Alison circled the car, came to the passenger side, where the door hung open, and a forensic tech was bent halfway inside.
"Do you mind if I…?"Alison asked.
The tech stepped away from the vehicle and looked at Alison.They nodded, happy to move aside.She didn't recognize the tech with their head and mouth covered, but it seemed like the tech recognized her.
When she viewed the body, she found another evolution.A knife stuck from the man’s chest, much like one had at the Jennifer Hayes crime scene, but Michael Rodriguez had not been stabbed only one time.He had been stabbed multiple times as if in a frenzy, the blood staining his shirt and the car seat below.
Michael’s eyes were open, staring straight ahead at the covered windscreen, his mouth partly open.The wallet that had been on his lap earlier had been bagged already.Alison noticed cuts on the man’s hands.He had tried to defend himself as he had been stabbed, but had been unsuccessful.
The knife handle was angled slightly toward the driver’s seat.Whoever had killed him had been in that seat at the time, and they must have used their right hand to stab the knife to the side and into Michael’s chest.
The killer is most likely right-handed.Does that help us at all?
Alison looked just below the steering wheel at the keys still dangling from the ignition.She leaned in as far as she could without touching the body and looked at the driver’s seat and the floor beneath it.She didn't spot anything.
"Be careful when handling the keys," Alison said to the tech as she exited the car."The killer touched them.Maybe we get lucky this time, and we get some prints.I want to know as soon as you have anything back."
The tech nodded.
Alison left the passenger side of the car and returned to the other side, where Moore and the cop were talking.
"The killer drove him here, but why?"Alison said."He picks Michael up and then brings him here to kill him.Did the killer know Michael?Do you know any acquaintances of his still in the area?"
The cop shook his head."From what I knew, he was trying to make a living.I heard he had a kid before he was in jail, but I don't know if that’s true.I know he worked as a mechanic for a while, and then he was working on the Sanderson lot selling used cars."
Alison and Detective Moore looked at each other.
"A test drive," Moore stated.
"Yeah," Alison said."We need to get down to the dealership."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sanderson's Used Vehicles
That was the name of the used car lot, and the words emblazoned on the large sign.The ' d' in Sanderson and the 'V' were both leading sideways, and the vibrant purple of the letters had faded over time.
Moore pulled into the lot and took the spot nearest the office.She had her choice with no other cars parked along the front of the dilapidated building.As soon as they parked, the chubby man inside the building stood up from the single desk within and walked toward the door as if annoyed that someone would dare disturb him.
Moore and Alison got out of the car, but stood by it as the man pushed open the door and exited the building.The doorway acted as a portal, and as soon as he crossed it, a wide smile crossed his face, and his entire demeanor changed.He swung an arm out toward the cars in the lot.
"Whatever it is you need, we have it!"he called to them.
"We’re not here to buy anything," Moore said, taking out her badge and showing it to the man."We have a few questions."
"Good," the man said."I was just about to call you.One of my employees has stolen one of my cars, the best car on the lot.I should never have trusted him.Once a criminal, always a criminal.You think you live and learn, but I’m far too good and accepting for this world."
Alison noticed the security camera atop the building, aimed at the cars.
"Michael Rodriguez?"Moore asked.
"Yeah, how’d you know?Do you have him in custody?Is the car okay?"
"What’s your name, Sir?"Moore asked.
"Doug Sanderson," he said, holding out a hand and smiling as if there was still a sale to be made."Best used vehicles this side of the river."
"When was the last time you saw Michael?"Moore asked.
