Borrow My Seat novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Pelletier Motors

Pelletier Motors opened at nine, and by 9:40 the showroom held thirty customers and no salesmen.

They stood along the glass wall with coffee cups, because everyone on Capitol Drive had heard what was coming.

Chantal's father stood at the center of the floor in his gray suit with his hands behind his back.

Beside him stood a man in coveralls holding a tow-truck clipboard, and a woman from his legal office with a briefcase.

Greta stood at my elbow, eating a donut from the free tray.

"I took the morning off," she said. "I would pay for this."

"Eat quietly."

"It's a free donut. I'm eating at the volume it requires."

At 9:58 a black pickup turned off Capitol Drive and rolled up to the glass.

It had a leased-dealer plate frame, and the orange logo of Raskin Craft Soda on the door.

Lane stepped out wearing the same quarter-zip as always, and he looked around the lot, found nothing wrong, and walked in with a smile.

"Good morning!" he said. "I got your message, sir. I assume this is about the sixty."

"Mr. Raskin," Chantal's father said. "Stand there, please."

Lane stopped on the white tile.

He saw thirty people against the glass.

He saw me, and Greta with her donut, and the smile began to thin.

"This is a business conversation," he said.

"It's a public showroom," her father said. "I thought the business should be public."

He nodded to the woman with the briefcase.

She opened it and took out three sheets of paper.

"This is a demand for the return of sixty thousand dollars," she said.

"The company's account no longer holds it."

"Mr. Pelletier has asked the district attorney to add it to the pending investigation."

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