Chapter 38
Across town, Eric walked into the Auto Theft department again. "Detective Montoya, it's showtime." He called out.
The Hispanic detective had been sitting with his partner at their desks, looking at some paperwork, when he heard Eric call him. He looked over at his partner and held out his hand. "It's been nice working with you."
"You too, partner. We'll see you back here in a couple of days though."
"I don't know." Montoya replied uncertainly. "I hope so, but I don't quite know what these two have in mind."
The blonde chuckled. "You should survive."
Montoya quirked a grin. "Funny." He picked up a file from his desk and walked over to Eric. "Ok. Let's go."
Eric held out his hand. "Is that the file from your surveillance of the Chop Shop?"
Montoya sighed. "Yes, just as Lt Caine requested." He put the file in Eric's outstretched hand.
Eric took the file and opened it. He flipped through several of the photos and saw Stevie's van in several of them, very clearly showing Kevin Miller getting out of the van's driver side, and shaking hands with Daniel Tanaka. "Excellent." They walked back out of the department, toward the elevators. He pulled his cell phone and speed dialed someone, then put the phone to his ear. "Yeah, Frank, it's Eric…….no everything's fine……..listen….Horatio asked for you to please bring Kevin Miller back in. He said something about that he had some more questions for the guy……..No, he's hip deep in the robbery, and now we have the proof…….No, I'll show you when I get back. I have an errand I need to run for H. Be back as soon as I can……..Yup. Bye." He closed his phone and put it in his pocket.
They climbed into the Hummer and Eric drove around to the Police Impound Yard to find a tow truck waiting. Eric turned to Det Montoya.
"Wait here. I'll be right back." He jumped out of the Hummer, and walked around to the driver's side of the tow truck.
"Hey, there, Dylan. What's going on?" Eric asked, as he shook the caucasian man's hand.
"Not much." Dylan told him, as he returned the hand shake. "What about you?"
Eric beckoned his friend to follow him. "Things are ok. I do need you to do me kind of a favor, though." The two men walked through the impound yard, and stopped at Stevie's and Jessica's van. "Please tow this van to this address." Eric wrote something on a piece of paper and passed it to his friend.
Dylan looked down at the paper. "Where is this?"
"This is the address of another friend of mine who has a new car dealership." Eric explained. "I'll be following you in my Hummer. When we get there, I'll have a better idea of where you're going to set it down."
"No problemo, muchacho." Dylan replied as he looked at the address again. He put the piece of paper in his pocket. "Let me go get the truck and we'll get this show on the road."
Dylan went out to the tow truck and drove it through the front gate and around to where the van was parked. He moved the van to the bed of the tow truck and secured it, then turned to Eric. "Ok, ese. You can follow me, or I'll follow you, and we'll meet back at the car dealership of your friend."
"That sounds like a plan. You follow me. I know where the place is." Eric told him. Eric turned and walked out of the yard, as his friend climbed back into the cab of the tow truck.
They drove through town over to the car dealership.Eric pulled over and parked the Hummer on the street. He turned to Det Montoya. "Come with me." He walked over to the tow truck and told his friend. "I'll be right back."
Eric and Det Montoya walked into the Dealership offices and around to Miguel Ramirez's office. Eric knocked on the door. The door opened and Eric's friend Miguel stood there."Hey, there, miho. You brought the van?"
Eric nodded. "Yup. Come outside with me. You can take a look at it."
Dylan brought the van off the bed of the tow truck, as Miguel gathered several men to move the van into an empty bay near the other end of the building. The men, working together, moved the van.
Miguel turned to Eric. "Who's this?" He asked as he indicated Eric's companion."This is Det Montoya. He was not paying attention when on a surveillance of the Chop Shop and allowed the van, which was being driven by one of the perps of the Events Center robbery to sell the van to the Chop Shop owner, and now Lt Caine wants to show him the results of what the Chop Shop people did to it." Eric explained.
"Lt Caine also wanted him to be involved with the renovations to the van, so that hopefully he will understand the ramifications of making this mistake again."
The dealership owner suppressed a smile. "I think I'll be able to help teach him that lesson."
Eric grinned as well. "I thought you'd say that. We'd really appreciate that. Lt Caine did also say that if he becomes difficult to get along with or anything, to give him a call."
"I can do that." He replied.
"Ok." Eric looked around. "I'm going to head on out of here. If you have any questions or need any kind of clarification, don't hesitate to give either of us a call."
"I will."
Eric stopped next to Montoya. "I'm going to go back to the lab. If you need to come get your car and can't get a ride, give me a call."
"I will." Det Montoya told him.
"Ok." Eric walked back over to his friend the tow truck driver. "Hey, give me a bill for what we owe you for the tow, Dylan, and I'll run it by my boss."
"Ok." The tow truck driver writes on a tow bill for just a moment, then tore it off and handed it to Eric. In big bold letters, the bill read, 'One tow, bill paid in full.' and had a big fat '0' on it.
Eric also pulled a 'Horatio' and cracked a grin, as his head ducked. After a moment he looked back up at his friend. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.
The tow truck driver nodded. "I'm positive. Just catch the bum who did this, and we'll call it even. Besides, it's one less I owe you, muchacho." He chuckled.
Eric also chuckled. "Ok. Thanks again, for all your help, Dylan. I'll call you later, and maybe we can go diving over the weekend."
"Sure." He got in his truck and drove away.
Eric also climbed back into his Hummer, and chuckled as he shook his head, then started the truck and drove his way back to the lab.