We walk over to my sled, and I swing a leg over the seat, settling down before holding my hand out to Emily, who gets on behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
By the time we ride up to the clubhouse, the brothers are ready to leave. We don’t ride for long, and I’m surprised to see where we end up.
We’d recently bought the local wrecking yard, and that’s where we stopped.
Pulling my helmet off, I look at Maestro. “You’ve got to be shitting me?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Nope it’s here. We’ll have to hunt for it but Hard-Drive spoke to Rowena and she’s drawn us a map of where she thinks it’s most likely to be.”
“Come on,” Emily grips my shoulder and gets off my sled. “Let’s go see what the idiot hid in his car. I’ve got shit to do and grandkids to feed.”
The brothers laugh at her as we crowd around Maestro, who has the map. We break up into pairs, each taking a corner. The yard is massive, about fifty acres in total. And it’s full to bursting. We’ve been working our way through it and selling off the profitable metal and trying to make sense of how Rowena’s family had run it. There were two towing trucks that came with the company, and we’d immediately put them to work. We’d only had the place a little over a month, but we could already see that it was going to be a good earner. We just needed to get better staff for it.
Three hours later, I’d just about given up when Cash shouted our names. We hurried over to where everyone was congregated.
“Is this it, Em?” Cash asks. It’s definitely a Mustang, but it’s got so much shit piled around it, it’s hard to tell if it’s the one we’re looking for.
She pushes forward. “I’m not sure. As faded as it is, it’s hard to tell what the colour is. I’ll know if I can get to the inside of the passenger door.”
“Okay,” Cash replies. “Give us a couple of hours and we’ll get it cleared for you to have a look. You and Red head on home. I know you’ve got all the kids coming for lunch.”
“Thanks, Cash,” Emily says, patting his arm. “I’ll be back as soon as you call.”
Turning to me, she asks, “Do you want to stay or are you coming home? If you want to stay, I’ll see if Stacey can pick me up.”
“You mean would I rather spend time with you and my grandkids at home where it’s nice and warm or with these yahoos? That’s not even a question, darlin’,” I grin at her. “You’ll win every time. We’ll see you boys later,” I call out to the brothers, who are looking at the pile of scrap and discussing the best way to get the car out.
We walk away. I’ve still got the idiot in the shack. Duke, Roar and I’ve been playing with him for a week. I need to put him out of his misery, but that was a job for another day. Today was about spending time with my Old Lady and our grandkids.
***
It was late in the evening when my phone rang. Maestro had kept us updated as the day progressed, and they’d thought that they’d have to wait until tomorrow to continue. It was gettingdark, and they weren’t confident using the heavy equipment in the dark. There are too many ways for people to get hurt.
Emily had told them to wait. Another day wasn’t going to make any difference.
“Hey, son. Are you home?”
“We’re over at the garage. Do you want to bring Em over so she can see if it’s his car? We’ve had a look over it but can’t see anything unusual about the car. We’re cleaning off the rust to see if we can read the VIN number.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Emily putting her sneakers on. “We’ll be there soon. Em’s already putting her shoes on.”
“See you soon, Pops.”
When Em is ready, we leave the house and walk hand in hand to the garage. It’s not far. It’s the only business we have attached to the clubhouse grounds.
They’ve unloaded the Mustang and have it parked in one of the bays. It’s in rough shape, but if someone were interested, it would make a nice project.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” Em murmurs, walking straight to the passenger door. She pulls it open, grimacing when it creaks loudly. “Sorry, Betty,” she pats the car’s roof before squatting down and rubbing a finger on the panel just above the lock. “Yep,” she turns to look at me. “This is Jared’s car. See here,” sheshows me some initials scratched into the panel. I can just make out an E. “I did this one day when I was bored. He was so mad,” she giggled, looking up at me with sparkling eyes. Taking the hand I hold out to her, I help her stand. “Did you search her?” Em asks Maestro, who nods.
“We did but couldn’t find anything.”
“Mm, I wonder,” she mumbles to herself before turning back to the car and the passenger side. She presses down on something, and the chair flips back. “Here we go,” she says, pulling at the floorboard, but it doesn’t move. She steps back. “I think one of you may have to have a go at this, it's rusted shut. I’ll check the one on the driver’s side.”
She walks away, leaving us to have a look at what she’s uncovered. A fake panel and a dropped chassis. There wouldn’t be a lot of room, but there would be some. “Here you go.” She says, flipping back the driver’s seat. “There’s one more but it’s more difficult to get to as we’ll have to take out the back seat. Let’s check these first.”
Duke comes back with a crowbar and fits it under the lip of the panel, forcing it up.
Em comes back to my side and slips her arms around me. “I don’t know why, but I’m nervous. I hope it’s nothing bad.”
