Purgatory Chasm: A Mystery by Steve Ulfelder Read Free Book Online Page A

smarter.”

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    I parked across from Motorenwerk at 5:15 as the rain, which had been trying like hell all day, finally started. Thunder closed from the southeast as I looked at the shop. The garage doors were closed. Through the office’s plate-glass window I saw Josh. He was counter-leaning, finger-drumming. An Audi A6 Avant sat outside the office. It looked like Ollie had left for the day, and Josh was stuck waiting for the Audi’s owner to show.
    For me, it was a good setup. I wanted to talk to Josh without Ollie around. Wanted to surprise him, fluster him. I decided to wait for the Audi owner, then bust in.
    I looked around the interior of my F-150, which I’d picked up on the way. The glass-shop guy had said the glue for the new windows was set up already, rain wouldn’t be a problem. So far, there were no leaks.
    I eased the truck backward twenty yards, moving out of Josh’s sight line. Rain picked up, thunder waded in. I ran the AC to keep the windows clear, waited, thought. What was Josh doing here? He could be earning more anywhere else, and it had to be killing Ollie to keep him on the payroll.
    At quarter of six, the thunder and lightning peaked. At the end of Mechanic Street, a bolt hit not twenty yards from the Dumpster I’d puked in yesterday. I half jumped in my seat, smelled ozone, felt neck hairs rise.
    A minivan pulled up. The man who hopped from the passenger side wore a suit, had a briefcase but no raincoat. He hunched, waved thanks to the minivan’s driver as it turned and left, ducked inside.
    I stepped from my truck and stood in pouring rain next to the office door. After two minutes the customer stepped out. I startled him. He recovered, nodded, hopped in his car. I waited near the door where Josh couldn’t see me. I was trying to time my entry—wanted him relaxed, but didn’t want to give him a chance to lock up. I was ready to push my way in if I heard keys jingle.
    In maybe three minutes I stepped into the office, hoping to intimidate the hell out of Josh.
    He wasn’t behind the counter.
    Shit.
    I stepped into the garage. Heard noise near the back, walked along the wall. Tried to keep it quiet, but my shoes squished.
    Josh stepped around a corner, walking with purpose. He held a good-size rubber mallet, raised and ready. His eyes were narrowed, his mouth open a little. His teeth were slightly apart, and I saw the pink of his tongue-tip between them. If I hadn’t known better I would’ve thought he was looking forward to beating the bejesus out of an intruder.
    This wasn’t working out the way I’d pictured it.
    Josh saw it was me. I made a whoa-now gesture with both hands. He stood four feet away, mallet poised.
    “Really coming down out there,” I said.
    “The hell’d you come from?” He breathed hard through his nostrils. Did I read disappointment in his eyes? Had he hoped I was some meth-head burglar he could cream?
    “Got some paper towels?”
    He nodded at a roll of blue shop towels on the bench beside me. I snapped off a half dozen and toweled my hair.
    Josh said, “Where’d you come from?”
    “Ollie live nearby?” I said.
    “Why do you want to know?”
    “ Je sus, kid!” I fist-thumped the bench as I said it. “I don’t know what Ollie is to you. He’s more than your boss, isn’t he?”
    Josh said nothing.
    “I’m going to talk with Ollie,” I said. “Soon. Here. What I need from you is his last name, how close he lives to this place, his phone number. This is going to happen, with your help or without.”
    “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” he said, twirling the mallet in his hands. “Maybe you’re going to get your head busted in again.”
    Jesus, had I ever misread this kid. “It wasn’t you who nailed me yesterday. Was it?”
    Josh said nothing. He didn’t drop his gaze, didn’t stop twirling the mallet.
    Something clicked. I smiled slow and big and edged past Josh, putting my hands up when he cocked the mallet. I cleared the