Free Derby Divas (Zoe Donovan Mystery) by Kathi Daley

there.”
    “Please leave those names as well. Anything else about the race that stands out?” Salinger asked.
    “No, not that I can think of at the moment.”
    “Okay , so on to the discovery that Ms. Parker wasn’t dead. What led you to look for her in Ms. Worthington’s room?”
    “Actually , I was looking for Pepper. She hadn’t been at the race and no one had been able to find her since. Willa was interviewing the contestants to find out who was still in for tomorrow’s competition and who was out. She hadn’t been able to locate Pepper or Dezee. It’s my job to rework the groups with the remaining contestants, so I was motivated to track Pepper down. I went to her room and knocked, but there was no answer. The door was open, so I went inside and found Pandora in the bed.”
    “That must have been a shock.”
    “A bit,” I admitted. I left out the part about screaming like a girl.
    “And what happened after you realized Ms. Parker was alive?”
    I filled Salinger in on the conversation I’d had with Pandora , as well as my general impression that she had no idea what had happened and really didn’t seem to remember much since the previous evening.
    “Sheriff Salinger . . .” The voice of the receptionist, who must have finally reappeared, came over the intercom, interrupting me just as I got to the part where I convinced Pandora to talk to him.
    “Yes ?”
    “Impound yard on line one. They say it’s important.”
    “Please excuse me.” Salinger picked up the line, barked out his name, and listened. His frown deepened the longer he was on the line. I assumed the news wasn’t to his liking. He put down the phone and looked at me.
    “It looks as though our accident wasn’t an accident after all.”
     

Chapter 7
     
    “What do you mean , it wasn’t an accident?” I asked.
    “The car ha d been tampered with. Even if Ms. Parker had been driving, the outcome would have been the same. It seems that someone wanted to do more than just stop the race. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the car ended up at the bottom of the cliff.”
    “So who was the intended victim?” I had to wonder. “Pandora or Pepper?”
    Salinger frowned. I could tell he hadn’t considered the fact that Pepper might have been the one someone wanted to kill.
    “I don’t suppose that whoever tampered with the vehicle had any way of knowing that Ms. Worthington would be driving the car , so the intended victim must have been Ms. Parker,” Salinger said.
    “Unless whoever tampered with the car is also the one who drugged Pandora , thereby ensuring that she wouldn’t be driving the vehicle at the time of the race.”
    “Yes, but how would the killer have known that Ms. Worthington would take it upon herself to take Ms. Parker ’s place?” Salinger asked.
    “True.”
    It did seem odd that Pepper hadn’t approached one of the other women more experienced with road racing to take Pandora’s place once she realized that Pandora was never going to make it in time.
    “It looks like this case has just gotten a whole lot more complicated , and Ms. Worthington’s parents are on their way back from overseas. I’d like to have some answers for them when they arrive in,” Salinger looked at his watch, “twelve hours.”
    “I’ll snoop around and see what I can find out from the other contestants while you find out what happened to the car and how exactly Pandora was drugged.”
    “You do realize that this is a police matter? ” Salinger pointed out. “I should be the one making plans.”
    “Do you want my help or not?”
    Salinger hesitated. I knew he hated the fact that he really did need my help. “If you hear anything, let me know,” he answered without committing to the help thing one way or the other.
     
    I called Levi, who was still at Ellie’s with Pandora. I told him that I had news and they should wait there for me to arrive. After a bit of discussion, it was decided that it might be better