Page 96 of Before We Ever Spoke

“I will, and I can’t imagine I’ll be awake past eleven, let alone out on the town still, so I don’t think it will be an issue.”

“In my experience, those are the type of evenings that always tend to last the longest…” Clarence chuckled.

64

Detective Jason Knox sat at his desk staring at the phone number he obtained from the Styrofoam ice cream container earlier that day. The cup itself had been locked away by Jason in the event he would need to submit it later as evidence.

He entered 555-216-7854 into the department database to see if the owner of the number had any prior criminal offenses. It was always easier to narrow down the list of possible crimes that might have been committed if the suspect already had a prior record. He wasn’t even sure if the owner of this number was a suspect at all, but maybe he would point him in the right direction as to what Tick was up to these days.

When the number came back in the system it wasn’t registered to an individual person. This number actually belonged to a local business called Rides 4 Less, Incorporated. The owner of the company was named Raymond Page.

Rides 4 Less was a discount used car dealership located on the near west side of Cleveland. Small dealerships like these had been popping up in and around the Cleveland area for decades. They usually didn’t last very long and were almost always located in low-income neighborhoods.

These were predatory dealerships who offered zero down with low payment options to people with little or no credit. They would get customers desperate for a car to sign loan agreements at an incredibly high interest rate with weekly scheduled payments.

It was a win-win for the dealer. If the customer actually made the payments in full and on-time, the dealer would typically get twice what the car was worth over the life of the loan. If the customer missed just two consecutive weekly payments, regardless of the circumstances, the dealer would repossess the vehicle, void the contract, and sell the car all over again to the next victim.

The dealership relied on the fact that since the customers didn’t have enough money to make their payments that they certainly didn’t have enough to hire a lawyer and take them to court.

Jason saw businesses like this, selling everything from cars to furniture to cell phones all over the city. Their whole existence was to prey on the weak, and Jason hated them for it. Jason decided to give the number a call from his department telephone, which would mask the identity of the number he was calling from.

Time to go shopping for a car…

“Hello?” the voice on the other end answered.

“Hey there, is this Raymond from Rides 4 Less?”

“Well this is Rides 4 Less, but I’m Ray’s brother, Ernie. Ray’s the owner. What can I do for you?”

“Oh, sorry about that. I got the number from a guy at one of the bigger dealerships who said you guys might be able to help me out. You see, my old lady cleaned me out in the divorce and let’s just say that my credit is not the best. When I went to the local Ford dealership they said that there was no way they could get me financed. One of the guys, can’t remember his name, gave me this number and said to give a guy named Ray a call.”

“Well, don’t worry. Happens all the time, especially since Ray’s name is on all the cards I hand out to the local dealers to give to good people like you who need our help.”

“So you think you can help me out? I got a job and everything, just no money to put down at the moment,” Jason said, hoping that his act was believable.

“What’d you say your name was?” Ernie asked in response.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. The name’s Darrell.”

“Well, Darrell, you’re in luck, because ol’ Ernie here specializes in helping good guys like yourself get out of a bad situation and into a great car.”

“Oh, thank you, Jesus! You have no idea how happy that makes me. When can I come by and take a looksee?” Jason cringed as he heard the words coming out of his mouth.

“Well, I just got back in the office and I’ll be here until we close tonight at eight.”

“Alright, well I will try to get over there in the next hour or so. Thanks again, Mr. Page.”

“Please, call me Ernie, and I look forward to it.”

Jason hung up the phone and resisted the urge to call the chief and let him know that he was making progress on a lead. He knew, however, that he was going to have to get somewhere with Ernie and Tick if he wanted to stay on the case because there was no way that he’d appease the chief by making a bogus arrest.

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