He'd gone to bed shortly before midnight, following another quick phone call with Jeanie. And maybe it was this case that made him long to hear her voice more than anything else after a trying day.
But just like every time when their cases turned harsher than usual, the nightmares had come to haunt him, robbing him of sleep when he needed it the most.
At just after three, he'd woken up in a cold sweat, his active mind coming up with horrifying and grotesque ways to steal his peace. After a few minutes of hopeless tossing and turning, Mike decided to have a cup of water, praying that it would do both, settle his upset stomach from the late-night calorie-laden dinner, and put his mind at ease.
Tiptoeing through his living room, he couldn't help but stop at the couch, where Steve had finally succumbed to the exhaustion from their strenuous trip up north. With his long legs dangling over one end and curled up in a comforter Mike had brought over when he first fell asleep; the Lieutenant was grateful to see that at least his partner seemed to be far away in dreamland.
Then again, he knew that the one thing Stephen Keller didn't have any commitment issues about was sleep.
Making his way into the kitchen, Mike paused at the sink, putting both of his hands onto the counter as he leaned over and drew in a deep breath. Perhaps it was the time of the year that had him worked up more than usual about this situation, or the absolute and horrifyingly heartless greed their killers had shown through everything they'd uncovered so far; but for once, Mike was angry.
Angry at the arrogance of sacrificing one life while capitalizing on illegal organ trafficking. Angry at the selection of victims and the scarce amount of people who cared for them. And he was angry at Sheriff Watson, who, just like all of them, had taken the oath and yet consciously decided to ignore all the moral responsibility that came with it.
And while it was Mike's full intention to bring the man and his coroner up on charges before this whole case was done with, he had to force himself to focus on finding their killers first, men who had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they were both, very elusive and scarily efficient about their business.
But Steve had brought up a good point.
Twice now, their victims had risen from their watery grave, a misstep Mike felt certain wasn't planned.
The question was, what had gone wrong?
Opening his cabinet door and reaching for a plastic cup, he clenched his jaw in frustration at the sheer lack of respect for the value of a human life; a dreaded theme in every facette of this disturbing case.
He helped himself to a couple sips of cold tap water, before setting the cup back down and turning around to lean against the kitchen counter.
Sure, he was no doctor or paramedic, but even in his line of work, Mike's main focus was to protect the public and save lives. And perhaps, herein laid his deep boiling anger.
Taking an innocent human life was the most heinous crime in his book; but to turn around and harvest organs to profit off the killing was beyond comprehension. It tested both, his deeply rooted faith and his moral responsibility as a law enforcement officer.
It had in fact raised a very raw and primal hatred inside him he'd tried to shield both, his daughter and his partner from. But Mike knew that eventually and inevitably, as their case progressed, these emotions would boil to the surface. And when that happened, it would take all of his willpower to abide to the very oath he took when he accepted that badge, which included protecting all human life, no matter how despicable their character.
And at shortly after three on that somber morning, Mike wasn't sure if he would have the strength to stop himself from pulling that trigger when the time came.