The Blue Car

“Unfortunately, there is no mistake,” she said, closing the file. “There was no blue car involved in this case,” continued Audrey. Tony rolled his eyes, Audrey could tell what he was going to say and she quickly put a stop to it. “I know it’s frustrating, you had a new lead but it went nowhere. We looked at the accident reports and the surveillance footage from the hotel. Not one blue car involved in anything.” Audrey was stern she wasn’t going through this again. She had spent most of her day off rummaging through Tony’s files. Files that had been gone through a dozen times before and this time wasn’t any different, again they found nothing new.

“Look I’m not asking this because I am annoyed that the case went nowhere. I’m asking because, I’m telling you the blue car is the key.” Tony was almost desperate. He couldn’t express to his sister enough how sure he was that this bit of information was what he needed to solve the case. Audrey just looked at him. She could tell Tony was positive that this was credible information, but she was still hesitant. Audrey didn’t want to entertain a theory for weeks that would go nowhere. Waste all her time an energy helping research old files and then end up frustrated and defeated. Audrey had things in her life now that she couldn’t put aside anymore. It wasn’t like it used to be, she couldn’t just jump and help Tony this time, it was very different now.

Although she didn’t want to be, Audrey was slightly intrigued so she decided to entertain this new lead a little more. “Tony, why now? Why all of the sudden is there a mention of a blue car? If your source can tell you that there was a mysterious blue car involved, why can’t they tell where we should look for this car and who owns it?” Tony scoffed at her and threw his arms up. “Audrey! You know that’s not how this works. All I know is I was told that we need to find out about a blue car and then we need to talk to Lonnie.”

“Lonnie!” Shouted Audrey. “Lonnie, oh my God. Wow this just got better.” Audrey knew this was too good to be true. “Tony, Lonnie changed her story four times about what happened that night. Two times with the police and two times with you.” Audrey shook her head and started to pace a bit. She knew she had wasted her time today; there was nothing that going to get solved because there was nothing to solve. “Tony, when you took this case, I knew it was a mistake.”

“A mistake? How? A sister comes in desperate to find the real reason behind her brother’s death. She’s distraught, she knows something is fishy but can’t prove it and the cops don’t care. How could I not take the case, plus she did have some interesting theories about her brother and Lonnie. You of all people should understand that.” Tony replied. He was about at a breaking point. You could almost see the desperation pouring off of him.

Audrey walked across the room. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she sat down on the couch across from Tony. Audrey’s tone was very soft when she spoke, “Tony I do understand. However, there is nothing suspicious about Ted St. Claire’s death. He was driving while intoxicated and caused a three car accident. His wife changed her story about what happened that night, not to cover anything up for him. But to save herself. I just...”

“Exactly!” Said Tony, abruptly cutting his sister off. Audrey looked at him, a little baffled. “Hear me out. Okay Lonnie lied about what happened at the hotel that night, but that’s it. She knows the truth, but she can’t...”

“No Tony! I’m stopping you right there,” said Audrey, as she jumped up from the couch. “Lonnie was not only also intoxicated, but she was there selling drugs to some of the wealthier clientele at the hotel. She’s about as reputable as a politician.”

“Audrey! That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know something. Something that she maybe is afraid to say. Believe me, there is something more to this ‘accident’ than what was put in those police files.” Tony was almost frantic. He kept moving his arms and clenching his fists as spoke. He needed Audrey to understand. “Maybe if we could just talk to Lonnie again, maybe she would say something anything.”

Audrey felt like shaking him. They were just going in circles. “Tony, how are we going to talk to Lonnie? I really don’t see that happening.”

“Well yeah, there are some issues with that. I know the major one her being in jail and all,” said Tony trying to seem nonchalant.

“Oh yeah that and other things,’ responded Audrey with slight sarcasm. She smiled at her brother, who smirked back. They both knew it was pretty much a moot point. In the past that wouldn’t stop them, they both loved a good challenge. She did love helping with Tony’s private eye cases, it kept her busy and paid between teaching jobs. But now Audrey had a steady job and she couldn’t risk getting all caught up with Tony and his cases again. However, it was nice to see her brother so enthralled in something once more. He had been rather out of sorts lately, not really knowing what his purpose was anymore. Even seeing that though, Audrey knew she had to convince Tony to put this case back to rest.

She headed towards the table where the case files were spread out. Audrey had to get them away and send Tony off. Yet as she walked she noticed something. The green vase on her coffee table had a chip in the paint. She could see the old color coming through. It was an ugly beige that reminded of coffee stains on a mug. Audrey hated it, but loved the style and the vase was on sale. She couldn’t pass it up, so Audrey bought it because she knew she could easily repaint it. That’s when it hit her.

Audrey stopped dead in her tracks and looked straight at Tony. Tony looked at her confused. Audrey had this odd look on her face that he couldn’t read. “Tony! The blue, maybe it was a recolor. What if one of the cars used to be blue or is blue now! What if that’s what the source is getting at?” Audrey was almost gasping as she spoke. She felt like maybe there was something after all. Tony just smiled at her. Audrey continued to walk towards the table again and sat down.

“We need to look at all the cars mentioned or pictured again. I know it’s a lot but we need to.” Tony rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. “Two minutes ago you wanted nothing to do with this. Yet now you are telling me to look through all this again. Make up your mind sis,” Tony replied. They both laughed lightly.

“Audrey? What’s going on?, said a voice from the left. Audrey was so caught up in her idea that she didn’t even hear Neal walk in.

“What? Sorry I didn’t even hear you open the door. How was the movie?” Audrey responded a little anxiously. Neal gazed at her funny.

“Audrey why do you have a box of Tony’s case files opened on our kitchen table? I thought you gave them to Bill to archive after the office was closed? Also who were talking to?” Asked Neal who appeared to be very confused.

Audrey shrugged her shoulders and gave Neal an uneasy smile. She looked over at Tony who just shook his no and placed his finger over his lips to shush her. Audrey looked back at Neal, “No one. I was just thinking out loud. This was just a box I missed. I looked through it for nostalgia I guess.” Audrey responded. She wasn’t sure if Neal believed her, but he seemed to accept her answer for the moment. “Okay I’m just going to change,” Neil replied as he walked towards their bedroom. Audrey looked back towards Tony who said, “It has to be this way,” he then faded away.