Page 7 of Cheater Slicks

A groan tore out of me as I imagined the trouble Pascal could get into if I didn’t set down rules.

“Pedro might be swayed to save you from our little brother, but you know me. I’m a homebody.” His lips parted as deep grooves carved his brow, but he only shook his head, as if deciding against what he might have said. The dark expression looked foreign on Matty’s usually friendly face. “I’ll keep an eye on the shop until you get back, though.”

“Thanks.” I squeezed his arm, trying to convince myself it wasn’t thinner today. “I appreciate it.”

“I’ll lock up and meet you in ten.”

Sweat beaded in my palms as I stepped into the parking lot. We were closing The Body Shop for a week, and it made me want to hurl. Our customers were understanding, mostly, but we had been failing to hit our deadlines for months now. Divine drama had us closing early, opening late, asking for extensions.

As much as it terrified me to consider it, we might lose our core clientele if we weren’t more careful. We could go back to allowing drive-up customers rather than requiring appointments, but that meant taking on busy work instead of the more lucrative classic rebuilding projects that were the Suarezes’ passion.

Worry I might trash the reputation they had built over the last several years weighed on me as I opened the trunk on the wagon and tossed Matty’s bag in, leaving the hatch open for the others to do the same.

Then I set out to warm up our ride to Bonaventure in case it needed convincing to crank.

Footsteps crunched on gravel, and then Kierce stood beside me. “Are you taking the god cart?”

The nickname for his wreck of a golf cart had stuck, thanks to Pascal’s enthusiasm.

“That was the plan.” I searched his face. “Is that all right with you?”

Bafflement splashed across his features. “You don’t have to ask.”

“You bought it, and you’re paying for its restoration, so I kind of do.”

“Then you have my permission.” He continued eyeing me like I was ridiculous. “Be safe.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for possums,” I teased, unable to help myself from reminding him of the time when he swerved to miss one and ended up plowing into a shrub. Vehicular shrubslaughter, Matty called it.

I swear I could almost hear him belting out a laugh as he poked gentle fun at Kierce.

God, I would give anything to hear it again. Carefree and infectious. You couldn’tnotlaugh with Matty.

The god cart rumbled to life without protest, and I pulled around to wait on Paco.

Drumming my fingers on the wheel, I scanned the area for Anunit, but she was nowhere in sight.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen her since she stalked Harrow from the office earlier. But, given how she waltzed into the shop the morning after she named me the official guardian of the Alcheyvaha, casual as if she had done it a hundred times before, I wasn’t too worried about leaving her without saying goodbye. I was sure she could find me again if she needed me.

“Everything’s shut down and locked up tight.” Paco slid onto the bench seat next to me. “I’ll come by at dusk every day you’re gone and check on things at the shop. I’ll send one of the Buckley Boys if I run into any trouble.”

Most spirits had a range of mobility, a certain distance they could travel from their graves or where they had died, but those boys got around in pursuit of gossip to spread from cemetery to cemetery as though they were still the newsies they had been before the yellow fever outbreak in 1876 ended their lives.

No sooner had I parked the god cart at Bonaventure than a blue, spectral puppy shot out from between the bars of the fence to yap at me before sprinting away. A teen girl with dripping wet hair cut through a promenading couple in hot pursuit. I watched them a moment longer, smiling, but I had no time to visit.

“Mr. Gray?” I called to a man decked out in English riding attire. “Would you mind fetching the Suarez brothers for me?”

At the end of a shift, I typically exorcised the Suarez on duty from Matty while he sat in the front seat of the wagon to allow Matty time to slowly rise to awareness within himself. I could have gone ahead and released Paco for the night, as usual, but fear clenched my throat in a fist when Matty sat empty for too long.

“I would be delighted, Ms. Frankie.” He touched a crop to the side of his helmet. “Back in two shakes.”

Thirty seconds later, which led me to believe one shake must be worth fifteen, Pascal and Pedro appeared wearing matching expressions of concern.

“Mija, has something happened?” Pedro glided forward, hovering six inches above the earth. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Better than fine.” I almost believed myself. “I’ve got a lead on Matty’s soul.”

“That is good news.” Pascal evaluated me with his head tilting. “So why are you making that face?”

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