"You said you didn't see the attacker?"

Mike looked down at the pitiful sight sitting on the gurney in the back of the ambulance, waiting patiently for the technician to finish taking his blood pressure. With his free hand rubbing his eyes, Steve seemed decidedly upset and shook his head in disappointment.

"No. Like I said, we were talking. She was getting angry, tried to walk away from me. There were people everywhere, so if somebody was following us, well…it wouldn't have been hard to stay undetected."

"Mhm."

Pursing his lips, Mike glanced around nervously, trying to settle his own frayed nerves after a phone call that nearly made his heart stop.

With both Haley and Haseejian working the crime scene and helping Bernie in his initial investigation into Williams' murder, he had been able to give his partner some much needed undivided attention in a case that was growing more bizarre by the day.

Despite the tension of the previous night, Steve had been genuinely glad and relieved to see him, and they'd spent the past half hour making small talk, as the paramedics went about their fussing.

Outside, black and whites had cordoned off the area of the murder scene and were busy interviewing visitors about strange sightings, and whether or not they'd witnessed the attack. Midway through the commotion, news reporters had begun to arrive, causing Mike to pull in the troops for a moment, ensuring that no word about the murder or potential connection to the Sullenger case would reach the Channel 12 Van.

"You're all set, Inspector. Are you sure you don't want us to take you to the Emergency Room for x-rays?"

The technician was keeping his voice low as he pulled the blood pressure cuff off Steve's upper arm and made some notes on a patient chart nearby.

Despite the young Inspector's eager nodding, Mike tapped the EMT's shoulder, and gestured toward his partner.

"Is he going to be ok?"

"As much as we can ascertain out here in the field without further testing, Lieutenant. He took a strong blow to the head, but he's passed all our cognitive tests, his pupils are reactive to light and his vitals are within range. You'll want to make sure he gets at least forty-eight hours' of rest. Remove any stimuli like bright lights or excessive noise. Keep him hydrated and return him to full duty slowly. You'll want to avoid strenuous exercise for a few weeks too. If he were my employee, I'd have a doctor check him out to make sure, but I know you guys are flying by the seats of your pants at all times."

With a grateful nod, Mike returned his attention to his partner, noticing the slower than usual movement as Steve pulled the sleeve of his dress shirt back down, before turning around to grab his sportscoat.

"Here, let me get this for you, Buddyboy.", he said quietly and helped his partner into the beige coat, before reaching for his arm to help him off the stretcher and out of the ambulance.

Ignoring the large crowd of onlookers watching them intently from afar, snooping citizens with no respect for death or injury, he steered Steve toward the waiting Galaxy.

"So, he thumps you upside the head to get you out of the way, then all but caves in Williams' skull and walks off without anybody noticing…it must have happened incredibly fast. And it's interesting that he just killed her and not you. Not that I am not grateful…"

Steve nodded carefully and leaned against the trunk of the large sedan, squinting at the daylight, as he rubbed the bruise on the back of his head with a slight flinch.

"He had to have known where she was to plan the attack. She did say something about having an appointment before meeting me here. It's possible that she talked to our killer about it beforehand."

"Yeah. I think it's time we get a warrant and go over that place of hers piece by piece.", Mike noted, when he saw Bernie approach several dozen feet out, "Whoever killed her didn't want her to tell you something. And at this point, I am not so sure who else is left with a good motive to see both Sullenger and Williams dead."

"Steve. Good to see you up and about. How's the head?", Bernie asked genuinely as he reached the two detectives, a warm smile on his usually stoic features.

"I'll live. The same can't be said about our witness.", the young Inspector countered quietly, the disappointment and sadness about the incident radiating through each of his words.

"Believe me when I tell you that you are lucky to be alive, my friend.", Bernie added to his statement, before showing the detectives a rolled-up newspaper in his gloved hand, "Norm just found this in a garbage can near the murder scene. It has a steel pipe hidden inside, 2" diameter. That's what allowed the killer to move around freely without appearing suspicious. The newspaper softened the blow enough to avoid breaking your victim's skin during the initial attack, but he must have noticed that she didn't die right away and continued to strike her head. The third one going for the temple killed her instantly, but unfortunately also split her skull wide open. There's blood all over the sports section right here and on the top portion of the pipe where the paper folded back and exposed the metal. He may have discarded the weapon for fear of being seen once it became…compromised. We're about to give it to the lab crews but I knew you guys would want to take a look at it real quick."

Using a handkerchief from of his black dress coat as a makeshift glove, Mike grabbed the paper and held it up against the light, seeing and feeling the heavy pipe inside.

"What do you think, Bernie, amateur or pro?"

"Well, I am not entirely sure, Mike.", the coroner answered and crossed his arms over the broad chest that was hidden beneath his olive trench coat, "The attack on the female wasn't executed very well. It could have been that she'd seen him coming just like Steve said and started to turn around, trying to run away, because, the first strike went to the back of the skull. Looks like the second one grazed the top of the head, as if our attacker continued to strike as she was going down. Once she lost consciousness and fell down, he got her in the right side of the temple, causing massive bleeding in her frontal lobe and shattering her sphenoid, ethoid and zygomatic bones. She would have been dead almost immediately."

"So, what makes you think this could be anything but an amateur?", Steve asked and accepted the weapon from his partner with cautious hesitation, "Even though this attack was obviously premediated, it's clear that it was done so in a haste, possibly a crime of passion. Poorly planned and questionably executed."

"You are the reason, Stephen.", Bernie countered and leaned back somewhat, the top of his half bald head shining in the sunlight, "Had it just been one victim, the female, I'd have no doubt that we're dealing with an amateur here, but the fact that he knew just how much force to exert in his maneuver without killing you has me thinking otherwise. You see, this could have been a wooden handle wrapped up in newspaper like this and it would have still been easy to kill a human being with a single strike. The fact that he merely rendered you unconscious with a weapon far more dangerous than that has me thinking that he knew exactly where to strike you, and how hard. I don't think he wanted you dead at all, just out of the way. It may have been a coincidence that the lady looked up at the right time to see the attack coming, causing him to miss the vital areas on her skull for the first few strikes, resulting in the repeat attack. At any rate, considering the circumstances, it is incredibly delightful to see you up and talking."

Drawing in a shuddered breath, Steve met Mike's stern glance, both men sharing the same unspoken concern.

"Well, Sullenger was murdered with one strike, and if you are right, this…attacker had the capability of doing the same, except things went…awry with me being by Andrea's side. This tells me that he was in a panic mode, forgoing his previously calculated MO, choosing to kill her right here in public, taking a huge chance of being seen, and worse yet, getting between a cop and his victim to execute his plans. There had to be something he didn't want her to tell me under any circumstances, making him so desperate to justify his careless behavior."

"Sounds plausible, if you were to ask me. Bernie, how long for the autopsy you think?"

"I'd say about five hours give or take, Mike. Your guys are still going through the garbage out there, but if you want to speed things up, I can drop the weapon off at the CI lab on my way in so they can get started on fingerprints."

"That won't be necessary, but thank you very much.", the Lieutenant countered and pointed his chin toward his stricken partner, "We're going to head back downtown for a bit and then I'll take this guy here home with me. Three attempts on his life in one week is too much for my liking."

He could see Steve opening his mouth trying to protest, but silenced him with a stern glare that tolerated no arguments.

"Looks to me like you both could use the rest. That's quite the black eye you've got, Mike. Take care, guys."

With a warm smile, Bernie cocked his head to bid farewell, before spinning around on his heels and returning to the murder scene.

Looking down at the weapon in his hands, Steve sighed, undoubtedly reliving the attack over and over again in his mind.

"Somebody who's got enough experience to knock one person unconscious with this pipe, and kill another one with a single strike to the head using only a brick…that's precision work, don't you think? Almost seems like a combat technique if you were to ask me."

"I'm not liking it one bit but I know what you're thinking, Buddyboy.", Mike said and reached forward to grasp his partner's shoulder, "Let's get back to the office to get some warrants signed. I also want R&I to give me a full jacket on Marietti, see what that brings up. And I am going to call this Sheriff Whittecker back to see if he can drive out to the farm. If you're right, Marietti wouldn't be there yet, no matter how fast he drives. If I am right, he'll be up there petting ponies and gathering chicken eggs."