"Andre, do you know why we brought you here?"
Mike decided to stay back, letting both Gerry and Lenny take over, guided by a social worker on one side of the intimidated young man, and his mother on the other.
Like so many kids before him, Andre shook his head, pleading total innocence.
"It has come to our attention that you have been seen with a murder suspect in a recent homicide case. We have a witness who reported you hanging out with Albert Mulligan, shortly before Inspector Keller was kidnapped. Could you explain to us how you met Mister Mulligan in the first place and why you were seen talking to him yesterday?"
Gerry kept his voice neutral, his trained posture defensive to make his newest prime suspect feel more comfortable. Knowing that he was walking a tightrope each time a minor was involved in a capital crime; the ADA slowly, almost too slow, approached the main question Mike was dying to get an answer for.
Where was the hiding place?
"I had heard about him on the news…", Andre explained, his eyes unable to meet Mike's, "And I knew I'd seen him before. At one of the hangouts where I go to meet my friend Raul."
"And where exactly is that hangout, Andre?"
As previously discussed, Gerry was the one leading the interrogation, with Lenny as a backup in case a question came up involving any of the countless psychological factors in their current case.
"It's down by Stockton, by the old abandoned houses. There's a…a business there, like a small plant that went under and it's a big area where all the homeless people hang out."
Clearing his throat, Mike nodded in understanding.
"Gerry, that's the old Stockton Fabrication building on Stockton and Pfeiffer, by the middle school."
Again, Andre didn't make eye contact. Instead, his gaze was sternly focused on the ADA's light blue tie, watching it move as Gerry made some notes in his file. Next to him, Lenny was unusually quiet, his body language open and inviting, shoulders back, and a faint smile on his lips, as if to coerce Andre to trust him.
"Okay, ehm…thanks Mike…okay, so you hang out around there a lot, I take it?", when the young man nodded quietly, Gerry quickly continued on, "And during one of those times when you met with your friend Raul, you saw Mister Mulligan, is that correct?"
"Yes, Sir."
Exchanging a brief glance with Lenny, Mike pursed his lips, trying to contain his growing worry and impatience.
"During any of those times, did you contact Mister Mulligan?"
Nodding again, Andre let out a few sobs, before reaching over to take his mother's hand.
"And what did you talk to Mister Mulligan about, Andre?"
There was a long pause, before the young man glanced up, his eyes filling with tears as he finally met Mike's stern glare.
"I…I tried to follow him to his hideout one time, after Raul and I split up for the night. You know, to see where he was living. After I started the police program here and got to meet Lieutenant Stone, I decided that I wanted to become a cop, just like him. And because of that, I wanted to help the Lieutenant solve the case. I was hoping he'd…he'd train me to be a cop if I helped close his case."
Taking a deep breath at those words, Mike sighed, trying to keep his feelings well hidden beneath his crumbling façade.
"But instead, Albert…he double backed and caught up with me. And he cornered me in an alley and threatened to kill me if I don't help him find a good-looking young man for his…his girlfriend."
A tense silence filled the interrogation room as the implications of Andre's words became clear. Pursing his lips, Mike grunted, before facing the young man once again.
"So you told him about Steve. Gave him his name so that Albert could find him."
"I am sorry, Lieutenant. He said he wasn't going to hurt him…I am so sorry…"
Losing the battle against the tears, Andre leaned forward on the table, burying his face in the crease of his elbow and began to sob uncontrollably. As his mother reached down to hug him, Mike met Lenny's worried glance, before pointing his chin to his nearby office.
"Gerry, have you got this? We have work to do…"
"Go right ahead, Mike. Keep me up to date on Steve, please."
"You got it."
Patting the ADA on the back, Mike left the interrogation room behind without another word. Hurriedly crossing the bullpen, with Lenny on his heels, he entered his office, before stopping in front of the large map of the City by his desk.
"You've got something on your mind, what is it, Lieutenant?", the Psychiatrist asked, his brown eyes wide in anticipation.
"A hunch. Hold on, let me grab a pen."
With his mind going a million miles per hour, Mike reached for a blue felt pen from his collection mug, before approaching the map again.
"Andre said he's hanging out by Stockton and Pfeiffer, right here…", drawing a circle around the general area, Mike continued, "And Steve went missing right here on Lombard…and before that Al was seen on Green and Kearney…"
With Lenny following him intently, Mike added more circles of previous body drops, even the spot at Hunter's Point where the Galaxy was dropped off. Soon, a distinctive northwestern pattern became obvious.
"Now, would you say it is fair to assume that with the increased media attention, Al would stick closer to home? Maybe decrease the chance of being seen out in public?"
At Lenny's eager nod, Mike reached for a red felt pen, before redoing some of his circles.
"So let's disregard the sites of the body drops for a minute, because he very well could have moved the bodies farther away from his…his den, to mislead us. Let's go back to the kidnapping spots and the areas he's been seen at in the last forty-eight hours…"
As the Lieutenant continued his analysis, the red shaded areas between Bay Street to the North, Columbus to the east, Union Street to the south and the Embarcadero to the west became the obvious center of attention.
"That's still a hell of a lot of territory to cover, Mike.", Lenny cautioned and stepped closer, "That's a bigger area than what Steve tackled with his five units the other day."
"Not if you take something else into consideration…", being several thoughts ahead of the Psychiatrist, Mike smiled for the first time in what seemed weeks, "He mostly walks. That's how our stoolie saw him. And our black and white back near Union Street yesterday. And even Andre confirmed that just now. The only time he drives is when he kidnaps guys and drops off the bodies, right? Because that's the only way he can stay undetected. And even then, he never moves more than fifteen minutes by car away from our area here."
"Ok, you lost me now."
"Look at all these city blocks, look closely, and now see what they have in common."
Lenny stepped closer to the map, his face mere inches away, before he shrugged.
"I don't see it."
"Here, I'll show you…"
Reaching for his pen again, Mike drew a small weather wane into the map, with darts going into each of the four directions.
"See, Andre only filled in a few of the blanks for me. One question continued to burn in the back of my mind and it didn't get answered until I looked at the map. If we consider his previous behavior, we speculated that Albert was intentionally targeting Steve, but how would he have known where Steve was at the time? He had no way of knowing that. Even if Andre was his mole, at that time, the kid was right here in my office. So I couldn't figure out how he would have found out, unless…unless Steve unwittingly stumbled over him first."
Drawing a thick red circle onto the map at the corner of Stockton and Lombard, Mike turned to face the anxious Psychiatrist.
"If you look at this corner, by foot, it is only two, at the max, three city blocks away from every single incident we have come across with Albert. He could easily bridge the distance, plus he knows the area well enough to know where to hide if trouble arises. And Steve was all but dead center of our search area when he was kidnapped. He could have been just a house or so away when Al spotted him, ceased the opportunity and struck. As a matter of fact, if we follow his behavior pattern, I bet Al did a circle around the block with the Galaxy, knowing a witness had spotted him, before hiding it in a nearby garage. I told you back out on the streets, and I am telling you now, he is hiding somewhere along that corridor of Stockton and Lombard."
"Four city blocks to either direction, that certainly decreases our search area.", Lenny mused before smiling smugly, "Pretty impressive Lieutenant. Who knew there was a little psychologist hiding inside you."
Grunting in feign annoyance, Mike reached for his overcoat and fedora, before heading out the door.
"I don't need some fancy degree in a soft science like Psychology to use common sense. It's going on 8am, I will call in the troops and we're going to canvass the area top to bottom, abandoned houses or not. Come on, let's go, Lenny."