Page 65 of Capture My Heart

Chapter 14

Amy toweled off her hair. It was 8 a.m. and she’d already ran five miles, lifted weights with Tommy, and now she was in her favorite sweats and had her new, new computer open and was looking into the scholarship that Henri West said she and her sister received. It wouldn’t have flagged the financials if the paperwork looked legit. She’d asked Henri for a copy and the email arrived this morning.

Amy read over the submission forms. The girls had average grades, B average. It didn’t ask for a special qualifier, like minority, military family, or special interest groups.

She scanned the rest of the form and found nothing that would denote why the girls were picked. She looked at the name of the scholarship. It seemed generic. She typed it into the search bar and waited.

If this wasn’t a bogus page, she’d give up her aspirations of making detective.

A minute later, a lovely message appeared on her screen. It looks like there aren’t many good matches for your search. Would you like to try...?

Bogus, she knew it. If the site was there, and she’d bet her lucky holster it was at one time, it was only up until the police would be done looking into it. Because the Gardiners were smart enough to know they would.

She made notes and decided to bring this to Ryan’s attention.

If Gus was paid off to kill her father, then it makes sense that the same person who paid him would kill him off if he thought Gus was getting loose lips.

She looked at the time. The impound lot was open. She looked up the number and called.

“Ashwood Towing and Impound.”

“Is the manager in today?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Officer Amy Larson of the Ashwood Police Department. Do you have a time today that I could come in and talk with you?”

“Sure, I see a note that you stopped by last week. What’s this about?”

“I am inquiring about your surveillance video from June 24th.”

“Sorry, but we have an old system. We only keep the recordings for forty-eight hours.”

“You don’t have digital backups?”

“Nope. If we don’t have a break in or any suspicious activity, we delete them.” Disappointment echoed in her ears at his response.

“Can you tell me about the Honda Civic in the back of the lot?” Clicking from the keyboard echoed through the phone.

“What would you like to know?”

“How long has it been there and if it’s been moved?”

“Let me check. I’d have to look up the paperwork.” More clicking. “We have two on the lot at the moment. Do you have the plate number?”

She rattled it off and thirty seconds later she had her answer.

“It came in on the 22nd. I don’t have any notes regarding its owner. The plates were stolen.”

“Thank you. Do you have a night guard?”

“Nope. Day shift. Larry works the weekdays and Mark the weekends.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome.” He disconnected.

Well, that was a bust. She would interview the guards, but she knew how easy it was to bribe someone. It wouldn’t take much either.