Four hours later, Mike felt the relief exuding from every pore of his body as his sore and scraped up fingers grasped the steering wheel of the Galaxy like a long-lost treasure. Parked right where they'd left the tan sedan the previous afternoon, everything seemed to be back to normal for now.
Next to him, Steve had fallen quiet as they left the campground behind in order to return to a civilization the young Inspector was far more accustomed to.
After a hearty breakfast of sourdough bread and lots of deer jerky, they'd spent a good hour redoing the bandages around Steve's leg, treating the pleasingly clean wounds with more antiseptic, as well as a concoction out of Jules' cabinet to decrease the swelling and promote healing.
But despite the gentle approach to his treatment techniques and the powerful pain meds he'd snuck into his partner's tea; it was obvious that there was no love lost between Steve and the unique Apothecary. Even when it was time to say goodbye, the young Inspector remained unusually tightlipped as he limped toward the passenger side door and disappeared in the cab without as much as a wave.
Thankfully it seemed as though his partner was beginning to relax more the farther away the travelled from the dreaded area. Taking his time on the questionable parts of the road that were now muddy or partially covered in rainwater; Mike was going slow, but figured that any speed would be better than the alternative.
Glancing over at Steve, he couldn't hide a smile when he realized that his partner wasn't asleep like he'd assumed. Instead, the young inspector gave him the latest and greatest version of his silent treatment by staring straight ahead, jaws clenched, unwilling to make even the least bit of conversation.
"Okay…okay, I'll admit, that things didn't go exactly to plan. But at least we got some answers. And you have to appreciate the fact that nobody got eaten by a mountain lion."
He could hear Steve grind his teeth all the way from the driver's seat despite the lighthearted tone he'd kept in his voice. Looking over again, this time with a broad smile, he finally managed to get his partner to glare at him in return.
"How is it that every time we go on one of your… adventures, I end up using my yearly insurance deductible to put all my body parts back where they belong by the time we return?"
"Aww come on now, Buddyboy. You're just sore because you didn't get any of that elk steak."
Groaning in annoyance, Steve looked out the window again, vehemently shaking his head.
"Yeah, excuse me, I was busy in the next room over enjoying the worst hangover of my life after nearly getting my leg lopped off by some large game foot trap hidden near some godforsaken creek. I hope your dinner was fantastic."
"Boy oh boy, you are definitely not a morning person today…", Mike returned soothingly, as he steered the Galaxy around a large curve, "For what it's worth, your… near-demise might help us solve that case a lot faster than if we hadn't gone out there. Now we know that somebody is playing with us. And we also know that this person knows of Jules. It narrows it down quite a bit."
"What? You still think Jason Roberts did it? Or one of Thompson's guys?"
Leaving his chagrin behind and changing back to his professional detective mode in the flick of a switch, Steve frowned, when he looked over at his partner.
"I am still not entirely convinced that Roberts is our guy. I mean, size and height might be a match but it just doesn't jive. But the connection to the car is undeniable. And I did ask him over the phone on Tuesday if he'd heard of the apothecary before, so he may gave gotten some information through that. As far as Thompson is concerned, there is no way he could have organized this…this charade from jail, no matter how good Doyle thinks he is. We're missing a piece of the puzzle somewhere in all of this."
"Well, once we get back, we can bring the whole family tribe in. Tanner can help us cross-examine Jason, Martha and that brother, see if we can get either one of them to trip up."
"Once we get back…", Mike reiterated slowly, before meeting his partner's curious eyes, "We're going to call off the cavalry Devitt will have put into motion by now. In fact, we should stop in Moraga to call up headquarters, let them know what's going on and why we're running a day late. By now they should have gone over that Skylark with a fine-tooth comb and let us know if they found something. And then I want to send a team down to the park to check all the garbage cans, see if our man left his disguise behind and if so, see if we can trace it."
"Mike…", Steve began to argue but lowered his voice significantly when the Lieutenant's stern glance was aimed in his direction, "Why won't you let me bring in the family? That'd be a lot less work than all this digging in the sand…"
"Evidence, Inspector.", Mike cautioned and shook his head, "Under what premises do you want to bring them in? Hm? Have Gerry sign a warrant because of your gut feeling? No, we gotta do better than that…"
They fell quiet for a couple of miles, before Mike cleared his throat again, a wily smile spreading on his lips.
"We both know one of them has got to be our killer or at least be in on the murder in one form or another. So how about, we call them up, tell them that the apothecary has been found and cleared of all charges, and that we're requesting additional backup to solve this startling murder case."
Sharing the grin, Steve crossed his hands behind his head.
"Lieutenant, Lieutenant…You wanne smoke them out?...You think they'll try something different?"
"Mh hm.", grinning victoriously, Mike tapped his partners good leg, before focusing back on the road ahead, "Three stakeout teams say I'll find out all about it if they try. Because after this trip, you bet I can justify that in front of the Captain."
