Race to Redemption (11 page)

“And god you’re all noisier than hell.” The voice coming from the bed was cracked but it sounded like Rueben and it was music to Chloe’s ears.

Chloe broke off her rant and spun in her chair, her voice dropping in volume. “Hey, you’re awake. You missed all of the excitement. Boyd came in here trying to smother you.”

“I didn’t miss all of it.” He stopped to cough. “Can I get some water?”

“Of course, let me just call the nurse.” She pressed the call button and they waited. When the nurse bustled in and saw Rueben sitting up she turned right back around and called for the doctor.

Dr. Fisher came in and ran through some dozen minor tests, everything from checking Rueben’s pulse and blood pressure to shining a light in his eyes to asking ‘how many fingers am I holding up?’. Everyone else sat silently, except for the occasional squeak of a chair as someone fidgeted or a stifled cough. Finally Dr. Fisher said, “It looks like Mr. Mills here will be just fine. The concussion is minor.

“I strongly recommend that he doesn’t drive or operate machinery for at least forty-eight hours.” He turned to Rueben. “Get your family doctor to look you over when you get home but I don’t see why you can’t leave. It’ll take about an hour to run the paper work and then we’ll get you some pants.”

“Yeah, pants would be good. Thanks.” Rueben looked around the room and nodded once. “I’m guessing everyone wants to talk to me.”

Officer Minol nodded. “We need you to confirm what happened last night—without influence from anyone else.”

“Okay. I spent most of yesterday looking into Trey and later into Boyd.”

“Why were you doing that?” Brant growled.

“After we found Trey’s glasses Chloe sent me out to find definite proof, one way or the other.” He looked square at Chloe. “You and I have some things discuss. You’re not getting off the hook because I got knocked on the noggin.”

She flushed and busied herself with her ice-pack.

“I came back to the garage after supper and found Trey rooting through a tool box and I thought I was wrong about his innocence until Chloe slid out from under the car. I agreed to watch the car over night because we all agreed someone was after Brant. Trey and Chloe left and I was alone until about 3 a.m. when Boyd came in. He looked surprised to see me but covered it well. He started in on this spiel about how he’d been following Trey.

“He dropped his phone and I bent to pick it up. When I straightened he was holding a tire iron. I tried to get it away from him but he’s a quick little guy and stronger than he looks and I took a few blows to my arms and shoulders before he got in a good one on the side of my head. I guess he kept hitting me because I went from reeling to blurry to a hospital room with everyone shouting.”

“Did you see or hear anyone else in the shop?”

“No, Sir. It was just me and Boyd. We talked for,oh, twenty minutes or so I’d guess. No one else came in during that time, or between Chloe and Trey leaving and Boyd arriving.”

“That doesn’t prove anything!” Brant shouted. “Trey could have been outside the door waiting, he still could have hit Boyd. They could have been in on it together.”

“Except that I saw Trey in bed at three-thirty, remember?” Chloe snapped with a little too much sass in her voice.

“Then who hit Boyd?” Brant demanded.

“I’m betting,” Officer Minol said, “That if we look at where Boyd got hit it would be possible for him to hit himself so he could blame Trey.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Brant countered. “Boyd is Trey’s manager.”

“Was,” Trey interrupted. “I’m in the market for a new one.”

Boyd shot Trey a fierce look and went on. “Boyd made money from Trey. So maybe pushing Trey to the top made sense in some ways, but why frame Trey? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? If they were in on it together and framing each other because they were discovered it makes more sense.”

“Not when you hear some of the less often repeated rumours,” Rueben said. “Boyd was a man obsessed with his own career. Trey was just a means to an end. In the end, Boyd knew Trey was expendable, he’s replaceable. If he had Trey thrown in jail and bumped me off I’m certain he would have propositioned to take over managing your career.”

“Drivers aren’t expendable,” Brant said. “It takes time and investment to build up a new driver.”

Rueben shrugged. “Look at your dad. He missed one race and he was dropped. Now with internet the racing fans and sponsors are a little more forgiving, but it also takes less time to build hype around a driver. It would only have set Boyd back a season and he’d have a lot of connections to Trey’s old sponsors. He’d have to be more subtle taking out rivals, but even that wouldn’t have slowed him down much.”

Officer Minol shook his head. “It sounds like you did an awful lot of digging. Once the doctors release you I’ll drive you down to the station and get a record of all the hearsay you gathered. It won’t be admissible in court but it may lead to more concrete evidence. Right now we’ve got Boyd on attempted murder and two counts of assault. We may yet be able to pursue something with the sabotage and his underhanded dealings. Thank-you all for your time. You’ll be contacted if we require you to testify at Boyd’s trial.” He stood.

Brant stood too. “That’s it, then? Because he has an alibi for one part of all this Trey gets to walk away? They’re in on it together and just pointing the finger at each other now. I’m sure of it.”

Officer Minol shrugged. “I have no evidence at all at this time and a suspect that I can hold for more than twenty-four hours. Unless someone has proof that Trey was involved I simply can’t arrest him. And since he’s cooperated I really can’t hold him for anything.” He turned to Trey. “I wouldn’t leave the country and I’d have my cellphone on at all times, if I were you. If we find anything we’ll be contacting you and you really don’t want to make us look for you.”

“Not a problem, officer,” Trey said. He stood and offered his hand.

Officer Minol shook it. “I took care of that favour. Don’t keep them waiting.”

“Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

Chloe looked at him. “What favour?”

“You’ll see,” Trey grinned.

Brant made a clearly disgusted sound and stormed from the room. Seth scrambled to his feet. “I’d best get him to radiology before he escapes completely or I’ll never get him back in here.” He paused at the door. “I’m sorry. Brant can be very convincing but I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. And I shouldn’t have let him bully you Chloe.”

“I’m sorry, too. I was deliberately mean when you came to check on me last night so I could make a clean get away. I didn’t mean most of it.”

“Thanks.”

Rueben shook his head. “Those boys will never change. Now, what about those pants?”

Chloe laughed. “We’ll send the nurse right in. Rueben, I’m really sorry about all this.”

“I might forgive you if this headache ever goes away.”

Trey nudged her out the door. “We have to hurry, this is important.”

Chloe nodded and let him lead her out.

Trey wrapped an arm around Chloe and they found an elevator. Trey said, “You know after the heat trials I thought for sure your brother would beat me in that final race. I had never seen anyone drive so artfully. I guess his injury really affected him more the second time because he didn’t seem as on-the-ball.”

Chloe cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah, about that, it wasn’t Brant in the car that first race.”

“What do you mean? It was Brant’s car, Brant’s jumper, Brant’s helmet…”

“Brant’s sister…”

Trey stared at her. “You? You know how to drive a race car?”

She nodded. “My dad would let me drive laps back home, but only against my brothers and cousins. He always said, ‘Your family won’t try to drive you off the track so it’s safe, but you can’t drive a real race. Those drivers will do everything possible to push you right out of the race, especially if they know you’re a girl.’ I don’t know if it was sweet that he cared so much or chauvinistic that he thought I couldn’t handle it, but that’s the way he is.”

“You’ve never raced competitively before?”

“Didn’t you and Jake ever compete over anything?”

“He’s my half-brother. Turned out my dad wasn’t living quite the upstanding live my mother believed. We didn’t really fall in together until just before Boyd scooped me out of that cop shop. Jake came looking for my dad, but by then my dad had already left. When he started on the drinking my mom kicked him out, haven’t seen him since.”

“You don’t have any other siblings?”

“I do,” he said, indignant. “I have an older sister.”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. “Didn’t the two of you ever compete over anything?”

“Maybe grades in school but she danced and I drove cars. She was the good child and I was the black sheep so far as my mother cared to believe.”

“Well you haven’t seen competitive until you’ve see two sets of brothers on the track at the same time.”

They came out the hospital doors and came face-to-face with a small crowd of reporters who flocked to them. “What’s this?” Chloe asked.

“I asked Officer Minol for a small favour. These are all the papers and blogs and stations that have been covering the race. Turns out Officer Minol is a big stock car racing fan. Hold on, this will only take a minute.”

Trey waved to the media and waited for them to gather close enough to hear him. “Thanks everyone for coming down here. I know there’s still a lot of action going on down at the track. There have been a lot of rumours and I want to set some of them straight?”

“Is that your mystery woman from the club?” someone asked.

Before Chloe could protest or escape Trey dragged her tight against his side. “This beautiful woman is my girlfriend, Chloe Bye, and you can quote me on that, all of it.”

“Bye?” asked a red-haired woman. “As in Brant Bye? Weren’t you two involved in a photo finish earlier today?”

“We were. Brant Bye, number 34, is one of the best drivers I’ve ever raced against. Even inured he gave me a real run for my money. That man must have an iron will because I’d have been out of that race completely if I’d broken my foot the day before the time trials.”

“Wait! Number 34 was racing injured and still took second?”

“Yeah, that’s right. A faulty break line caused by sabotage caused him to crash in a practice lap. I think it made back page, no headline news at the time because no one mentioned the possible sabotage in the article. He then went on to place first in the time trials.”

“Sabotage?”

Trey nodded. “No sport is safe, it seems, from cheaters and illegal dealings. Unfortunately in our sport such things are often deadly. Officer Minol, the man in charge of the investigation, has given me permission to release some of the details of the case to the press and I’m doing so even at the risk to my own career. Boyd Sellens is being charged with the assault of Rueben Mills and they are investigating him for the willful sabotage of Brant Bye’s vehicle causing physical injury and property damage.”

“Isn’t Boyd Sellens your manager?”

“Was. Under the circumstances I’ve decided to fire him. I know it all looks suspicious but I knew nothing about the sabotage. Rueben Mills, who is Brant Bye’s manager, has uncovered rumours that Boyd may have done this before. If anyone knows anything, any proof of sabotage or blackmail or intimidations, please contact the New York Police Department. Officer Minol is handling the case.

“I race because I like driving fast, and I like a good competition, not to win. Winning is nice only because it allows me to race at less cost to my own account. I’m looking forward to racing against Brant Bye again.”