Act Of Remembrance

Chapter 11

Ten minutes later Lee arrived back.

"Steve, I hope you like Reuben sandwiches. it was all they ..." and looking up he saw Steve asleep on his desk.

Shaking his head he headed over to Steve and satisfied that he was sleeping soundly, Lee decided not to wake him. Forty winks might just do him good. So he headed back to his own desk and returned to his typing. At five minutes past six a very disgruntled Mike Stone entered the bullpen, muttering wildly under his breath.

"Bureaucrats! Never seen a dead body in their lives ...Sit behind their big desks shuffling paper and talking politics ...Spare me!"

Then seeing Lee, he was suitably embarrassed.

"Never become a Lieutenant Lee! Monthly meetings! Torture that's what they are! Have you seen Steve?..." Then looking up he saw Steve asleep at his desk and stopped where he stood.

Lee saw Mike watching Steve and couldn't read his expression. Fearing that he might be mad at Steve for sleeping on duty Lee stood up and put a hand on Mike's chest.

"Mike! Don't be mad at him! He's been working flat-out on the case all afternoon. He's out on his feet. He hasn't even eaten! I told him to go home but he insisted on waiting for you to get back. I didn't have the heart to wake him."

Realizing that Lee had misread his expression and admiring the young detective's loyalty towards Steve, Mike reassured him

"Relax Lee. I'm not mad at him. I know how tired he is. He had a rough night last night. How long is he asleep?"

"Not more than twenty minutes." Lee said relieved that the older detective was aware of Steve's exhaustion.

"He hasn't eaten anything at all?"

Lee shook his head.

"I got sandwiches for us but when I got back with them he was already asleep. I got you one too!"

Lee reached into the brown paper bag and took out his sandwich and then handed the bag to Mike.

"Thanks Lee. Listen! You and Steve are good friends. Has he confided in you about anything that's been bothering him the last few days? "

Lee was slightly taken aback by the question.

"No. He hasn't said anything. Why do you ask? Do you think there's something wrong?"

"I don't know Lee. I just don't know. Something's been chewing on him the last few days but he won't talk about it. I don't think he's been sleeping too good either."

"Well, you know Steve as well as I do Mike. He likes to deal with his problems his own way. Things will work themselves out. He'll talk when he's ready to."

"I hope you're right Lee. I really do."

Just then the bullpen door opened once more and both men turned to see Stan entering. Seeing Mike and Lee, Stan addressed them both.

"Hey guys. Do you happen to know where Steve is? I have that information he wanted."

Both men smiled and pointed at Steve's desk. Stan looked at where they were pointing and saw the sleeping detective. Smiling to himself he spoke to the other two men.

"Oh man! I knew he was exhausted when he came to see me earlier. I guess his migraine didn't help either. Huh?"

Mike and Lee exchanged a worried glance. Mike was the first one to respond.

"A migraine?"

"Yeah, he had a bad one too! I gave him some painkillers cause his meds were back at his place. Anyway will you give him this for me when he wakes up please. I have to run. I'll see you."

Mike took the file off Stan, thanked him and watched as he left the bullpen.

Then turning back to Lee he spoke.

"Ok, that's it. I'm gonna wake him up and drive him home whether he likes it or not! "

Mike headed for Steve's desk and placed the file from Stan down beside the sleeping form of his partner. Then placing his hand on Steve's shoulder he very gently shook him.

"Steve! Wake up sleepy head. Come on now. Wake up."

Steve woke with a start and shot up straight wincing slightly as his neck muscles protested the strange position he had been lying in. Massaging the crick out of his neck with one hand and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the other Steve quickly realized that he must have fallen asleep at his desk and looked embarrassingly up at his partner.

"Mike! You're back! Sorry! I must have dozed off while I was waiting for you."

"That's ok. Come on! Grab your jacket. I'm taking you home."

"No Mike! I haven't waited this long for you to get back just for you to drive me home. I want to fill you in on the case. I think I'm close to solving it!"

"The case will still be here tomorrow Steve! You need to get some rest!" Mike said raising his voice a little at Steve's stubbornness.

"Mike! Please! I just want to go over with you what I came up with today! I'm ok. I feel fine! "

Mike shot Steve a look of exasperation. Steve in turn wasn't the least bit phased and in return shot Mike a pleading look.

"Come on Mike. What can it hurt huh? Fifteen more minutes. That's all. Mike? MIKE?"

Mike knew that he wasn't going to get Steve to go home until he had looked at what he had found so in that instant he decided to use the situation to his advantage.

"Ok hotshot! I'll make you a deal. I'll let you show me what you found out if you EAT something!"

Steve knew Mike had him bang to rights so he agreed.

"Ok. Ok. You win! It's a deal!"

"Bring your files into my office and I'll get us two coffees."

Steve made his way into Mike's office and in order to lay out his files on Mike's desk he first had to push aside the pile of clutter that seemed to be building by the day. Steve always kept his desk tidy and Mike normally did too but the current state of Mike's desk hit a raw nerve with Steve. So he called out to Mike.

"Mike! You're going to have to do something about this desk of yours soon. You want me to help you clear it?"

Mike felt bad enough about letting his paperwork pile up the way he had the last few days without feeling even more guilty about letting an already exhausted Steve clear his mess for him so he hurriedly dismissed the idea.

"Don't you worry about my desk. I'll clear it tomorrow like I said I would!

Then he poured two coffees, put two dimes in the tin, tucked the sandwich bag under his arm and brought the refreshments into his office. He put the coffees down and unwrapping the sandwiches he put one in front of Steve and one on his side. Then studying Steve closely he asked.

"How's your headache?"

Steve looked up in amazement at Mike totally at a loss as to how he could possibly know about his headache.

"How did you know I had a headache? You were at the meeting!"

Mike laughed at Steve's astonishment. Still chuckling Mike, explained to a puzzled looking Steve.

"Stan called ... He brought the file you asked him for. He mentioned your headache."

"Oh. Ok!" Steve replied smiling now too. "It's better thanks. Where did you put the file he brought?"

"On your desk."

Steve got up and went and retrieved it and as he turned to head back to Mike his phone rang. Mike watched from his Office as Steve picked it up and answered it. Mike struggled to hear what was being said and only picked up a few phrases here and there.

"Thanks for calling me back ... Hold on please until I take that down ... Is that a current one? ... You said that he has a girlfriend? ... Can you spell that please? Thank you. You've been very helpful."

Mike saw Steve writing furiously in his notebook and then he saw him hanging up, reading through the file that Stan had brought and picking up the phone again and dialing another number. As he waited for the person on the other side to answer he put his hand over the mouthpiece and shouted into Mike.

"Sorry Mike, I just have a phone call to make. I'll be back into you in a few minutes."

And with that someone answered and Steve turned his attention back to the phone. This time Steve seemed to speak lower and Mike couldn't make out any of the conversation. So instead he glanced at the other side of his desk and saw the file that Steve had prepared earlier. He always admired Steve's paperwork. The neatness and organized way he had everything paperclipped in the right order made him smile and also sent a pang of guilt through him when he compared it to the pile of clutter that was now stacked to the left of him.

While waiting for Steve to return he took a bite of his sandwich and took the first paper off his pile. It was a receipt for some dry cleaning he had collected a couple of days before. Shaking his head at it he scrunched it up and placed it in the wastepaper basket. Next a letter he had received from Jeannie a few days before. He smiled as he reread it and then assigned that carefully to the top drawer of his desk. Next a memo about those wanting to take early retirement. The cheek! Mike thought to himself and again scrunched it up disdainfully and filed it in the wastepaper basket. Little did Mike realize that the next small piece of paper he was about to pick up would have revealed the source of Steve's angst but just as he reached for it Steve came back into the office and drew his attention away from the task at hand. Seeing Mike sorting through his clutter as he walked in made Steve smile.

"Well I'm glad to see you've made a start on clearing that paperwork. You know what they say Mike, a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind!" Steve said wagging a finger at Mike and laughing.

"Hey, hey now! You're cruising buddy boy!" Mike said warningly but at the same time he found it hard to be cross with his young partner especially as seeing Steve genuinely laughing at anything was a rare sight the last few days.

"Alright wise guy, are you going to fill me in on this case of ours or would you prefer to catch the killer all by yourself?

"Ok, ok I'm sorry." Steve said still giggling.

Steve then spent the next ten minutes telling Mike the names of their victims,the history of the Black Widows gang, the case that Steve had witnessed five years ago that ultimately led to the break up of the gang and all the rest of the details that Stan had given him. Steve paused momentarily, as his throat went dry and took a big mouthful of his coffee. Taking advantage of the pause Mike spoke.

"Well, buddy boy I am impressed! You have been busy this afternoon."

Swallowing his coffee, Steve grinned wider.

"Oh the best is yet to come Mike! Wait for it! I had Lee ring San Quentin for me. Fernandez and Garcia are still serving their time, both model prisoners by all accounts. So I had the idea to have Lee check who's been visiting them lately. Now Rodrigo has been visited by his younger brother Javier every week and Armando has also been receiving brotherly visits at exactly the same time each week as Rodrigo. That is until this week when neither brother showed up. I'll give you one guess who Armando's mystery brother is Mike."

Mike's eyes lit up.

"Antonio?"

"You got it! "Steve said sitting back smugly in the chair and enjoying the fruits of his labour.

"How can you be sure they're one and the same? It's a fairly common name you know." Mike asked testing his younger partner as he frequently did to keep him sharp and on his toes.

"Now Mike! You know how thorough I am. I wired a picture of our victim to the guards at San Quentin and they gave me a positive ID. They're one and the same. So that got me thinking."Steve said beaming again and pausing for another sip of coffee to quench his parched throat.

"Go on buddy boy. You better tell me your theory before you explode!" Mike said having seen that look of satisfaction on Steve's face during many cases before.

"Ok, now it started as just a hunch but the pieces are falling together nicely Mike so just bear with me ok?"

"Ok! Go on before my cluttered mind gets too distracted!"

"Alright, well I got to thinking. Here we have two brothers who grew up in the shadow of their older brother's gang. You know how younger brothers are. They often look up to their older siblings. They probably even thought that what they were doing was cool. So I checked the Juvie records and lo and behold Javier and Antonio have been in trouble together more times that you count on both hands since they were ten. Mostly petty stuff, picking pockets, shop lifting , car theft, joy riding. That sort of thing. Anyway it struck me that both of these guys came of age over the last month. With the big brothers out of the picture for the foreseeable future and rumours flying that someone was bragging about reforming the Black Widows, what if it was our boys deciding that it was their turn to carry on the family tradition. Now it seems plausible to me that as Armando was the second in command last time it would be only reasonable to assume that maybe Antonio felt it was time a Garcia took the reins this time around. You with me?"

Mike had been leaning back his chair and listening closely to Steve's enthusiastic theory.

"So you think Javier wasn't too keen on the idea and did away with Antonio so he could be top dog huh? That's your theory?"

"Think about it Mike. Javier went missing the exact same day that Antonio was killed. I rang his parole officer and no-one knows his whereabouts. I'm telling you Mike, Javier is our man. Forensics found the murder weapon. They're checking for prints as we speak. I'll bet you a meal in Mamma's that when they call back Javier's prints will be on it !"

"You're pretty convinced it's him aren't you buddy boy? I'm not so sure. Your theory is plausible but it's very thin on the evidence side. Most of what you suspect is pure conjecture. No, my money's on Esteban Gonzalez. He couldn't get the Black Widow's leaders five years ago because they were safely locked up so maybe he heard about the Black Widows reforming and went after the brothers instead. That would explain why Javier has made himself scarce too. Especially after he heard about what happened to Antonio."

Steve's mood deflated a little at Mike's lack of enthusiasm for his theory but nevertheless he remained convinced about Javier's guilt. Mike could see he that he'd curbed Steve's new-found enthusiasm and feared that he might cause Steve to be depressed again so he quickly intervened again before Steve's smile had a chance to fade.

"Now I'm not saying your theory is wrong. I'm just saying that we should keep our options open and not put our eggs in the one basket. Do we know where Gonzalez is?"

"No. He fell off the radar about three years ago so to speak and according to Stan, the Barracudas disbanded just after. The last known sighting of him was out in Oakland so I rang Oakland PD and asked them to check if they had any information as to his whereabouts. They're gonna ring me back."

"Well I'm really impressed buddy boy. You've really done your homework on this one! Mind you, you had it easy, let me tell you! If I had to listen to that hard nose Skowlownowski one more minute I'd be up for murder myself !"

Steve laughed as that image popped into his head.

"If I knew you were considering that I would have come up and helped you!"

Now it was Mike's turn to laugh but his laughter subsided as he caught sight of Steve's untouched sandwich. Eyeing up Steve crossly, Steve saw Mike's expression change and wondered what he had suddenly done to cause the change of mood. Under Mike's glare Steve became uncomfortable and so he asked.

"What? What's the matter?"

"I thought we had a deal?"

"A deal?" Steve asked puzzled and then as he followed Mike's gaze to the uneaten sandwich he remembered. He was kind of hungry but at the same time the droopy sandwich didn't look that appetizing. Seeing Steve's look of disdain as he eyed up the sandwich Mike read the young man's mind.

"Don't worry it tastes better than it looks! Now go on! You're not getting out of here without eating it!"

Steve knew that Mike meant every word so reluctantly picking up the sandwich he brought it to his mouth as his stomach churned and protested. Before he got to take a bite, Steve's desk phone rang and with relief written all over his face, Steve dropped the intact sandwich back on Mike's desk and bolted out the door to answer it. Mike rolled his eyes to heaven at the bad timing of the phone call.

Again he struggled to hear the conversation which barely lasted five minutes but when Steve hung up and appeared back into the office he was beaming from ear to ear. Mike looked questioningly at Steve.

"That was Oakland PD. Looks like my theory is looking good! They pulled the body of Esteban Gonzalez from the bay yesterday evening. He was shot through the back of the head with a 32" calibre! Coroner over there puts his time of death as yesterday morning sometime! They're going to send us over the reports when they're ready."

"Yesterday morning! Well that kills my theory! That means he was dead hours before Antonio!"