After clearing the POE, Ricky consumed the remaining three hundred fifty miles of New Mexico in just over four hours, the 600HP Caterpillar taking no prisoners. He told Joey to help herself to whatever snacks she could find in the sleeper, promising a decent meal when he stopped for fuel in Texas.
Joey commended Ricky on his choice of rations while munching on a granola bar and a snack size container of butterscotch pudding. While chasing it down with some strawberry flavored milk, her cell phone sounded. It was Manuel.
Though he didn’t reveal the true nature of his call, Manuel was extremely shaken by recent events. He was in the restroom at Bernie’s Billiards when the cops picked up Anthony Diaz. He peeked out the window as they put him, handcuffed, in the back of the patrol car. He had counted on Anthony to take care of something for him and now he was in custody. When he recruited Anthony for a certain task, he rationalized that he would be trustworthy since he had so much to lose. No way he would risk going back to prison by being careless. If he had thought it through, he may have realized that if Anthony was so smart he wouldn’t have been in prison to begin with. All he wanted Tony to do was to ditch the stolen car for him and he chickened out at the last minute, leaving Manuel to do it himself. But maybe that was better anyway, he reasoned, since his cousin Joey was going out of state, the car would be gone forever.
“No idea who this is.” Joey told Ricky, looking at the incoming number. “Hello?” she answered cautiously.
“Yo cuz, what up.” announced Manuel.
“You owe me a refund is ‘what up’ you moron. You have a lot of nerve screwing over family like that.” Joey told him.
“Whoa, slow down, cuz. What are you talking about?” answered Manuel, feigning innocence.
“Don’t even try to play dumb with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about, that POS car you sold me.”
“Actually, that’s why I called. I was concerned and thought I would check up on things. Where are you now, anyway?”
“Don’t worry about where I’m at, but I will tell you where that junky car is, or was. Go to Needles, California and look for a puddle of motor oil. Then follow the trail until it dries up.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean ‘was’ ? Where is it now?” Manuel asked, alarmed.
“I imagine the state has towed it off the interstate by now. You think I had the money to get it fixed? I gave you nearly all I had for the stupid thing. I barely had gas money to Florida as it was.” She waited for Manuel to respond, but the line was dead.
“So much for the extended warranty.” Joey said with a bitter laugh. “I wonder why he even bothered to call. He did seem worried about the location of the car for some reason. Something else is a little strange too. He never even mentioned the car until I told him I was leaving the state. And then he made me wait a few days for it. He said he needed it for something important. That irked me because I had planned on leaving sooner than I did. But for the price, I really couldn’t fuss about it.”
“What about the title? Everything clean?” Ricky asked.
“Well, there’s that. The name on the registration is Reginald Grofski. Address is East Mojave Court in Fresno. Nice area. I remember delivering flowers out there when I was working for a florist part time.”
“Didn’t that seem a little hinky to you?”
“It should have. Manuel claimed he never transfered the title over because he didn’t plan on keeping it very long. He said he would switch it over directly to me. I don’t know if that’s even possible. I feel so stupid. It could be stolen for all I know.”
“I think you are anything but stupid, sweetie. You just weren’t expecting your own cousin to screw you over like that. I’ve been burned myself. I think most people have at one time or another. Just look at the bright side. You are about to begin a whole new life and this will all be a distant memory. And I know it sounds selfish, but if you hadn’t broke down, I would have never met you.”
“Well, listen to you, country boy, getting all romantic. It’s not selfish at all for you to say that. I think it’s sweet.”