Derby Divas (Zoe Donovan Mystery) (12 page)

“Don’t worry about it. Morgan and I are going over to your parents
’ for dinner. I’m going to bring my guitar so we can preview songs.”

“Harper and Morgan are having a playdate and
I’m going to miss it?”

“Zoe
, they’re three months old. I doubt they’ll be doing much playing.”

“Yeah, but I bet they
’ll be so cute together. I’m going to the parade and chili cook-off with Zak and Scooter, but I’ll try to stop by for a minute. What time are you going over?”

“Six.”

I didn’t think my biological clock was ticking, but just thinking about Harper and Morgan lying next to each other on a blanket made me all gooey inside. Maybe Ellie wasn’t as crazy as I thought.

Then
I remembered the disastrous double date.

Or maybe she was.

“Listen, Jeremy, I wanted to talk to you about Ellie.”

“What’s up with
her?”

I explained about her almost manic drive to have a baby no matter what the circumstance
s. I was really worried about her and hoped Jeremy could shed some light on the hardships that came with bringing another person into the world and trying to raise them on your own.

“When I found out Gina was pregnant with Morgan
, I was scared,” Jeremy said. “I was just a kid. What did I know about raising a baby? I talked myself into believing it would be easy, but you’re correct in the fact that it’s hard. Very hard at times. But to be honest, having Morgan in my life is the best thing that ever could have happened to me. If I had it to do over again, I would. She has given meaning and texture to my life that I didn’t even know I was missing. I know you’re worried about Ellie going it alone, but if there was ever anyone cut out to be a mother, it’s her.”

I frowned. I
’d sort of hoped he’d tell me how hard it was to deal with midnight feedings, colic, messy diapers, and a total loss of freedom. Jeremy was only twenty-one, yet he seemed really happy and honestly content.

“I
’ll talk to Ellie,” Jeremy offered. “I do agree that hooking up with some random guy just to have a baby isn’t the way to go.”

“Thanks
, Jeremy. I’m supposed to meet her for lunch, but if you want to go in my stead, I’ll keep an eye on things here.”

“I’d be happy to
, as long as you call her and tell her about the switch.”

“Done.”

We ended up with fourteen entries for
the preliminary round, five women and nine men. I decided to simply create two groups of seven, with the final three from each group going on to the finals the following day. The trick was going to not only be one of the last three cars running but to be in good enough shape to compete in the finals. Since Pepper had technically won the race, it was decided that the groups would be coed, as originally voted on by the committee.

I made certain that Boomer and Pandora were put into different groups. Other t
han that, I randomly picked two women and four men for each of the two groups. Up first was the group that consisted of Pandora, Jaqui, Rizo, Masher, two of the Pencil Triplets, and Bruiser. The second group would be Boomer, Jugs, Zelda, Crusher, the third Pencil Triplet, Crank, and Big Boy Branson.

“I thought the mood would be somber after what happened to Pepper,” Levi commented, “but there
’s an explosive energy like always.”

“Most of the people in the crowd d
idn’t even know Pepper. I think the crash has actually made the whole weekend somehow more exciting for the average derby spectator. And those drivers who were close to Pepper are looking at the derby as a sort of stress relief. I’m predicting that the crashes will be more explosive than normal. I just hope we have three cars from each group left in good enough condition to compete tomorrow.”

“And if we don’t?”

I shrugged. “We’ll compete with what we have.”

Unlike the cars that had been on display in town and had participated in the classic car parade, the derby cars were old and heavy, with all the glass removed and roll-over bars installed. Although powerful vehicles, the cars were cosmetically challenged. Still, in spite of the dents that had been pounded out more than once, many of the cars, including Pandora’s pink Galaxy, had been painted to demonstrate the personality of the driver.

“Did
Dezee ever show up?” Levi asked.

“Not so far. It’s really strange
that he’d just take off unless he was involved in the tampering, but everyone who knows him agrees that he really doesn’t seem to be the type to do such a thing.”

“S
ometimes it’s the quiet ones who have something to hide.”

“
Maybe, but it seems odd that he’d leave everything including his car behind.”

“You mentioned that he was close to Pepper. Maybe he knew that Pepper was the one driving Pandora’s car and when it crashed he went off to mourn.”

“He wasn’t at the race.”

“That you saw. Can you honestly say that you saw everyone who was there? I know I can’t remember every detail of every minute. He m
ight have shown up late.”

“Maybe.
Here come the drivers.”

The cars were already parked
at the starting point, within the boundaries of the makeshift derby track we’d set up in one of Old Man Johnson’s unused pastures. Traditionally, we’d used the fairgrounds in Bryton Lake, but there had been a scheduling conflict this year that had left the committee scrambling to figure out an alternate venue. When the committee decided to ask Old Man Johnson for permission to use his pasture, I figured there was no way he’d agree, but Hazel, with her diplomatic disposition and a bagful of pastries, had been successful in getting the reclusive man to go along with our plan. If you want my opinion, he’d been regretting that decision ever since.

The drivers
, dressed in their colorful racing suits, paraded around the perimeter of the makeshift fence, waving at the crowd before taking their places in their cars in anticipation of the starting gun. Overall, the energy of the crowd was beyond invigorating, although with the addition of the women to the event, there were a lot more catcalls than I’d ever heard at an event like this.

“Is Zak brining Scooter?” Levi asked.

“Yeah.” I looked around at the crowd. “He should be here.”

I checked my phone. He hadn’t texted to say he wasn’t going to make it.
I knew Zak and Scooter were still working on getting down their timing. Zak had shared the previous evening that if he anticipated that it would take Scooter thirty minutes to accomplish something such as getting ready to go someplace, washing up to eat, or getting ready for bed, you could bet it would actually take twice that long.

“He probably had to park quite a
way down the road,” Levi said. “I hope he makes it before they begin. These things usually don’t take all that long once they get started.”

I
scanned the crowd again. There were a lot of people crammed into a small area, but Zak was freakishly tall, so I was certain I would be able to pick him out of the crowd.

“
I don’t seen them,” I said as I surveyed the masses. “Oh wait, there they are.”

I waved to Zak and Scooter
, who were perched on temporary bleachers along the fence line. I would have liked to sit with them, but as a member of the committee, it was my responsibility to sit in the judges’ booth and act as an amateur judge while Levi sat next to me to serve as co-judge and announcer. My dad and Paul were busy at the chili cook-off and Ellie and Tawny were in town overseeing the food, and Willa, Hazel, and Gilda had volunteered to be on hand should problems arise.

“You ready?” I asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Levi
greeted everyone and then made the announcement for the drivers to start their engines. The crowd roared with enthusiasm, calling out the names of their favorite drivers, as I shot the gun, which was filled with blanks, and the derby got underway.

“Ouch, that must have hurt.” Levi grimaced as Pandora rammed into one of the Pencil
Triplets, taking him out of the contest within the first minute of the event.

“
It looks like Pandora and Jaqui are working as a team, now that Masher took out Rizo,” I commented. “It’s going to be hard to get to either of them as long as they continue to have each other’s back.”

“The guys seem to be working alone at this point,” Levi
said. “Bruiser just took out one of the Triplets and Masher has been ruthless about chasing down Jaqui.”

“I suppose we should have made more of an effort to
figure out which Triplet is which,” I commented. They were driving completely different cars, so it wouldn’t have been that hard.

“Yeah. It just seemed easier to refer to them as number
s one, two, and three.”

In the end
, the final three left standing from group one were Pandora, Jaqui, and Masher. The results really didn’t hold any surprises as far as I was concerned. It would be interesting to see who would survive from round two.

“That concludes round one,” Levi announced. “We
’re going to take a break while the damaged cars are removed from the field. The snack bar is open on the far left with cool drinks, hot dogs, and buttery corn on the cob.”

“Maybe you should go into showbiz,” I teased Levi. “You have a great stage voice.”

“Thanks but no thanks. I’m going to get a soda. Want anything?”

“No thanks. I think I’ll head over to say hi to Zak and Scooter while we wait to start round two.”

I was halfway around the field, walking toward the bleachers where I’d seen Zak and Scooter, when I noticed Salinger heading toward me.

Now what?

“Did you catch the first round of the derby?” I asked politely. After all, I had decided to make an effort to get along with the man, since he seemed to be willing to work with me after all the help I’d provided in the past.

“Sorry I missed it. I called your cell
, but when you didn’t get back to me, I decided to come out here to find you.”

“I’m the official judge
, so I turned my phone off. What’s up?”

Salinger looked around.
There were several hundred people in attendance, although no one seemed to be paying any attention to us.

“Let’s go over there i
n the shade, away from the crowd,” he suggested.

I shrugged. Shade sounded good. It was a hot afternoon and the judge
s’ booth had been set up directly under the midday sun. I looked longingly toward the bleachers, where Zak was waiting for me, before following Salinger dutifully across the dusty field that was riddled with gopher holes.

A
s soon as we arrived at our destination, Salinger began to speak. “It turns out that the body in the morgue isn’t Stella Worthington.”

“What?” I frowned. “It has to be Pepper. Who else would it be?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. Ms. Worthington’s parents arrived from overseas this morning. When we reviewed the coroner’s report with them, they pointed out that Pepper had a titanium screw in her shoulder from a dislocation that resulted from a fall from a horse when she was nine. The woman who died in the fire didn’t possess such a screw, which would have survived the fire.”

I paled. “So if the person who died in the accident wasn’t Pepper
, who was it?” I realized I was repeating myself, but the news had caught me by surprise. “And if the woman who died wasn’t Pepper, where is she?” I added before Salinger could be bothered answering a question he’d already addressed.

“That
’s what I’m hoping you can help me find out. Ms. Worthington’s parents have instructed me not to look for their daughter. They fear she may have been kidnapped and is being held for ransom, though they haven’t received any demands so far. They’re afraid that if the police become involved, the kidnappers might kill her.”

I frowned.
“Why do they think that?”

“They
’re very wealthy people. This is a reality they’ve had to live with for years. Ms. Worthington chose to go off on her own and join the divas, much to her parents’ distress. They provided her with a bodyguard when she lived with them in order to ward off this very situation.”

I wiped my forearm across my brow to wipe away the sweat that was beginning to bead. It really was a hot afternoon
, and somehow, Salinger’s news had made me even more aware of it.

“A body
guard? Really?” I asked. It seemed sort of extreme.

“I guess the young woman who was hired to protect Ms. Worthington acted as her friend
, so as not to make it obvious that she was being protected. According to Mr. Worthington, when Ms. Worthington left home to join the divas, she refused to take her guard with her. Given the fact that she changed her name from Stella Worthington to Pepper, the Worthingtons decided to abide by her wishes and released the guard from their employ.”