Steve sighed, having a hard time returning to his previous level of concentration as he worked through some paperwork they'd gathered in preparation of hearing back from Cappy- at any moment, hopefully.
And yet, the phone remained stubbornly still long after the paramedics left and the cleaning lady mopped up the rest of his blood, erasing the last of the evidence from their afternoon gone rogue.
In between sips of coffee, he'd stolen a glance over at the interview room, where Mike was having an engaged conversation with their latest mental case, adding on to the broad spectrum of interesting characters that Roy Sullenger's murder seemed to attract.
Absent-mindedly running a hand over the bandage that concealed the latest attempt on his life, Steve grunted in frustration, hating the idea of sitting here and waiting for a phone call. Although it beat running oneself ragged chasing after questionable leads, he felt a certain sense of ineptness and irritation in what Mike referred to as "patient diligence".
The door to the interview room opened again, and a gruff command for Art to "Book her" reverberated throughout the bullpen, signaling that maybe even Mike's patience had reached its limits for now.
Managing a faint smile, he watched his partner cross the office and head toward his desk, arms dangling loosely by his side, unmasked irritation mixed with the exhaustion that undoubtedly was running through his body after the beating last night; an event that still caused Steve to harbor feelings of vindictiveness, even though he should know better.
"It's nice to see you've got some color back in your face, Buddyboy.", Mike said, attempting to sound a lot more cheerful than he looked, "Paramedics got you all put back together?"
Steve nodded, waiting until his partner sat down in the guest chair by his desk, before clearing his throat.
"Yep, I am going to live. No stitches. Hopefully I can get rid of the bandage in a few days too."
Smiling approvingly, Mike drew in a deep breath, and shook his head.
"Look at the two of us. You'd swear we just walked out of a gang fight."
Running a hand across the black eye on his left, the Lieutenant leaned deeper into the chair, his mind beginning to drift, causing his partner to tap his forearm to keep his attention.
"What'd you get out of the…ehm…the Chairwoman of the Roy Sullenger Appreciation Committee?"
"Oh…her? Well…she just handed us the whole case on a silver plate. What were we thinking not deputizing her?", the high pitch in Mike's voice was followed by another frustrated headshake as he pointed toward Steve's phone," She said that Sullenger actually had a girlfriend. And that they were seen fighting the night of the murder, and that he did buy her that leather jacket we found. I am going to have R&I look into her for us, and we should get an address and talk to her."
"Mhm…you have to admit, it's a lot more than what we had before she tried to bleed me out."
Following his statement with a cheeky grin, Steve wasn't surprised when his partner threw him an angry frown, the left hand on his desk tapping a nervous rhythm.
"We have yet to establish whether Miss Miller's statement is indeed true, or if it is some fiction, she and her…club members came up with to make themselves feel important. Fanaticism in every aspect of society can make people do the craziest things…as we have seen. So, let's be sure we check it out thoroughly."