"You look deep in thought."
He had been too.
Even though his weary body had begged for more rest, Mike had gotten up extra early to get a head start on the Wagoner murder.
He may have not seen the crime scene with his own eyes, but the description he'd received from Steve and Haseejian had painted a grim picture alright.
A young bar tender at a busy establishment full of questionable characters, brutalized and then murdered; these cases always bugged him tremendously.
It was bad enough that the victim reminded him so much of Jeannie…but the sheer thought that monsters like that were walking the streets on free foot, planning their despicable crimes in the darkness of their minds, without police being able to do anything until after the deed was done.
All these decades on the job and Mike still couldn't get used to the dreadful aspect of it.
"It's this case, Bobbie.", he replied and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee that the other man handed him. Even though it could use some more sugar and creamer, Mike was appreciating the effort that his friend had put into keeping him comfortable.
"I don't know how you do it.", the tall man replied and returned to the kitchen to grab himself some coffee as well, "Running patrols was bad enough. Coming across bodies and having to call in homicide was awful. But to deal with this every single day…I don't know if I'd leave the house anymore at night."
"It's an important job. Somebody must do it to keep this city safe.", Mike noted matter-of-factly, his mind drifting back to the notepad in his lap as he wrote down another thought, struggling to avoid using the two broken fingers on his right hand.
"Somebody is right. But I wouldn't raise my hand for it. The dangers, the heartbreak, seeing bodies every day…they better be paying you well for all that."
Ignoring the remark altogether, Mike took another sip of coffee, trying to blink away the headache that was reminding him in no uncertain terms that it was time to take a little break.
Hopefully some rest would allow him to clear the fog that seemed to have befallen his mind since his fateful encounter with a group of violence- hungry teenagers.
A certain team of inspectors surely needed his help.