Page 61 of Truck

A tap on the door has both me and Rum looking up from the monitor. Coin and Books step into the room and hand a folder to me, which I open and lay on the desk so Rum can also look.

“That is the information we’ve dug up for the pit-stop idea you had, Truck. It’s a good idea, and I fully support it. I know a few long-haul truckers and they would be more than happy to find somewhere they could park, have a shower, eat, drink and sleep for a while,” Coin points to a bunch of figures under a sheet of paper headed—token slots—that is a good figure, far better than I expected.

Rum taps the paper with his pointer finger. “So that cost is for a new token slot machine added to each of the showers?”

Coin nods. “Yeah. They pay for the token at the gas station. It can only be used once as it drops into the bottom of the token box upon use. If they want another shower, they have to purchase another token.”

Books is nodding in agreement. “We reckon with the purchase of the machines and tokens being a one-time thing it’s only the cleaning that is going to cost us anything. Coin came up with a figure after I had Keys check what other companies charged to use a token and for what reason. I think we need a cleaner who will come in daily to clean the place. It depends on how long it will take to do the job, as to how much it will cost to hire someone.”

“I know someone who may do it,” Rum drops into the conversation, and the three of us turn to look at him. “Well, she eats at the diner, and I’ve noticed she’s gotten thinner of late. You know Briony, she looked after her parents when they had that accident.”

“Briony Glover?” Books asks while sporting a frown. “She was the one whose parents had that accident on the black ice. Ran off the road and they both ended up in a vegetative state. She had to switch them both off from the machines I heard.”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Rum replies, then continues. “She was paying the medical bills. From what I heard, she just got them paid when she lost her job because the jewelry store closed. They were an old couple, and they didn’t have kids so they had no one to leave the business to.”

Coin shakes his head. “That’s tough. But if she needs a job, then let’s give her a shot. It’s only cleaning, so she doesn’t need a degree for that.”

Rum nods. “I’ll ask her if she’s interested, and if she is I’ll ask her to give them a cleaning so we can see how long it will take to do them. After she’s done that, we will have an idea of the time involved, and we can throw a figure for a wage at her.”

“Good. You do that, then get back to me,” Coin says as he and Books turn to leave the office.

Once they left, I look at Rum. “If we could help Briony that would be a good thing. Does she have any other relatives?”

“No. She was an only child, and I don’t remember her parents having family. They were quiet people, kept to themselves, and far too young to have died. Briony will only be in her late twenties I would think, at a guess anyway.” Rum shakes his head as he turns back to his monitor. That’s my cue to know he’s not going to discuss it more, so I head out to see if I’m needed at the counter or forecourt.

In the shop area of the gas station, I pause when I see Bull behind the counter speaking with Xero. Stepping closer, I hear Bull ask, “When Rum has a minute will you ask him to double-check your cameras to see if it picked up anyone around the back near the recovery vehicles.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Bull looks at me and shrugs. “I’m not sure, Truck. My cameras picked up movement at the back of the gas station, near two of the recovery vehicles last night. But it’s not clear who or what is going on. I want Rum to check your camera feed and see what it picked up. I didn’t want to disturb you in your meeting with Coin and Books, or I would have come straight to the office.”

“I’ll check, Bull. If there is anything you need to see, I’ll give a shout out. But you are right, our cameras are placed slightly differently to yours, so we may see something more clearly.” I turn and head back to the office where I’ll check it out now because if things get busy I’m going to forget, and this is security, so we need to be on the ball.

Chapter 32

RORY

“Come on, Grady,” I shout and grab my bag ready to leave the house. We are going ice skating, and it's years since I’ve been, so I’m as excited as Grady. “If you don’t hurry, we’ll not be going.”

“I’m coming, Rory,” Grady says exasperated, as he runs into the hallway.

“Let’s go, bub, I’m looking forward to this.”

“I’m good at skating, Rory. Will you be able to keep up?” Grady smirks at me.

I give him a noogie, earning myself a groan from him, but he isn’t really annoyed and the grin on his face confirms that. We have a nice relationship, and it’s growing all the time with the pranks we pull on each other.

Entering the rink an hour later, I stand in shock when Grady takes off on the ice. Oh my, he’s a natural. I’m hanging onto the side because I don’t have my skating legs on yet. I lean against the side and watch in awe as Grady whirls around the rink. He has grace, balance, and confidence like I’ve not seen in someone his age. Maybe he will be an ice hockey star in the future?

I relax and push away from the wall. Missing a mother and young daughter who glide past as if they do it every day of the week. I’m still wobbling a little when I’m hit from behind. I spin around, out of control I might add, and lose my balance. Yeah, you got it. I go down hard, and my coccyx bone twangs. Under my breath I mumble, “Effing shit, that hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” a voice quakes and I look up to see a young boy looking down at me.

“It’s okay. I’m not very good at this, so I probably would have fallen, anyway. You just got me to do it earlier than expected,” I say along with a huge smile. I’m hoping that will ease the worry on his little face.

“Are you okay?”

Turning my face, I see a man holding his hand out to help me get up. “I’m okay. I just told the young man that I would have fallen eventually, so he just helped me get it over with.”