Chapter 13 Alone Together
Empty Garage
Monday mornings had always been the busiest time at Cooper Auto Repair.
Customers usually lined up before sunrise, hoping to be first through the service bays.
Farmers brought trucks that had worked through the weekend.
Parents dropped off family SUVs before heading to work.
Police cruisers and utility vehicles arrived according to carefully planned maintenance schedules.
The constant movement had always been part of the garage's heartbeat.
This Monday felt different.
At seven-thirty, the parking lot remained almost empty.
One elderly customer waited quietly for an oil change.
A delivery van needed new tires.
Nothing else.
Jax stood in the open doorway of Bay One with a mug of coffee growing cold in his hands.
The silence felt unnatural.
He glanced toward the appointment board mounted beside the office door.
Several names had been crossed out.
Not completed.
Cancelled.
Tyler walked over carrying a clipboard.
"Three more."
Jax looked up.
"They cancelled?"
Tyler nodded.
"Mrs. Donnelly said she'd wait until the investigation was finished."
"What about the others?"
"One rescheduled."
"The other didn't give a reason."
Jax simply nodded.
He wasn't angry.
People had families.
They trusted their vehicles to whoever repaired them.
When questions about safety appeared in public meetings, hesitation became understandable.
Still...
Understanding something didn't make it hurt less.
Ben rolled a toolbox across the garage floor before stopping beside them.
"We're running out of work."
He spoke quietly, making sure no customers could overhear.
"I know."
Jax answered.
"If this keeps up..."
Ben didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
The numbers already spoke clearly.
Without customers, there would be no payroll.
Without payroll, there would be no employees.
Without employees...
There would be no Cooper Auto Repair.
Jax folded the cancellation slips neatly before placing them on his desk.
"We'll get through this."
Tyler wanted to believe him.
"So do I."
The first customer of the morning, Mr. Wallace, shuffled slowly toward the office carrying his truck keys.
He had been bringing vehicles to Cooper Auto for nearly twenty years.
"Morning, Jax."
"Morning."
"You still need that oil change?"
The older man hesitated.
"Actually..."
He looked genuinely uncomfortable.
"My daughter asked me to wait."
Jax forced a polite smile.
"I understand."
"It's not that I don't trust you."
"I know."
"She just worries."
"She's supposed to."
Mr. Wallace sighed.
"I hate this."
"So do I."
The elderly man reached across the counter and squeezed Jax's shoulder briefly.
"I hope they clear your name soon."
"So do I."
After he left, the garage became quiet again.
The emptiness seemed louder than the engines ever had.
Around lunchtime, Tyler walked into the office carrying sandwiches from the diner.
"You haven't eaten."
"I'm not hungry."
"You said that yesterday."
"I'm still not hungry."
Tyler placed the paper bag on the desk anyway.
"Your dad would've yelled at you."
A faint smile appeared.
"Yeah."
"He would've."
For several minutes neither man spoke.
Tyler finally looked toward the nearly empty service bays.
"I've worked here eight years."
"I've never seen it this slow."
Jax stared through the office window.
"It'll come back."
"You really think so?"
"I have to."
Tyler nodded quietly.
He understood.
Hope wasn't always based on evidence.
Sometimes it was simply the only thing keeping a person moving.
The afternoon brought little improvement.
A few walk-in customers asked about prices before quietly mentioning they'd "come back another time."
Others drove slowly past the garage without stopping.
Jax noticed familiar vehicles avoiding eye contact as they continued down Main Street.
Rumors had done exactly what rumors always did.
They created uncertainty.
And uncertainty drove people away.
By five o'clock, Jax finally closed the last repair order of the day.
Only four jobs.
Normally Monday meant fifteen or sixteen.
Ben removed his work gloves.
"You want us in tomorrow?"
Jax looked up immediately.
"Of course."
Ben hesitated.
"I just meant..."
"I know what you meant."
Jax smiled gently.
"Yes."
"I want you here."
Ben nodded.
"We're with you."
"So am I."
Tyler added quietly.
The two mechanics left together.
Soon afterward, the familiar sounds of engines faded into silence.
Jax locked the front office and returned to his desk.
The quiet allowed his thoughts to drift back toward the investigation.
Counterfeit brake components.
Forged maintenance reports.
Miller's temporary inspection access.
Julian's maintenance schedule analysis.
The pieces continued fitting together.
Not enough for proof.
Enough for a direction.
He opened the bottom drawer of his desk.
Inside rested a large manila folder.
Or at least...
It should have.
His hand froze.
The folder wasn't there.
Jax frowned.
He searched the drawer again.
Then the one above it.
Then every shelf inside the office.
Nothing.
A slow chill settled across his shoulders.
This wasn't just any folder.
It contained printed photographs comparing genuine brake components with the counterfeit versions.
Copies of supplier registration records.
Notes linking serial numbers to Miller Automotive Supply.
Not original evidence.
Copies.
Still...
Important copies.
He immediately checked his computer.
Digital files remained intact.
Good.
But someone had specifically taken the printed material.
Why?
He walked through the office carefully.
Nothing else appeared disturbed.
Cash remained untouched.
His laptop sat exactly where he'd left it.
Even the coffee mug beside the computer hadn't moved.
Only one folder had disappeared.
Again.
His eyes drifted toward the filing cabinet.
Another memory surfaced.
The stolen maintenance logs.
The same feeling.
The same impossible question.
How?
The doors remained locked.
No broken windows.
No damaged locks.
Someone had entered the office without leaving obvious signs behind.
Someone who understood exactly what they were looking for.
Jax stepped outside and slowly walked around the building.
The evening sun cast long shadows across the parking lot.
Behind the garage, he stopped beside the rear entrance.
The security light remained off in daylight.
Everything looked normal.
Then he noticed something near the back fence.
A faint shoe print pressed into soft soil beneath the office window.
Not Tyler's heavy work boots.
Not Ben's.
Smaller.
Cleaner.
Recent.
Jax crouched beside it.
The print alone proved nothing.
It could belong to anyone.
A delivery driver.
A customer.
A passerby.
Yet the timing felt impossible to ignore.
Someone had entered his office.
Again.
Someone had removed exactly the documents most damaging to the sabotage investigation.
Again.
He stood slowly, looking toward the empty alley behind Cooper Auto.
The feeling returned immediately.
Not fear.
Frustration.
Every time he uncovered another piece of the truth...
Someone erased part of the trail.
Every time he moved one step closer...
Someone seemed to anticipate his next move.
Whoever stood behind the sabotage wasn't reacting anymore.
They were planning ahead.
They knew what evidence mattered before Jax himself fully realized it.
Standing alone behind the quiet garage his father had built, Jax looked toward the darkening sky.
For the first time since the investigation began, one unsettling possibility settled firmly into his mind.
The person responsible wasn't simply watching Cooper Auto.
They understood exactly how Jax investigated problems.
Which meant they either knew him...
...or had been studying him for a very long time.
And that realization made the empty garage feel far less lonely than it had only moments before.
Refusing to Quit
The distance Jax had insisted upon was far more painful than Julian had imagined.
They still saw each other.
Just not the way they wanted.
Whenever Cooper Auto serviced an ambulance, Jax remained professional, speaking only about tire pressure, brake inspections, mileage, or repair schedules. Julian responded in the same careful tone, never allowing a conversation to last longer than necessary.
To everyone watching, they looked exactly as they were supposed to.
A mechanic.
A paramedic.
Nothing more.
Only they knew how much effort that performance required.
Every time Julian climbed back into an ambulance after seeing Jax, it felt as though he was leaving part of himself behind.
The separation hadn't weakened his feelings.
It had only made them impossible to ignore.
If anything, it strengthened his resolve.
He refused to stand by while someone destroyed the man he loved.
If Jax wanted distance to protect him, Julian would respect that.
What he wouldn't respect was giving up.
Three evenings after the council meeting, Julian remained at Station 6 long after his shift had ended.
The building had grown quiet as the overnight crew prepared for another rotation of emergency calls. The break room lights were dim, and the administrative offices stood nearly empty.
He carried a stack of maintenance summaries into the records room, officially to organize archived reports before the next audit.
Unofficially, he was searching for patterns.
Again.
He spread the reports across a conference table.
Brake failures.
Cooling system problems.
Steering complaints.
Equipment inspections.
He already knew every suspicious ambulance had received temporary inspection access while Miller Automotive assisted the council review months earlier.
Now he wanted something more.
People.
Who had physically worked on those vehicles?
Each inspection report listed names.
Fleet supervisors.
Outside technicians.
Witness signatures.
Julian highlighted every unfamiliar name.
Most appeared only once.
One appeared repeatedly.
Harold Dixon.
The name surfaced on six different inspection reports.
Always beside Garth Miller's signature.
Always listed as an independent mechanical consultant.
Julian searched station personnel files.
Nothing.
He checked contractor registrations.
Very little.