Book 1 - Page 2 (2/2)

”You look very young and macho,” I said. ”Are the earrings a new look for KPD? Pasco police have two earrings, so Kennewick cops must have four?”

He grinned at me, and it made him look both older and more innocent. ”I've been working in Seattle for the past few months,” he said. ”I've got a new tattoo, too. Fortunately for me it is somewhere my mother will never see it.”

Tony claimed to live in terror of his mother. I'd never met her myself, but he smelled of happiness not fear when he talked of her, so I knew she couldn't be the harridan he described.

”What brings you to darken my door?” I asked.

”I came to see if you'd look at a car for a friend of mine,” he said.

”Vee-Dub?”

”Buick.”

My eyebrows climbed in surprise. ”I'll take a look, but I'm not set up for American cars-I don't have the computers. He should take it somewhere they know Buicks.”

” She's taken it to three different mechanics-replaced the oxygen sensor, spark plugs, and who knows what else. It's still not right. The last guy told her she needed a new engine, which he could do for twice what the car's worth. She doesn't have much money, but she needs the car.”

”I won't charge her for looking, and if I can't fix it, I'll tell her so.” I had a sudden thought, brought on by the edge of anger I heard in his voice when he talked about her problems. ”Is this your lady?”

”She's not my lady,” he protested unconvincingly.

For the past three years he'd had his eye on one of the police dispatchers, a widow with a slew of kids. He'd never done anything about it because he loved his job-and his job, he'd said wistfully, was not conducive to dating, marriage, and kids.

”Tell her to bring it by. If she can leave it for a day or two, I'll see if Zee will come by and take a look at it.” Zee, my former boss, had retired when he sold me the place, but he'd come out once in a while to ”keep his hand in.” He knew more about cars and what made them run than a team of Detroit engineers.