Page 19 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

He frowned. “Yeah, so what?”

My stomach cramped as I realized he wasn’t so righteous after all. “Why?” I asked, really wanting to know.

“Why what?” He played dumb.

“Why do ya steal cars?”

He scoffed. “Why do you think? I already told you I need the money, and there’s this guy—” He instantly shut up, once again, looking out the window.

“What guy? Someone you sell stolen cars to?” Mickey asked.

His head snapped around. “No!” He twisted his hands in his lap and took a deep breath. “I mean no, I don’t sell them to him. What I mean is, he hires guys like me to steal for him and then…anyway, he pays really good, and like I said, I have bills to pay.” He waved a hand at the apartment building. “I got mom’s place to pay for. That’s a thousand a month…and then there’s the rent I gotta pay for my apartment here…and sometimes, I even gotta eat.” He huffed out a breath. “I have a lot of bills, okay?”

I nodded slowly as something occurred to me. “Where’s your car?” I hadn’t even asked him how he’d gotten to the auction before putting him into the Camaro.

“I don’t have one.” I must have been wearing an incredulous expression because he quickly said, “I take the city bus to get around. The traffic is shit in Vegas, if you haven’t noticed. Who wants to drive around here? Besides, it’s not like I work a nine to five job. I don’t need a car around here.”

“Ya just steal them,” I said.

He glared at me. “I already told you. I take the cars this guy wants me to take…and I don’t ask any questions,” he rushed to say. “No one questions Josiah.”

I frowned at him and exchanged a quick glance with Mickey. Just as I thought, the second Cam mentioned Josiah, we both wanted to know more.

“Did ya say this guy’s name is Josiah?” I asked.

Cam nodded. “Yeah, why?”

I shrugged. “No particular reason. Just an odd name…that.”

Cam pursed his lips. “I guess. I never thought about it.”

“And this guy—Josiah—he just hires you to steal cars?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah. I mean, he has specific buyers or something. I don’t know. I just take the ones he tells me to.”

I was beginning to wonder about Cam. He hadn’t been lying about the stuff to do with his mum. If I hadn’t seen all of it myself, I would’ve thought he was just a really good liar. I couldn’t overlook the fact that I had seen it. I’d witnessed the two of them together. She hadn’t recognized Cam, but then again, she wouldn’t. However, it was obvious they knew him at the care home whether she’d recognized him or not.

If he was talking about the same Josiah, Candy had told us about, maybe Cam was involved in drug smuggling as well as auto theft. My heart did a little flip-flop. I’d really begun to like the guy which was odd in and of itself. I was usually a really good judge of character and somehow, I’d totally missed the mark with him. I’d feel really stupid if this guy turned out to be the same Josiah.

I’d met plenty of guys like the man he was describing. I’d learned how to spot a stolen vehicle over the years which is why I only bought cars from auctions rather than going the private seller route. Maybe Cam didn’t know the guy was some big drug kingpin, smuggling drugs as well as stolen cars. Either way, I needed to know more about him. Guys like him were predators. They used people like Cam who put their necks on the line, risking prison time, or simply getting shot at by angry vehicle owners, just so men like Josiah could pad their own pockets. “This bloke…is ‘e some sort of gangster or something?”

Cam laughed. “Josiah? Gangster? Hell no. He’s just a guy.”

“What does he do with the cars you guys steal for him?” Mickey asked before shooting me a knowing look.

Cam shrugged again. “Look…like I told you…I know better than to ask. I know some of the cars are shipped to buyers overseas, because they don’t care about things like VIN numbers and the proper registration.”

That was an honest answer. Some auto theft rings sent luxury cars overseas to buyers in the Middle East and China when they couldn’t get the vehicles they wanted. I wasn’t about to say anything about the drugs…not yet at least.

“Do ya drive the cars to the port yourself?” The closest port of entry was the Port of L.A. in Long Beach, California, but there were ports all up and down both coasts. Still, Candy had mentioned the garage Lincoln’s team raided with all the vehicles had been located near the port. More and more, this didn’t look good for Cam.

He blinked. “Sometimes—I mean, yeah, once I did, but mostly Josiah has us drop them off at a car lot he has here in Vegas. I don’t know what they do with them from there, but I’ve seen lots of trucks with cargo containers coming and going from the lot.”

I smirked. “Were ya staking the place out?”

He gave me the tiniest smile. “No. I just saw them, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay…so, this guy is big time then?”