Brainy and the Beast Read Online Free Page A

school.
    It was kind of Ozzie and Harriet, in a weird, guys-only way.
    Most days I was out of the house by seven since we opened at eight. My house was about twenty minutes from the shop, and I usually stopped for a big cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on the way. Today, though, I wanted to spend a little more time on Henry Travis’s car. The 300 model was so sweet. Kind of like its owner.
    I pushed the liftgate button, and Rum and Coke jumped out of the back of the Volvo wagon. “Wait for me!” Those two mutts loved to run around the lot and inspect everything. They were always absolutely positive we’d been invaded while they were away from the shop.
    I’d found the Volvo at an auction a month after Grant and my dad moved in. I had been driving a two-seater before that, a hot little MG, but this family car had replaced that. I did have a Jeep four-by-four for serious winter driving, but it was still in the big garage until the heavy snows came.
    My dad had his own car—a ’65 Lincoln Continental that he’d restored. Jesus, now that thing was a beast. The suicide doors on it, though, they were sweet.
    We were technically on the edge of the city of Lake Forest, a pretty hoity-toity area. Lots and lots of money around. The good news was, that meant lots and lots of cars, especially the expensive kind. Anyway, the city had made us install a wrought-iron fence two years ago, and we’d been required to hire a landscape architect to design screening from the street. My dad had given them a fight because he’d been worried passing drivers wouldn’t see us. The city had compromised by letting us put in a new sign. Like a lot of affluent areas, Lake Forest restricted the height of the sign, but we’d taken the opportunity to update ours, and now our name was pretty visible. Plus, the fence mostly kept the mutts from running to the neighboring shop. They could sneak around the gates to the street, except I usually was able to keep them from getting that far. The design company ladies next door didn’t like it too much when Coke tried to follow customers through their door. I’d been on the receiving end of more than a few lectures before we’d put up the iron. Those chicks liked to bust my chops.
    Because I’d done a little triage under the Mercedes’s hood last night, it took just a half hour to figure out what was wrong with Henry’s car. The transmission assembly needed a new clutch, and the power steering belt was also shot. I put in a call to one of my parts suppliers for what I was missing, and they assured me I’d have it by Friday morning at the latest.
    Cool. I could now call Henry and give him the good news.
    Sunlight flashed on Jake’s car as it pulled in to the side lot. He and Wilmer carpooled, since both of them lived over near Round Lake. The blue-collar lake community was about half an hour west of us. Jose came on the Metra train from North Chicago, on the Wisconsin border, and Jake picked him up on the way to the shop.
    I waved as the three of them walked inside.
    “Boss, you want the doors open today? Supposed to be in the sixties.” Wilmer strolled to the lockers I kept for the mechanics. He began changing into his uniform work shirt.
    The garage was still a little cold from the temperature drop overnight. “Not just yet, Will. Let it warm up in here a bit.”
    Wilmer snickered. “Okay, old man. You want a sweater?” The guys loved to poke fun at the fact that I was easily chilled.
    “Bite me.”
    Jake shook his head as he moved to his workbench. “He’s delicate, Will; you know that.”
    Jose, who was quiet most of the time anyway, didn’t join in, but I saw a grin on his face as he turned on the Open sign. He held the door as my third mechanic, Lee, walked in.
    “Wise guys.” I growled at them as I moved behind the desk in my office. I’d set up my own space in the shop so I could easily track the work going on there and more readily deal with the guys’ questions. In one corner at