Derby Divas (Zoe Donovan Mystery) (10 page)

“Do all the car people have strange nicknames?” Zak wondered.

“No, not really. The derby drivers tend to either choose nicknames or they’re given to them by their competitors. Those who don’t race but merely display their cars and participate in the parade and auction don’t always have nicknames. The Pencil Triplets are only referred to as such because no one can tell them apart.”

“Okay
, back to Big Boy Branson. Have you managed to come up with a motive for him to drug Pandora?”

“No,” I admitted. “Boomer and Pandora are going to talk to him. We decided that they would conduct an investigation of sorts from the inside
, while I snooped around on the outside. Levi is going to help me since you’re tied up with Scooter and Ellie is totally booked between work and dating.”

“I see she didn’t drag you into tonight’s event.”

“No, thank God. I told her I was out of the dating game for good and she could find another wingman.”

“For good?” Zak smiled.

“Yeah. I guess we should talk about that.”

“Later. After I get Scooter off to bed.”

I found that I was both excited about and terrified of the pending conversation.

“
So what about the others?” Zak asked.

“Others?”

“If whoever drugged Pandora was working with someone else as part of a bigger plan, then whoever tampered with the car might have done so while everyone else was partying.”

“Good point.” I thought about who
hadn’t been there and started another list. “Assuming we limit the suspect pool to those involved in the derby, there are eight other contestants. If the list I got from Boomer and Pandora is accurate, the only two females not present at the party were Jaqui and Zelda. Jaqui isn’t much of a joiner, so I don’t find it odd that she wasn’t there. She’s very driven and, as far as I can tell, very capable of tampering with the car. If it turned out to be her, I guess I wouldn’t be completely surprised, but I don’t see her working as part of a team. She’s a very hard woman who isn’t easy to get to know. I’m pretty sure she grew up in some sort of gang.”

“Why do you say that?” Zak asked.

“She has this very tough way about her and seems to be distrustful of pretty much everyone. She walks around with a knife strapped to her leg, and although I’ve never seen her use it, she has a presence that lets you know she
has
used it in the past and isn’t afraid to use it again.”

“
And what about Zelda?”

“Zelda is big and strong
and knows a lot about cars. This is her first year as a contender in the derby, but I met her last year, when she participated in the car show. I don’t know that she
would
tamper with the car, but I’m fairly certain she’d be capable of rigging one to crash at an opportune moment if she were so inclined.”

“Did you ever find out exactly what happened?” Zak asked. “Did the brakes fail?
The steering?”

“They
’re still looking into it, but it appears that the brake line was slit, causing brake fluid to leak out slowly, which is why Pepper could have driven the car from town to the race with no problem. Unfortunately, the leak created a total failure of the brakes at the worst time.”

“Sounds like sophisticated tampering,” Zak observed.

“Yeah, these car people know their stuff.”

“
What about the guys who weren’t at the party?”

“
Of the men, Crusher, the Pencil Triplets, Bruiser, and Crank weren’t present. The Pencil Triplets tend to keep to themselves, so it isn’t surprising that they weren’t partying with the others. Bruiser and Crank are new this year, so they probably don’t know the others. Crusher has been hanging with Boomer for quite some time, so it’s a little odd that he wasn’t partying with the others. I asked Boomer about it, and he said it was his impression that Crusher might have been busy hooking up with a woman, possibly Zelda, since she was missing as well.”

“This reminds me of the mystery we were faced with at
Charles Tisdale’s farm last Thanksgiving. Limited suspects, but each seems to have his or her own story.”

“We figured that one out and we’ll figure this one out
too,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “So exactly what time does Scooter go to bed?”

“Strike two,” Ellie complained in my ear as I listened to her tell me about her date while I waited for Zak to come back outside after putting Scooter to bed.

“I told you this wasn’t going to be easy,” I reminded her.

“I know, but these guys all seem so great when we’re chatting online, and then I meet them in person and it all falls apart.”

“So what went wrong?” I asked. I was pretty sure I already knew but felt it
was polite to ask anyway.

“It started off okay. He took me to a nice restaurant and we chatted over a bottle of win
e and an appetizer while we waited for our table to be ready. He told me about his job and his hobbies and I told him about mine. I thought everything was going really well until he faked a phone call and promptly informed me that he had an emergency and had to leave before we were even seated for our meal.”

“Did the subject of children come up?” I cringed as I waited for her reply.

“I guess, in a roundabout sort of way,” Ellie admitted.

“How roundabout are we talking?”

“He was telling me about his plans to travel to Europe next winter and asked if I was interested in traveling. I mentioned that I hoped to be pregnant by next winter, so I wasn’t making any plans that far in advance, but that, in theory, I loved the idea of traveling.”

Ouch.

“Sweetie, you know I love you and I want you to be happy, but you’re never going to have a second date with
anyone
if you keep bringing up pregnancy and kids.”

“I just don’t want to waste any time on some guy who doesn’t want kids.”

I took a deep breath and said a quick prayer that I could come up with something helpful to say that wouldn’t make Ellie mad.

“I know that having a baby is the most important thing to you. And I understand that dating a man for
even a few weeks who isn’t interested in having children seems like a waste of time. But even men who want children generally don’t want to discuss the possibility on a first date. I think that in general, most people—men and women—want to know you’re interested in
them
, not just in their baby-making abilities.”

Ellie sighed. “I see your point.”

“I’m sorry this guy didn’t work out. Maybe the next one will.”

“I do have a message in my in
-box. I guess I can see who it’s from. I was just so sure that this guy would be the one.”

“I know. I’m sorry this is so hard for you. I wish I was as skilled a
t finding perfect matches between men and women as I am between animals and humans.”

Ellie gasped. “Of course
! I should have you pick my next date. You really are a genius at matching people and animals, so why not humans?”

“That’s not what I was implying,” I backpedaled.

“Please,” Ellie said persuasively. “Just give it a try.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Let’s meet for lunch tomorrow and we can discuss it. I’ll bring my laptop and we can look at the guys on the dating site.”

I wanted to help Ellie
, but I didn’t want to get in the middle of her dating frenzy.

“Tomorrow is the first round of the der
by. I’m going to be pretty busy.”

“You
’re the one who wanted me to date rather than pursuing a sperm donor,” Ellie reminded me.

“I never said you s
hould engage in marathon dating,” I pointed out. “I just wanted you to wait before making such a huge decision.”

Ellie sighed
again, and I felt like a total heel. She had been there so many times for me. Even when she was busy, she always made time to help me through the endless personal crises I’d seemed to attract pre-Zak.

“Okay,” I agreed. “The derby is in the afternoon
, so how about an early lunch? I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best to pick out a good one.”

“Thank you. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Pick out a good what?” Zak asked as he rejoined me.

“Man.”

“Come again?”

I laughed. “For Ellie
, not me. It seems I’m going into the matchmaking business.”

“Do you think that
’s a good idea?”

“Not in the least. In fact
, I think it’s a terrible idea that I will live to regret.”

Zak frowned at me. “So why do it?”

I shrugged. “You know me. I’m a glutton for punishment.”

Zak kissed my neck.
“Scooter is asleep and if you want to be punished . . .”

I kissed him back as his hands wandered up my back. I had a feeling our very important talk was going to have to wait for another day.

As promised, everyone on the events committee met at 7 a.m., which came
very
early after the late night Zak and I had shared. We never had gotten around to talking, but after the intimacy of the evening, I was finally convinced that things really were going to be okay. I realized somewhere around two a.m. that I needed to sit down alone to figure out exactly why I was hesitating to make Zak a permanent part of my life. I knew that emotionally he’d been just that for quite some time, yet I was hesitant to commit to a formal arrangement. Maybe I was more like my mother than I cared to admit. I’d been raised by my dad, so you wouldn’t think that her flighty nature would have rubbed off on me, but here I was, repeating the mistakes of the woman who bore me.

“Why so serious?” Ellie asked as she sat down next to me with her own Styrofoam cup of coffee.
Ellie looked as tired and distracted as I did, and I imagined that she most likely had suffered through her own long night of self-evaluation and introspection.

“I was just wondering if I’m destined to repeat the mistakes of my mother.”

“Why would you think that? You’re nothing like your mother.”

I looked at Ellie.

“Okay, you
are
a little like your mother, but I don’t see you taking off when things get intense.”

“Maybe not physically but emotionally
. . .”

Ellie paused to take a bite of her do
ughnut. She chewed slowly and swallowed before answering. I hadn’t planned to eat any of the sugary treats laid out for us, but Ellie’s chocolate bar with cream filling looked delicious.

“
I guess you’ve inherited some of your mother’s issues with commitment, but in the end you always face your fears and stay,” Ellie insisted. “I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to accept the commitment Zak wants to make with you, but I can’t imagine you packing up and leaving either.”

“Yeah
.” I smiled. “I guess you’re right. I really should just accept Zak’s proposal and quit stressing over something I don’t even understand.”

“Really?”

“Sure,” I decided. “But I should probably tell Zak yes before I tell you yes, so how about we keep this to ourselves for now?”

Ellie hugged me. “I
’m so happy for you.”

I
hugged her back. “I’m happy for me too.”

“So about finding me a guy
. . .” Ellie brought the conversation back around to my promise of the previous evening.

I
’d hoped Ellie had reconsidered her request. What did I know about picking out a man for a woman with a ticking biological clock? My own biological clock was moving at a glacial speed, which was just fine with me. I had to wonder about Zak’s biological clock, however. If men even had biological clocks. He sure did seem to be having fun with Scooter, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t going to bring to the forefront thoughts of having his own child. Our child.

Yikes.

Here I was, freaking myself out again.
Breathe, Zoe. Just breathe.

“I’m sure Willa has chores for us this morning
, and I should check in with Jeremy.” I decided to focus on Ellie’s dilemma in order to get my mind off my own crazy thoughts. “I never did go by the Zoo yesterday. I know you’re supposed to help Tawny with the food, so let’s get together before the main lunch crowd arrives. Maybe eleven?”

“Eleven sounds perfect.
I’ll bring my laptop. I spent some time last night selecting men who live within a sixty-mile radius and I happen to find attractive. I’ve narrowed it down to five men, so all you have to do is look at the five and figure out which one will work best as my prince charming.”

“And if none of them really fit
s the bill?”