Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) by Scott Prussing Read Free Book Online Page B

other than cosmetic.
    “Looks good to me,” Dominic said.
    “I agree,” Leesa said, pulling her cell phone out her parka pocket.
    She punched in the owner’s number and told him they were here. A moment later, the front door opened and a stout, middle-aged man stepped out. He was wearing a heavy blue and green knit sweater and stained jeans. A thick, tangled brown beard made him look a little bit like a lumberjack. He walked briskly down to the head of the driveway and extended his hand to Dominic. Leesa could smell stale cigarette smoke on the man’s clothes.
    “I’m Walt,” he said. “You must be Dominic and Leesa.”
    “That’s us,” Dominic said, shaking the man’s hand. “If we decide we want the car, you don’t mind if we pay in cash, do you?
    Leesa thought she saw Walt’s eyes brighten slightly at the mention of cash. He was asking four thousand dollars for the Blazer. That was a lot of cash. She bet he was already thinking of ways he could hide some of it from his wife and/or from the government.
    “Cash works,” he said. “Works just fine.”
    “The car looks good on the outside,” Dominic said, nodding toward the Blazer. “How does it run?”
    “Like a top,” Walt said. “I’ve got receipts for all the regular maintenance for the last ten years, and she just had a tune-up less than three months ago.”
    “Sounds good,” Dominic said. “Can we take it for drive?”
    “Sure thing. I just need to see a license and we’re on our way.”
    Leesa stepped forward and offered him her driver’s license. Since it was a California license, she gave him her Weston College ID card as well.
    “My uncle’s buying it for me,” she said, using the story they’d agreed on. “So I’ll be the one doing the driving.”
    “Fine by me, pretty lady.” Walt looked at the license and the Weston card briefly and returned them to Leesa. He handed her the keys. “Let’s go.”
    Dominic got into the back seat, allowing Walt to have the passenger seat in case Leesa had any questions for him. Leesa climbed behind the steering wheel and turned the key. The engine started right up, despite the cold. She guessed Walt might have started it up before their arrival to make sure the engine was warm.  It sounded to her untrained ear like it was running nice and smoothly.
    She backed carefully out of the driveway, beeping the horn twice before she edged out past the tall piles of snow at the end of the driveway that made seeing the street all but impossible. She headed toward Washington Street because it was the most cleanly plowed road in the area. She had never driven an SUV and really liked the height of the thing, feeling like she could see things much better than from car level. Too bad the Blazer wasn’t really for her, she thought. If it was, she’d be on her way to the Maston settle-ment to see Rave in a flash.
    She drove for about ten minutes, testing everything she could think of: turn signals, horn, heater, radio, wipers and washer, even the air conditioning. She hit the brakes hard a couple times, too. Everything seemed to be working fine.
    “It’s great,” she said to Dominic as she pulled back into Walt’s driveway and turned off the headlights.
    They all got out of the car and gathered in the front of the driveway. Dominic pulled a thick wad of cash from his pocket—he wasn’t about to let the man see his magic wallet. Leesa watched Walt’s eyes lock onto the money. Catnip to a cat, she thought.
    “I’ll tell you what,” Dominic said. “I won’t haggle on the price, if you’ll do me one small favor.”
    “What’s that?” Walt asked.
    “Let us take care of the paperwork. Give ourselves a bit of a break on the sales tax, hey?”
    Walt grinned. “I’m all for that. Damn government takes too big a bite out of everything already.”
    Dominic counted out the cash and handed it to Walt, who signed the pink slip over to Leesa and handed them the registration papers to fill out later.