Chapter 7 #2
“I’m starting to wonder about you too, Harvey,” Holt said, half joking. “Maybe we shouldn’t involve you.”
“You know I won’t say a word. One thing my father taught me was never to betray a good person’s trust.” Harvey straightened at once.
“I know,” June said gently. Then she shot Holt a pointed look. “Holt was joking. You are very much part of this.”
“Thank you, June.” Harvey’s smile returned, broad and unexpectedly boyish. “That means a lot.”
“I can vouch for Harvey too,” Margo said. “I’ve known him all my life. He really is solid.”
“Well, thank you, Margo. That means a lot too.” Harvey went slightly red.
“And Harvey and I can both vouch for Ace,” Margo added.
“I’ll think about Ace.” Holt drew a breath and looked back at the truck. “Now, back to the truck.”
That focused their thoughts again.
Margo stepped closer, studying the vehicle properly now. The resemblance to her mother’s truck was unnerving, but the longer she looked, the more wrong it seemed. The interior was stripped. The body showed signs of tampering. The front and back bumpers looked as if they had been battered.
Holt pulled what looked like a handful of latex gloves from his pocket. He handed a pair to June, then to Harvey, and finally to Margo.
She looked at them, then at him. “Really?”
“You want to look around, put them on.” Holt shook them in front of her.
“If it’s my mother’s truck, I can assure you there’s years and years of my DNA in it.” Margo took them.
“It’s not your mother’s truck,” Harvey, Holt, and June said all at once.
Margo blinked. Then she nodded slowly. “Right. That’s true. Hers is at the junkyard.”
“You told her?” Harvey looked shocked.
Margo took the gloves as June nodded.
“Don’t worry. She hasn’t told Lucy, and she won’t until we’re all ready.” June gave Harvey a soft smile.
“I won’t,” Margo confirmed. “But are you sure those are my mother’s bumpers?”
“Yeah.” Harvey nodded and moved closer to the rear one. “I made them for her.” He pointed beneath the metal, then crouched slightly and angled his light. “See that?”
“That tiny mark?” Margo leaned in.
“Yes, that’s my logo,” Harvey told her.
“Neat. I didn’t know you did that.” She smiled faintly despite herself.
“Yup.” Harvey looked faintly pleased. “And here’s something else.”
He took out a small flashlight from his pocket and clicked it on. The light looked ordinary at first, then shifted in a way that made Margo realize it was a black light.
“I use invisible ink when I do insurance jobs,” Harvey said. “So I know my work if anything comes up later.”
He swept the light along a damaged section of the rear bumper. A small notation glowed into view.
“There,” Harvey said. “That mark is from the first hit that bumped Lacey, and that one is from the second hit that forced her off the road.”
Margo moved closer.
The damage was ugly enough under normal light, but under Harvey’s careful explanation, it seemed to tell a story someone was trying to twist into their own narrative.
Then he moved the light a little farther.
“And this bump,” Harvey said, “is a third hit that wasn’t there when the truck was brought in after Lacey’s accident.”
“How can you tell that?” Margo asked, interested.
“Because of the angle, compression, paint transfer, and freshness.” Harvey turned the light off and straightened. “The metal deformation from the first hits had already happened. This one came later, and I think while it was on this truck.”
“Oh?” Holt leaned in.
“I got some paint from the third hit,” Harvey told them. “It was the exact same blue as the car that made the first two impacts.”
“That same car?” June’s brows shot up, and she glanced at Holt. “That would be impossible unless it happened on the same day.”
“I don’t think it did,” Harvey told them. “There’s another car that came into the shop with the same blue paint.”
“Yes, we know…” Holt started to say, and his brows rose. “Dr. Vernon’s car?”
Margo’s mind started spinning. “Her rental?” She glanced from Holt to Harvey for confirmation.
“No.” Harvey pointed carefully to the newer damage on the bumper. “This paint matches Dr. Judy Vernon’s own car. The one that was bashed in the parking lot at Henderson’s farm.”
“What?” June stared at him.
“Can we prove that?” Holt asked.
“I think so.” Harvey nodded and then motioned them toward the front. They followed. He pointed to damage near the front bumper and lower paneling. “I found out that Dr. Vernon and Clive Morrison own the same make, model, and color car.”
“Why is that important?” Margo asked, her brow furrowing.
“We’ll tell you at the meeting,” June promised, and their attention turned back to Harvey.
“That’s a weird coincidence,” Holt said.
“I don’t know.” Harvey rubbed his chin. “Dr. Vernon’s had hers for just over a year, according to the auto repair records.”
Margo noticed that information got Holt’s attention. “Do you know when Clive got his car?”
“About three months ago,” Harvey answered.
Margo frowned, wondering what the significance of Clive’s car was. Then her eyes suddenly widened, and her brows shot up as it dawned on her.
“Was it Clive that hit my aunt Lacey the day she was driving my mother’s truck?” Margo gaped at them.
“We’ll explain everything at the meeting,” June told her with a warm smile.
“Is there anything else?” Holt glanced at the front bumper. “What happened there?” He looked at Harvey. “That wasn’t there before, was it?”
Harvey shook his head as he turned toward the dents. “This is going to blow your mind.”
“What is it?” all three of them chorused.
Although Margo didn’t think her mind could be any more blown at that point.
She had just learned that it might have been Clive Morrison who rammed her aunt off the road.
And it looked like someone had used a truck that looked like her mother’s to hit Dr. Vernon’s car while she was at Henderson’s farm.
“First, hear me out, because I have a theory.” Harvey glanced between them.
All three of them nodded.
“Go ahead,” Holt said.
Harvey rested one hand lightly on the hood of the truck.
“Whoever stole Dr. Tanner’s truck from my repair shop knew it wouldn’t get far if they tried to drive it because it was damaged.
They took it to get the bumpers and put them on this truck so they could back it into Dr. Vernon’s car at Henderson’s farm. ”
“Okay,” Holt said. “Then why steal it at all? Why not just take the bumpers, use them on this truck, and then bring them back?”
“I think because they were going to have Dr. Tanner’s real truck crushed into a neat cube and replace this truck with it,” Harvey told him.
“So you think whoever did this found this one, took the bumpers off Lucy’s truck, put them on this one, and then used it to back into Judy’s car at Henderson’s?” Holt’s brows rose at the implications. “To what? Frame Judy as the person who tried to run Lacey off the road?”
“That would take planning,” June said. “And luck. How would they know Judy would be at Henderson’s?”
Margo’s answer came at once. “Dr. Vernon goes there every day for fresh fruit.” Three faces turned toward her. She shrugged. “She told me when she came into Teacups a few days ago.”
“That would explain the vandalized parking lot cameras at Henderson’s farm the day before.” Holt’s jaw tightened. “And it means they were watching Judy.”
“But why?” June asked. “Judy works with Lacey now. What motive would she have to run Lacey off the road?”
“To make it look like she was getting revenge on my mother,” Margo said, the pieces beginning to slide together in a way that made her feel ill.
“My mom did the autopsy on Gilbert Fry. She found accelerant on his shoes. She was the one who helped wrap the case up for the police. That’s how they determined Gilbert set the cabin fire. ”
“Gilbert was the only family Judy had left,” Holt added. “It would make a vindictive story.”
“She never told any of us Gilbert Fry was her brother,” June said. “When we asked about her family, she gave us their story but conveniently left out names.”
“Would you? I mean, would you tell anyone who your brother was if it was Gilbert Fry?” Harvey asked quietly.
“I wouldn’t exactly announce that. He’s a villain in this town.
Four firefighters died because of him.” His gaze shifted to Margo with genuine compassion. “Including Lieutenant Travis Markham.”
The name hit Margo squarely in the chest.
“And Captain Shaun Parker.” Then Harvey looked toward June. “You work at the vet’s office too, alongside the aunt of one of the men her brother was accused of murdering.”
“No. I suppose she wouldn’t.” June’s face softened with old pain.
“Still,” Margo said, her mind trying to make everything fit, “she could’ve told Aunt Lacey.”
“That aside,” Holt said, cutting back through the emotion with practical purpose, “this is an elaborate amount of trouble to go to if the plan was only to frame Judy and then kill her.”
“That’s the other thing I was getting to. You know, the thing that’s going to blow your mind.” Harvey moved toward the front bumper, and the three of them edged closer as he pointed to it. “See these scrape marks here?”
“Yes,” Holt said.
“What about it?” Margo asked, wringing her hands.
“The paint from this impact matches Dr. Vernon’s rental car.” Harvey pointed.
Shock moved through Margo so cleanly she almost didn’t feel it at first. “Excuse me?” she spluttered.
“Can you prove this?” Holt asked, giving Margo a curious look.
“That’s Dr. Vernon’s rental. I had it brought here just like you asked me.” Harvey looked at Holt and nodded. “And yes, I’ve already checked.”
“So you think Judy’s car was pushed down the embankment at Hollow Pond by this truck?” Margo looked dumbfounded. “My mother’s look-alike truck.”
Harvey nodded in confirmation.
“There were no obvious signs of a second vehicle at the scene,” June said.