Happy Easter everyone. I hope you had to chance to spend some time with friends and family and enjoy the beautiful weather. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day for us so fitting this in real quick while I can. Take care!

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ACT II

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The percolator had called his name quite some time ago and yet Mike couldn't take his eyes off the thin R&I file of one Warren Thompson, the latest suspect in a strange twist of fate he couldn't quite wrap his mind around yet.

Leaning back into his couch, he took a deep breath, trying to ignore the bad gut feeling that had appeared since they'd received the distraught call from dispatch.

He didn't mistrust Joe Joplin one bit, that wasn't it. After all, he'd learned a lot about that man and his deep devotion to doing the right thing just a few months ago. Truth be told, he even tried to keep a certain young man alive a few years before that.

While Joe's ways of justice had been astray of common sense to some degree; it still showed what kind of a man he was.

Then again, apparently his matter-of-fact, hands-on approach toward solving the world's problems had also landed him an enemy.

Or so they were all led to believe.

However, this wasn't a cut-and-dried sort of situation; no matter how many times Mike looked at that file. Something was amiss, a piece of the puzzle that just didn't fit the picture regardless how many times he tried to make it work.

A phone call out of nowhere, years after the fact.

A man Steve didn't recollect seeing.

And no follow-up action so far.

As much as Mike loathed the idea of anything happening to Joe or his wonderful family; several decades in the police force had taught him early on that threatening phone calls always lead to a follow up, whether it be another phone call to intimidate the victim further, or some sort of action taken.

And yet, there'd been nothing thus far.

Maybe the guy dialed the wrong number; he thought to himself and smiled at the silliness of his reasoning.

At least tomorrow should bring more results from their various angles of investigation, also known as stabbing in the dark, hoping to find the needle in the haystack.

How far their blind reconnaissance would lead was for him to decide, knowing that this work was done as a favor more than anything.

Several levels down below the Homicide Department of the Hall of Justice building; there were ample people with plenty more time on their hands who would be able to deal with the occasional drunken-stupor-type threatening phone call that led to nothing more than ruffled feathers.

At the end of the day, that's what Mike's gut feeling told him they were dealing with.

Bless Steve's heart for digging into the matter swiftly, but he just couldn't refute some of the red flags that had come up early on in this discussion.

Why Joe? And why would this guy want to settle and old debt this long after the fact? Had he called other participants of the protest too? If so, why hadn't he called Steve? Was it because the young inspector had once again moved his phone into the sanctity of his refrigerator?

Exhaling slowly, Mike looked at the bowl of potato chips he hadn't even touched yet, mostly due to the fact that his thoughts had been drifting from one end of the spectrum to another when it came to Joe Joplin.

There was an oath he'd sworn quite a few years ago that had a lot to do with protecting the people in this city, and doing so with the highest level on integrity.

Whether or not that would cause some hurt feelings before everything was said and done was for him to find out soon enough.