“Yeah?”
Jupiter swallowed hard to hide his panic, but the gunman showed no hint of recognition. Max really hadn’t seen him clearly the day before yesterday in the gloom of the garage parking floor. Jupe breathed deeply and smiled his best arrogant smile.
“I need parking for a week,” he announced.
Max turned away. “Got no openings.”
“Mostly I’ll be leaving the car here,” Jupiter went on as if he hadn’t heard. “But I will have to go in and out sometimes. Can that be accommodated?”
The man turned and looked back at him. “Get lost, jerk.”
The gunman went back inside. Jupiter sat in his new Honda and tried to think what to do. He had to admit finally he was stumped. If they wouldn’t rent him a space, there was nothing he could do about it. Glumly he drove back to the salvage yard. He hoped that Pete had done better.
No one was in the workshop or trailer. Jupiter munched guiltily on a chocolate bar from his secret stash as he waited. Then he decided that the grapefruit and cottage cheese diet just wasn’t right for him. He’d find a new diet. That made him feel a lot better. He went out to admire his car again. The telephone rang in the trailer.
“Jupe!” It was Ty. “Two guys just quit the car wash. They shoved rags in Pete’s hand, told him to start drying and shining!”
“What about Tiburon and the Piranhas?”
“Not here yet. I’ll stay and watch for them. How’d you do?”
“I didn’t,” Jupiter said gloomily. He told Ty about Max the gunman.
Ty snorted at the other end. “I don’t believe him. That guy just wants some money in his hand. Pick me up, we’ll both go back.”
“You mean he wants a bribe?”
“Sure, guys like that always expect a little ‘tip’ to give you a space. The guy who greases their palm the most gets the best spot. I’ll be right there.”
Jupe jumped back into his new Honda and drove quickly to the Taco Bell next to the car wash. Ty came out.
“Shouldn’t you stay and watch?” Jupe asked.
“Nothing’s happening, and this won’t take long.”
“All right, but you drive,” Jupiter said. “I’ll hide in back. When you leave, I’ll stay behind. Let’s go.”
Ty drove off with Jupiter on the floor in back and Jupe’s money in his pocket. He’d gone five blocks when he swore.
“It’s the cops again. A blue Aries this time, but I can spot them anywhere.” Jupiter heard him laugh. Then he began to talk to the police car. “Okay, boys, if that’s the way you want it. Hang on, Jupe.”
The car seemed to shoot off like a rocket. Jupiter clung to the bottom of the backseat. Ty drove like a cannonball. The car made screeching turns that flung Jupiter like a sack around on the floor of the hatch-back. But he wasn’t worried about himself.
“My car!” Jupiter wailed. “You’ll wreck it!”
Ty laughed. “Nah. It’s a tough little baby!”
Bruised and battered, Jupe listened to the little car creak and groan in violent turns and wild speed-ups. It bounced and rattled over bone-jarring bumps and ruts as if Ty were driving over plowed fields and railroad ties. Then it slowed down and stopped bouncing.
Ty laughed again. “Lost ’em. You okay?”
“I think so.” Jupiter groaned. “Is the car okay?”
“Perfect.” Ty chuckled. “We’re almost at the garage. Stay way down.”
Jupiter lay rigid as the car came to a stop. Ty honked.
Max the gunman came out again. “Yeah?”
“Need parking for a week,” Ty said.
“No openings.”
“You look like a guy knows how to be treated right. What’s the week in advance?”
There was a silence. Then, “Fifty bucks.”
“Hey, that’s only half what I figured. Let’s say a hundred. Got it right here. Cash.”
There was a silence, then Max spoke.
“I guess we can squeeze you in.”
The doors opened, and the Honda drove into the dim garage. It parked in a row toward the back.
“Okay, you’re in,” Ty said.
Jupiter groaned. “That hundred was all we had in the treasury.”
“It was the only way, Jupe. I’ll hitch back to the car wash and see what I can do to help Pete. Be back for you around five.”
Then Jupiter was alone in the gloom of the silent garage.
At the car wash, Pete dried and polished each car as it emerged from the automatic wash. He and the other hand finishers carried rags and bottles of window cleaner. They worked in teams.
As Pete worked, his eyes were constantly alert for any signs of Joe Torres or Tiburon and the Piranhas. The afternoon passed. He saw nothing but dripping cars rolling out of the automatic wash line — and Ty sipping Cokes and eating burritos at the Taco Bell next door.
Pete went on working.
Ty went on waiting.
*
In the gloom of the parking garage, Jupiter raised himself up to look out the window. The parked cars stood silently under the dim lights.
He became aware of the sounds of mechanics working on the second floor. He could even hear faint sounds coming from the third floor — air compressors humming and hammering to supply the power to paint the cars.