Their return to the bullpen had caused numerous frowns and some relieved smiles as they slowly made their way back to their respective desks.

Stopping at home for a little while to change and shower, it was mid-afternoon by the time they finally sat back down.

Halfway expecting it, Mike smiled faintly when he saw Devitt in his chair, reading away on a report as the Captain anxiously awaited his arrival. Glancing up, the other man's worried blue eyes scanned both of his detectives for several long moments, then pausing on Steve as he limped his way over to his desk.

"How is it you both look like you've been dragged through the dirt? You said nothing major happened. A day late on your return and with sunshine out there gimping around, care to elaborate on that statement a bit more?"

Taking off his overcoat and fedora, Mike smiled at his ex-partner and superior facetiously, before helping himself to a cup of coffee and closing the office door behind them.

"Roy, let's just say that things didn't go exactly to plan…", raising his index finger when he saw Devitt trying to interfere, Mike continued on undisturbed, "But some good did come out of it. We met this apothecary Doyle was talking about. He's not our guy."

"Not our guy? He's not the one you guys were chasing through the park the other day?"

"Nope. He's clean. Which begs the question of why somebody is posing as him out there."

Nodding in obvious displeasure, Roy pushed one of the files on Mike's desk over to the Lieutenant.

"This ought to help you out a bit, I think. Here, take a look. It's the lab report on the Skylark. They found the thumb shoved under some metal brackets by the rear axle, like you had suspected. But that wasn't even the interesting part…"

Reaching for the black reading glasses he'd left on his desk, Mike held up the file, a deep frown forming on his face.

"That's…very interesting"

Shrugging, Roy leaned back in the office chair and scratched his lower lip with his thumb.

"Charley says at one point that car was swept clean. Could be that he had it detailed, could be that it was done to hide any prints. But it's quite ironic that we found no other prints than those of Roberts' and his son on the steering wheel of a car that was supposedly stolen."

"It would have to be a pretty elaborate organization to steal cars and not leave the least bit of a trace behind, especially after all this time. Nope, I don't buy it, not for one second…", Mike scoffed and took another sip of coffee, as his eyes drifted over the rest of the report.

"The robbers could have worn gloves.", Roy interjected, causing Mike to shake his head.

"For a '68 Skylark? Come on, Roy. The street value isn't worth it, you know it and I know it. We're not talking about some fancy European import. I truly think one of the Roberts' tried to make it look as though the car was stolen. We just need to figure out which one."

"Maybe to use it later on to kill Sarah? You think one of her family members drove her up to that festival out east and then murdered her on the way back and make it look like the apothecary did it?"

Mike hesitated, when another thought entered his mind. Reaching for a piece of paper, he double checked the mileage on the Skylark by the time it was found, before facing Devitt again.

"I can't be sure until we double check this against the files downstairs, but I am starting to have a hunch that this car never even made it up to the festival. I think it's been spending the past three months right here in San Francisco."