Boy Issues - Morticia Knight Page 0,58

only go over the parts list, but to see how the restoration was coming along. Silver had finally gotten him to see reason when it came to getting what was needed to properly restore the collector item. As Silver had pointed out—the sooner he got all the parts, the sooner Silver could finish the job and Carl could get his money back.

Silver set down the clipboard with all his notes then jogged into the bathroom to rinse out his mouth and drag a comb through his hair one more time. As soon as he was done with Carl, he’d be heading out to pick up Donovan. Then they’d be on their way to a classic auto show out in Orange County.

The telltale squeak of the side door sounded, and Silver set down his comb. He made his way to the main garage area and noted that Carl was already flipping through the lists and estimates on the clipboard that Silver had gotten faxed from his various sources.

“Good morning, Carl. I see you found the lists.”

He had nothing to hide, but it still irked him that Mr. Jenkins didn’t have an issue with poking around without asking. Silver had caught him more than once going through his desk drawers. That was about the time Silver had foregone convenience and started keeping all his personal bills and receipts locked in his apartment upstairs.

Carl glanced up from the clipboard then gave him a dip of his chin before returning to the piles of papers.

“Hiya. You got a total on all this? Because I told you to keep it as close to twenty-grand as you could. That still leaves me enough room to… Well, it leaves me enough room.”

Silver prepared himself for the blowback. “Carl, that’s not gonna happen. Come on. You didn’t honestly think you could do a full restoration on a rare, top collector vehicle like this for twenty K? It’s not realistic.”

Carl set down the clipboard then crossed his arms. “All right, Mister Expert. Then you explain it to me. What’s realistic?”

Silver placed his hands on his hips, feet shoulder-width apart. He needed Jenkins to finally get his head out of his ass and land back on Planet Earth.

“Fifty, if I cut corners. And that’s only because I was able to call in a few more favors. I’m doing everything I can here.”

Carl frowned and stuck out his lower lip. “Okay, I’ll go twenty-five, but not a penny more.”

Silver smacked his forehead. Carl had always been stingy, but he’d never been this delusional.

“You’re not hearing me, Carl. There’s no such thing as putting a cap on a job like this, that’s not how it works, and you know it. As it is, there are still a few things I’m keeping an eye out for that I haven’t been able to locate yet.”

“You’re shittin’ me.” He whacked the back of his hand against Silver’s list. “I thought this was all of it? The fuck am I doing here then?”

Silver inhaled deeply to give himself a chance to cool down. You’d think the vato (guy) had never had a car restored before. But Carl had been acting kind of squirrelly lately.

“Because if I wait to purchase the items I’ve already located until I find the ones I haven’t located yet, somebody else might buy them and we’re back to square one.”

Carl narrowed his eyes. “I realize that. But…” He threw his hands inn the air. “I don’t want all my money tied up in this one car. Especially now that… Fuck.”

“What?” Clearly, something had changed, and Silver had gotten the memo.

Carl glared at him. “As soon as I told the buyer you couldn’t deliver for six months, he said to forget it! Now what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing? I can’t afford to restore it now.”

Uh-oh.

Silver didn’t have a complete understanding of where or how Mr. Jenkins came up with his money, but whatever was going on didn’t sound good. He’d heard from a couple of the mechanics before he left his old job that Carl was notorious for overspending on cars. However, no one had ever warned him that his boss might run out of funding.

“Well, I don’t think it’s a lost cause. I can start putting the word out that I’m working on a Morgan, talk it up, and see who comes out of the woodwork. That way, when it gets done in six months or so, you’ll have a couple interested buyers.”

Carl snatched up the