Chapter 259

We sat on the diner’s cement stairs while the police looked for Amy’s car. I called Jayden, and he was on his way to talk to the police and take us home.

I texted Victor to let him know what happened. After I assured him I was alright, he said he would see me tonight. I couldn’t wait to get this day behind me. I felt terrible about Amy’s car.

Amy sat next to me with her face resting on her fists. The loss of her car had hit her hard. She loved the Mercedes and was proud of her first car.

“I’m never going to see my car again, am I?” she moaned. “My stuff was in it too, like that letter from Deirdre. Now it’s gone.”

“If you don’t want to investigate Deirdre’s disappearance anymore, I can do it with Jayden and let you know what I find.”

“I’ll help as much as I can,” Amy insisted. “I need to know what happened to Deirdre. But I can’t believe somebody stole my car.”

I thought it was an odd coincidence, too. I remembered the feeling of being watched when we were leaving Carrie and Doug’s home.

Did someone follow us from the city and then steal Amy’s car? How would that help them? Did they think it would stop us from investigating?

Suddenly, a small red convertible flew through the diner parking lot and almost struck a parked car.

I snapped a photo of the female driver while her front bumper was an inch from the other car's rear fender.

The driver of the red convertible let out a string of curses before backing up her car. She then floored the accelerator, making dust fly before careening out of the lot and down the road.

“What an idiot!” Amy said. “She’s going to kill someone if she keeps driving like that. If I knew who it was, I would report her to the police.”

“I know who it was,” I said. “Justin and I were at her home the other day.”

Amy‘s mouth dropped open. “Is she one of the suspects in Deirdre’s murder?”

“Yep,” I replied. “That was Clarissa Lang Farver. Andy was engaged to her at one time. He dumped her for Deirdre, and she’s still quite salty about it.”

“Did you notice her eyebrows?” Amy asked. “She has blonde hair, but her eyebrows are much darker and have a reddish tint. Maybe she’s the red wolf.”

“She does have a red car,” I agreed. “We need to stop in for another talk with her. If she doesn’t cooperate, I’ll threaten to tell the police about her careless driving today.” I showed Amy my phone screen. “I took her picture.”

Jayden and the police pulled into the diner parking lot within seconds of each other.

Jayden hurried to our side. “Did they find the car?” he asked.

“Let’s ask them,” I replied as a policeman approached us.

“Miss Gray,” a young police officer said. “Your car has been found. Will you come to the police station to claim it and fill out some forms?”

Jayden identified himself as an ex-police officer and a friend of ours. He asked if he could accompany us. The police agreed, and Amy and I climbed into Jayden’s car to ride to the police station.

“I can’t believe they found my car!” Amy clapped your hands with glee. “How’d they find it so fast?”

Jayden grimaced. “You can thank Victor for that.”

“What did he do, pull some strings?” I asked.

“Something like that,” Jayden replied noncommittally. “The important thing is the car has been found, and you two are okay.”

The ride to the police station wasn’t very long. We were there in a few moments. Amy’s car was parked in front of the building, and she ran to it to give it a hug.

“My baby,” she crooned. “I’m glad they didn’t hurt you.”

“The thieves didn’t want us to identify them,” the police officer said. “The interior was wiped clean, so there were no fingerprints. And there weren’t any witnesses either.”

“In other words, you have no idea who stole the car,” Jayden said. “Where did you find it?”

“At the end of Hollow Road,” the police officer replied.

“We were there visiting someone a short time ago,” I told the officer.

“Why would any of the Brady’s steal my car?” Amy asked.

“I don’t think Doug or Carrie would,” I assured her. “But I don’t know about their sons or Carly.”

“Both of the Brady boys have been at work all day,” the officer told us. “And Carly confessed she didn’t have to work today. She’s with her boyfriend.”

“I’m sorry, there isn’t anything else we can do,” the officer added.

“You got my car back,” Amy said. “Thank you. Can we go now?”

“I need you to come inside the station and sign some papers,” the policeman said. “After that, you can go.”

“How did they steal my car when I have the fob?” Amy asked on our way inside the police station.

“We had our mechanic go over your car,” the officer said. “He thinks they hacked the immobilizer system and used a blank fob to start the car.”

“The thieves get more tech-savvy every day,” Jayden said.

“And it’s getting harder to keep up with them,” the policeman agreed. “By the way, Miss Gray, our mechanic found two trackers hidden under your car.”

“Two what?” Amy asked.

“Trackers are tiny gadgets that tell someone where your car is at all times,” Jayden explained. “I put one of them under your car at Victor’s request. I don’t know anything about the second one.”

“Is Victor's tracker how I got my car back?”

“No doubt,” I told her. I also didn’t doubt that the teacher was there to protect me.

“Can I have the trackers?” Jayden asked the cop. “I want to try to identify the other one. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

The cop agreed, and soon, we were on our way back to Denhurst. Jayden was following close behind us.

Are we still going to stop to see that Clarissa woman?” Amy asked.

“Sure,” I replied. “She lives at 14 Laurel Lane.”

In a half hour, we were pulling into Clarissa’s driveway.

“This isn’t what I expected the house to look like,” Amy said. “Isn’t she an Alpha?”

“Yes,” I said. “But wait until you meet her.”

“Is this the woman that was drunk at ten o’clock in the morning?” Amy asked as Jayden approached us. “Justin told me about her.”

“That’s her,” I said. “Are you going inside with us, Jayden?”

“If you want me to,” he replied.

I gestured for him to follow us. “You’re in for a treat.”

But Clarissa was sober and not feeling friendly at all.

“Why are you here again?” she snapped at me as soon as she opened her door. At least she remembered me.

“Can we come in?” I asked.

“No,” she growled.

“Okay. Where were you the night before last around ten thirty?” I asked.

“What’s it to you? Clarissa demanded. “You’re not a cop. I don’t have to answer.”

Jayden flashed his badge.

She blanched and said. “I was sleeping. I had a terrible headache.”

“I’ll bet,” Amy mumbled before asking, “You dye your hair, right? Your natural color is red.”

“No. My hair was auburn, but now I choose to be blonde,” she hissed. “Is that illegal?”

“No,” I said. “But do you have any proof you were here sleeping on Tuesday night?”

The door slammed shut in my face.

“She must be more fun when she’s drinking,” Amy said.

Jayden pretended to scratch his nose and hid a smile behind his hand. “Where to next, Ladies?”

“I’m going home,” Amy said. “I have stuff to do before the dinner rush at the restaurant.”

“I can follow you there,” Jayden offered.

“Nah, we’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks for coming to Middleburg for us. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Jayden left, and Amy and I climbed into her car for the drive to my home.

“We should have told Clarissa we saw her almost hit a parked car,” Amy said.

“I don’t think she was in the mood to be blackmailed,” I said.

Amy turned onto the road to the mansion. “Jayden is nice, and he seems to be a competent detective. I’m glad Victor hired him.”

My driveway was coming up fast when Amy flipped on her turn signal. A second later, she was panicking.

“Daisy, something is wrong with the car!” she exclaimed. “The brakes won’t work!”

Amy pumped the brakes frantically as fear spread across her pretty features.

There was a curve in the road just past my driveway. We were headed for it, and the steep embankment about thirty feet from the road

“I can’t slow down!” Amy screamed. “Hang on. We’re gonna crash!”