Chapter 243 The Recovery of the Car and the Search for Answers

The following afternoon, after giving Caleb a full rundown of everything that had gone down since yesterday, Eric walked back into his office. As he pushed the door open,

"Whoa!"

He gasped in shock at the sight of a young woman sitting right in front of his desk, completely bundled up in a brown long coat, dark sunglasses, a black face mask, and a wide-brimmed hat as she turned to face the entrance. Once the surprise faded, he realized it was just Ruby, who had stayed over at his place last night along with Tania for security reasons.

"Why are you dressed like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack," Eric scolded.

"Um... I want to buy a car... can you drive me, Big Bro?" Ruby asked.

"Huh... you want to buy a brand new car?" Eric asked, baffled.

"Sort of... I couldn’t sleep a wink all night just turning things over in my head... even if my car gets recovered, I’d still feel totally grossed out knowing it was stolen and driven around by strangers... especially since those strangers were the freaks stalking me," Ruby answered.

Ruby took off her sunglasses and mask, revealing her exhausted face. She still looked dangerously pale from a total lack of sleep, with dark shadows bruising the skin beneath her eyes, and her posture was completely drained of energy.

Sigh. Eric let out a heavy breath, running a hand through his hair. Seeing her older brother’s expression, Ruby immediately sprang up from her seat,

"Relax, Bro, I’ve got my own money. I’m not asking you to buy it for me or chip in a dime. My savings are plenty because my royalty payout just cleared... but I’m too terrified to go out alone. That’s why I’m begging you to come with me. If I ask Tania, Emma, or any of the others, it’s the same deal, we’re all girls, and it’s too risky. And there’s no way I’m dragging Dad into this; I don’t want to panic him," Ruby explained earnestly, lifting both hands in a pleading gesture.

Looking at Ruby, who was still paralyzed by the same kind of paralyzing fear he remembered feeling back in his own past, compounded by the sheer terror of last week’s stalker nightmare, Eric’s expression softened into a gentle smile. He walked over and rested a hand on her head, though she still looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"Do you even know where you’re buying it from?" Eric asked.

"There’s a used car dealership on the edge of town, and by pure luck, they happen to have the exact same Honda model as the one I lost," Ruby answered, quickly tapping her smartphone screen to show him the listing.

Eric leaned down slightly to inspect the screen. Sure enough, the ad displayed a secondhand car identical to Ruby’s, complete with pricing details and full specs. He glanced further down and spotted the dealership’s contact number.

"Have you called them yet?" Eric asked.

"Yeah... the car’s still on the lot, and if it checks out, they’ll deliver it straight to our place. But the catch is we have to go down there and inspect it in person first," Ruby replied.

"Hmm... does it seriously have to be today?" Eric asked.

"Um... I mean, not strictly... but I’m going crazy here. Just imagine it, if you love something you take care of every day, something that feels like an extension of your own body, and it gets stolen, your mind is just completely wrecked. That’s all I’ve felt since last night. I spent the whole night scouring the internet hoping whoever boosted my car would be stupid enough to flip it right away," Ruby said, her voice cracking with despair.

"Hmm... my advice? Go get some sleep first, and let’s wait for the investigation results. These kinds of recoveries usually don’t take long," Eric suggested gently.

Ruby lowered her head, though she gave a small nod. Eric could see how utterly beaten down, terrified, and restless she was after last night’s ordeal, driven to the point of dressing up like a ridiculous secret agent and burning through her savings just to replace her stolen ride.

He completely understood her panic, but if he let her rush into a hasty decision out of pure trauma, she’d end up regretting it later. He simply patted her trembling head,

"If you’re too scared to sleep upstairs alone, just crash on the sofa over there. I’ll be right back here at my desk," Eric offered.

Ruby lifted her head to look at Eric, gave a quiet nod, and dragged herself sluggishly over to the couch. She lay down and tossed her smartphone face-down on the coffee table. Eric walked back to his desk and settled into his ergonomic chair. For a moment, the room fell silent save for the rhythmic, gentle tapping of his fingers against the wood. Every now and then, he glanced over his shoulder at Ruby, who lay motionless on the couch.

Ding.

A notification chime broke the quiet. Eric picked up his phone to check the screen, a new message from Norman. He unlocked it and read through the text:

"Mr. Eric, we’ve got a major breakthrough. One of the suspects involved in the car theft last night was just intercepted along with the stolen vehicle while trying to cross out of town. After a round of interrogation, it turns out he’s just a low-level chop-shop fence operating out of the neighboring city. According to the towing crew, the car is in the exact same condition as when it was boosted, except the alarm system was disabled and the driver’s side key cylinder is slightly damaged from being forced."

"Oh... really, Detective? The neighboring city, is that the one where my old house used to be?" Eric typed back.

"That’s correct, Mr. Eric. The suspect spilled everything. He claims he had no idea about the broader stalker situation; he only got roped into the theft because one of the two main suspects who’s still at large reached out to him with a pitch: split the profits three ways once they fenced it online, knowing the car belonged to Ruby from Nobelia," Norman replied.

"Hmm... so he won’t give up his two buddies, huh?" Eric asked.

"Not yet, Mr. Eric. Honestly, it sounds like he genuinely doesn’t know who they really are. He only met the two guys who recruited him when they crossed into this city, and even then, they both wore face masks the whole time. But we’re still running a deeper interrogation and forensic scan on his smartphone and laptop, which he used to draft the online sales listing," Norman updated.

"Oh... so he put the listing up immediately?" Eric asked.

"No, he only saved it as a draft. The scheduled ad run wasn’t supposed to go live for another three months," Norman’s chat continued.

"Hmm... I see. So they definitely planned to wash the car and split the cash three ways," Eric observed.

"For now, the vehicle will be towed back to our precinct as physical evidence until the investigation wraps up and the remaining two suspects are cuffed. You might want to let Ms. Ruby know, her phone seems to be turned off or out of reach," Norman requested.

Eric stood up from his desk, walked over to the coffee table, and picked up Ruby’s face-down smartphone. He pressed the power button, but the screen stayed black, the battery was completely dead. He glanced at Ruby, whose eyes were tightly shut as a soft, rhythmic sound of gentle breathing drifted from her lips. Carefully setting the phone back down, he typed out a quick reply:

"Sorry, Detective Norman. She didn’t sleep at all last night and must have forgotten to charge her phone, she’s completely knocked out right now."

Walking back to his desk, Eric sat down and stared at the screen. A few seconds passed before three typing dots appeared and vanished, followed by a new text from Norman:

"Ah... got it. Understood. One more thing: according to a fresh statement the suspect just coughed up, while they were driving out to the repair shop to pull off the heist, the two recruiters were casually talking about Nobelia and Elliot’s Production. The fence claims he tuned most of it out and ignored them because his only priority was making a cut off Ruby’s car."

Eric froze, letting the information sink in. He started typing a response, deleted it, and sat in dead silence for a full minute before finally tapping out his thoughts:

"That means those two recruiters are definitely the exact same stalkers Jade and Ruby ran into."

"Spot on, Mr. Eric. And it’s highly probable one of them is the exact same creep who snapped those framed photos of Tania and Greg outside the hotel," Norman fired back instantly.

After exchanging a few final logistical messages with Norman, Eric signed off and locked his phone, setting it flat on the desk. The office plunged back into a heavy stillness. Lifting his hands once more, his fingers began tapping against the desk surface in a deliberate, haunting cadence.

A brand-new melody sparked in the back of his mind. Without wasting a second, he flipped open his laptop, plugged in his portable MIDI keyboard, and began softly translating the flowing notes into an arrangement, keeping the volume dialed down to a whisper so as not to wake the sleeping girl resting on the sofa.