Mike's patience had about reached its end when the door to the intriguingly decorated office opened once again. Taking his eyes off the posters displaying supposed UFO's dangling from the sky and elaborately colored maps charting secret military bases; he straightened out a little bit more in his chair, sharing a pained grimace with his partner, before facing the two young men dressed in corduroy pants and plaid sweaters.

The only thing missing from this stereotypical scene were the aluminum foil caps.

But Mike was certain they were around here someplace.

"You're ID's came back as legitimate.", Roy Delany, the taller of the two men said, "I am sorry this took a little bit longer. There's more red tape involved when verifying police badges…"

Mike sighed; the faint gesture duly noted by his highly amused partner.

"Our…chosen line of work requires a certain degree of personal protection and secrecy.", the Lieutenant mocked, only to watch the shorter Andy Williams shrug.

"We all have our reasons for secrecy, Lieutenant Stone. I am sure you learned all about that in the mid 40's when you were deployed in the Pacific, didn't you?"

Mike decided not to take the bait, but next to him, Steve chuckled in obvious entertainment, a wily grin on his face, as he shook his head. The two young men, matching the young Inspector's age, but not his level of maturity; shifted insecurely behind the large conference room desk, their paranoid behavior nothing short of comical.

"Come on Williams, that's R&I 101. Tell me you found more than that…"

"Very well…Stephen J. Keller…quite the colorful past you got there…", Roy answered for his friend, trying to appear unimpressed as he looked down at his paperwork, "Ivy League and High Achiever in the police force. The war Protestor who's partnered with the war Veteran. The youngest officer to ever be promoted to Inspector of Homicide…and you're paired with the seasoned Lieutenant Stone who has the highest crime solution rate in the department. You two make an interesting combo."

"We firmly believe that differences attract." , Steve continued mockingly, when Mike shot him an angry glare, desperately trying to get back to the topic.

"We didn't come up here to discuss any of this. Now, you two have done your research, it's time we get back to ours. We're here because we're after a killer, a potential ring of killers in the area. And your article about this Chupacabra, ridiculous as it may have been, tied into one of our cases."

"How's that, Lieutenant? You said one of your cases?"

Behind his five-day stubble, Mike could see Andy clench his jaw, trying to hide a sideways glance thrown over at this friend, who shared the same apprehension.

"That is correct. One of them. You reported on the disappearance of Emily Smith. It said in your article that her body was found in Clear Lake, missing her organs. Can you tell us more about your investigation on this matter and how you came up with the idea that it was a Chupacabra?"

Mike kept his face stern, even though Steve couldn't wipe the smile from his.

"Well, if you read the article top to bottom you would have-", Roy tried, but the young Inspector interrupted.

"We did. Several times…besides, the correct spelling for intermittent is with four t's total, not three. But yeah, we read it several times and found no references in there as to where you get your information from or what your train of thought was to come up with your…your explanation of what happened. Oh, and it's abstract…with a b, not a p."

"Your student file from Berkeley listed you as argumentative, resenting authority, ridiculing and downright disruptive when challenged with opinions that don't fit yours…", Roy countered confidently and took a deep breath to settle his nerves, "Listen guys, make fun all you want, but we wouldn't have San Francisco Homicide knock on our doors if you guys didn't believe our story that Emily Smith was killed…"

"It's not that we don't believe your notion that she was killed…", Mike countered, trying to prevent the conversation from drifting off too far, if Steve had his way, "It's the Chupacabra part we think is a bit shaky…"

"You think we should tell them?", Andy asked his taller friend, the mood in the office suddenly turning so serious, that even Steve lost his smug grin.

Upon Roy's faint nod, Andy crossed his arms in front of his chest, obviously uncomfortable about what he was planning to say.

"Well, Detectives, I know it might blow your poor idea of our magazine right out of the water but we…we use the term Chupacabra as code to communicate with others who are dealing with, or have dealt with a situation of people getting killed for their organs."