Barely three hours after leaving, they returned to the Homicide bullpen once more; this time, with a decidedly worse attitude.
Trying to ignore the thick bandage on the side of his head, courtesy of a morning gone awry, Mike was heading straight to his office when he saw Hassejian rise from his desk, then pointing at the ugly reminders of the Dancy incident.
"Didn't I just-", he began, only to be cut off by Steve, who threw a stern glance at the Armenian detective.
"Not today, Norm.", the young inspector cautioned, struggling to keep up with him as they headed straight to the office, hesitating when he noticed the person sitting in his guest chair.
"Rudy."
Mike's voice was strained, the events of the morning wearing heavily on his heart, the undeniable sense of defeat weighing down his soul more than usual.
The captain seemed to share some of the sentiment, his stern expression softer as he watched him enter, never getting up from the chair, one leg crossed over the other, his right hand tapping a nervous rhythm against the desk.
"Michael. I heard what went down. Can't say that I saw that coming."
Cocking his head at Steve as the young inspector sat down and busied himself with missed calls, Mike stripped out of his overcoat and fedora, waiting for Olsen to continue as he closed the door with an inaudible sigh.
"How did this whole thing shake out anyway? He threatened you guys so that you'd have to kill him?"
"No.", he explained with a weary headshake, "I think it was the drug and alcohol abuse that finally took him down. If you ask me, I am glad it ended that way. According to Janaea, his dementia was getting worse by the day. And I honestly wasn't sure how to handle the car heist with him in that condition. He must have sensed that we were stopping by to make an arrest and maybe wanted to…die at home? It was a sad outcome…but it could have been worse too."
"Yeah, I suppose so. How's that…how's your head doing? That's quite a gash."
"It's fine. I must have just hit some of his furniture when we struggled."
"Well, it looks to me like you both are pretty banged up. Maybe call it a night? With the DiBarolo case blown right out of the water and the car mystery from yesterday solved, maybe it's time to get some rest so you guys are ready for the next case…"
"Yeah, I thought about that…", Mike admitted, albeit begrudgingly.
"It's ok to take it easy for an afternoon.", Olsen reaffirmed, sensing his sour attitude, then pointed his thumb at Steve, "Just write up your reports and then call it a day. And put a better bandage on your head, you're starting to bleed all over the place."
