The Renegade Chemist

Chapter Li - A New Beginning

Raiden and Layne knocked on the front gate of Mr Gongard. It was about four in the evening already as it had taken them the whole morning to get the warrant.

"You again? Came to take the offer?" The kingpin looked him up and down, his Krampus grin still wielded on his face, with only a pipe, which looked much newer than the previous, distorting it. "No. But to check your car out." Raiden said, flashing the warrant. It was his turn for the grin now. The kingpin, now more serious,his smile wiped away by Raiden's words, simply said," back in the garage."

As Raiden and Layne made their way to the garage, Gongard called from behind. "You better win this one, Raiden. Or your witness might 'accidentally' fall off the roof of a skyscraper tomorrow." Raiden could only clench his fist as Layne placed an arm on his shoulder, in a vain attempt to calm him.

The garage was namesake as well. An appropriate description of the place would be, "Car Showroom." There was every single model of car from the new age in the room. "Well, didn't know he was a car collector... searching a blue Jackal in the middle of thirty cars is no easy task," Layne said.

"Have you never searched for a car in a parking lot?" Raiden asked, surprised.

"Uhm...no. I was never one for searching stuff. I have never really gone in a car anyways. You know...because.."

"There it is!" Raiden suddenly shouted, pointing at a blue car which looked triangular in shape. It was hulking over the nearby cars and was the only non-conventional car as well. Raiden would have probably listened to Layne further but his curiosity outshone his sentimental attributes.

His examination of the car was probably what a keen person would describe to be "observative" and what a person who lacked respect for details would call "over-exploitative" for the merest fact that he seemed to pick out every single thing which was there before him.

"Ahh...there is the evidence..." he said as a wicked smile curled up his mouth

"I am sorry but what exactly is the evidence here? All I see is a blue jackal which... uhm... that's about it. All I see is a blue jackal."

Raiden sighed as he gestured the name plate. "Number one. The nameplate 'L490', just what the witness told us." He then tapped at a particular area on the front bonnet. "Number two. The front bonnet has part of its paint scratched off forcefully. Most probably hitting something. And for number three..." He tried the door and surprisingly the car was not locked. It was only too obvious that Mr Gongard was not expecting anyone to be around in his garage (sorry, I mean showroom) anytime. He turned a dial on the car's dashboard. One of the its front headlights switched on synchronously.

"One of the car's front headlights has been knocked loose..." Layne completed his statement. "Wait, hold on, how did you know that? Without switching on the headlights?"

"I actually didn't. I was actually trying something else," Raiden said as he turned the dial the other way. This time, a shutter in front of the car's radiator panels opened and out came a huge metal panel. Part of it was chipped.

"Isn't that a field generator? The one used in cars to help knock off snow?"

"Yes...looks like it was not snow that it was knocking off this time..." Raiden said, as he pulled out a camera, taking shots.

"Hold on! Why in the world are you playing detective now? We aren't allowed to do that," she said while snatching away the camera. "We may get into trouble!"

"Oh please, Layne, then what's the whole point of coming here? If at all detectives were sent here, they would either delete the very evidence they found or wouldn't even bother taking note of such minute details," Raiden said before taking back the camera and snapping away pictures.