Scarcity (Jack Randall #3) by Randall Wood Read Free Book Online Page A

garage door thing was not my fault. I didn’t know my brother had closed it!”
    “Right.”
    “Like you can talk!”
    Tessa ran past her father’s Mercedes and her mother’s Volvo before getting to her new Mustang. It was blue with a white leather interior—just like she had asked for. Her mother had insisted they buy her the car despite her father’s reservations. Her mother had actually tried to talk her into a BMW or a Mercedes, but she’d had her heart set on the little convertible ever since she saw one in a music video. Tessa didn’t understand that her mother was trying to keep up appearances through her daughter. So her daughter was now being seen in an American-made car. It was disgraceful.
    “It was parked. I didn’t hit anything!”
    “That’s what you told your parents, maybe.”
    “Shut up!”
    She jumped in the car and impatiently waited for the door to open. She used the time to check her makeup in the rearview mirror. The breeze blowing in the open door whipped her long blond hair around her face, and she had to pull the stray strands out of her eyes before putting the car in reverse and backing out. The Maryland suburb was quiet as she pulled around the circular drive and through the gate at the street.
    As usual, the car’s CD player came on despite the phone in her ear, and she raised the volume of her voice to be heard over it. Turning it off never crossed her mind. She punched the accelerator to get to the stop sign at the end of the street in record time, as was her usual driving habit. After a rolling stop, she punched it again and sped through the curving streets on the way to her friend’s house.
    “So what’re you wearing?” her friend asked.
    “My Lucky jeans and those new boots I got last week.”
    “That’ll work. If not, he’s blind. He’s always checking out your ass in the hallway.”
    “No way!”
    “Yes he does! You’re so clueless sometimes.”
    Tessa laughed and pulled more hair out of her face. The wind was whipping it around constantly. She fumbled with the phone while she searched for her sunglasses in the center console. She braced the steering wheel with her knee so she could use both hands.
    •      •      •
    Carl was just pulling his truck up onto the curb to park. It was his fifth year in the landscaping business and he was doing well. So well that he had been working Saturdays just to keep up with the workload this summer. He parked his truck halfway over the curb and lowered his ample frame out with the use of the handle. At least all the extra work was burning off a few pounds, something his wife had commented on yesterday. He stood with the door open while he reached under the seat for his clipboard. Finding it all the way in the back, he was forced to stretch to reach it.
    “Let’s go, Carl. I told Dawn I’d be home by two,” he heard his partner Nick call from the grass on the other side of the truck.
    “I’m coming, just a second.”
    Carl pulled back and looked up the street as he straightened his sweat stained hat. Another truck was approaching from around the curve. It was Kurt Johnson, his competition. They had a friendly rivalry, as there was plenty of work to go around in this upper class neighborhood. They would often get a beer together after a long day and do a little under-the-table price fixing. He waited for him to get closer so he could give him the finger and a smile. It was their traditional greeting.
    •      •      •
    Tessa looked up just in time to see the truck parked up on the curb with the driver’s door open. She let the car drift to the left to pass without letting up on the gas. Her hair flipped into her eyes once again, but she was too busy with the phone to bother with it.
    •      •      •
    Johnson flipped Carl the bird as he rounded the curve. He punctuated it with a honk of his horn as Carl returned the gesture. He returned his gaze to the road, but it was already