girls were clustered around him, as if they could somehow help by appearing as a group. Bonnie was gesturing vigorously, and her indignant expression made it clear that she wanted to tell the sheriff off personally.
"In fact, Mr. Honeycutt," Sheriff Mossberg cut in, "we called your home number first, since that's the phone you used to place the report. And your mother said that she hadn't seen you at all last night."
Matt ignored the little voice that wanted to snap,Is that a crime? "That was because I got held up - "
"By a self-propelled tree, Mr. Honeycutt? In fact we had already had another call about your house last night. A member of Neighborhood Watch reported a suspicious car roughly in front of your house.
According to your mother, you recently totaled your own car, isn't that right, Mr. Honeycutt?"
Matt could see where this was going and he didn't like it. "Yes," he heard himself say, while his mind worked desperately for a plausible explanation. "I was trying to avoid running over a fox. And - "
"Yet there was a report of a brand new Jaguar lingering in front of your house, just far enough away from the streetlight to be - inconspicuous. A car so new that it had no license plates. Was that, in fact, your car, Mr. Honeycutt?"
"Mr. Honeycutt's my father!" Matt said desperately. "I'm Matt. And it was my friend's car - "
"And your friend's name is...?"
Matt stared at Elena. She was making wait gestures, obviously trying to think. To sayElena Gilbert would be suicidal. The police, of all people, knew that Elena Gilbert was dead. Now Elena was pointing around the room and mouthing words at him.
Matt shut his eyes and said the words, "Stefan Salvatore. But he gave the car to his girlfriend?" He knew he was ending his sentence so that it sounded like a question, but he could hardly believe Elena's coaching.
Now the sheriff was beginning to sound tired and exasperated. "Areyou askingme , Matt? So you were driving the brand-new car of your friend's girlfriend. And her name is...?"
There was a brief moment when the girls seemed to disagree and Matt hung in limbo. But then Bonnie threw her arms up and Meredith moved forward, pointing to herself.
"Meredith Sulez," Matt said weakly. He heard the hesitation in his own voice and he repeated, huskily but with more conviction, "Meredith Sulez."
Now Elena was whispering rapidly in Meredith's ear.
"And the car was purchased where? Mr. Honeycutt?"
"Yes," Matt said. "Just a second - " He put the phone into Meredith's outstretched hand.
"This is Meredith Sulez," Meredith said smoothly, in the polished, relaxed tones of a classical music disk jockey.
"Miss Sulez, you've heard the conversation so far?"
"Ms.Sulez, please, Sergeant. I have."
"Did you, in fact, lend your car to Mr. Honeycutt?"
"I did."
"And where is Mr." - there was a shuffling of paper - "Stefan Salvatore, the original owner of the car?"
He's not asking her where they bought it, Matt thought. He must know.
"My boyfriend is away from town right now," Meredith said, still in the same refined, unflappable voice. "I don't know when he'll be back. When he is, shall I have him call you?"
"That might be wise," Sheriff Mossberg said dryly. "These days very few cars are bought with cash on the line, especially brand-new Jaguars. I'd like your driver's license number, also. And, in fact, I'd very much like to speak to Mr. Salvatore when he returns."
"That may be very soon," Meredith said, a bit slowly, but following Elena's coaching. Then she recited her driver's license number from memory.
"Thank you," Sheriff Mossberg said briefly. "That will be all for - "
"May I just say one thing? Matt Honeycutt would never, ever remove stop signs or yield signs. He's a very conscientious driver and was a leader in his high school class. You can speak to any of Robert E. Lee High School's teachers or even the principal if she's not on vacation. Any one of them will tell you the same thing."
The sheriff didn't seem to be impressed. "You can tell him from me that I'll be keeping an eye on him in the future. In fact it might be a good idea if he stopped in the Sheriff's Department today or tomorrow," he said, and then the phone went dead.
Matt burst out, "Stefan's girlfriend? You, Meredith? What if the car dealer says the girl was a blond? How are we going to work that out?"
"We aren't," Elena said simply from behind Meredith. "Damon is.