With his brows furrowed, arms crossed over his chest, Mike glanced back and forth between Steve and Kammers in unmasked curiosity.
"So, this is kind of like a kimono?"
"No, it's actually a gi. A…training outfit for martial artists, for lack of a better word."
The Staff Sergeant circled the small kitchen island where their latest clue was neatly laid out, positioning herself next to Mike, as she pointed at the belt.
"You see, the idea is to start with a white belt to show purity and a new beginning so to speak, and it grows darker with each rank you achieve, until you reach black. The black signals heavy use, dirt even, experience, many hours spent practicing. I can't tell from this gi which style she was practicing, but she wore a green belt, so she must have been doing it for quite a while. It would explain her muscle tone. Maybe some of her bruises even."
"Mhm…", pursing his lips deep in thought, Mike gently brushed his hand across the well-worn uniform, his fingers tracing the heavy threading, before he spoke up again, "It would explain a lot actually. We can narrow our search down to martial arts schools in the area and see if we can find out where she trained. We may also want to look into why Leanne thought she had to learn how to defend herself. Nice job, you two."
Much to his surprise, Steve raised his arms in defense, before shaking his head.
"It wasn't me. Staff Sergeant Kammers found the gi in the same closet we checked out several times. I just found the Bonsai and stared at it intently. Waiting for the clues to jump out at me. And that never happened."
With a wily smile, the young Inspector pointed his chin toward Kammers, who met Mike's surprised eyes for a while, before glancing off to the side, blushing slightly.
"Very well then…good job, Staff Sergeant. I am glad you came here with us."
Upon his gesture of goodwill, Kammers nodded faintly, unable to hide a relieved smile that lit up her typical stern features.
"I am glad I did too, Lieutenant. I can't wait to see what our research uncovers."
# # #
"Alright, alright, Cappy, you sure?"
Mike smiled as he held on to the phone receiver, his eyes following his partner as he returned from his trip to Bunko empty-handed.
"Yes, yes, I am still listening. You said Horus McPhearson is his name? And he teaches self-defense down on Van Ness near 23rd? Yeah…yeah, ok."
Reaching for a pen and paper, Mike rested the receiver between his shoulder and ear, as he scribbled down the notes he hoped would lead them closer to Leanne Harrison's killer.
"You said it's a bright red house? And he teaches out of his basement? Got it. Thank you so much, Cappy…no, you know I can't do that. No special treatment, you know that. You gotta sort that out with your parole officer. Alright…I appreciate it. Thank you!"
As he hung up the phone, Mike pursed his lips for a moment, his seasoned mind racing a million miles per hour at the new lead coming in.
It was a scenario they hadn't thought of before, and how could they?
A brief phone call to Bernie had confirmed that some of Harrison's bruises could have indeed been older, possibly dating a day or two back where the initial injury to the tissue was deep enough.
It also explained her physique.
But it didn't explain why nobody in her slim circle of friends and acquaintances knew about. Or why she felt that she needed to learn about self-defense and do so long enough to rise in rank, according to Kammers.
And with that in mind, it didn't explain why she didn't ward off her attacker, barely put up a fight.
That was, unless the killer was even better at martial arts than Harrison.
With a renewed sense of excitement, Mike got up from his chair and headed for Steve's desk, catching the young Inspector in the middle of dialing a phone number. When he saw him approach, Steve slowly lowered the receiver back down, then frowned.
"I hope that was good news…?"
"The best news we could have had after a day like today, Buddyboy.", Mike replied enthusiastically, the cheer in his voice attracting Kammers from the other end of the bullpen.
He waited until the Staff Sergeant joined them, before clearing his throat again.
"Tomorrow we are going to pay a man named Horus McPhearson a visit. He runs a small martial arts studio out of his basement over on 23rd. Class starts at 4pm. I say we check it out and lean on him a bit, see what he does."
"You think that's why Harrison didn't put up much a fight? He stopped by to see her? And with his additional knowledge, it wouldn't have taken much effort at all to kill her?"
Smiling in fatherly pride when Steve read his mind like an open book once again, Mike nodded.
"Did you find out what style of martial arts he teaches? Was he sure that Leanne was attending his school?"
Kammers' question was as sincere as it was relevant considering their finding, and the Lieutenant shrugged.
"My stoolie said that his class is geared toward women in light of the recent women's lib movement. He couldn't give me an exact style but says that McPhearson has been teaching martial arts for quite a while. The place is only a block and a half away from Harrison's apartment, even less if you add in the bar she frequented. I don't know about you two, but I feel we may have struck gold on this one."