Gravel crunched under my tires as we rolled into the back lot of Phil's shop. As usual rows upon rows of cars, old and new, lined the gated fence. Laika sent her usual greeting. Barking and spinning from within her daytime inclosure. The thought of anyone having the gull to confront a dog like that seemed next to impossible for me. I wouldn't want to sick the lean German Shepard on my worst enemy.

Taking my time as to not hit the odd mechanic present in the yard I headed to the far side of the lot before pivoting into a free space.

The ride to Phil's had been fairly quiet. Tension gathered from each red light and stop sign on the way there. Harper refused to relieve us all with whatever she was thinking. In her eyes it was just a hunch, and she didn't want to raise our hopes just incase she was wrong. Nevertheless, the whole ride to the auto-shop I sneaked peeks over at Harper in the passenger side. Her brows were permanently knit together, her tongue slipping and sliding over her upper row of teeth as she thought. But to my dismay she didn't give any signs of what that brilliant brain was analyzing.

"Why are we visiting a car when we're meant to be finding a little girl?" Ella questioned from in between Lincoln and Andrew. The unfortunate blonde appeared completely cramped in the back between the two towering teenage boys.

"I just want to check something." Harper explained while slipping out of the car. Wasting no time the four of us clambered out, following her along the rest of the parked vehicles.

"It's just over there, beside the beat up Buick." Lincoln directed, his finger outstretched as he came up beside our leading member.

Unexpectedly, Harper lagged behind, checking out the surrounding area while the rest of us bolted to the Golf in search for clues. Immediately, Lincoln raised the hood and propped it up for us all to see.

The engine and the encircling scraps of metal and tubbing appeared no different than the last time I'd seen it. I watched on as Lincoln, Andrew and Ella commenced inspecting the vehicle bit by bit. Lincoln combed through the jumbled mess of parts under the hood, Andrew threw himself inside — crawling on his hands and knees through the interior — while Ella busied herself with the glove compartment.

I didn't know exactly what we were looking for. Harper wasn't giving us much to go off of. But I assumed we were looking for clues, anything out of the ordinary. And more importantly anything that pointed to the direction of Lincoln's father. I was about to pop open the trunk when I noticed a certain red-headed brainiac was still where we had left her.

"Harper?" I called from the back of the Volkswagen, "did you find something?"

The back of Harper's fiery mane was all I could see. Instead of acknowledging me Harper continued to inspect the brick building, peering from left to right.

"Harp?" I tried again, pacing up to her, "find anything?"

When I stepped up next to her she was still facing the shop. The three large garage doors were wide open, people working away inside. But Harper wasn't paying attention to the dismantled cars or the vulgar shouts coming from within. Instead she was focused on the circular cameras protruding from the back wall.

"I need to get my hands on what's on those." Harper stated, pointing out the two cameras that could be spotted from where we stood.

"Why? What do you think's on them?" I questioned, hoping Harper had caught a lead.

Harper swivelled in her spot, her attention moving from the security system to me. "Evidence... or lack there of."

Giddy with the thought of having a lead I enthusiastically nodded my head. "I'm sure we can ask Phil about taking a look."

"That's Lincoln's call. There's no way of guaranteeing a look at those cameras if we ask Philip — not unless Lincoln tells him what's going on."

Internally, I stumbled with whether or not I should be telling Lincoln that he needed to intrust yet another soul with his secret. After having to endure that struggle once today I doubted he would be okay with having another go at it.

For a brief second — while I was imagining Lincoln wanting to kill me — I caught a glimpse of a dirtied scrap of paper in Harper's hands.

"What's that?" Instantly Harper rolled the card out of my view. From the momentary glance it looked like a played lottery ticket. And from it's condition I doubt anyone was missing it.

"Where did you find that?" I pressed further.

Harper bowed her head to take another peek at the scrap of paper before showing it to me. Taking the warn material I ran my thumb over the scratched numbers. There were raised bumps and grooves from having been stepped on so many times in the gravel cover lot.

"I discovered it in this very spot. I realize the possibility of this belonging to him are slim to none—"

"It's a start." I encouraged. It only seemed fitting that someone who loved to gamble would indulge in the lottery. "Now where do we go from here?"

Without warning Harper shouted out towards our three friends who were still searching every inch of Vikki, "Hey, Andrew!"

At the sound of his name the man in question poked his head out of an open back window.

The scratch card was slipped from my light grasp only to find it's way into Harper's pocket. "Your skills concerning distraction, are they exceptional?"

Within seconds Andrew flew out of the back of the Volkswagen. "What scale of distraction we talking here?"

Harper and I closed the space between our two little groups.

"Anything to get me alone in the front room. I need to inspect some security footage, without Philip knowing."

"Anything? Can we call this Operation Whack-A-Mole?" Andrew questioned with a glint in his eyes. His palms rubbed together in anticipation.

"Anything that won't land you in jail. Don't get crazy." Ella chastised, elbowing the tall boy in the side.

Despite rubbing the sore patch of skin Andrew let out an airy laugh. "Is that concern for me I hear, Ella-Bear?"

"Oh," Ella scowled, shoving Andrew towards the back of the shop building, "just get on with it. I hope a tire falls on you."

With a knowing glance Andrew paced up ahead, slowly leaving us behind.

Trying not to seem to intrigued with what Andrew was doing the four of us attempted to carry a jumbled conversation. Causally the lanky boy, with his nest of curls, entered the back of the shop, greeting and joking with the couple of mechanics that stood near the open door. He didn't waste too much time in conversation, however, because he was soon heading off to one of the work stations.

"What is that kid doing?" Lincoln mumbled to himself while he tried to peek out from the corner of his eyes.

From my spot in the circle we created I could clearly see into the back of the shop. But even with my view I was at a loss as well. "No idea."

Not wanting to seem too obvious I took my eyes away from the garage door Andrew slipped into. He could hardly be seen messing about but something told me we would know when it was Harper's time to infiltrate the office.

While Ella pressed on with our fake, nonchalant conversation a bang emitted throughout the shop. The sound of collapsing metal and shouts rang through the entirety of the lot. Lincoln was the first of us to sprint forward.

The whole workplace was frantic from the second we entered. Everyone, who had been scattered around now concentrated near an expensive yellow Hummer — one that, I was sure, had been up in the air moments prior.

"Raise the lift!"

"Wait! Get the kid out first!"

Just as we made it to the heart of the commotion Phil urgently disappeared under the belly of the vehicle. Only his warn, oil stained jeans and beat up sneakers were visible from where I stood.

"What the fuck is going on?" The two men who I'd seen manning the front office during my last visit came running over.

"The lift failed from the looks of it."

I kept my ears open to the buzz of conversation. A hum of questions and assumptions travelled around the worried group. I almost felt bad for asking Andrew to do this in the first place. Regardless of the discussions majority of my focus was on Phil as he dragged out a barely mobile Andrew.

"Is he all right?" One of the other men standing around questioned.

"I'm all good!" Andrew ensured with a slight groan. He wiggled out after Phil only to stay seated on the concrete floor. The grimy palm of his hand held onto his forehead, a small incision visible. I was having a hard time deciphering whether or not this was a legitimate part of the planned distraction.

Nevertheless, a quick glance around verified Harper's absence. Operation Whack-A-Mole was in progress.

"Shit, Drew. What the Hell happened?" Phil wondered, crouching down next to him.

Giving his head a quick rub Andrew wiped his curls out of the way. "I have no idea. I was just grabbing a couple tools for Lincoln and Vikki when the lift buckled."

"You all good? Do you want some water?" Without waiting for a response Phil lifted his head to one of his employees. "Reggie, go get him a bottle."

"No, no. I'm good, really." Andrew insisted, struggling to raise himself from the ground.

Lincoln stepped forward to give Phil a hand with lifting his friend. "Let's go set you down in the break room. The rest of you figure out what the fuck went wrong."

With Phil and Lincoln headed towards the closet of a staff room the rest of the men concentrated on removing the Hummer from the 'faulty' lift. With a guilty conscience I observed as the eight or ten men scrutinized the situation. I stood near a stack of spare tires, keeping my eyes on each of them. I had to make sure no one headed back to the front and disrupted or discovered Harper.

My heart persisted to hammer in my chest, hoping and praying my red-headed friend could find what she needed in time.

From the corner of my eye I witnessed movement straying from the busied group.

One of the men who typically managed phone calls upfront was headed back to his desk. With every step he inched closer to the black, metal door that separated the two areas. I was too frozen in fear to do anything. He was already too far from where I stood at the other end of the shop.

Ella had already spotted our runaway. She had trailed after Andrew and Lincoln, checking on our supposedly injured friend. Upon seeing the stalky build heading towards the front room she intersected him entirely. She called out for him. He slowed himself to a stop. Ella's hips swayed as she approached him, hypnotizing her latest target. She had that flirtatious glint in her eye. It was her own personal superpower.

I watched on in relief as Ella distracted her conquest. With the tilt of her head and light touch of her fingers, I knew the young, mesmerized mechanic was headed no where anytime soon.

A multitude of mini heart attacks later and a subtle vibration shook in my back pocket.

Rendezvous at Vikki. Pronto.

Forgetting about my watch guard duties I re-pocketed my cellphone and made a beeline for the rundown Volkswagen.

Not surprisingly I was the first to reach Harper.

"What did you find?" The question came out more assertive than expected. The surge of adrenaline was starting to get to me.

Harper moved away from Vikki, phone pressed securely in between her palms. "Something. Indefinitely."

Ella and Lincoln were hot on my heels.

"Did you find something?" Lincoln rushed.

"I'm sure you'll be a better judge of that than I am." Harper said, tapping on her screen.

The silence that followed was absolutely nerve-wracking.

"Is this him?" Harper held out her phone. On the screen played a black and white video, a shaky recording of one of the computer monitors from the front office. On the bottom right of the recording seconds ticked by. The time displayed stated it was approximately 2AM. That wasn't too hard to believe. It was dark and no one else was around besides one lonely, stumbling man. Laika, the supposedly vicious guard dog that was locked up most of the day, greeted the man — tail wagging. She was obviously familiar with the bulky individual who ignored her.

Despite Laika following close by the bald man stumbled between the rows of cars — before coming up beside Lincoln's Volkswagen.

The video went on. The man picked the lock to the vehicle before getting under the hood. The next few minutes of recording apparently weren't of extreme to Harper. Instead she skipped ahead, when the man was done. After shutting the hood and drunkenly patting Laika on the head he stumbled back towards the shop building.

When he was close enough Harper paused the video. His face, although blurred from the night vision of the security system, was distinguishable. And not only to me.

"Yeah," Lincoln rasped, his eyes glued to the phone screen. "That's him."

"Well, then we now know two things." Harper began, slipping her phone into her pocket. "One, he's been tampering with your car. And two, there'a a very good chance he's the one living up there."

In awe, I followed Harper's pointed finger to the upper level apartment.

"How can you be so sure he's the one who's been living up there?" I asked, my gaze coming down from the top of the auto-shop building.

"I can't be. Not without Lincoln inquiring to Philip about the apartment. But for now there's enough evidence pointing to him being the one living here. Between Laika's communal behaviour towards him and his easy access into all areas of the shop after hours it can only be assumed he's around here often. If not daily."

"So where do we go from here?" Ella questioned, reading my mind.

Harper's hazel eyes latched on to Lincoln's calculating features. "You need to go converse with Philip and verify my theory."

Sensing Lincoln's hesitancy I sent him a gentle nudge. "I'll come with you."

With only a nod Lincoln and I headed back through the open garage doors. Phil was still accompanying Andrew, making sure he was all right. If I were him I probably would be too. No one wants to have to deal with a possible lawsuit.

"How's the patient, Doc?" Lincoln mused while standing in the threshold of the break room.

"Ah," Phil said, rising from the scratched up leather couch, "he'll make it. Hardly made a dent in that hard head of his."

With a swift jab to Phil's thigh Andrew returned back to icing his head. But not before flashing us a sly wink.

"I figured it would be good for something one day." The four of us exchanged a brief chuckle before Lincoln carried on with why we were sent here in the first place.

"Hey, Phil. That apartment upstairs, is it available?"

Shutting the mini fridge, that was pressed between the couch and the wall, Phil swivelled back to us with a Coke in his hands. "Nah, man. It's had the same tenant for the last few years now."

"No chance of it becoming free anytime soon then?" Lincoln asked, hopefully.

Phil stopped trying to pop the tab on his soda. "Why? Did you need a place to crash for a while?"

"My mom and I are looking for a new place. Rent's getting a little too much for us to handle where we are now."

"Well," Phil pushed off the arm of the couch, placing his drink on the make-shift coffee table, "if you're serious about taking the place I won't renew his contract. The guy slacks on his payments anyways."

"Is it just him by himself up there?" I asked Phil, still standing in the doorway. Although it was nice to here the apartment was available for Lincoln if he wanted, we needed to get down to the finer details.

"Yeah, really odd bloke. He's constantly plastered. What do you kids call it these days, perma-high?" Phil tried, returning to his Coke can. "I had the place up for rent for a while. No one ever seemed majorly interested in it. Probably because it's over a place of business. But he seemed really into the place." Dipping the can back he took a long swig. "Either way, I don't care what he does. He pays in cash and doesn't bring me any trouble."

"Wonder what brought him here. Did he say if he was around here?" Lincoln questioned next, sounding like he was just trying to keep conversation going.

"Yeah, apparently he's got a couple of kids too. I've never seen them though. I think one of them is your age."

"Oh, yeah?" I asked with mild interest. "What's his last name? Maybe we go to school with them."

"Uhh," Phil bit his cheek as he thought. "It's something Italian or Portuguese sounding. De..." He paused for another moment to think. "DeLucio... De... DeLuca? Yeah. DeLuca, that's it. Sound familiar?"

"No," Lincoln responded causing me to peer over at him. "never heard of him."