The restaurant around the corner

a (not so) Peaceful day off

Alessandra Rossi, a young detective, was enjoying her day off at her favourite restaurant. Her dirty blond hair tied up in a high ponytail, her black leather jacket, open showing her cropped red shirt and her black jeans completing the outfit. Alessandra finished her food and called the waitress to pay up and get going.
She walks out of the restaurant, zipping up her jacket and putting her sunglasses on, just as she notices a black van at the back of the restaurant, with two men dressed in black carrying some trash bags into the back. Alessandra finds this situation sketchy and decides to investigate, she takes her phone out and takes some pictures of the man and the van, making sure to catch the licence plate. The men talk with the owner after carrying three bags into the back of the restaurant, he hands them an envelope and waves them off, they get into the van and drive away. Alessandra makes sure to catch as much of the scene as she can on her phone, once the men are gone and the owner returned inside, she walks up to where the van was standing and where the bags were carried, she sees red liquid drops on the ground. Alessandra kneels down and takes a closer look, to her horror she finds out its blood, that would also explain the stank in the air. Alessandra takes another picture and then decides to call her best friend, also a detective, Marcus.
"Hey Al, enjoying your day off?"
"Hey Marc, I just witnessed something weird, could you check these pictures and tell me what you think? Maybe I'm overreacting"
"Yeah sure"
Alessandra hangs up and sends the pictures she took of the van, the men, and everything else she caught on camera. Marcus, answers that he'll be right there and for her not to touch anything. Alessandra leans on a wall in the alleyway and waits patiently while smoking a cigarette to calm her nerves and get her thoughts in order

Marcus arrives about 15 minutes later. He steps out of his black BMW and walks up to Alessandra, carrying his suitcase with his detective kit. They walk up to what might be their next crime scene and Marcus kneels down, he puts his latex gloves on and touches some of the red liquid on the ground, he smells the liquid, and it indeed seems to be blood. He takes the glove off carefully and put it in an evidence bag. "Let's not jump to conclusions, it could always be animal blood, right? I'll bring this to the lab to investigate" Alessandra nods in agreement and follows Marcus back to his car. They both drive to the police station.
Once they arrive, they walk in and walk right past the front, some workers greet them, and some give Alessandra a strange look seeing as it's her day off.
Marcus and Alessandra walk to the back, Marcus goes to the lab and Alessandra goes to the main Sheriff to show him what she discovered. She walks into his office "Sheriff" she greets with a nod; the Sheriff looks up with confusion. "Detective Rossi, what're you doing here on your day off?" Alessandra sighs and sits down "You never get a day off as a detective, Sheriff" She puts her phone down in front of him with the pictures shown "Caught this today at the back of Secret Garden." The Sheriff lifts an eyebrow and takes the phone from the desk, scrolling through the pictures "That certainly looks interesting, did you touch anything? Gather any evidence?"
"I called Marcus up, he came and gathered some of the red liquid we think its blood, he just went to the lab with it." The Sheriff nods his head approvingly and puts the phone down. "Well seems like you two have got it under control for now, I'm putting you down for this, let me know if you need any help"
"Okey, I'll see where we get."
Alessandra takes her phone and walks out of the office to the lab to check on Marcus.
"So, how's it going?" She asks walking up to Marcus who is leaning on a wall and waiting at the desk for the results of the research.
"They're working on it; I think we'll have the results soon."
"Good, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this as soon as possible."
"What did Sheriff say?"
"He's giving us the case. There goes my day off" She sighs and checks the time on her phone, she was supposed to visit her friend and have some coffee with her, but that wouldn't happen now. Marcus sees her upset mood and pats her shoulder "Hey I can take it for today and we can finish this tomorrow if you want" Alessandra shakes her head, if this is serious it needs to be handled immediately and she knows it. She will have other days off. "No, we need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible we don't know what could be happening in that restaurant-"
"Detective Jones, we have the results" Alessandra gets interrupted by the secretary of the lab handing the results to Marcus, he takes the files from her and opens them looking through them, Alessandra looks over his shoulder with him. The files confirm their suspicions:
- Substance: Blood
- Species: Human
- Type: B+
"Alright, I think it's time we find that van" says Marcus reading through the files with sigh. Alessandra nods looking with him at the files, it seemed like this case was becoming more serious than she initiated.

Marcus and Alessandra go to the search department and give them a description of the van and its licence plate, not long later they find the van. Alessandra and Marcus immediately write down the location and go to the car to find the van. They step into the BMW and start driving towards the location. "Right then, we go to the house, and we will bring the owners of the van in for interrogation and check out their house, if we find any evidence then we will send officers to check out the restaurant." Alessandra says making a metal plan for herself. Marcus nods "Sounds good. Do you want to do the talking or should I do it?"
"I'll handle the people you search the house and van"
"Sounds good to me"
They arrive at the house it's a small house in a poor neighbourhood. The house looks old and ruined. The garage is closed so they can't see the car, so they decide to walk up to the front door and ring the bell. When the door opens, one of the men Alessandra saw earlier at the back of the restaurant, opens the door. Alessandra puts her ID up "Hello sir I'm here with the police department, we would like to ask you some questions and search your house" The man looks a bit startled at the two but decides to cooperate. "Uhm of course detective, come in" Alessandra smiles and walks in with Marcus following behind her. "Would you mind showing us the garage first sir?" Marcus asks, the man nods and waves to follow, he shows them to the garage and just as expected. The van is right there Marcus shots Alessandra a look before writing something down "Thank you sir, if you wouldn't mind, I will just do a basic checkup of the house now while my friend asks you a few questions." The man nods still looking a bit nervous, he's obviously hiding something, and he knows it.