Chapter 25
CHAPTER
Jordyn
Present
SHAKEN BY WHAT she’d unearthed in the last garage, Jordyn wasn’t sure she had the stomach to check out the next vehicle on her list.
She drove toward Saratoga High School anyhow, knowing it had to be done.
With any luck, Sareena Chamoun’s SUV would be easily accessible in a student parking lot so that no subterfuge would be necessary to take a look.
It was getting tougher to play the role of friendly new book club member around people she suspected of harming Tara.
When she’d first started this journey, she’d imagined singling out one person with bad intent and making them the subject of her investigation.
Instead, it seemed like everyone she met had a motive.
Or, at very least, a ton of hidden ill will.
As challenging as her childhood had been, first with her parents and later adjusting to life without them, Jordyn preferred the certainty of those times for knowing who her enemies were.
She could throw a punch when she had an adversary.
Threats were overt. But in Saratoga, everyone wore the mask of a friend while carrying a figurative shiv in their back pocket. It was a whole lot creepier.
And yeah, more deadly.
She had almost reached the high school when a gray sedan in her rear-view mirror caught her eye.
She felt like she’d seen it behind her the day she’d left the lawyer’s office in Malta.
It had stood out to her because a transponder hung on the inside of the windshield at an odd angle.
Now, two vehicles back, the same sedan ran a red light.
To keep up with her? Was someone following her?
Ever since the note she’d found on her car the night of the Witch Walk, she’d experienced moments of feeling like she was being watched. She was so distracted by the idea that she almost missed the turn into Saratoga High. At the last minute, she slammed on her brakes for the access road.
Heart pounding, she noticed the gray car speed off in the opposite direction. Was she imagining things?
She told herself she was being paranoid.
Or at least, she hoped so. Reaching the packed student parking area, she slid into an open patch of grass and hoped no one would ticket her in the handful of minutes she needed to find Sareena’s car.
She’d checked and rechecked the bell schedule that varied depending on the day of the week, timing her arrival ten minutes before the last bell of the afternoon.
Even so, the student lot wasn’t empty. Who were these kids that eluded teachers at this hour?
Jordyn walked purposefully up the first row of cars, noting how many were brands she’d never afford in this lifetime.
There was a mix to be sure, but it spoke to the area’s affluence that high end BMWs and Audis sat beside the kinds of cars she would have expected at a high school, like ten-year-old base models that had been cheaper even when they were new.
Another few minutes spent in the lot told her the vehicle she was looking for wasn’t there. Natalie had gotten last year’s plate numbers for all three of the vehicles with the incriminating paint, so Jordyn was certain Sareena’s wasn’t here.
Frustrated to strike out, she walked back to her vehicle. As much as she knew she needed to see all three of the potential SUVs, the fact that Kaitlin’s had been in an obvious accident made her lean heavily toward her as the guilty driver. Or at least the owner of the vehicle that had hit Tara.
Just as she reached for the door of her coupe, a loud pop song blared out the open windows of a vehicle on the main road. When she glanced in the direction of the sound, she spotted what she’d been looking for.
Sareena Chamoun’s black Infiniti SUV, with Sareena herself at the wheel, and Charlotte Durand riding shotgun.
The volume on the music lowered as the blinker light came on and the girls turned into the parking lot.
Too eager to inspect the vehicle for possible signs of repaired damage, Jordyn didn’t think to look away or hide her face.
So it was no surprise that Charlotte’s gaze met hers, lighting with recognition for a moment before she lifted her hand in an awkward acknowledgement.
Crap.
Jordyn debated just slipping into her car and driving away, pretending like the moment never happened.
But she still needed to check out the SUV.
Besides, what if Charlotte mentioned Jordyn being at the school to her mom?
Better to just say a quick hello and take a cursory look at the Infiniti while she was here.
Her phone buzzed as she walked the short distance to where Sareena had parked.
Seeing Ezra’s number on the screen again, she declined the call and wished she’d never told him a single thing about her mission in Saratoga.
Then again, who would get vengeance for her if she was the next victim of the book club killer?
Maybe she should at least tell her ex-boyfriend who was on her list of suspects if she didn’t make it home tomorrow night.
Ezra might not make a good significant other, but she felt sure he could be counted on to report a crime.
Jordyn adjusted her path so that she would arrive at the SUV from the front.
Taking out her phone, she pretended to read a text while snapping a covert photo.
Her eyes locked on the air intake area of the black grill, roaming over the intricate pattern to see if there were any signs of repair.
Natalie had assured her none of the vehicles on their list had been reported as having been in an accident, but no one with half a brain would call their insurance company to collect damages if they’d just killed someone.
Could Fatima have been so cagey that she’d used her teenage daughter’s vehicle to take out an enemy? Or maybe she’d loaned it to Gina? Those two were certainly close. They’d taken that shopping trip into the city together the weekend of the block party.
“Hi, Miss Jordyn,” Charlotte greeted her. She slammed the passenger side door of the SUV and hitched her pink leather backpack higher on her shoulder. She nibbled her glossy lip and looked decidedly nervous. “Do you have kids that go to school here too?”
Jordyn supposed it was a legitimate question, even if the idea of her own teenage children knocked her flat. She’d barely figured out how to navigate her own life as a thirty-six-year-old, let alone how to supervise anyone else’s.
“I don’t have any kids,” she admitted, pretty sure no one had ever asked her that question before. “I just wanted to stop by the office and give them my name as a potential volunteer.”
She forced herself not to blather needless details the way she had at Kaitlin’s house after she’d been caught scouting around the garage.
Sareena slid out of the driver’s side and gave a small smile, her expression pensive. Also worried?
All at once it hit Jordyn why they seemed on edge. She’d been so concerned with what they’d think of her appearance at the school, it hadn’t occurred to her they might be equally afraid Jordyn would pass the sighting on to their mothers.
“But no telling that you saw me here, okay? I want my first appearance to be a surprise to everyone next spring.” She didn’t know if that made any sense, but she would guess the students knew less about parent volunteers than she did.
Like magic, the girls both beamed at the mention of secrecy.
“Of course,” Sareena assured her at the same time Charlotte said, “We won’t say a word.”
At that moment, the school bell rang, an electronic chime that sounded over an outdoor PA system a split second before kids burst through the exits of both buildings near the parking lot.
“That’s my cue to go,” Jordyn announced, backing away. “See you!”
She hadn’t noticed any outright damage on the Chamoun family’s SUV. But was she just being paranoid, or did the paint job on the hood appear a little different—shinier—than the rest of the vehicle?
It frustrated her she couldn’t have had a minute alone with the vehicle to look more carefully.
But she would study that photo she’d taken and compare it to the one she had from Kaitlin’s house.
Jordyn sped home, confident Natalie would be there to meet her so they could debrief before the book club party tomorrow night.
When she pulled into her driveway, however, it wasn’t the PI’s Jeep that waited for her. A big gray F150 sat in her driveway, the Texas plates a dead giveaway even if there wasn’t a gun rack visible through the rear window.
What had possessed her ex to drive half way across the country today of all days when she was so close to answers about Tara’s death?
She didn’t have time to deal with him now.
What if he was here to try to stop her from investigating?
Furthermore, he wasn’t exactly being discreet by parking in her driveway.
Thanks to the close proximity of Brad’s house to hers, she had no doubt all of book club would know she’d had a guest from Texas by tomorrow.
She cursed softly to get it out of her system.
Then, taking a deep breath as she stepped out of her car, she prepared to face him.
Her former boyfriend had never been formally introduced to her scrappy side, the girl with an edge who would take all comers when backed against the wall.
But he was about to get acquainted.