Spinning Out

Chapter 31

JAINA

I'm too amped up to sleep. Elijah dropped me off an hour ago and I have been scrolling Instagram for the cars I saw tonight. Something about the president of his friend's club doesn't sit right with me. I finally see his car in the background of a post. The picture is from a month ago and at the time of the photo, there was no damage to the front end of his car. I click on the account that has the picture posted and find myself on a public page. That was pure luck.

I follow the grid of his profile down and find the black Honda in a few more pictures. It isn't until the tenth one that another user is tagged. It's a girl, but I click on the handle and it takes me to her page. She has four pictures posted, but the one I care about the most is a group shot outside a chain restaurant. There are no cars in the picture and it seems completely separate from anything car-club related, however, in the picture the driver of the black Honda is standing with his arm around her. The name of his car club printed on his t-shirt.

I type the car club name into the Instagram search bar. Their page has a few old pictures, nothing recent. I scroll past all the cars anyway, looking for a clue. I'm worried this might be the end of this rope, but then I remember I can see who has tagged them in photos. I rush to click that icon and the screen lights up with picture after picture of the club. I see a lot of familiar faces from the take-overs and some of the accounts I follow on my fake account.

The man with the Honda is present in many of the photos on the grid. I slowly look at each picture. I search for other cars with front end damage. I also keep an eye out for the Honda. I want to know what the front end damage occurred. I get to photos from a month ago and tucked in between is a video. I click on the icon and it plays.

"We're going out tonight to celebrate our newest member," he says.

The camera is shaky, being held by somebody walking behind the president as he heads over to the group. A young man steps into the shot. His face is pure joy as he smiles ear to ear, reaching up to fist bump the Honda man. The kid looks too young to be a part of anything, but I guess these groups aren't exactly sticklers for laws and rules. He can't be much more than my age, but he proudly walks the camera man over to his car. The silver BMW is an older model, but it is well taken care of. There are a few stickers on the windows and the front license has been removed. The video cuts out right after we get a glimpse of the car.

I glance at my phone to check the time. It's 3am. I've been going down the car club rabbit hole for hours. One picture or handle leads me to another page and then another. I need to go to sleep so I can be at the hospital again tomorrow morning. I have saved a few of the pictures to my phone. There seems to be ten prominent men in the club and two women. I hadn't considered that the driver might be a woman until I learned more about the clubs themselves this week. The new finding only makes tracking down the actual driver that much more difficult.

I click on one last tagged person. The screen once again populates with pictures. My eyes are tired and it is starting to feel more hopeless the more I scroll. The old silver BMW pops up. It's alone in the shot, but a tire store is tagged in the photo. I almost don't click it. I tell myself I need to go to sleep...but what is one more page? My finger taps the screen and a tire company located in downtown LA pops up. It is their business page and in addition to multiple pictures of tires, there are a few posts with specific cars. I find the black Honda. The picture is from two weeks ago and while the entire car is not shown, I can see the edge of the front bumper which is clearly damaged. The tire store claims to have replaced the left front tire. It's the right damage, but the wrong timeline. It couldn't have been him.

My neck aches and I roll my head to loosen the muscles. My eyes squeeze shut, dry from hours of looking at the phone screen. I don't let myself feel defeated because at least I ruled him out. Just out of curiosity I open my eyes and scroll down one more time. The silver BMW is the very next picture. I sit straight up, a tingle racing down my spine as I see Elijah crouched down next to a new tire with the young man from the club video. This must be his friend.