Chapter 80
When Ava arrived at the destination, Jack had already been waiting there for quite a while. As soon as she pulled up, she saw Jack waving at her.
"Ava, with just the two of us, do you think we'll get anywhere?"
Jack felt they should at least bring some backup. The two of them showing up empty-handed at someone else's turf seemed a bit risky. After all, the repair shop was full of men who could easily handle them both.
"I brought two people."
Ava called Sam and had the two come over.
When Jack saw two tough-looking young men following behind, he immediately felt more confident.
"Let's go!"
The four of them headed to the repair shop.
As Ava walked, she looked around at the auto repair shop. It wasn't small - it took up a whole yard.
Several cars were parked in the yard, with a few mechanics working, making clanging sounds. Soon, someone noticed them coming in, and a young man, probably not even twenty, came over to greet them.
"Here to get your car fixed?"
He looked around, didn't see any car that needed repair, and looked confused.
Jack was quick to respond. He went along with what the young man said,
"My car's brakes failed. Could you help fix it?"
The young man opened the gate all the way. "Drive it in. Once these cars are done, a mechanic will take a look at yours."
"Could I have Brian fix it? He's always fixed my car before. I only trust him."
Jack lied casually. Brian Scott was the mechanic who had fixed Ava's mother's car back then.
The young man was stunned. "You know my uncle?"
"Yeah, I'm an old customer of his. I don't feel right having this old car fixed anywhere else. Now it's broken again, so I have to trouble Brian."
The young man let out a cold laugh, turned around, and went back to work, seeming unwilling to deal with them anymore.
"You're lying. My uncle hasn't fixed cars in years. Who are you people really, and what do you want with him?"
Jack cleared his throat. "We really are old acquaintances of Brian's. We came to ask him for a favor. If it's convenient, could you let him know we're here?"
After Jack finished speaking, the two bodyguards moved forward with an aggressive stance, meaning that today, convenient or not, they had to notify him - they wouldn't leave without seeing Brian in person.
The young man rubbed his neck, looking a bit helpless.
"I'm really curious - people keep coming to see my uncle, all saying they're old acquaintances. Don't you old acquaintances know that he's already dead and buried?"
Ava's heart sank.
"Brian passed away?"
"Yeah, last month, some woman came looking for him, saying she wanted to help him find another job, basically trying to get us to close the shop. My uncle refused. Three days later, my uncle got into a car accident and died on the spot."
Ava was truly shocked. She couldn't believe this was another coincidence. The killer who murdered her mother had now used the same method to kill the only person who knew what really happened.
The trail went cold here.
"Do you remember what that woman looked like?"
The young man fell into thought and took a while to answer.
"I didn't see clearly. She came at night. I just remember she wasn't very tall, wore a mask and sunglasses, high heels, and had long, curly hair."
Someone had already appeared in Ava's mind. She opened her phone, found a photo, and showed it to the young man.
"Take a look. Is this the person?"
The young man shook his head. "I can't say for sure. I really didn't see clearly that day. The hairstyle looks similar."
When they left the repair shop, Ava seemed like her soul had been sucked out. After all these years, the only lead she'd finally found was gone just like that. She was still one step too late.
The killer had already destroyed the evidence a month ago.
"Jack, do you think there's still a chance of finding out the truth about this?"
Ava leaned against the car, disappointment washing over her, her voice weak.
"Ava, don't lose heart. Anything done deliberately by someone will always have flaws. As long as we don't give up, this case will eventually be solved."
Ava sniffled. "Thanks for all your hard work. When you solve it, I'll pay you double."
Jack smiled brightly.
"With you saying that, I have to solve this case for you no matter what. By the way, that villa at EastLake Villas you asked me to watch - Sarah sold it recently."
Ava suddenly stood up straight, her whole body tensing. That house was her mother's inheritance. She hadn't figured out how to get it back yet, and Sarah had beaten her to it by selling it.
That house held all her childhood memories.
"Who did she sell it to?"
Jack tapped his forehead, trying hard to remember. "The new owner is called Sophie Wilson."
"Did you look into who this Sophie is?"
"Sophie Wilson, fourteen years old, daughter of the Wilson Group."
Ava's mind raced. The daughter of the Wilson Group - wasn't that Daniel's sister? She was only fourteen, so surely she didn't buy the house herself.
She felt she needed to find a chance to ask Daniel about this. She had to buy that house back.
"Sarah's rush to sell the house was probably to deal with the Brown Group's crisis. Steven, your father's company, is facing a financial crisis..."
Hearing this, Ava corrected him. "Just call him Steven. I've cut ties with him. We're no longer father and daughter."
Jack continued where he'd been interrupted.
"Steven sold off a lot of things recently. The house was just one thing - there were also antiques and jewelry from the house. But all these things were bought by the same person, which really did help his company out of a tight spot."
Ava's heart went completely cold. Steven didn't have any jewelry - what he sold was all her mother's collection.
"Do you know who the buyer was?"
"Haven't found out yet. I'll tell you when I do."
That afternoon, when Ava got home, she opened her stock trading app and, half an hour before the market closed, bought a million shares of the Brown Group's stock.
She contacted the financial manager she'd worked with before for the trust and scheduled a time to withdraw the rest of her investments that were about to mature.
She was going to do something big.
At that moment, William, on a business trip in Harmony City, had just signed a factory contract. There wasn't really much going on here that required him to come personally. His main purpose for coming, as he'd made clear to Ava at home, was to help her find Joseph.
He'd had enough of the woman in his arms calling out another man's name in her sleep every night.
William sat in the car, casually flipping through the contract he'd just signed.
"Mr. Morgan, there's unusual activity in the stock market!"
James seemed to have discovered something incredible and handed his phone to William.
"That half-dead Brown Group stock surged in the last half hour before the market closed. I checked - there was a large buy order, and countless small investors followed blindly. This broken stock went straight up, and it pulled up similar stocks as well. In the last half hour today, all stocks in the same category turned green, with the Brown Group leading the charge. It really made a splash."
William was quite surprised. "Who would buy stock in this company that's about to go bankrupt? Are they brain-dead?"
James coughed lightly. William's words were always so harsh.
"Maybe they see its long-term potential and are planning to invest long-term."
"What long-term potential does it have? Are you saying the person who made that large purchase is interested in the Brown Group's massive debts, or in the fact that their products have a shelf life of only three months?"
The usually eloquent James was left speechless. The Brown Group made auto parts for a living. William's saying their products had a shelf life of only three months was really harsh. It was still a publicly traded company, and the boss was his father-in-law, but he didn't spare any feelings in his words.
As the two were in a heated discussion, William's phone rang. He glanced down at the screen, and the words "Incredibly Cute Wife" flashed so brightly they hurt his eyes.