Chapter 242: The Stolen Car and Suspicious Timelines

It wasn’t just Eric who noticed the sudden, profound change in Ruby’s expression as she watched the security playback. Norman, both police officers, Rico, and even Jade saw it too. Ruby looked genuinely terrified, her eyes locked dead on one of the three suspects on screen despite all of them wearing oversized hoodies.

"Ms. Ruby, do any of those three individuals in the footage look familiar to you?" Norman asked gently.

Ruby gave a slight start, snapping back to reality, and turned to look at Norman. But before she could reply,

"I know one of them. The guy standing guard at the door looks exactly like the creep who tailed me all the way to nursing school until I was too terrified to leave... it happened about four days ago, I already filled Mr. Norman in on that earlier," Jade chimed in.

"Ah... I see," Norman muttered.

"Are you serious?" Eric asked Jade, turning his head sharply.

"Dead serious. At first, I thought he was just some random guy walking the same route, but then he started showing up inside my classroom, hanging out in the hallway, camping in the cafeteria, and shadowing me all the way home. It was sickening... I had to call Mike and hide out in the library because I knew he wasn’t allowed in there. I stayed put until Mike showed up to walk me out," Jade recounted.

"Hmm... and that same guy has been lurking around here all morning ever since Ms. Ruby dropped her car off. I only noticed him because his gray hoodie stood out like a sore thumb around the shop," Rico added.

"Did he seem suspicious to you, Mr. Rico?" Norman pressed.

"At first I thought he was just a customer killing time while waiting for a repair job. But when I still saw him loitering around late into the afternoon, my gut told me something was off, so I quietly told my mechanics to keep an eye on him," Rico explained.

"Hmm... and that’s precisely why he waited until after closing time to strike," Norman deduced.

Eric glanced back at Ruby, who was still staring at the paused frame showing the three men inside the garage.

"Ruby, is the guy you recognize one of them too?" Eric asked.

"No... the one who popped the driver’s side door open... I know him. He’s the exact same guy the apartment security caught trying to pick the lock on my car door in the parking garage. He’s been stalking me everywhere, never getting too close, but always lingering right within sight... my dad knows all about it, I told him the whole story... and that’s what I was just telling Mr. Norman earlier," Ruby answered, her voice trembling.

"Hmm... so it all connects. In other words, the three men who boosted your car are the exact same creeps who’ve been stalking you, Ms. Jade, Ms. Emma, and possibly even the one who snapped those setup photos of Ms. Tania," Norman summarized, circling several notes on his pad.

"As the owner of this shop, I am beyond sorry for this mess. Please accept my deepest apologies for letting this happen right under our roof," Rico offered, looking thoroughly ashamed.

"I-it’s alright, Mr. Rico... not your fault," Ruby mumbled, entirely paralyzed by shock.

Norman turned back to confer with Bob and Willow, leading Rico a few paces away from Eric, Ruby, and Jade, who were still standing near the wrecked garage bay. Eric walked over to inspect the rolling door. The bottom panel was buckled and mangled, clearly having been forced open with a heavy pry bar by culprits who didn’t care about trashing the property.

He also spotted the severed shackle of a heavy-duty padlock lying nearby, sliced clean through with bolt cutters. Tracing the wiring, Eric saw that the security alarm cables had been neatly snipped to keep the system from sounding, and the outdoor security camera lens had been painted over or disabled. He turned his gaze back to Ruby.

"What were you even bringing the car in for today? A standard oil change?" Eric asked gently.

"No... I can easily ask someone else to do an oil change, or just handle it myself. Even Tania knows how to do an oil change... I brought it in because the engine started making this weird knocking sound last night. Mr. Rico checked it out and told me to leave it overnight so he could track down the root cause," Ruby replied.

Eric fell deep into thought, piecing the timeline together. Jade, who had been quiet up to this point, stepped up beside Ruby.

"So how are you supposed to get to our rehearsal studio now that your car’s in the shop?" Jade asked.

"Tania and I split a rideshare... and the second we walked in, those two trainees ambushed us, screaming that Tania was some rich guy’s sugar baby, calling Greg her pimp, and yelling that she was whoring herself out for cash," Ruby vented.

"And it all traces right back to that goddamn hit piece," Jade cursed.

"Yeah... those two trainees made a massive scene. If Ms. Keisha hadn’t stepped in, Tania and I probably would’ve ended up brawling with those gutter rats right in the lobby," Ruby admitted.

"At least it’s out in the open now... let the cops handle the car theft," Jade advised.

"Yeah... thank god Mr. Norman is on it. Having him around actually keeps me sane," Ruby sighed.

Ding.

A notification chime broke the tension. Eric pulled his smartphone from his pocket and looked at the screen. His eyes narrowed instantly, his face hardening into a mask of grim focus. An unknown number had just sent him a text message—and checking the sender ID, it was the exact same number that had dropped the creepy voicemail earlier that afternoon.

Jade and Ruby leaned in close to peek over his shoulder. Eric tapped the message open. Inside was a formal invitation to the Southwest Bridge reopening event, complete with the exact date, time, venue address, and geographic coordinates.

At the very bottom sat a chilling caption: "Your presence is requested... Ingrid Watson, Woodward Commercial Construction."

"Wait... Southwest Bridge? Isn’t that your dad’s old company that got acquired?" Ruby asked Eric, her eyes wide.

"Yeah... but what catches my eye is the company name listed here. She’s representing a direct competitor of CJR," Eric analyzed.

Without wasting a second, Eric snapped a screenshot of the text and forwarded it directly to Katie and Mike. He also saved it to his secure cloud storage and encrypted a copy to his own email as an offline backup.

"Ingrid Watson... why does that name sound so damn familiar?" Jade muttered, furrowing her brow.

"You serious?" Eric asked, turning to Jade.

"Wait, isn’t that the daughter of the golf buddy who bought out dad’s firm, Uncle Thomas?" Ruby chimed in.

"Bingo, that’s her," Eric confirmed, looking at Ruby.

"Ah... I remember now! Ingrid was a grade below Jason and was actually on his radar for a while since they went to the same private school. He even asked my dad to set him up with Ingrid because my dad was closer to her father than Uncle Martin was," Jade said, a sudden realization dawning on her face.

"What? Seriously? How did I not know about that?" Eric asked, baffled.

"Same here... total news to me," Ruby added.

"Only Jason and my dad knew for sure. I just happened to overhear them arguing about it at home one day. If I remember right, that conversation happened about six months before Jason crossed paths with Melissa," Jade explained.

"Hmm... interesting. That means this might tie right back into Uncle David’s little circus," Eric murmured, deep in thought.

"Definitely possible... but who knows at this point," Jade replied.

"Alright... let’s go talk to Norman. You two, come with me," Eric instructed.

After that, Eric led both of them over to Norman. He pulled Norman aside for a moment and showed him the text message on his smartphone. Norman asked Eric to forward the message that had arrived right after Ruby’s car vanished, whether it was a sheer coincidence or entirely intentional remained to be seen. After laying out all the theories brewing in his head,

"Hmm... so there’s a chance your uncle, the one you had trouble with recently, is connected to all of this?" Norman asked.

"It’s very possible, Mr. Norman... please look into it as well, because this is just weird. The timing is way too convenient. I got a voicemail right after Tania was targeted by that smear article below, and then I received this text message right after Ruby’s car was stolen. It’s way too shady to be called a coincidence," Eric answered.

"Agreed. Thank you, Mr. Eric. Also, I’m noticing a distinct pattern based on the statements from the four Nobelia girls who were stalked, the person who snapped the photo of Tania and Greg leaving the hotel, and the three men who stole Ruby’s car in the recording, they were all wearing matching gray hoodies. I’m going to dig much deeper into this," Norman said.

"Alright, sir. Please do," Eric replied.

After that, they rejoined the two police officers, who were still taking statements from Rico as well as a few neighbors who had come over to provide information to Officer Willow when she called them over.