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Dylan was seated at the desk in the office area in front of a pile of paperwork when Gabriel walked in. “What’s up?”
His mechanic sighed. “There sure is lots of paperwork involved for a break-in that was probably just kids screwing around.”
Gabriel laughed. “Yep. What did the police say?”
“Not much. They poked around a bit, but with nothing missing, they just left after doing a cursory report, which won’t be ready for a minimum of ten working days, by the way.”
“Maybe I’ll just not report it to the insurance and make the minor repairs myself.”
“Already did that, boss.”
Gabriel snorted. “I’m not your boss, Dylan. You’re worth twice what I am.”
“Maybe so, but I like being incognito here. I appreciate the opportunity to just simply be your lead mechanic.”
“Whatever. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I came in to check on Suzanna’s car.”
“Right. Well, the water pump for your girlfriend’s car came in with the morning mail, which was faster than I expected. Unfortunately, the paperwork took longer than I planned on, so I’ll have it up on the rack lickety-split and finished by tomorrow mid-morning, or if needed I can stay late and have it by seven or so tonight.”
“Really? Wow.” He then shook his head. “Don’t work late tonight. Tomorrow morning is plenty fast enough.”
“Okay. So are you going to tell her it’ll be ready tomorrow, or keep her chained to your bed for a couple more days?”
“Maybe both,” he said with a grin. “Seriously, no overtime today. Tomorrow is still earlier than expected. And don’t prepare a bill for her either.”
Dylan’s smile grew. “Gonna do some trading, are you?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “No. I’m not gonna do some trading. I don’t exactly know her financial situation. I don’t want to burden her with a huge car expense if she’s strapped.”
Dylan put his palms out as if gesturing for no explanation. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, boss. I just work here.”
“Fuck you.” Dylan liked to keep his excessive financial status a big fat secret, but Gabriel understood why he did it. The wealthy cadre of owners of the Old West Town amusement park had considerable adversaries, not the least of which was occasionally the less fortunate trying to relieve them of their excess money.
Gabriel had certainly had his share of that over the years.
“No, thanks. I’ll just get back to work.” He sidled out to the garage, heading in the direction of Suzanna’s vehicle parked at the far end of the work bays. The ’80s band Dire Straits’s song Money for Nothing blared overhead from the garage speakers, belting out a tune extolling something he knew for a fact that Dylan didn’t agree with. He didn’t believe chicks were ever for free. And that was probably why he liked being undercover here.
Since he was the best mechanic Gabriel had ever seen, the arrangement worked out well for them both. He glanced at his watch. Tomorrow morning didn’t give him much time to convince Suzanna she was welcome to stay with them even after her car was repaired.
He briefly pondered the idea of giving her a true statement for the work and asking her to stay until it was paid off, but he didn’t want her to feel pressured financially. And it was possible she had ample funds to pay off whatever invoice he gave her. That plan could backfire if she were hiding wealth like Dylan did on a day-to-day basis. And to be fair, he did, as well.
Gabriel spent very little time looking over the paperwork from the break-in determining quickly that it wasn’t worth it to turn this over to his insurance.
The bell on the door sounded. He looked up to see Cindy entering the office. Her expression said she was on a mission that wouldn’t be easily thwarted. Fuck. This can’t be good.
“Gabriel,” she said civilly, but only barely. “Where is your new girlfriend?”
He stood slowly from the desk. He had to stop himself from announcing, “She’s at my house.” Instead he started with, “Why do you ask?”
She crossed her arms with attitude. “There was a man at the Enclave town tavern last night searching for a woman. He had a fuzzy picture of someone who looked a lot like your new girlfriend. He said she was his wife, and she’d disappeared mysteriously. He was looking for her and seemed very concerned about her welfare.”
