Sorry I haven't been posting as much as I'd like. It's been an insanely busy few days and the scorching heat isn't helping. Thank you so much for all the kind feedback and PM's, it means so much to me!

It took more than a week for Father Tenpenny to organize the chili cook-off in conjunction with the local men's shelter, to be held at the parking lot of the Mission Dolores Basilica. Most of it had to do with the catholic priest being an awfully detailed man, wanting to nail down every last concern before committing; the other part was the challenge of where to get enough food and volunteers.

The fact that San Francisco PD was sponsoring the event allowed for word to go out far and wide, resulting in a mixture of pleasant surprise and undisguised skepticism from parts of the local homeless population- for good reason, that much Steve had to admit.

Nonetheless, when the call finally came in that the event was scheduled for the upcoming Friday, part of him felt a certain sense of relief. For the first time, they had a fairly realistic chance to finally catch up with Albert and Rick, hoping to shed some light onto the murder of Reverend Joe while conveniently getting the brass off their backs for once.

Unfortunately, all week long, Mike had been under increased scrutiny, having been called to Olsen's office several times to report any progress, usually resulting in more friction than progress for that matter.

The elevator fire had been swept under the rug, at least as far as they were concerned. Word had it that a special taskforce had been created, involving the Fire Inspector, a few guys from robbery and three guys from Bunko whose job it was to look into the incident and find the perpetrator ASAP.

Ironically, their earlier hunch that a copycat was now haunting this town had also made it to the local news stations, the headlines causing tremendous pressure for the Brass, most of all for Conden.

While Steve didn't hold much of a grudge against the Police Chief, it was refreshing to see somebody else getting pushed between a rock and a hard spot for once.

"Here, tell me what you think, Buddy Boy."

Mike's cheerful voice pulled him out of his deep thoughts and Steve glanced up in time to see his partner march through the living room of the DeHaro house, dressed in disheveled khakis, a flannel shirt that had more holes in it than fabric, along with a sweat-stained undershirt.

Add in a three-day beard and some scuffed up shoes and Mike Stone would once again be ready to infiltrate the clandestine scene of San Francisco's homeless population.

"I always told you that you make a fine bum.", Steve teased, having to duck when a pillow from the nearby couch was flung his way.

"You keep that up, wise guy and I am going to have you work the Parks and Recreation Detail for a while, see if that reels in that ego of yours again."

"Hey, I was complimenting you.", Steve countered laughingly, symbolically raising his hands as he watched Mike parade around for a bit, tugging on the clothes he undoubtedly wasn't used to wearing on a daily basis, self-consciously staring at himself in the nearby mirror as if to be absolutely sure he would fit the part.

"You really gotta work on your compliments…", the Lieutenant shot back and opened up a couple of the buttons on his flannel shirt, seeing if the loose fit would make him look more convincing, "If you ask me, I think we've got a good shot at catching our guys this way."

"Far for me to question your hunch, but how are you going to explain this to Father Tenpenny tomorrow? The moment he sees you walking around like this, he will know exactly what's going on. It'll get that Catholic temper of his flaring all over again."

"You leave him to me…", Mike countered cryptically, then buttoned up his shirt again, "In the meantime, you'll take over assigning the unis. Make it a four-block perimeter, two officers in each car. You've got Lessing, Tanner and Hassejian, as well as Clarkson and Frederick from Vice for the ground search. Between the six of you, it should be fairly simple to tighten that net. You could have Tanner and Lessing stand by the food tables and Hassejian can get people in line. I want you and the guys from Vice out of sight as much as possible. Our suspects have already seen you up close several times and I don't want to scare them off. In the meantime, I'll be making some small talk, trying to avoid the guys we had in the office the other day and see how far we get."

"Yes, Sir…", Steve nudged with a smile, knowing how much the loathed expression wore on his friend, while taking some notes about the plan.

Undoubtedly, an undercover sting of that size wouldn't stay under the radar for too long, and he wondered just how exactly Mike had justified the move to Olsen. Then again, at least it was a start toward closing the cold case after way too many months had gone by since the murder.

For once, he couldn't hide a grin when Mike's order to have him organize the support really meant to exactly follow his orders down to the last detail, leaving no room for misinterpretation and errors while making sure the Lieutenant had his hands in everybody's business until the suspects were caught.

It had nothing to do with being controlling, but everything with using his vast experience on the street in order to close a case while keeping his men safe at the same time.

Steve couldn't think of a better definition of a true leader.