After seeing off Bub and Eddy, Charlie returned to the rest of her group.
She wasn't sure what she had missed but Nevada seemed to be arguing with Koty about something while Lola just stood off to the side.
The conversation became slightly clearer as she got closer.
"Come on Koty, just go with it."
"Not happening. We are not supposed to be attracting attention."
"But they just got ripped off!"
"And that's their problem! It's not like they've noticed!"
"I noticed! And someone should tell them before the seller gets away!"
"What's going on here?" Charlie figured this was as good of a time as any to interject.
"You saw that restored Superbird earlier right?" Nevada continued to stare down her brother as she replied to Charlie.
"Yeah, what of it?" The car stuck out in Charlie's mind as well because something had just seemed weird about it.
"You mean you didn't notice either?"
"Notice what?"
"It's not a restoration! It's a reproduction."
"What? How can you be sure?"
"At first it looks normal right? But the more you look, the more you feel something is off."
Nevada paused to see if Charlie would figure it out. Charlie, however, had not spent nearly as much time staring at the old muscle car as Nevada and didn't spend the effort to reason out what was wrong.
"The materials are all off! Essentially, everything is too new and the body lines are off by a few degrees." Nevada couldn't keep it to herself anymore and explained all the minor details that gave it away.
"That still doesn't make it our problem." Koty asserted once again.
"Yeah, but," She started to argue with him again when Charlie cut her off.
"Nevada, your brother is right. We should just leave it be. Our goal has been accomplished and we need to head out." Charlie was firm and steered them towards the exit.
Nevada continued to pout for most of the ride home.
While she was always up for making a quick buck, she was always honest about it. It was stunts like this that stirred her sense of justice.
Still, she did see their point and decided to let it go.
Charlie, on the other hand, was thinking in a completely different direction. She was trying to figure out who would dare be bold enough to put a counterfeit car up for auction. And if an eighteen year old girl could notice something was wrong, surely the auction house should know.
She frowned and pulled out her cellphone.
[Murphy, I need you to look into something for me.]
Whenever she needed something or needed to know something, Murphy was the guy to ask. It had taken several years to hire him exclusively, but it was worth it.
It took a good while for him to respond. He wasn't exactly great with technology and usually asked the youngest guy, Eddy, for help.
Charlie knew that Eddy was currently out with Bub and the Camaro so Murphy was on his own.
[dEtai8ls]
She sent him the information she had about Stella's and the strange Superbird and then put her phone away.
Based on the message he had managed to send, there was no point in waiting for a confirmation from Murphy.
She looked over at Nevada and decided that she would go ahead and take her in.
Spending the day with her had proved Chance right about the teenager. Nevada certainly was spirited and passionate. Given her observational skills, she was most likely hard-working as well.
"Nevada?"
"Hmm?" The girl was lost in her own thoughts and reluctantly turned to face Charlie.
"Are you coming home with me tonight?"
"What? Now?" Charlie's words brought Nevada back to earth.
"Well, yeah."
"Um, I have one more week of classes for my certification." She shook her head in refusal.
"And after that?"
"Job hunting?"
"You're hired!"
"Huh? I never applied!"
"Too late, I call dibs! You can't work for anyone else. One week from now, I'll come pick you up myself." Charlie flashed a huge smile at her new apprentice.
Nevada just held her forehead and glared at her idiot brother.
'This is all his fault!' She screamed in her mind. 'Just wait until we're alone!'
Koty felt her stare and refused to turn around. He still wasn't sure why she was mad earlier and now Charlie had provoked Nevada even more.
'I'm dead.' He sank down in his seat and tried to ready himself for whatever punishment was headed his way.
His horror increased when Lola came to a smooth stop in front of his house.
"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning." He said goodnight to Lola and bid farewell to Charlie before helping his sister out of the car.
As soon as they closed the front door behind them, Nevada started.
"How stupid can you be and still breathe?!"
"Um, sis... I was wrong. How can I do better?" Poor Koty was still clueless so he had to ask.
"You. left. the. front. door. unlocked." She said each word slowly though gritted teeth and poked his chest in between each one so he would be sure to understand the first time.
All the color drained from Koty's face but it was about to get much worse.
She had a lot of pent up frustration from being dragged around all day and now she had her punching bag of a brother to vent on.