That Dreaded Phone Call

by Farmer847

He's the man everybody looks up to for answers and guidance. He's the first one to charge at the trouble ahead, and the last one to give up the fight. But what happens when our favorite Lieutenant suffers a crisis of faith? Faith in humanity. Faith in Police work. Even faith in his role of keeping the Streets of San Francisco safe.

10. Chapter 10

"The topic everybody is talking about this afternoon is the sudden death of local talk show icon Roy Sullenger, who was found dead on the sidewalk along 16th Street early this morning. Initial reports suggest that he was bludgeoned to death, but so far San Francisco Police Chief John Conden has denied any comments on the case pending a press conference later this evening. Sullenger, an avid humanitarian and Air Force veteran, was the host of his self-titled show "Roy Responds", a mid-afternoon talk show featured on Channel 9, that was in its fifth year of production. It is currently unclear what Sullenger was doing when he was murdered, although several witnesses told reporters that he was last seen at a local bar. Roy Sullenger was fifty-nine years old, and if the memorial set up at his place of murder is any indication, will be sorely missed."

With a sigh, Conden turned off the TV in his office and spun around to face his two homicide detectives, sporting a pained grimace they all shared.

"Some days I wonder if we ought to just have the press dig out all the witnesses we need to solve our cases…"

"You know how people get when there's a camera waved in their face, John. Suddenly, everybody knows something. They probably talked to the shop owners who showed up shortly after Steve found the body."

With his hands shoved into the pockets of his black dress pants, Mike leaned against the large file cabinet in the Chief's office, his partner flanking him on the left.

"What has me more concerned is how we address this thing with the press. Like you said, we have a broad range of suspects to consider here. Stephen, has Sullenger's manager gotten back with you yet?"

"He did.", Steve said and nervously shifted from one foot to the other, "Nothing out of the ordinary. There were a couple husbands angry that he talked their wives into divorce. One woman claimed that his advice of having an open line of communication with her husband resulted in a domestic dispute. The handful of angry letters he received were pretty stretched out, and sounded a lot more like complaints than threats. No repeat contact indicating intent either. A few women claimed that he'd fathered their children, so there may be an avenue in those letters we can follow up with."

"Gotta love these housewives watching their talk shows all afternoon and coming up with wild ideas on how to make a quick buck and sue others…", Conden grunted and helped himself to some coffee, "Well, I am planning on keeping things comfortably vague for now, until we hear back from the lab and toxicology. That may give us some more answers, especially in consideration of that leather jacket. In the meantime, I want you two to keep digging into Sullenger's past, see if there's something we may have overlooked."

With an understanding nod, Mike nudged for his partner to leave and was reaching for the door handle, when Conden cleared his throat.

"Oh, and you'd be well advised to leave through the parking garage tonight. The press has been camping downstairs all afternoon waiting for the two of you to appear."