“I’m outside,” Jebsaid.
I stepped through the wide-open loading dock entrance. “Metoo.”
* * *
Ireturned to the Watts’warehouse an hour and a half later, clutching a piece of paper so hard I’d wrinkled the crap out ofit.
August and Uncle Tom were bent over a thick plank coated in a palette of stains. August must’ve sensed me approach through our little tether, because he lookedup.
“Did you get it?” heasked.
I thought it would be obvious by my shit-eating grin, but apparently it was too subtle forAugust.
“Did you have any doubts Iwould?”
He smiled. “Well done, Dim—Ness.”
“Dimness? That’s a newone.”
“I meant, Ness. JustNess.”
“I know. I was justteasing.”
August scratched the base of his neck. “Hey, Tom, does your nephew still work atKPR?”
Uncle Tom tweaked the button of his overalls and gave a quicknod.
“Can you tell him to warn drivers about a blonde at the wheel of a big blackvan?”
I stuck my tongue out at August. “That’s verymature.”
Uncle Tom grinned, which made his candied-apple cheeks puffout.
I raised my chin in the air. “I’ll have you know I’m an excellentdriver.”
Augustchuckled.
“The guy who gave me the exam said I was a natural.” He’d then asked if I wanted to have dinner with him sometime, but I left that part out. I’d just smiled pleasantly even though I’d found it a little icky. He was a good two decades older than I was and missing a tooth, and not a molar. I wouldn’t have noticed a missingmolar.
“I didn’t know driving instructors doled out compliments. I certainly never gotone.”
“Maybe because you weren’t all that impressive behind the wheel of a car.” I shot him a teasingsmile.
“August’s pretty impressive anywhere he goes,” Uncle Tom said very seriously. “When I was young, even though it might seem hard to believe, I was pretty impressivemyself.”
Thatwashard to believe, but I said, “I don’t doubt it.” Yes, it was a lie, but it was a kind one. Kind lies were acceptable.Right?
The rest of Uncle Tom’s face wentred.
“You had something to discuss with me?” Augustasked.
I returned my gaze to him. “Oh.Yeah.”
Together we walked to the office. I shook the computer mouse to awaken the monitor, then clicked all the tabs back open and showed him how several timber delivery slips didn’t match the warehousestocks.
“Either they’re not delivering the amount listed, or someone’s been stealing supplies from the warehouse.” Some being a benign amount, but still noticeable. Like a missing molar. Not an incisor. I then showed him how the pattern went back almost threeyears.
“Shit.” August perused all the highlightednumbers.
