Chapter 24
DASH
Istare at my phone for what must be the millionth time since the night Lennon remembered the truth.
I knew in the depths of my soul I hadn’t lost her in the accident.
When you have a connection like we do, you’d feel their loss if they were no longer in this world.
I didn’t feel anything but an urgency to get to her.
She kept showing me proof of who she was before she remembered. Like the night she drove her GTO. There was never a question for me, but after that…I knew. She’s my Valkyrie.
Glimpses of Lennon have been surfacing since she woke up—clawing to the surface. It’s why I’ve always called her my Valkyrie. She’s such a warrior on and off the racetrack. She never gives up. It’s one of the many things I love about her.
Slipping my phone into my pocket, I stare at my Mustang. It mocks me under the fluorescent lights of my garage. This car…it unlocked her memory. And Lennon, she knows her cars. It makes me wonder if this car was somehow exactly where she said it was that night…driving her off the road.
The last time I had it anywhere near her, I had her splayed out on the hood just like I did the other night.
It felt like she remembered who she was in that moment.
Maybe it was déjà vu for her, and she couldn’t quite place it, but something shifted.
It was like she was seeing clearly for the first time.
She even said she had all the Valkyrie superpowers which is something only Lennon could say to me. It’s an inside joke between us; she can make me do anything she wants and that’s always her reason.
I walk all around the car and inspect it with a fresh pair of eyes myself, trying to see it as if for the first time.
I study the front for any sign of damage or tampering.
I’m about to give up when something catches my eye on the driver’s side headlight.
It has a long, but barely visible scuff mark on it.
It’s slightly darker in color like whatever brushed against it embedded itself there.
I’d never have seen it if I wasn’t searching so intently.
I run my thumb across it just to be sure, and I can feel the mark under my skin. I stand back to my full height and curse. Lennon was right, this is the car that caused the accident. I have no doubt. This car rarely leaves my garage, so I know I didn’t do anything to leave marks on it.
The question is, who the hell got their hands on my car and how? Why?
I pull my phone back out and call Jimmy.
He’s the one cop I’d trust with anything.
I want him to treat my car like the piece of evidence I know in my gut it is.
And I need to watch the traffic cam footage again of the accident.
Maybe now that I know it’s my car, I can pick up some miniscule detail I missed before.
“Hello?” he answers.
“I know it’s getting late, but I need your help. I think I’ve got the car you’re searching for,” I tell him.
“What do you mean, Dash? Please tell me you haven’t stolen someone’s car.”
“No. I wish that’s what I meant. I think it’s mine. I’ve got very slight damage on one of my headlights and I know it isn’t from me,” I explain.
“Shit, Dash. This isn’t good,” he says as I hear him moving around.
I turn back and stare at my Mustang. “Don’t I know it, brother. Can you keep this quiet until we get some solid answers?”
“I’ll do what I can, but there is a process. Does your girl know?” he asks, referring to Lennon even though he doesn’t know she’s not London. He knows I refused to believe Lennon was dead, but he thought I was wrong like everyone else and that I was projecting my feelings for Lennon onto London.
He knows exactly how I feel about her and just how much this whole situation has wrecked me.
I haven’t even set foot on a racetrack since the accident.
My sponsors are breathing down my neck and my team wants to know when I’m coming back.
But all I can see is Lennon. She’s all I care about. Racing is nothing without her.
“She knows enough to be in even more danger…and to pull my beating heart from my chest with her bare hands and run with it.”
“Dash…” he starts, the low tone of his voice lets me know he understands I’m hurting, but he’s unsure what to say.
“Just help me figure out who’s framing me, Jimmy. That has to come before I can have any hope of her coming back to me,” I say.
“I’ll bring my kit and dust for prints, but if this person was smart, the only prints I’ll find will be yours.”
“I know. But there’s got to be something he missed. No one thinks of everything. It’s the exact reason I found this scrape on my headlight.”
“True. But, Dash, this could get a lot uglier before the truth finally comes out. We also need to have eyes on your girl. If this guy realizes she’s getting close to finding answers, he could escalate.
The notes you told me about are bad enough.
But who knows what else he’s already done that you’re unaware of. ”
“Trust me, I know. I’ll do anything to keep her safe and to make sure she’s happy.”
He hesitates before speaking again.
“Even if it means giving her up when all of this is over? You could inadvertently trigger memories she’d rather forget if it turns out to be your car that was involved like you think it was, whether you were the driver or not.”
“Like I said, I’ll do anything. Even if it means letting go of the very reason my heart beats. She shines brighter than the sun and moon combined, and I’ll never allow her light to go out or even dim for any reason. Especially if it’s because of me.”
“Damn, Dash. I never knew you were such a romantic. It’s actually sweet. Something I never thought you could be,” he says with mild amusement and something akin to awe in his tone this time.
“Well, if I can help her find the rest of the pieces to this messed-up puzzle, maybe there will still be a love story worth saving. And if not, I’ll make sure she feels as whole again as possible without her sister.”
“Why do you sound like you’re already giving her up?” Jimmy asks.
“You didn’t see the light burn out in her eyes when she remembered that it looked like my car was the one behind the chaos we’re all in. She thought it was me. She said the words out loud, and the doubt was there.”
“I don’t understand. She remembered the wreck? Does she remember anything else?” he asks.
“Nothing that helps figure out who’s behind this. But enough to know who she is.”
“That’s awfully cryptic. Who is she?” he asks.
“This case is more twisted than you know yet, Jimmy. And I’d honestly rather not talk about it over the phone. This guy seems to know everything we don’t and is operating one step ahead of us. I need you to be the one person who still trusts me.”
“I’ll be there in twenty,” he says and then ends the call.