The highway was a long, dark stretch in the middle of the night, with only lights in the windows of distant houses to pierce the black. A storm circling overhead had produced huge swirling clouds that were blocking any moonlight that might have illuminated our way. The upside was that it would be easy to spot anyone who attempted to follow us. The downside was if anything happened, there was no place to run.
“It’s kinda creepy out here this late at night,” Gertie said, her words echoing my thoughts.
“Yeah. The storm’s not helping.”
Gertie fidgeted a bit, then looked over at me. “Do you think Ida Belle’s in danger?”
I knew the question wasn’t the real question. Gertie had her moments, but her mind was sharp. She knew the score. She was just worried about her best friend and wanted me to tell her that the bad guys would go to jail and Ida Belle would be fine. And I really wanted to tell her just that.
But I couldn’t.
Because I didn’t know if everything would be fine. And I didn’t want to lie to her.
“We’re doing everything we can to protect her,” I said.
“What if it’s not enough?”
“You trust me, right?”
“Of course.”
“Do you really think anyone is going to get to Ida Belle without going through me first? And then ask yourself how many people are capable of going through me.”
She relaxed a bit. “You’re a good friend, Fortune.”
“You’d do the same for me,” I said.
“Not nearly as well,” Gertie said. “Maybe years ago I could have been trained like you were, but those days are long past. I don’t like to admit that age is affecting me, but I’m not so foolish that I’m not aware.”
“I don’t think you’re foolish. At least not about the age thing.”
“So you think I’m foolish about other things?”
“You trapped an alligator with your pants and put him inside your house.”
“Well, when you put it that way.”
“We’re going to figure this out,” I said. “And Carter is going to catch the bad guys, and Ida Belle will be back in that age-reducing death trap before either one of us is ready.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Me too,” I said as I turned off the highway and onto the road that led to Big and Little’s storage facility. Gertie and I were both silent the rest of the drive. I had so many thoughts running through my head, I was finding it difficult to settle on only one. God only knew what Gertie was thinking about, but since she wasn’t carrying a purse, I figured I was on the safer side of things regardless of where her mind was roaming.
Mannie was up front at the gate when we arrived. He punched in a code and waved us through. “Second row,” he said. “Unit 63. Right in the middle. It’s open.”
Ida Belle drove through and we followed her in my Jeep, figuring it was better for it to be hidden behind the gate with the SUV, just in case anyone got curious and came wandering up to the storage facility. The unit was large enough for two cars, but part of the space was already taken up by a lift, a tool chest, and Big and Little Hebert.
“You were right,” Gertie said. “About them showing up.”
I nodded. I just hoped it turned out to be a good thing and not a “fooled you, we’re really the bad guys” thing. I hadn’t gotten that impression when we’d met earlier, and my instincts were rarely wrong, but since I’d come to Sinful, my life had been full of first-time experiences. I just prayed this wasn’t another one of them.
Big and Little nodded to us as we stepped out of our vehicles, and Big lumbered over to take a look at the SUV and motioned to Ida Belle to pop the hood. Mannie opened it and he leaned in to get a closer look.
“Hot Rod does excellent work,” Big said. “I saw this before he went to work on it. I wouldn’t have given ten dollars for it, but Hot Rod swore he could make it into something fantastic.”
“He certainly did that,” Ida Belle said. “Do you want me to pull it up over the lift?”
Little stepped forward. “Not yet. Given the extent of the work that’s been done to the vehicle, it’s unlikely that anything is hidden in any of the main mechanical areas.”
“Because Hot Rod would have found it,” I said.
“How do we know he didn’t?” Gertie asked.
“We don’t for sure,” I said, “but I’m going to guess that the car thieves questioned Hot Rod before they popped him over the head. If he’d found something and given it up, there would have been no need to steal the other cars.”
Big nodded. “You have a logical mind. Do you know much about cars?”
“Not enough,” I said.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here. Because cars have always been my passion. And Mannie is an excellent mechanic.”
It was as if saying his name made him appear because at that exact moment, Mannie walked into the storage unit.
“Deuce and Snake are up front,” Mannie said. “I’ve checked all the cameras and repositioned those that shifted during the last storm. You have coverage of every square inch inside the gates. You just need to check the feed.”
Little pulled out his phone and poked at the screen. “It looks excellent.”
“Now that all the newfangled technical stuff is covered,” Big said, “let me show you what us old-schoolers know about vehicles. Mannie, grab that toolbox and we’ll get to work.” He looked over at Ida Belle. “Please don’t worry about the disassembly. I’ll make sure everything is back to perfect.”
Ida Belle nodded and I could see how relieved she was. The instant Big had said the word “toolbox,” she’d stiffened like a parent who’d taken their child to the doctor.
Little and Mannie moved a park bench over next to the side of the SUV and Big took a seat. Mannie pulled the SUV forward into the storage unit and as he climbed out, Big told him to open all the doors.
And the show began.
Chapter Nine
I have to admit, I was impressed. Who knew there were so many places to hide something in a vehicle? Well, besides criminals. Every time Mannie removed a piece of the SUV and passed it off to Ida Belle, Gertie, or I, another cubby was revealed, which was both amazing and depressing at the same time. With this many options for hiding places and the possibility that what we were looking for was as small as a USB stick or a diamond, there was no telling how long it would take to find something. And that was all assuming there was something to find in this particular SUV to begin with.
Two hours later, all the seats, the carpet, and the entire dash had been removed and everything gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Unfortunately, we’d come up with nothing. Big, however, did not seem to be the slightest bit perturbed, and Mannie didn’t show any signs of wear even though he’d been playing mechanic for two hours without pause. I briefly wondered when they slept and for how long, because I was starting to wane a bit and Gertie had finally given up her mechanic’s assistant role and taken a seat on the edge of Big’s bench.
Maybe they had really good vitamins.
“Don’t give up yet,” Big said, apparently cluing in to my thoughts. “There’s plenty of vehicle left to search. If you need to get back to Sinful, I’m happy to continue and let you know if we find anything.”