Page 35 of Shelter for Tanna

“Is he here?” Wayne asked.

“No. I told you, he’s gone. He runs things from home at night.”

Beau tried next. “Could you call him and ask?”

“Fuck no, not if I want to have a job tomorrow. He’s made it clear we’re not supposed to bother him at home unless it’s an emergency. Screws up his chain-smoking time, apparently.” Before Wayne or Beau could ask anything else, the man’s hand rested on his hip, and both men held up their hands in surrender, knowing full well the message he was trying to send. “Look, I’ve got a loaded forty-five right here. You’ve asked me enough questions. I’ve got work to do. Now get the fuck outta here. Anything else you need to know, you’ll have to ask Charlie when he’s here. I don’t have time for this shit.” When they stood there, rooted to the spot, the guy barked, “I said get the fuck outta here!”

“Yes, sir. We’re going, sir. Thanks.” Wayne turned and ran back to the car, with Beau right on his heels. “Wow, that was a close call,” he mumbled as he started the car.

“Yeah. That motherfucker means business,” Beau muttered.

“Yeah, he does. But at least we know which wrecker service it was. We’ll have to come back tomorrow and ask some questions.”

“We taking the car back now?”

Wayne shook his head. “Nope. We’ll come back tomorrow morning and talk to this Charlie guy. DimSum will just have to wait for his ride.”

* * *

She’d no more than stepped inside the office at work the next morning when the phone rang. Charlie wasn’t sitting there, so Tanna reached for it. “Charlie’s Wrecker Service. May I help you?”

“Hey, Tanna? It’s Ben.”

“Yeah! What’s up?”

“Where’s Charlie?”

“Hell if I know. I just got here,” she said, plopping down in the chair behind the desk.

“Will you give him a message for me?”

“Sure.” She reached for a pad and picked up a pen. “What is it?”

“Tell him a couple of scrawny guys turned up last night. Dark hair and red hair. Scabby faces. Looked like meth heads. They were asking questions about where cars go when they’re picked up. I got a little spooked, let them know I had a gun and ran them off. I have no idea what they’re looking for, but I want him to know they may be back.”

“Good. Thanks. I’ll tell him.”

“Thanks, Tanna. Have a good day.”

“You too.” As soon as they hung up, Tanna sat there and thought about the message. Why would a couple of guys want to know what happened to a car? How would they know one of Charlie’s trucks had picked it up? For a split second, she thought about the car she’d seen in the rearview mirror on the side of the interstate earlier in the week, then pushed it out of her mind. That would be too coincidental.

She had just picked up a stack of orders to work on when Charlie showed up. He’d apparently been down by the workshop to check on a piece of equipment, by the looks of the grease on his hands. “So, you working on those today?” he asked as soon as he saw what she was doing.

“Yeah, sure. I thought I would until you had a call for me. Hey, Ben called and wanted me to?”

She didn’t get to finish before the door opened and in walked the guys she was sure Ben had been describing. “Help you fellas?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah. Got our car towed. Wondered if you could tell us where you took it?” the red-haired one asked.

“How do you know we took it?” Charlie countered, and Tanna could feel herself bristle. Something about the two men made her very uneasy.

“Uh… Somebody told us they saw your truck,” the dark-haired man answered. Once again, the tow from earlier in the week rolled into Tanna’s mind, and she felt a little queasy. Maybe theyhadbeen watching.

“Well, let me explain. If it was repossessed, it went to the impound lot of whichever finance company repossessed it. If it was on the side of a city street, it went to the city lot. If it was on a county road, it went to one of the impound lots for the county.”

The red-haired man asked, “What if it was on the side of the interstate?”

Charlie let out an irritated sigh. “That’s county. You’d have to call the sheriff’s department.”

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