Page 72 of Reap the Night
It’s pure luck that we found it. Well, pure Holly and her genius.
The address it should have been parked at was abandoned, and we’d lost hope of locating it when our resident genius suggested the local scrappers.
“If someone used the vehicle for nefarious deeds, then it’s one way to get rid of it,” she’d said.
And here we are, white van in front of us, brought in by either a man or a woman, the owner of the yard can’t recall, and the signature in the log is simply an illegible scrawl, no printed name, no address, just the reg and make of the van.
“We need you to get it down,” Edwin says to the owner of the yard.
“Nah,” he says, hands on hips. “No idea how to use the machine. Bobby’s off for the day. Maybe tomorra too. He gotthe squirts. Pizza from Jimmie’s down the road, hit an miss that place. Cheap, though.”
“Riiight.” Edwin rubs his chin, eyeing up the monolith contraption used to move the cars. “I should be able to figure out how to use it.”
The owner’s expression hardens. “You licensed?”
“No but?—”
“Then you ain’t touchin’ my machinery.”
“We’re with the Order,” Holly says. “This is a criminal investigation.”
He rolls his eyes. “Listen, luv, unless you got fangs or a Sangualex badge, your authority means shit in this ere territory. I want ta help ya, I do. Heard about supers going missing. Shitty thing, and if that van there has anything to do with it, then course I want to help, but we got rules, see. You come back in two days, and you can sweep the damn thing to your heart’s content.”
The shrill sound of a phone cuts across the yard. “I gotta get that,” the owner says. “You see yourselves out.” He hurries off down the aisle of piled cars and out of view.
“Now what?” Holly asks.
I sigh. “I guess we come back in two days.”
“And risk the van having been crushed already?” Edwin shakes his head. We agree it’s no coincidence that this vehicle ended up here. Someone knows that we’re looking. We’re either being watched or there’s a leak at the Sangualex.
“Which means that whoever owned this van would have cleaned it out,” Merry says. “We probably won’t find anything.”
“Maybe…” Edwin chews on his cheeks. “Or maybe they missed something. I can get up there. Get inside and dust for prints.” He pats the pouch around his waist which contains our forensics kit.
“We need a key,” Holly said.
I step back a few paces to get a better view of the van. “Window is open.”
“I can get up there,” Edwin says again. “Looks stable enough.”
I don’t like this plan. “Edwin, maybe we should just come back and?—”
“Padma, I’ll be fine.” He smiles, and my reservations melt.
“Fine. Be careful, and if there’s any shift or movement in the pile, you get down, you hear me?”
“Got it, boss.” He gives me a mock salute, and I punch his shoulder lightly.
“Holly, keep a look out. If Reggie appears, distract him.”
Holly drops a nod and hurries toward the edge of the aisle to keep watch.
My heart’s in my throat as Edwin begins to climb. He’s careful, quick, and agile, scaling the pile easily until he’s at the open window.
Metal groans as he shimmies into the vehicle, and my mouth dries with fear. “Edwin!”
“I’m good!”
