Chapter 43
CHAPTER
FORTY-THREE
REBEL
The next morning, I float to work, still high from my date with Gunner. I can’t wait to see him again.
There’s so much more to the quiet hockey player than meets the eye and the more I discover of him, the more I want.
“Good morning,” I coo, nodding at Delia and April who are already there.
April smirks over at me as I skip to my workstation and pull on my gloves.
“Someone’s in a good mood.” Leaning against the car I’m diagnosing, she asks, “How was your date last night.”
“Incredible. He cooked dinner. Salmon.”
Her eyes widen. “Gunner can cook?”
“That’s what I said!” I laugh.
“Huh. I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“You should know that by now, with how many books you read,” I tease, shooing her away from the car so I can get started. I have a feeling I’m close to discovering what the problem is with this car, and then I can start doing my favorite part—sketching and creating the part it’s missing.
A little later, April leaves the garage to go visit her dad and I continue with Delia, getting lost in time while doing what I love.
From somewhere outside my happy, little bubble of focus, I hear a shout.
And then I hear the thud of boots on the floor .
I flip my welding mask up and look over at the door.
There are five people in hazmat suits descending on the garage like a horde of puffy-white locusts. I’ve never seen people in actual hazmats suits outside of those alien takeover movies and they look extra menacing in real life.
I’m so startled, I nearly drop my torch. Thankfully, I have the good sense to turn the machine off.
Snapping my welding mask up, I stare at the men in horror. “What’s going on here?”
Delia stops too, her eyes as wide as my fists.
“We received reports of a safety violation.”
The voice coming from the hazmat suit is muffled so, at first, I’m not certain that I heard correctly.
But somehow Delia has superhuman hearing because she understood the man from all the way across the room and yells “What do you mean a safety violation?”
“Time is of the essence, ma’am.” The little display window on his hazmat suit fogs up as he speaks. “We need you to vacate the premises for your own safety.”
The hazmat suit grabs my arm and starts dragging me to the door. Delia throws me a confused look as she, too, is aggressively escorted out. I’m so stunned that I don’t even fight the hand dragging me outside.
When I finally get a grip on myself, it’s too late. They’re already invading like cockroaches, spreading out everywhere inside the auto shop.
I can see exactly what they’re doing as all our shutters are rolled up today. We have four giant doors acting like floor-to-ceiling windows to the chaos inside the shop.
“Hey, don’t touch that!” I yell when one of the hazmat suits start jimmying our exhaust extraction hose.
Another one starts taking pictures.
I turn frantic eyes on Cordelia. “What are they saying?”
“I think they found something wrong with the exhaust hose.”
My face pales. “That’s impossible.”
Ever since our huge scare with April, we’ve been extra careful about poisonous gases. Chance, out of fear, installed three different poisonous gas alarms.
I’ve been extra careful too. Seeing my best friend get carted to the hospital once was enough to scar me for life.
I look around, searching for the key to stopping this madness. There’s a smug-looking man in a suit standing on the lawn, tapping notes on a tablet. He’s the only one not wearing a hazmat suit.
Stalking to the guy who looks like he’s in charge, I demand, “How dare you? This is private property. You can’t just come in here and mess with our things.”
“We’re here on behalf of the County’s Safety Committee, Ms. Hart. You have been found in violation of several safety codes. Under county law, we have the right to shut this place down until the completion of a thorough investigation.”
Those were a lot of snooty words, but my brain stops functioning at the phrase ‘shut’ and ‘down’.
“What do you mean shut down? You can’t do that!” I yell.
“We can.” He nods to the hazmats who start rolling yellow ‘KEEP OUT’ tape all along the shop. “And we will.”
My bones feel hollow. My muscles twitch. For a second, it feels like the sky turns completely black above my head.
Panicked, I whirl around to find that the hazmats have successfully blocked off our garage like it’s the scene of a crime.
A crowd is gathering to watch and some of them have their phones out to record. This will be all over the neighborhood chat by evening. There’s a big possibility it might even get picked up by the evening news.
Delia touches my arm gently. “Should I grab my wrench and start swinging?”
My mind is spiraling with a million thoughts, but the comment makes me smile. She looks dead serious too.
“No.” I shake my head and take a few, calming breaths.
Think, Rebel. Think.
The Safety Committee swarmed the shop because someone made a complaint. But how did they know to go straight for the exhaust hose—the one safety hazard April and I had trouble with before, as if they knew they could use that fact against us.
Today’s rampage was instigated by someone with a plan.
I turn slightly. “Delia, call April and tell her what’s going on.”
The mechanic nods and taps on her cell phone.
I march back to the Safety Committee member. “I’m Rebel Hart, co-owner of The Pink Garage. Who issued a complaint against our auto shop?”
“I can’t tell you that, ma’am. We on the Safety Committee accept anonymous complaints.” He shakes his head. “And we can’t go around exposing our sources.”
What a perfect answer.
“I at least deserve to know what the next steps are to sort this out. I assure you that we run our shop with safety in mind. I’m very certain this is all a big misunderstanding.”
“The investigation will determine that,” he says, looking over at me with disapproval.
I fight an eye roll and keep my tone civil. “How long will an investigation take?”
“It depends.” He taps something on his tablet. “It could take a few weeks or a few months. Depending on the schedule of the lab.”
His words twist me inside out. “I’m sorry. Did you say it could take months? ”
He ignores me and motions to the hazmats. “You boys about finished?”
“Yes, boss!” The hazmat-men shout.
Turning away, the boss walks to his truck as if I’m nothing but a buzzing mosquito in his ears.
I keep step with him, pleading my case. “So you’re saying… we won’t be able to use our garage for months?”
“Ma’am,” he tucks the tablet under his arm and reaches for a clipboard, “your garage is officially under investigation and, according to state laws, you are not allowed to resume business here until our investigation is complete.” With a flourish, he snatches out a piece of paper and shoves it at me. “That’s your official notice. If you have any complaints, you can send them to the address written there. Have a good day.”
“But…” I reach out to him with the arm holding the paper.
The man climbs into his truck and slams the door, nearly whacking my finger off in the process. The hazmat men dive into their vans, pulling away from the garage like clouds getting swallowed up by the night. Trucks rumble and the men leave tire tracks on our grass as they peel out of the parking lot.
Whispers float from the crowd. Their eyes watch me to see what I’ll do next. I’m so shocked, that I can’t even form a sentence.
Delia clears her throat. “Wish you’d thrown a punch or two now, don’t you?”
I glance at her.
She winces. “Sorry. I, uh, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
My lips twitch. “It’s fine. You’re right. I do want to throw a punch. But not at them.”
“At who?”
“At the man responsible for this mess.”
Stewart Kinsey.
This has his grimy paw prints all over it.
While Carol Kinsey hates me, it’s not her style to send men to do her dirty work. She likes watching the life drain out of her opponent’s eyes herself.
Stewart, on the other hand, is underhanded and slimy.
“I came to tell you that I’m not getting through to April,” Delia says worriedly.
Oh right. April usually puts her volume low when she’s with her dad so the phone doesn’t disturb him if he’s trying to sleep.
“Keep trying. Tell her I’ll meet her back here later.” I pull my keys from my jumpsuit pocket.
“I’ll stay here and keep guard,” Delia says, lifting her chin up like a warrior about to be stationed on night duty.
I shake my head, eyeing the yellow tape tensely. “Go home.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find the man responsible for this mess.”
Delia takes one look at my determined face and says, “Do you have a wrench?”
I snort out a laugh. “Yeah, it’s in the tool box in the truck bed. But I won’t need it where I’m going. Violence isn’t going to solve this one.”
“Always good to have a plan B.”
I throw a smile over my shoulder. “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this mess, Delia. And don’t worry. No matter what happens, April and I will make sure to compensate you for the work you’ve done and help you find a new job if…” A lump forms in my throat and I can’t finish the words.
“I’m not going anywhere, Rebel.” Delia speaks with conviction. “I signed the contract with The Pink Garage and I’m a part of the team, for better or worse.” She pauses. “But, hopefully, we don’t have to live through ‘worse’ because I do need to pay rent.”
Fear chokes me up and I can’t laugh again, so all I can do is offer a watery smile and send Delia a wave.
As I drive to Stewart Kinsey’s garage, I force myself not to think about what will happen if we can’t operate out of the garage. Where will we go? How will we accept our clients’ cars and keep them safe?
Instead, I turn on a rock song and hike the volume all the way up. I can’t leave room for doubts. To handle a slippery snake like Stewart Kinsey, I’ll need every one of my senses.
Stewart’s garage rises into view and I’m instantly hit with a flood of memories. Mom would bring me here after school and I’d work on my coloring book in the corner while she cleaned around the auto bays and washed the cars.
It was here that the seed of my love for auto repair was planted.
So I guess it’s ironic that it’s here I’m running back to now that my shop is in trouble.
I storm past the technicians who gasp when they see me walking in.
Stewart’s receptionist shoots to her feet, her chair skittering across the room and smashing against the wall.
“Rebel, you can’t go in there.”
I stomp past her.
She bounces in front of me, her bleached hair teased into a giant bun on the top of her head. “He’s with someone.”
“I don’t care.” I sidestep her and wrench Stewart’s office door open, yelling, “Kinsey, how dare you?—”
The words get stuck in my throat when the man sitting across from Stewart Kinsey turns and a familiar pair of eyes meet mine.
Gunner?