After sleeping late, Liwu planned to rise late as well. But, at 5:00 A.M, the call came in. Sleazy Han was missing! Given the magnitude of the last case he brought to the bureau and his evasiveness, the chief was worried.

She didn’t waste a moment on long showers and careful grooming. Liwu left home quickly, while most of the residents were still sleeping. The precinct was buzzing when she arrived, detectives and officers whispering, search dogs on their way out, papers being shuffled and the heavy smell of fresh coffee.

Chief Abby was talking to five different officers that were updating him on five different matters. His face was grim. "Liwu," he bellowed. "Sleazy Han’s car was picked up and towed. I need you and your partner to go and check it right now."

She rushed out of the precinct, Linlin trailing behind her. Her partner was still sulking from the fight they had the day before. Liwu ignored the pout, because sooner or later, they would have to speak. Not one word was shared between them, until they reached the vehicle lot, and found the flashy Ferrari, which Sleazy Han had borrowed.

"Of course he was driving a flashy car," Liwu muttered.

The Ferrari stood out in the vehicle lot which was a graveyard of rust and rows of cars that sat abandoned. Most of their windows were smeared, and the tires flat.

Linlin wrinkled her nose. "This place smells like old socks, oil and my grandpa."

Liwu muttered, "And all of it smells better than your cooking."

Her partner shot her a glare. "At least my food doesn’t try to run away from me by committing suicide." She was referring to all the times Liwu’s plates shattered immediately after she piled food on them.

Ignoring the jab, Liwu started her walk around the vehicle. A small bird shaped drone above them followed her movements. There was a dent in the front and chipped paint that was an offense to such a vehicle.

As for the interior...Liwu gagged. "This is not a car, it is a bio hazard."

Half-eaten food littered the seats: greasy snail noodles congealed in a carton, a sandwich that had grown moldy under the dashboard, and something that might once have been chicken but now resembled a rock hard science experiment.

Linlin pinched her nose. "I think the chicken farted."

Liwu rolled her eyes. "Focus. The snail noodles smell bad but the receipt on the dashboard says they were picked up yesterday night. They were not abandoned out of laziness but dumped abruptly."

Despite the unwillingness, they began rummaging through the mess. Sleazy Han treated the car like a dumping ground. It was appalling!Liwu pulled open the glove compartment and found a folder. Inside were photographs: grainy shots of men in suits or work out attires, taken from a distance. Surveillance.

"Look what we have here!"

Linlin frowned. "These aren’t random. He was tailing these men."

Liwu flipped through the pictures. The men looked ordinary, on their way to or from work or the gym. Some were entering the building s where they worked, others slipping into their cars or taxis.

She muttered, "He was onto something. Sleazy Han is not the kind to go around taking random photographs. Whatever he was into, was probably dangerous." She pointed to one of the pictures. "These are government plates."

In the backseat, Linlin found a camera. Sleek, compact, definitely not a product from this world. It required a retina scan activation. It was clearly meant for spying. She held it up. "Looks like our reporter did not report all of his otherworldly spying equipment, which is a crime. But again, its Sleazy Han, so I am not surprised. That man can’t stick to writing simple stories about heroes and dogs, he has to go the extra mile and cover stories on corruption, murder and the like."

Liwu nodded. "And whatever he found scared him enough into silence, and scared someone enough to make him disappear."

As they dug deeper, Liwu pulled out a crumpled notebook, sticky with sauce. She grimaced. "I swear, if I had known he was this messy, I would have left this task to Xuanji."

Linlin smirked. "Thank God for gloves. I am seeing a lot of notes with saucy thumbprints. Does Sleazy Han think soup is ink?"

Liwu laughed. "Make less jokes, that camera you found could be recording us. We both know that if he gets footage of us laughing while his life is in danger, he will put it out for the world to see."

"Anything for likes and clicks," Linlin shook her head. "It doesn’t matter if we save his life, he will still vilify us." She tossed and old sock out, with a look of disgust on her face. "I should have worn a face mask for this."

"Hey!" Liwu screamed, "Don’t throw out the evidence before it is collected and catalogued."

A lab tech who worked in the crime scene department shot Linlin a scorching look before picking up the sock.

"One old sock!" Linlin mumbled. "It is one old sock that probably has no connection to the case. We are not hunting a one sock legged kidnapper." She tossed aside an old onion that was almost dried up. "Onion! an onion. Who keeps an onion in their car?"

"Someone who likes onions." Liwu replied without looking at her partner. "Focus on the sticky notes. We need to collect them all and see if they have some useful information. Like where he was going last night because I have a crumpled note here that says TD, 9:30 p.m." She turned her head, eyes blinking curiously. "Person and time?"

Linlin tilted her head slightly, "Or place and time."

Liwu sighed. "I hope we find him alive so that I can make him eat his moldy sandwich."

Linlin paled. "That’s a cruel and unusual punishment." She grinned suddenly. "But I like it."

Despite the humor, tension gnawed at the them. The car wasn’t just dirty, it was a crime scene. Every scrap of paper, every crumb of food was a piece of evidence.

The photographs mattered even more because they held a secret. But what?