Wild Ride | ✔

Empty

"Copy," Kevin said into the phone as Jay hung up and pocketed his phone back in his jacket as they bounded down the stairs. As they passed by the front desk, Platt gave a subtle wave as she held the phone against her ear.

When they arrived at the address, they noticed a big oak tree situated in the middle of the left side of the yard, blocking the two larger windows on the main floor. The glass was blocked by opaque white curtains which kept the house from prying eyes.

Jay approached the plain black door cautiously so they didn't tip off anyone in the house if they were in there. Hailey waited just beyond the stairs, gun drawn as he twisted the knob but he found it locked.

"Let's check the back." He said quietly, retreating down the stairs. They rounded the house, staying close to the blue siding, and grew even more alert when they noticed the door ajar.

He stepped in first, gun raised as he walked down the darkened hall. Hailey walked in step next to him, breaking right as she entered a modest-looking laundry room.

Detergent sat neatly on the top left side of the washer pushed up against the wall. A couple of empty laundry baskets were stacked near the far wall, an ironing board hooked just above it and upright. It was clear no adult or child could hide in there without being seen.

She moved further down the hall towards the living room. Jay was already around the corner checking the kitchen when she walked up the short flight of stairs leading up to the second landing towards the dining room.

"Clear." Jay signaled as he pointed upstairs and started taking one step at a time. About a third of the way down the hall was the master bedroom. The bedspread was a solid blue, made up neatly and folded over at the top; even the pillows looked neatly fluffed. A dresser supported a mirror as it sat against the wall by the door.

A connecting bathroom reflected the same kind of cleanliness, a toothbrush sat near the sink, as well as a razor and shaving gel, but that was about it from a quick run through. Maybe this guy really did live alone.

Just down from there were two rooms, both painted white. One bedspread had big red and orange flowers on it, the other was dark blue. Neither pointed to anyone else living in the house, as both rooms were spotless and empty. For all they knew, they could have been used for guest bedrooms.

Jay put on some gloves and wandered into the other room with the blue bedspread, opening the dresser and searching through it. When he got to the second drawer, he paused as he pulled a stuck poker card out from the crevice and bagged the ace of spades.

Bringing his focus to the space in between the dresser and the floor, he dropped to his knees and found another card leaning against the wall and extended his hand to grab the eight of diamonds and put it with the other card.

When he realized he wasn't getting anything else that could help him out, he moved onto the closet. About ten hangers were situated neatly in the middle of the rod as if they had been placed there just in case of need, but nothing was on any of them. In fact, the closet was empty just like he expected it to be.

"So I found some playing cards. One of them was stuck in the crevice of the drawer." Jay called out from the bathroom doorway as he held the bag in his hand. "For all we know, they could have been in that dresser since this house was sold to him. I'm guessing there was nothing in this room either."

"Nothing to get us closer to who wrote that note we found underneath that barrel. Are you planning on taking those with you?"

I know he just moved in, but I haven't seen a single box in this house." Jay shrugged at her questioning but she didn't push it any further. "Either this guy doesn't have a lot of stuff or it's all stored somewhere else."

"Maybe he hasn't unpacked everything. Most people don't if they get busy and start working. I didn't when I first moved to Chicago. In fact, it took me almost two months just to get everything the way I wanted it to look."

"Well, this guy looks like he's got everything pretty organized for what he has. I'll call Adam and see if he has any ties to any storage units we don't know about." Grabbing his phone out of his jacket, he made a beeline for Gabriel's room, while Hailey headed downstairs.

Searching through all the drawers, she found the regular pieces of silverware and utensils you would find in a kitchen. However, as she moved things to the side it revealed a card buried underneath the pile of stuff in the drawer.

"Marissa Fernandez." Hailey read the name softly as she quickly took a picture with her camera and moved into the next drawer over where she found a magazine from National Geographics and a buyer's agreement on the house signed by both Gabriel and Marissa.

She was definitely the person they needed to talk to next. Maybe she could give them some clue on where they could go next, considering they seemed to be striking out everywhere else.

"Hey, take a look at this." Jay walked around the corner into the kitchen. "I found a burner phone in the nightstand. What would a guy be doing with one if he wasn't involved in something?"

"Any numbers on there?"

"Just one recent call yesterday around three pm. No name, just a number.

"Try calling it? See if anyone picks up." She suggested, glancing at the phone. Jay nodded, dialed the number, and put it on speaker. The phone rang about three times before it went into an automatic voicemail. It was clear that whoever was on the other end of that number was either unavailable or wasn't willing to pick up, especially if they knew something had happened to Gabriel.