Even from a few feet away, he could sense the tension building up, hasty words spoken with strain and anguish in their voices, as the two men tried their best to regain control of the situation.
Mike saw the relief in Olsen's expression as the experienced Captain looked over and noticed him approach. The dark bags under his eyes and stress-induced wrinkles around his face made it look as though his friend had aged by a decade since arriving at the scene.
"Mike, I was just about to grab you two to give you a heads-up."
"At your service.", the Lieutenant answered dryly, a lot less enthusiasm in his voice than he'd tried to convey as he stepped next to the Comm Van, one hand on the frame of the white vehicles' back doors.
"We just got off the phone with a few of the larger police departments in this country, seeking out ideas on how to best approach the situation and find our killer. While we're gathering all the witness testimony and evidence, I assigned Tanner and Lessing to check all local banks and other institutions for camera footage. So far, we're not getting any descriptions from anybody, but people are…understandably in shock. Lieutenant Morris down in robbery has assigned all but one team to us to process the fatalities and handle the next-of-kin. In the meantime, we're putting a partial lockdown on the police station and downtown, I don't want people flocking there looking for answers and keeping us from doing our jobs. And we have a call into Murchison, he's obviously going to be in on this case, plus we'll have him on standby for any concerns as far as psychological counseling goes within the force. I approved your suggestion to talk to the local parishes, see if any clergy are willing and able to help talk to the survivors."
Nodding quietly at the information tricking in, Mike pursed his lips, the surreal scene ever so close to the ones he witnessed several decades ago at some godforsaken place in the Pacific. Back then he'd hoped to never see such bloodshed ever again, and yet, for some scary reason, it seemed to have followed him back home.
"I want you and Keller to get into the nitty-gritty of this. Talk to the owners, find out who had a motive to do this. It was obviously a targeted attack, likely a hate-related crime. Let the rest of the department handle the victims so that your full focus can be on the investigation. Talk to all your stoolies, canvass the street, do whatever you can to put a lid on this thing. If you need support, let us know. We're hoping by dividing up our force, it'll take some of the workload off your guys' shoulders so you can concentrate on catching the son of a bitch who did this."
During Olson's monologue, Mike's eyes had drifted back over to his partner, who still stood there talking to Hank, one hand on the other man's shoulder, his entire attention focused on somebody he obviously cared for a lot, and yet had never mentioned before this incident.
And no matter how much he trusted his best friend's judgment, Mike couldn't help but worry whether or not this rekindling had the potential to get in the way of a homicide investigation of massive proportions.