Chapter 20 - "Stuck in Neutral"

"Vermella, I wanna go home," said Mater.

"You're not leavin' this cone. If everyone knows you was the last one with Leo, then everyone is gonna ask you where she is. If you leave, remember what I said to you before about people remembering your name."

Mater pouted his face and stared at Jane. Jane was parked and playing with the carpet with her tire. She jumped up.

"I need to potty!" she exclaimed. Vermella didn't take her eyes off of Mater. She raised her tire and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Jane saw this and drove over to it, but before she went inside, she asked, "Can we think about me going home when I come out?"

"Yep."

Jane smiled and continued on.

Mater looked at Vermella with a hurt expression, "She ain't goin' home…is she?"

"Nope."

Mater swallowed the lump in his throat, "Why, Vermella? What do ya want? I'll do it for ya. Just, please, give my bes' friend's life back."

"What do I want?" asked Vermella. "I want what my father wanted. To kill. But, ya see, my daddy did it a different way. He just went out and did it. Me? I make my victims suffer. I make 'em suffer. To the point of wanting to die. Then I go in for the kill. That way, the car I'm killing won't feel so bad about dying, and I won't feel too bad killin' 'em."

"Your..daddy?" asked Mater.

"Yep, his name was Bubba. Ice cold..aheh..ice cold killer. Anything that moved. I don't have my mommy no more either 'cause when I was younger, well-"

"Bubba..was your dad? And killed your mom..?"

"And killed my mom."

"So, you took Lightning's baby to make him sad and now Bubba's gonna go after Lightning?"

"Naw…daddy died recently. That there pain in the bumper combine harvester killed him off."

"Frank..?" his voice became very small, "Bubba's dead.."

"Jus' said that."

"But then how did you know Jane was Lightning's?"

"I didn't. Isn't that great? It's like a two in one sort of thing. Buy one, get one free. Whenever I see kids wandering around by themselves, I take 'em. No matter who the parents are, I'll take the kid. You see, I like killing expensive things though."

"What do you mean?"

"If the victim is rich, I get rich. It was just pure, deserved luck that Leo is Lightning's, the fact that Lightning is rich, and the fact that my father hated the living horsepower out of McQueen."

"But…once you kill the parents, what do you do with the kids?"

"Oh, I put them up for adoption," she rolled her eyes, "Dope."

The toilet flushed and in a few moments Jane rolled out of the bathroom.

"So when can I go home, Vermella?" Jane asked, sweetly. Vermella turned away from Mater and smiled at Jane.

"I'm gonna go get your mother right now."

Jane smiled very big and she started to bounce around on her shocks. Vermella looked at Mater's hopeless expression. She laughed ominously, "Heard that, Mater? I'm gonna go get Leo's mommy. Now."

Mater's tow hook started to vibrate a little. He was thinking about whether or not he should use it to pull her back. Vermella noticed this and her smile got larger.

"I dare you," she said, "C'mon."

Mater's hopeless expression turned into a glare. Jane looked at both of them with her eyes wide and ignorant. Her mouth hung open. Mater just exhaled a breath and forced his tow hook to stop moving. Vermella nodded her hood.

"That's right, Mater-boy," she whispered, "Don't forget about what I told you about leaving."

"Hey, Vermella, when can I be called 'Jane' again?"

"Keep Leo. It sounds much better."

"But, my daddy really liked it a lot and when I go back home and he finds out that 'Jane' isn't my name anymore, he's gonna be really sad."

"Then tell daddy that every queen named Jane was killed or dethroned. Now you can tell him how pretty 'Jane' is."

Jane looked down at her hood and frowned.

Vermella drove to the garage door and pressed its button. The door struggled to open and made an annoying humming noise.

"Vermella, wait!" Mater called out.

Vermella looked at him in her side view mirror, "Don't become the hero, Mater."

"No, it's just…why did he do that to your ma?"

Vermella blinked away her anger and slowly turned just enough to look at him eye to eye.

Her tough expression faded, as she remembered that day very clear, "She didn't pass the salt."