Detective Carter's Pov II
The doors of MYM Gym slid open with a hiss, letting in the outside light. Detective Carter stepped in first, scanning the lobby, reading exits, mirrors and sight lines while Lopez trailed behind, already fishing a notebook out of her coat.
Behind the counter stood a young woman with a wide smile plastered across her face, the kind of customer-service smile that had been trained into permanence. Her name tag read Patricia in bold black letters.
"Good morning." she chirped automatically. "Welcome to MYM, are you..."
"We're not here for memberships." Carter cut her off smoothly, flashing his badge. "Detective Carter, NYPD. This is Detective Lopez. We need a word."
The smile faltered, replaced by a nervous glance at Lopez, then back at Carter. "Oh. Uh, of course. How can I help you?"
Carter's eyes flicked down to her name tag. "Patricia. We need to take a look at your security footage. Inside the gym and outside. Last night around eight to ten."
Patricia's lips pressed into a thin line. "Security footage?" She hesitated. "I'm not really authorized to..."
"Patricia." Carter said, lowering his voice. His tone wasn't sharp, but it carried weight. "We're investigating a homicide. Your cooperation saves us paperwork. And time."
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. "Right. Okay. Um… let me take you to the security office."
She stepped out from behind the counter, motioning for them to follow. Carter moved with slow confidence, Lopez scribbling details as they went. They passed rows of treadmills, clangs of iron, and grunts from bodybuilders locked in their routines, oblivious to the weight of law walking through their gym.
Patricia led them down a side hall to a locked door. She keyed in a code and opened it, revealing a cramped room filled with monitors and humming equipment. A young man sat in a swivel chair, hair slicked back, glasses perched precariously on his nose. He turned when they entered, an eyebrow raised.
"Uh, hey. What's going on?"
"This is Xander." Patricia said quickly. "He manages the cameras."
Xander pushed his chair back a little, sizing the detectives up. "Cops?"
"Detectives." Carter confirmed. "We need your eyes, Xander. Pull up everything you got from eight until ten, last night."
Xander's fingers flew across the keyboard, clicking through feeds. "All right, let's see…" He pulled up a set of indoor cameras first. Rows of timestamps flickered across the screens.
"There he is." Lopez said, pointing. Michael Gray walked into frame, swiping his keycard at the front desk before heading toward the locker rooms.
Xander fast-forwarded. "Spent about two hours inside. No one approached him and he didn't talk to anyone. He just trained, showered, then left."
Lopez frowned. "No interaction? At all?"
"Not that I can see." Xander said, rewinding briefly to double-check. "No one followed him inside. No one met him on the way out."
"Roll the outside." Carter ordered.
Xander switched feeds. The grainy black-and-white footage showed the front of the gym, cars pulling in and out, the streetlights buzzing.
"Here." Xander said, pausing. Michael Gray exited the building, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, walking toward his car. He looked tired but otherwise normal.
Seconds later, another vehicle rolled into view from the corner of the screen. Dark, low-slung, sleek. The Audi.
Lopez leaned forward. "That's the same one we saw near the hotel."
Carter narrowed his eyes. "Which means those two even knew the exact time Gray leaves the gym."
Lopez exhaled. "Jesus. They had his routine down to the minute."
Xander zoomed but the plate was just beyond the reach of clarity, numbers smearing into a blur under the dim lights.
"Ughhh, we still can't read the plate." Lopez muttered.
"Yeah." Carter said dryly. "They sure picked their spots well."
Lopez turned to Carter, thoughtful. "Hold on. Why don't we try the Audi dealership? I mean, look at that thing... is that an RS6?"
Xander grinned faintly, proud of his knowledge. "Yeah. 2023 RS6 Avant. Hard to mistake it. Wide body, signature tail lights."
"Exactly." Lopez said, eyes brightening. "The dealership might be able to tell us which one was in the area last night."
Carter considered it for a long moment, then nodded. "All right, Lopez. Let's see how far we can push it."
A few minutes later. They got to the dealership. Carter and Lopez flashed their badges at the receptionist, asking for the branch manager. Minutes later, a stocky man in a fitted suit appeared, hand outstretched.
"Detectives. I'm Paul, manager here. How can I assist the NYPD today?"
Carter wasted no time. "We're looking into a vehicle. Audi RS6 Avant, black. Need to know if one was around MYM Gym or VACANCY last night."
Paul's brow furrowed. "Well, we don't usually release client information..."
Carter's eyes hardened. "It's about a murder case, sir. Don't make me get a warrant."
Paul cleared his throat, motioning them toward his office. A few keystrokes later, a list of RS6s appeared on his screen.
"Here." Paul said finally. "Only one RS6 Avant was in that area last night. And it is registered to a company account... Cruise Motors."
"Cruise Motors?" Lopez repeated.
Paul nodded. "They're a luxury rental company. Deal mostly in high-end clients who want to drive something flashy for a night or two."
"Alright, thank you so much sir." Carter said, then turned to Lopez, "Let's go."
Both detectives left the dealership and drove to the far side of the city.
Cruise Motors was tucked into a shabby corner lot, a row of expensive cars parked behind chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire. The front office was little more than a glass box with peeling paint and a flickering neon sign.
Inside, the man behind the counter looked nervous the second the detectives walked in. Thin, balding, with darting eyes, he clutched the counter like it was a shield.
"We're looking into one of your rentals." Carter said flatly. "RS6 Avant. Black. Who rented it out?"
The man's lips tightened. He glanced from Carter to Lopez, then back down at his desk.
"Uh… I don't have that record."
"Don't?" Carter echoed.
"I mean…" The man rubbed his neck, clearly sweating. "There was a situation. A guy came in, asked for the RS6 three days back. And when he returned it yesterday he... uh... he pulled a gun. Right in my face. Told me towipe the record clean. Said if I didn't, I wouldn't live to regret it."
Lopez's eyes widened. "So you cleared everything? Deleted the rental history?"
"I didn't have a choice!" the man said quickly, panic in his voice. "I did exactly what he said. No paperwork. No ID. No nothing."
Carter stepped closer, his presence filling the tiny room. "How did he pay?"
The man's shoulders slumped. "Cash."
Lopez sighed, frustrated. "What about surveillance cameras? You must have footage of him taking the car."
The man shook his head miserably. "System was down that night. He knew it, too."
Carter studied him, reading every twitch, every nervous flicker in his eyes. Finally, he leaned back. "All right."
The two detectives stepped out into the sunlight. For a moment, neither spoke. Cars whooshed past on the street, life moving on while their lead crumbled in their hands.
"We just hit a dead end." Lopez muttered. She shoved her hands into her coat pockets, kicking at the pavement.
Carter lit a cigarette, inhaling slowly before answering.
"There's no such thing as nothing, Lopez. Every wall we hit tells us something about the people we're chasing. You see how clean that was? It means that these people knows how it goes."
Lopez frowned. "So what do we do now?"
Carter blew out smoke, eyes narrowing against the sun. "We keep walking the maze. Eventually, someone will slip. And when they do...we'll be there."