“Yes, up until not too long before it was stolen. Out of the blue he decided to get it insured and to clean it up a bit, maybe to sell it. He knew his health wasn’t good, and he was trying to take care of things, so my mom didn’t get left with all that to deal with. Of course he left it too late, and, by the time he dealt with the truck, he was already in poor health.”
“Sorry to hear that,” she said.
“Well, at least he enjoyed his last few years.”
“And there was never any news on your stolen vehicle?”
“Nope,” he said. “We weren’t exactly sure what happened to it. We got up one day, and it was gone.”
“So, it was kept in the garage?”
He answered clearly. “Yes, it was kept in the garage, and my dad hadn’t taken it out in years. So I’m not even sure who would have known it was there.”
“And, of course, if the garage door was closed—”
“Well, it was supposed to be, but I’m not sure,” he said.
“So it’s possible somebody saw it there?”
“Yes, and it’s quite possible that someone walked in, started it up, and drove it out of there. Both my parents are hard of hearing. They didn’t like the hearing aids, so they’d take them out as early in the evening as they could.”
“Right,” she said, “so stealing this vehicle wouldn’t have been that difficult.”
“No,” he said. “Not at all.”
“What about the license plate?” she asked.
“My dad’s name is George, and he ended up with one that had aGat the beginning.”
“Perfect,” she said. “Do you happen to know the rest of the plate numbers?” She looked down at the list in front of her.
He said, “I don’t, but I have it right here. Just a second.” Moments later he reeled it off for her.
“Perfect, that lines up with what I’ve got here.”
“Does that mean you found the truck?”
She hesitated. “No, but it could very well mean it was used to commit a crime.”
The younger man on the other end of the phone gasped. “Well, if that’s the case,” he said, “I’m really glad my dad is not around to hear it. It would break his heart to think of his old baby being used that way.”
“Well, we’re not sure just yet,” she said, “but we’re doing our best to track it down.”
“Good luck,” he said. “Give me a call if I can help in some way.”
“Was it dented?”
“The front grille had a dent,” he said. “It wasn’t too bad, and Dad was looking at replacing the parts. But, as it turned out, they were quite expensive, according to my father, so he had decided to sell it as is.”
“Okay, what about the doors? The same model as the vehicle itself?”
He gave a bark of laughter. “Oh my, how did you know? My dad replaced one of the doors on it. I don’t even know where he got it, but it could have been at one of the pick-and-pull places, I’ll bet.”
“Good enough,” she said. “Thanks for your help.”
And, with that, she rang off, then looked at Rodney and said, “Bull’s-eye.”
He grinned. “Well, that’s interesting. So we have a stolen vehicle, likely used in the first drive-by from three years ago. Now we need to corroborate that information and then confirm if it was used in the second one, the recent one.”