Chapter 10: Prep Week

"I know him," I said.

Both men looked at me.

"Daniel's assistant. He wears a nice suit and the same brown shoes every day. He's afraid of everything."

The owner shrugged.

"Afraid of everything sounds right."

Rafael looked at the pile of parts. Then at the owner.

"What do you get for this load at the crusher?"

"Couple hundred. Why?"

"I'll give you four. Cash. And I'll haul it myself, tonight."

The owner looked at me, at the Raiders jacket, at the Chen name he already knew.

"I don't want to be in any of this."

"You won't be," Rafael said. "You sold some scrap to a tow guy. Happens every day."

It took an hour to winch the hood and the bumper onto the flatbed and strap the windshield flat between two blankets.

I held the flashlight.

Neither of us said anything about the cab.

At one in the morning the parts went under a tarp in the back bay of Ortega Towing.

Rafael texted a photo of every piece to the detective.

Then he drove me two blocks home.

He walked me to the side door and stopped on the bottom step.

"Goodnight, Grace."

"Goodnight."

He didn't move.

Neither did I.

"Go upstairs," he said, rough. "Please."

I went upstairs.

On Monday we started getting the counter ready.

I'd said soon. The regulars heard tomorrow.

The young mechanic painted the front wall. He painted a lot of himself, too.

"It's called oxblood," he told Lily, holding her hand flat against the dry part. "It's a real fancy red."

"Is it the color of blood?"

"Of an ox's."

"What's an ox?"

He thought about it.

"A big cow with a job."

The old mechanic rewired the pie case without being asked.

He replaced the hinge on the walk-in and fixed the leg on stool seven that had wobbled since I was ten.

He never said a word all week.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Goodbye to the Man Who Betrayed Us from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.