"When did I become a five year old?"

LOL too funny! I could picture Steve saying this in my mind. An excellent finish to a lovely tale about believing in your faith.

Thanks for sharing something unique.

Beautifully written chapter, that's full of meaning and a hidden message conveying hope and a life after grief. Nicely worded and straight from the heart.

Poignant scenes of a spiritual moment that Steve is obviously experiencing. I have my tissues at the ready...

Thank you so much!

This is a wonderful story about hope. I know it takes a lot of courage, but please go on, write more about your faith!

Oh no! This was not the kind of danger I expected Steve and Mike to face. Your descriptions brings the scene to life. And we have a cliffie too...argh!

I enjoyed reading this chapter. Some sad moments with Steve's thoughts and his attempts to open up to Mike.

Poor Steve - a sore jaw and bruised ribs. They better hurry with only 72 hours to find what they need to make the charges stick and to bring in those who probably hired Knuckles and his possible accomplices. Great story!

Oh nice itty bitty Steve whumpage! Good name for your villain - "Knuckles", how fitting :p

Hopefully his arrest and the finding of the gun will be enough to press murder charges on those responsible.

Great to see the supporting detectives given some investigative roles.
Interesting conversation on "rapeseed" and Mike's amazement at Steve's "archive of data" stored in his brain was amusing to read!

Typical of Steve to not want to be fussed over by Mike.A wonderful job you did with the immense discomfort and anxiety that Steve was feeling as he ends up in the same hospital room as Connie when she died. His panic attack was well written and realistic. Poor guy.
Loved the last scene with Steve and Mike's banter. A clever dialogue you produced in the last paragraphs"If it weren't for bad luck…" Mike led."I'd have no luck at all," Steve responded with a sigh."Ain't that the truth, Buddy boy." Mike thought to himself.
Perfect and in-character!

Good work on the investigation scenes and oh no Steve just got bush-whacked! This story is moving along nicely into the action.

Ohh and they're back working on a case! Great chapter :)

Interesting take on Steve's background. You've put a lot of work into creating a plausible scenario on how Maya and Steve are siblings and gave an insight into Steve's upbringing.

Good to see Mike, with Maya's help, has convinced Steve to return to SF and give his life there another go before making any final decisions.

It was sad to read the ending of your previous chapter and the beginning of this one where Steve tells Mike he left because he believed Mike didn't trust him. That would've felt like a punch to the gut - poor Mike.

I'm glad to see that Mike was able to make Steve understand the reasons why he made Steve lower his gun.

Mike and Maya make a good team :)

This looked like a difficult conversation to write between Steve and Mike. Great work! I liked Mike's philosophical thoughts - certainly fitting for the title!

"There but for the grace of God, go I,"

I also noted this interesting quote:

"Buddy boy. Steve thought. The nickname annoyed him occasionally."

Were you inspired by a rumor that Karl Malden's real life nick-name for Michael Douglas was one that Michael didn't always favor? It was nice to be given the character's thoughts on this.