To Love and to Perish - By Lisa Bork Page 0,57
bus puffed to a halt at the curb.
Normally, Danny would bolt out the door and onto the bus. This morning, he hesitated. “Jolene, do you think the guys on the team saw Ray arrest my dad?”
My heart broke. Poor kid, he must be embarrassed. Humiliated. “I don’t think so. The other team was pushing hard to score. I’m sure they all were watching the end of the game.”
“But they saw me run off.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. My eyes had been glued to his disappearing back. I didn’t know what everyone else saw. “I think they were too busy celebrating the win. Maybe they figured you had to leave early.”
The bus driver tooted his horn.
I waved to him, hoping he wouldn’t pull away. “You have to go now, Danny. Everything will be all right. Don’t worry.”
He nodded, shouldered his backpack, and ran out the door. But for the first time ever, he failed to wave to me as the bus pulled away. I preferred to think he just forgot.
_____
With nothing to do at home but worry, I decided to go to work, even though on Mondays Asdale Auto Imports was traditionally closed. I’d wear my jeans instead of a business suit and get a little cleaning done. Although my customers were the most meticulous people—as evidenced by the perfect condition of their precious cars—dust did build up in the corners of the showroom from time to time. Today was a perfect day to make it disappear.
Driving to work didn’t keep me from worrying about the strain on Ray and Danny’s relationship, not to mention Ray’s and mine. Or the fact I now knew and cared about two people in the Wachobe County Jail, an all-time record which gave me acid indigestion. It also didn’t help that all the questions I’d asked of Brennan’s old friends had been a catalyst for murder and his subsequent incarceration or that the loss of my Ferrari had led to Mr. Phillips’ arrest. Everyone I cared about was hurting, including me. Worse, I knew I’d met a murderer—and it wasn’t Brennan Rowe. If only I knew who it was.
After unlocking the door and turning off the showroom alarm, I sat behind my laminated wood desk and dialed Catherine Thomas’ cell phone, determined to take action where I could.
She answered on the first ring. “Jolene, I was going to call you today.”
“Were you? I must be psychic.” I tried for levity but fell short.
“I want to talk to you and Cory. I hired an investigator who’s going to retrace your steps, and I wanted to get as much information in advance as I can before sending him to Albany and Binghamton.”
Her investigator would be the third round of questions for all these people, after ours and the police’s today. I doubted the investigator would get very far. “Sure, no problem, do you want us to come to you?”
“I’m on my way over to Wachobe. I’m due in court this morning for Brennan’s arraignment. I can stop by your home or office afterward, around eleven o’clock.”
I wondered if she’d be able to get Brennan out on bail but decided not to ask. She’d let us know when we saw her, no doubt. “Okay, I’ll call Cory. Why don’t you meet us at the shop?” I spoke quickly. “But I need to ask you one more thing before you hang up.”
“Yes?”
“Can you handle another client?”
“Depends, who’s the client?”
“Danny’s father, Mr. Phillips. Ray arrested him yesterday at Danny’s football game.”
Catherine’s gasp made the phone lines crackle. “At the game? In front of Danny?”
I explained the whole situation to Catherine, relieved I wasn’t the only one who found Ray’s action upsetting.
“So you think Mr. Phillips stole the Ferrari and sold it for Danny’s college fund? What proof do you have that he took it?”
Here was the difficult part. “I think Danny gave his father the alarm code for my shop. I know he saw me punch it in several times. I never thought to hide it from him, but when the Ferrari disappeared, I realized Danny must have given it to him.”
“He’ll never admit it.”
“Not now, that’s for sure.”
“How old is he?”
“Just twelve.”
“Does Ray know?”
“I’m sure he guessed. He put Mr. Phillips at the top of the suspect list.”
“How many other known car thieves were visiting Wachobe at that time?”
“None that I know of.”
Catherine was silent so long I thought she’d hung up. Then she spoke. “I don’t think even Ray would expect Danny to testify against