“Have you been here before?” Simon asked her.
She nodded. “I come here every once in a while.”
“Good for you,” he muttered. It wasn’t his style at all, but, hey, whatever worked. It was a different life that he’d built for himself, and seeing that, at this level, made him appreciate it all the more.
As they proceeded, she looked over at the employee assigned to her car, and, seeing the name on the pocket of his uniform, she asked, “Are you Rick?”
He nodded.
“Rick Lord?”
He nodded again and looked up at her in surprise. “Yes, do I know you?”
She shook her head. “Nope, you don’t.” She hesitated and then pulled out her ID.
He froze, stared at it; then his gaze narrowed as he looked at it again. “I haven’t done anything fucking wrong.”
“Good,” she replied. “I’m glad to hear that.”
He kept working away on his computer keyboard, but it was obvious that he was distracted.
“I tried to call your parents to find out where you were,” she explained, “but they wouldn’t give me any information on where you live.”
He winced. “No, they wouldn’t.”
“I do need to ask you some questions. So either we can do it here or I can meet you somewhere. Or you can come down to the office.”
“I’m working every day this week,” he replied, with a note of desperation.
“What time are you off work?”
He looked up at the clock. “Twenty minutes.”
“Good,” she stated. “That’ll finish my car.” He glared at her and disappeared under her hood. She sank back and looked over at Simon.
“How did you know he was in this bay?” Simon asked.
She shrugged. “I phoned.”
He nodded. “Do you expect him to still be here at the end of his shift?”
“Well, I hope so,” she replied, “but do I expect him to pull a runner? Maybe. In which case then I’ll have to go to his boss and find out where he lives and let him know what’s going on. And that’ll make it even harder for the kid.”
“Exactly,” Simon muttered.
And it seemed like they were getting somewhere on her case, until she realized that this oil change was taking way too long. She looked over at Simon. “Stay here.” She opened the car door and hopped out. And, sure enough, nobody was under the hood of her car. She swore, looked back at Simon, and said, “He did pull a runner.” At that, she walked over to the office door and pounded on it. When a guy popped out, she pointed to her car in the bay. “Your guy just took off running.”
He looked at her, shocked, then at her car, as they walked over to it. “I don’t understand.” She quickly explained, and he raised both hands. “Goddammit, he’s a hell of a worker. What the hell did he do wrong now?”
“What do you mean bynow?”
“Wouldn’t hire him because of his record, but I figured, what the hell? He came with great references, so I did.”
“And I just need to talk to him, but he has taken off on me now.”
“Well, first let’s get you back on the road,” he began.
“And then you can get me his address and phone number and any other contact information you may have.”