features, "I've got a call into their coroner's office requesting the file, plus I gave Ed a headsup. On top of it, I am having R&I help me look into any other drowning deaths over the last six weeks that could be related. Seems like our killer prefers this method of disposal, so it's time to dig deeper."
"Look at you, Smiley, you have been busy…"
Grinning in appreciation, Mike patted his partner's cheek affectionately, before pointing at the interrogation room still holding Elvis.
"Listen, eh…let me finish up with him. He said that he has the keys to Lewis's apartment. We should check it out to see if there are any clues. And tomorrow, let's plan on a road trip up north. There seems to be a distinctive pattern developing there and I want to check out the area, see if we can come up with something that could get overlooked from us staring at maps all day."
When Steve nodded in agreement, Mike couldn't help but shudder at the strange twist their case was taking.
"Besides, I think it's time we try to find out if these guys in Lucerne are really that stupid…or if somebody is paying them off to cover up their organ operation…"