"Officer, thanks for keeping an eye on it. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?" Ethan asked the officer who was standing watch over the car.
As they shook hands while Cole and Daniel checked out the tinted car, the officer responded,
"You're welcome. And no, nothing stands out. What is a car like this doing in The Heights District? That's the only thing that has crossed my mind,"
"Well, the standing out is the only reason that we have been able to find it. We'll take it from here," Ethan stated as he relieved the officer of the duty.
"Are you ready?" Cole asked Daniel as they wore their gloves.
"Of course. Do you know how to pick a lock?" Daniel countered.
Of course, they had forgotten that the car could be locked. That would mean that they either break into the car, or get a spare set of keys.
"Damn it!" Ethan cursed as he was thinking about how quick they could get a spare key.
All the windows were tinted, including the windscreen. It was impose to see what was inside the car.
"Well, Mrs O'Daniel lives just a few blocks down the street, I'm sure she has her husband's spare key. Or at least she knows where he keeps them," Cole suggested, pulling the door handle jokingly.
*Creak*
The door creaked and open slightly, making the three men freeze.
"Would you look at that," Cole added as he pulled the door, opening it further.
Daniel, who was on the other side, pulled the passenger's door and it also opened easily.
"Careful," Ethan warned as he pulled out his gun.
Cole and Daniel, seeing this, reached for their guns as well as they looked into the car.
Cole and Daniel looked through the driver's and passenger's side of the car, opening the compartments and checking for anything out of place.
There was nothing to find. No body or sign of a struggle inside the car to indicate that O'Daniel was carjacked on his way home.
They checked the backseats and like the front, nothing was found.
Heading to the back, Ethan asked Cole to pop the trunk.
Gun in hand, he opened the trunk of the car, and still no dice. What bothered Ethan was that for a man like O'Daniel, the car seemed to be cleaner than it should have been.
"There isn't even a speck of dust in the trunk. And can you two smell the interior of the car," Ethan instructed them.
After taking a whiff of the car, Daniel responded to Ethan,
"It smells fresh."
"Exactly, this car was cleaned just recently. It wasn't here by mistake. Daniel, watch over the car and call the forensics team to come and sweep the car. I need to know if there's a chance that there was blood, hair or any other type of DNA matter in the car that survived the cleaning," Ethan ordered as he and Cole headed inside the car wash that was right next to where the car was parked.
Inside, there was a man who was busy cleaning another car.
"I'm a little busy right now," the man yelled out, the sound of his hose nearly drowning his speech.
"Gryfton P.D, we are here because of the car that's parked outside your establishment. I'm agent Ethan Graves and this is agent Cole Harrington." Ethan introduced himself as they showed him their badges.
The man turned off the hose and walked up to them.
"Are you finally here to take it?" He asked, looking confused.
Ethan looked at Cole who shared the same thought as he did,
"What are you talking about?" Cole questioned.
"The car, aren't you here to take it? That's what the note said. I came to work two days ago and found the car parked right in front of my car wash. It seemed a little odd but then I found an envelope on top of the trunk." The man answered.
"What were the contents of the envelope?" Ethan pressed.
"Here, I've kept this note on me since I knew that you would come," the m responded as he handed over a letter to Cole.
"Clean this car in and out thoroughly, park it outside your establishment and when the police come for it, give them this letter. The one thousand dollars in the envelope will be payment for your services," Cole said, reading out the letter to Ethan.
"Bag that letter and make sure it gets to forensics. As for you, where's the one grand?" Ethan instructed Cole as he turned to the man.
"I charge my clients half a grand to wash their cars, the person who left the car here, paid me double that price. I've already spent the cash, unless it's illegal to follow a customer's instructions," the man answered with a shrug.
Ethan wanted to punch the man right in the face but he knew he was right. He had nothing wrong. Besides, they now had O'Daniel's car that would be checked for evidence together with the letter.
They finally had some things to go by.
"By the way, do you have cameras in your establishment that could have seen the person who brought the car here?" Cole asked as they were just about to leave.
Shaking his head, the man replied, "This is The Heights, one of the safest places in Gryfton. I don't need cameras around here."
"I'm starting to doubt the safe part," Ethan mumbled under his breath as they walked out of the car wash.
Cole handed the bagged letter to Daniel who read it, and eyed the two in confusion.
"Mrs O'Daniel needs to know that we have found her husband's car so close to home. Cole, you're with me. Daniel, stay here and supervise the forensics team when they get here. If they need to tear the whole car apart just to find anything, then so be it. Also, hand over the letter to them to lift any prints. I need to know everything that's on that letter, including what type of ink and printer that produced that." Ethan instructed as he and Cole got in their car and drove towards the O'Daniel's residence.
Ethan was relieved that he finally had some things to go by. The only fear that he had in mind was, what if everything was washed away? And what if the letter would bear no fruit?
However, what he was sure of was the fact that someone paid good money to clean the car. Someone didn't want something found inside the car.