“Not that it’s any of your business,” I answered, “but yes, I’m meeting Greg for dinner.”
Zachary muttered something. I decided not to ask him what it was. “Anything else?”
“Two things,” Zachary said. “Rachel said to tell you the Porsche is registered to a corporation. Something Syracuse, LLC.”
“Something?”
“It was Italian,” Zachary said. “I don’t know.”
“Is it headquartered in Syracuse, too? The corporation?”
Plenty of Italians in Syracuse. Plenty of Italians all over New York, for that matter.
“No,” Zachary said. “It’s local. She told me the address, but I can’t remember it.”
“That’s all right. I’ll get it from her.” I didn’t have time to deal with it right now anyway. “Do you see her?”
There was a pause while Zachary observed things from his vantage point. From mine, Megan had just emerged from the office, this time carrying a handful of white envelopes.
“Paychecks,” Zachary said, “most likely.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. I had had a look around for his car, but hadn’t been able to lay eyes on it. That was a good sign.
Across the street, Megan made her way around, stopping at each bay to hand an envelope to each mechanic. The men accepted them with varying degrees of enthusiasm, from one young guy who ripped his open immediately, to Nick, who just stuffed it in his back pocket without looking at it. I guess Nick’s paycheck wasn’t the most important thing to him at the moment.
That must have been the sign to break things up, anyway, because within a few minutes, most of the crew was gone. Only Sal and Nick were left, along with Megan. As Sal went to help Nick close and lock each bay door, she fetched her handbag from the office and called something out to Sal that I couldn’t hear. He raised a hand and called something back. Then she gave Nick a wave—no kiss, no hug, not even a lingering look—before she headed for her car.
“That’s me,” I told Zachary. “Stay and wait for Nick, and let me know how it goes at the end of the night.”
“I’ll text you. No need to interrupt your date with a phone call.”
He hung up before I could comment, and it wasn’t worth calling him back over. I started Rachel’s Toyota and waited for Megan to pull out of the lot. When she turned east on Charlotte Avenue, I fell in behind her, keeping at least four cars between us. She had made Zachary yesterday, and I was damned if she was going to make me today.
Rachel called just as we passed the intersection with 51st Avenue. “Hello, Gina.”
“Hello,” I said.
“You’ve got my car.”
I made a face. “I do. I’m sorry.”
“How much longer will you need it?”
I had no idea, and told her so. “Even if gave up right now and drove straight back to the office, it would take me at least twenty minutes to get there. Although it really depends on how long I can stay on Megan. She spotted Zachary pretty quickly yesterday, but hopefully I can do better. Unless you need me to abort the mission?”
“Not at all,” Rachel said. “I’ll call Daniel for a ride. We were going to dinner anyway.”
Of course they were. Attached at the hip, practically. “Are you sure you don’t mind? There’s a spare set of keys for the Lexus in the desk drawer.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Rachel said. “You can just leave my car in the lot when you get back, and I’ll have Daniel drop me off later. Did Zachary tell you about the Porsche?”
“That it’s registered to some corporation out of Syracuse,” I confirmed, as I kept my eyes on Megan’s car. “Leave the address on your desk, would you? Or on mine? I’ll grab it when I get there.”
“No problem,” Rachel said. “What do you want me to do with Edwina?”
“Let her out for a bathroom break and then lock her in the office, I guess. She can’t come with you. Not if you’re going to dinner with Daniel.”
“We could go somewhere that allows dogs.”
