It didn’t take crime scene investigators very long to arrive at the abandoned factory. Once there, they dusted for prints and swept for any organic matter from which they could salvage a DNA sample. They went through the passenger cabin, and checked under the hood. I presented the best picture of calm I could by focusing on the tumbler of gin I’d destroy at the first opportunity.
When they moved to the trunk, my heart picked up its pace to a quick beat. I didn’t figure they’d find my secret hidey-hole but you never know with these lab techs. One in a million actually cares about doing a good job. If they noticed me hovering around when they popped the trunk, they didn’t let on. And they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary either. Eventually, they let me leave – with my car. The lead agent reminded me to proceed directly to Metro HQ.
The damaged rear door wouldn’t shut properly, and my insistence on driving it away from the scene should’ve been a warning sign to them. Nonetheless, I forged ahead and told the agent I’d have to drop my car off at a garage called Theo’s Hi-Tech Automotive. Afterwards, I’d take a cab straight to the police station. I gave the guy the address and phone number of Theo’s garage. He advised me against it and I promptly ignored him.
I put the passenger side windows down and lashed my belt around the frames of the front and rear doors. It wasn’t exactly street legal, but desperate times and all that. The head police nerd watched for a moment, shook his head and went back to work. As I left the lot, I could see him placing a call. I had no doubts who’d be picking up on the other end.
Driving with the windows down on one side of the car was a strange experience because I can’t think of a time when I had ever driven with any of the windows down. The sounds of the world around me filled the cabin. I felt connected to the city and a little less weary from the beating I had taken back in the IM.
The trip to Theo’s shop in the Commercial District also gave me time to mull a few things over. I had an idea about how to proceed in the case, assuming I survived another encounter with Ashdown on his home turf. But my current little stunt wasn’t going to help matters. The detective had extended me a huge courtesy by letting me keep my car and I was doing a pretty poor job of showing my appreciation.
Ah well, I couldn’t let them take the car in for processing. Sooner or later, they would have found all my dirty little secrets. It was worth a shot to see if the detective would let me drive the car to the police station. And it worked.
By the time I had turned all this over in my mind, I had entered the CD and was minutes away from one of the best mechanics in all of New London. I parked in the first available spot and went through a door marked ‘Customers’. There behind the counter typing something into a computer stood Theo.
Theo had me beat in height, weight, kindness and human decency. He wore a crazy afro, a wild beard to match, and a perpetual smile. In his one-piece, green mechanics suit he could only be described as ‘jolly’. He reminded me of one of the Cheeryble brothers come to life.
Theo once told me that his family had immigrated to here from Senegal after a short stint in Manchester, England. His parents had sold everything they owned in a bold attempt to move to New London and open a North African restaurant. They had been reasonably successful restaurant/night club owners back on Earth and thought that Mars might give them the opportunity for the sort of financial success that they never had in Senegal or one of the largest cities in Britain.
Yep, New London had supplanted America as the ‘land of opportunity’ and those who could afford it came here. Unfortunately, the restaurant failed and Theo’s father, Theo Sr, fell back on the only other thing that he was skilled at – fixing cars. Theo Jr inherited the business a little over a decade ago and has been here ever since.
I met Theo by pure happenstance. A lifetime ago, he supplied testimony in a murder case that had fallen into my lap. He struck me as an earnest man and helped make a conviction for the prosecution.
It wasn’t until a couple of years after the trial, when I had taken up the PI racket, that I learned just how devious he could be. And I am the better man for it.
The first time I took the Griffon to his shop for a service check-up he suggested that he could make a few modifications to it that might come in handy. It was his idea for the compartment in the trunk ‘because you never know what a private eye might need to hide’. He designed it, installed it and I helped him programme the security features. Today was the first real test and it passed with flying colours. I owed Theo big time.
When I walked in, his usually bright smile faltered.
‘You don’t look so good.’
‘Thanks. I don’t feel too great, either, if it helps. A dust up over in IM, but, hey, I don’t have a whole lot of time. Metro is expecting me in RD1.’
He nodded and put on his business face. But those eyes of his – I don’t think he could ever look too serious. ‘Why’d you come here then?’
‘The Griffon has a few minor dings that need repairing.’
‘Minor dings?’
‘Yeah, the rear passenger door is a bit screwy. Can you fix it?’
We stepped out to the parking lot. While Theo busied himself with surveying the damage, I called for a cab. He gave me an estimate and an idea of how long it’d take to fix the car. I told him to take his time and to maybe leave the special compartment alone.
‘I told you it would come in handy,’ he laughed and I knew my secret would be safe with him.