Page 36 of Shelter for Tanna

“But wouldn’t it be easier for you to just tell us where it is?” the dark-haired man asked.

“No. Because I don’t know which car it was, and I have no way of knowing which lot. They don’t tell the driver that until they pick up the car and call the department, and only the driver would know that. And besides, that means nothing. Those lots are huge, and we just drop them. Then they move them around all over the damn place. God only knows where the car is. Doesn’t matter?you still can’t get the car out until you pay the fees and all that shit.”

“So can you tell us where the driver is?” the red-haired man asked, and Tanna watched him as his hands twitched. That was worrisome, to say the least.

“No. I can’t because I don’t know which driver it was. Plus, like I said, I don’t know which lot the drivers take the cars to. And that could be any of my drivers.”

The dark-haired man rubbed his chin absentmindedly. “So could your secretary here call them and?”

“She’s not?”

“Sir,” Tanna interrupted forcefully, “that wouldn’t be possible. The drivers are scattered out all over the place. It would take forever for us to figure out which one it was, and we could only do that by calling the sheriff’s department. It would be better if you just went to the sheriff’s department yourself and asked.”

With the foot tapping and scratching of his arms, it was obvious to Tanna that the red-haired man was growing agitated. “Why can’t you just fucking?”

“You two motherfuckers need to get out of here.” Charlie turned slightly and before Tanna knew what was happening, he leveled his big twelve gauge double barrel shotgun at the two men. “You’ve asked way too many questions for two guys just looking for a car. Don’t come back down here or I’ll blow a hole through both of you, hear me?”

Their eyebrows were lost in their hairlines and their mouths fell open. One of them managed to stammer, “Y-y-y-yes, sir. We’re going. Sorry, sir. We’re outta here.” They spun and ran through the door, and Tanna and Charlie watched them cross the street.

That was when she saw it?the small blue car parked at the curb. Something about it made a shiver run up her spine. Could that be the car she’d seen behind her on the interstate the morning she’d picked up the little Ford sedan? Maybe. Had they been following her? Or watching her? What did they want? More importantly, what did theyreallywant? She was pretty sure whatever they said, they’d be lying.

But there was an even bigger question in her mind. Did they recognize her? Had they seen her? Did they realize she was the one who’d towed the car? Tanna did everything she could to keep her thoughts from running away with her, but she was frightened. Those guys, they weren’t model citizens. They were some kind of criminals and, based on their looks, she’d say drug dealers.

Tanna was genuinely afraid. She had two kids. She couldn’t afford for criminals to be looking for her. It was doubtful they could place her as the driver that morning, but what if they did? What could she do?

There was one thing she definitelycouldn’tdo, and that was tell Braden. He’d be furious. And that was just one more complication she didn’t need.

The phone rang and Tanna jumped, but before she could reach for it, Charlie grabbed it. “Charlie’s Wrecker Service. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. On the way. Thanks.” He turned to Tanna. “Wreck at the entrance to Walmart.”

“Got it.” She stood and headed out the door, her mind spinning. Maybe a good old wreckage clean-up would clear her head.

Chapter 6

“Can you see?”

“Yeah.” Wayne peered out from behind the bushes down the street. “The number on that wrecker was four. Hey, there goes that woman. What’s she doing?”

“Climbing into a truck, looks like. She’s not a secretary. She’s a driver,” Beau answered. “Which truck is it?” They waited until the truck pulled out of the lot and headed their way. As it passed, Wayne took a good look at the rear end of the big rig. “Well?”

Wayne grinned at Beau. “Looks like we found our driver, and he’s a girl.” Just then, a ringing sounded and Wayne pulled a ratty, taped-together flip phone out of his pocket. “Well, shit. Yeah?”

“Where the fuck’s my car, motherfucker?”

“We’re on our way. Fell asleep last night. Sorry, man.”

“You sorry sons of bitches better get that car back here. You got your shit back yet?”

“Uh, no,” Wayne answered, fidgeting in his pocket with his free hand. “Not yet, but we’re working on it.”

“Look, asshole, I’ve got customers asking for product and you’re not producing. If I have to replace you, well, you know what I’ll do to you.”

“Yeah, yeah. We know. So we’re on our way to you and we’ll have the shit out of our car by tomorrow, I promise.”

“You’d better. I’m getting tired of your excuses.”

The phone went dead as Wayne held it to his ear but instead of putting it away, he yelled into it, “Look here, you chink motherfucker, we’ll get it to you when we can! Understand? You don’t tell us what to do!” Flipping the phone closed, he grinned at Beau. “Guess I told that son of a bitch.”

“Think that was a good idea?” Beau asked, a pleat forming in the center of his brow.

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