They'd started right at the beginning; the day Steve had discovered Sullenger's lifeless body on the sidewalk; then moved on to the interesting assortment of characters that had littered the path of the late entertainer's life and death like a television-borne freak show.
The ex-wife, the obsessed head of the fan-club, the obnoxious ex-girlfriend; all the way to Andrea and Marietti, the latter being their last viable lead.
And as much as Steve wanted to put his faith in the Goat Tamer's guilt, there was something still bugging him about it. The same doubt he'd felt about the man late last night reemerged again during their discussion, no matter how much Mike reiterated that circumstantial evidence was pointing directly at him.
"Steve, your R&I report just came through."
Tanner's slim frame appeared by the door, a warm smile showing beneath his mustache.
"What R&I report?", Mike fired back before Steve ever had a chance to mutter a thank you, as the African-American Inspector handed him the file.
"I ran an R&I report on someone I felt was a potential lead.", Steve justified guardedly, sporting a wily smile as he scanned through the paperwork, looking for what his gut said had to be there.
With his partner staring back at him impatiently and grunting something he didn't understand, his eyes ran over the biographical data, then the service record, and the sole felony from eight years ago being aggravated assault in connection to a domestic dispute.
"I remember that one of the last things Andrea told me was that Sullenger had been dealing with depression after his divorce and that the quotas for the show weren't exactly stellar. It went along with what you said that…that the people on the set are depending on Sullenger's success. It's safe to say that his show would have possibly entered its last season this year, which could have cost many of the workers their jobs and thus would give a whole lot of people a great motive for murder."
"You're not after that knife-wielding fanclub lady again, are you?"
With furrowed brows, Mike took a sip of coffee, his eyes never leaving his young partner.
"No. Not this time around."
Handing over the open file, Steve interlaced his fingers behind his head, barely able to contain his excitement as he waited for Mike to pull the black-framed reading glasses out of his breast pocket.
"Eric Randolph, honorable discharge from the Army after a combat related injury. Looks like he took a bullet to the throat, almost killed him. He spent months in the hospital after the fact. After his discharge, he decided to join the entertainment circus…"
"…where he married the love of his life Sue Ellen, which he later divorced after a fierce custody battle over their only child. Ex-wife claims that in his rage, he struck her repeatedly, using household objects such as vases, bottles and cookware, a behavior that eventually ended in divorce and the sole custody of the child assigned to Sue Ellen.", Mike continued, as he read through the paperwork, "Ten years ago he was hired as a an assistant producer for Channel 9, a position that allowed him to grow into the role of executive producer for the…Roy Sullenger Show."
Pulling the reading glasses back off his face, Mike glanced up at his partner, a mixture of surprise and pride on his features, as he mirrored the smile.
"Will you look at that, Buddyboy."
"I figured that if the show tanked, then he'd lose his prestige. It would look as though he'd be partially to blame for its failure. However, with Sullenger's sudden death, it would provide a clean slate for him to continue his career. Call it a sick version of going out while he was on top."
"Going out is right. Without network-wide knowledge of the show struggling, it will be easy for him to land a new executive producer's spot."
"Plus, he has a history of violence, his exit psych evaluation from the Army listing him as compulsive, sometimes drawn to excessive behavior, somebody who likes to get his way."
Glancing back down at the file in front of him, Mike nodded slowly, his overactive mind digesting the new information.
"He could have tried to talk sense into Sullenger the morning of his murder. Perhaps he heard of his breakup with Coreen Smith, tried to convince him to keep the show going, possibly make some changes to revitalize it. Then the argument escalated. And Randolph resorted to doing what he's accustomed of doing."
"And it's just as possible that Sullenger had been complaining about Randolph and the pressure he put him under when talking to Andrea and Marietti. So in turn, Randolph kills Andrea and goes after Marietti to destroy the connection that makes him an attractive suspect. Would explain why we can't find Marietti. He might be floating in the bay somewhere."
"Yeah, that could be very true.", Mike said, his hands tapping a nervous rhythm against his desk, "Maybe that whack to the head did do you some good, Buddyboy."
With a sheepish grin, Steve pointed past his partner and toward the window overlooking downtown.
"Wanne pay this Randolph guy a visit? I drive."
"Who said you're off the hook from taking it easy?"
"Me finding an obvious clue you missed. Come on, you owe me that much."
Unable to resist that charming smile, Mike nodded faintly, a gesture that made his partner's features light up even more.
"Careful. You are going to be careful and stay back when I ask you too, is that clear?"
"Clear as mud, Lieutenant."
It took him a second to catch on, enough for Steve to rise out of the guest chair and grab his coat.
"Clear as…what did you just say?"