"Hey lady, it wasn't my fault your vehicle was in the intersection like that."

"You were going too fast," I said, my voice wavering a little. "And you darn well know it."

He stubbed his toe into the ground and looked up at Robin through the fringe of hair that had flopped down on his forehead. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

The paramedic poked and prodded at me a little, then pronounced me physically fit. He was recommending that I go to a hospital to make sure when Barr strode up and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Robin called me. What happened?"

I sighed and told the story all over again.

"I'm taking you home," he said. "Stay here, and I'll be right back." He went to where Robin was questioning the truck driver further and spoke to her. She started to shake her head, but he shook his own once, firmly, and returned to where I stood waiting. In seconds he'd bundled me into his car and we were driving away.

"Thanks for rescuing me," I said. "Just drop me at the house, and you can get back to work."

"You dope," he said, the tenderness in his tone belying the words. "I'm taking the rest of the day off."

Wow. Barr Ambrose didn't "take the rest of the day off" lightly. If it took the demise of my vehicle and me almost dying for it to happen, then so be it. I'd sit back and enjoy.

But when I looked over, I saw the muscles working along his jaw. He was really upset.

TWENTY-FIVE

MEGHAN WAS APPALLED WHEN she heard what had happened, and commenced fussing and feeding. The three of us settled into the living room with tea and spice cake. Brodie waddled between us, urging us with his brown eyes, fox-like ears, and occasional corgi talk to share our baked goods while we discussed mechanical issues.

"The emergency brake wouldn't work either?" Meghan asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. And I tried to downshift, but it seemed like it was stuck in gear." I turned to Barr. "Was Scott Popper's patrol car ever checked out, you know, to make sure nothing mechanical was wrong with it?"

"It's still in the wrecking yard. I wanted to get a little more information before calling his accident a homicide," he said.

"There are an awful lot of cars killing or nearly killing their occupants in this case. There's Scott's wreck. There's what happened to me today. And there's the wreck that killed Ariel and Rocky's parents about ten years ago."

Meghan's brow furrowed. Barr looked thoughtful, then chagrined.

"What?" I asked when I saw his expression.

"I was thinking what happened to your truck today had nothing to do with the murder."

Which murder, I almost asked. I was starting to think we were dealing with more than one. So what was Barr talking… hey, wait a minute.

I stood up quickly, and Brodie gave a sharp bark of surprise. "Hang on. Are you saying you think your ex sabotaged my truck?"

Meghan's gaze whipped from me to Barr. "Oh, you can't. She wouldn't. That's crazy."

I began to pace. "Well, your mom said Hannah was a little crazy, as I recall."

Barr held his palms up. "I've never known her to be violent."

Stopping in front of him, I crossed my arms. "But you assumed it was her right away, didn't you?"

He inclined his head a fraction. "I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I don't like how she disappeared from where she was staying and still keeps trying to talk to you." His eyes flicked to Meghan. "Two million is a lot of money."

I grumbled a word that rhymed with "itch" under my breath. Then cocked my head. "Does she know anything about cars? I mean, would she even know how to do it?"

"I don't know," Barr said. "She could have learned a lot in ten years.

"Oh, no." I rubbed my palms over my face. "You know who else knows about cars? Besides your venomous ex?"

They both shook their heads.

"Gabi Kaminski."

Meghan's head drew back in surprise. "Really?"

"In Rocky's barn-turned-garage, he asked her to give him a clutch-compressor springie thingie or whatever it was. She knew exactly what he was talking about."

Barr's forehead wrinkled while he untangled what I'd just said. "You mean a clutch-spring compressor? Was he working on a transmission?"

"I think so." I waved my hand. "Whatever. But the point is that she knew what it was. I bet Gabi's just as good of a mechanic as Ariel was. She's pretty angry at me. Over the course of the several hours I spent with her and her family, a lot of information about Ariel came out. Then I saw Thea Hawke's roving, told you about it, and had the temerity to come back into her house and point it out to you." I took another piece of spice cake, ravenous after my brush with death. My teeth sank into the moist, cinnamon-scented crumb.

"Well, we can't do anything until we know for sure that your brakes were deliberately sabotaged," Barr said. His expression was skeptical.

"Of course," I said.

"What if it was just an accident?" Meghan asked.

Fat chance.

"I don't know," Barr said. "But we're going to have someone look at it and find out."

"Scott's, too?"

He nodded. "We'd better."

"Well, don't take it to Dusty's Fix-It," I said.

"Why not?" Meghan asked. "Dusty does great work on the Volvo."

"And they have the contract with the city of Cadyville, too. Maintenance on all the police cars," Barr said slowly.

"Oh, wow. Didn't you know?" I drained my tea. "Zak Nelson works there."

We all exchanged looks, and Barr nodded.

"I'm sending both vehicles to the crime lab," Barr said, standing. "I know I said I was taking the day off, but would you be angry if I went and followed up on this?"

I forced a smile. "Not a bit. I want to know if those brakes were an accident, or if someone actually tried to, you know…" I glanced at Meghan. "Kill me."

"Because of your investigation," she said, bitterness underlying every word. "I swear, I worry more about you than I do about my own daughter." She stood and turned her ire on Barr. "She promised this wouldn't happen again, and then you had to go and ask her to get involved. Well, I hope you're happy." Shouldering past him, she went into her office.

"Meghan, wait," I called.

The door closed loudly behind her.

I started to go after her, but Barr put his hand on my arm. "Let it be."

"But-"

"She's right. I should have asked you to leave CRAG, not get involved even further with that bunch of snakes."

"Hey, I like it there," I said. "I wouldn't have stopped going just because you asked me."

He gripped my shoulders. "Meghan's still right."

I frowned. "I tried to be so careful."

"Well" He leaned in. "The cat's out of the bag now. You watch your back."

I nodded my agreement. Better late than never.

Barr left, Meghan's one o'clock client showed up, and I took the cordless phone downstairs. Despite my suspicion that Gabi Kaminski had had something to do with my brakes failing, I wanted to follow up on Barr's initial thoughts about the cause of the incident.

I dialed. Waited. "Hello? Is this Mrs. Ambrose? Cassie? This is Sophie Mae. Reynolds. We spoke the other day."

"Hello, Sophie Mae," Cassie said on the other end of the line. "How are you?"

"Well, I'm fine, though I must admit I've been better. That's why I called. I have a question for you."

A pause and then, "All right. Shoot"

I grimaced and plunged on. "Does Hannah know anything about car mechanics?"

"Car mechanics? What on earth? What did she do, offer to change your oil?"