The Christmas Clock and A Song For My Mother - Kat Martin Page 0,5

in fairness, maybe he would have wound up there, anyway. He'd been a hothead back then, as good with his fists as he was with his hands when he worked on a car.

Still, it was Syl's disappearance that had set events in motion.

A muscle clenched in his jaw. Sylvia Winters, the woman he had loved, had nearly destroyed his life.

It was Monday. Lottie knew because the repair shop called to remind her of her appointment. After making sure Teddy fastened his seatbelt, Lottie backed the car into the alley behind the house. It was a 1984 Mercury Topaz that Chester had purchased two years before he died. She didn't drive it much, only to the doctor's office or to King's Supermarket or, as today, to the repair shop.

Chester had always taken the car to Murdock's Auto Repair on Main at the edge of town so she went there, too. A nice young man named Joe Dixon did most of the work there now and he seemed to be honest, never overcharging, always finishing the work on schedule.

Lottie couldn't remember for sure if she had called Joe on Friday or another day in the week but this morning, she had found the note she had placed beneath the red plastic magnet on her refrigerator, reminding her of her ten o'clock appointment to have the oil changed. It was summer vacation, so Teddy was home from school and Lottie was enjoying his company.

Still, the confused state she often found herself in was occurring more and more often and she didn't like the idea of Teddy seeing her that way. Concentrating on the road, Lottie saw the repair shop on the right-hand side, signaled, and pulled into a parking space in front of the building.

Joe Dixon spotted the faded blue metallic Mercury at the same time Bumper Murdock called out the news.

“Mrs. Sparks is here.” Bumper checked off the appointment on his clipboard. “Which bay do you want her in?”

Joe waved to the little white-haired woman barely visible behind the wheel of her car. He had been taking care of Lottie Sparks's auto for years. The Merc was in tip-top condition. It was its owner who had started to fade.

“The middle bay is good,” Joe said waiting while Bumper gave directions for Lottie to line up the car and drive it onto the lift. Her grandson was with her, Joe saw, remembering that school was out for the summer. The little boy must be seven or eight, dark hair, dark eyes, cute little guy, smart as a whip. Joe had always loved children, boys or girls, it didn't really matter.

Being a stone's throw from thirty, he had imagined himself married by now and raising a passel of kids. Instead, he was single, a loner who rarely dated or even went out. Joe frowned as memories of Syl and himself began to pour in. He shoved them back into a corner and went over to speak to Lottie

He was working on the Mercury twenty minutes later, Lottie in the waiting room sipping a cup of coffee when little Teddy wandered into the service area. The kid's neck swiveled around as he took in the grease guns, tool boards, tire changers, and air guns. His brown eyes fixed on Bumper, who was working on a Toyota, the left rear wheel jacked into the air while Bumper used the air gun to remove the nuts from the wheel.

The kid stood unmoving, transfixed by the loud buzzing sounds and how easily the wheel came off. Bumper rolled the tire over to the changer and Teddy's gaze moved off in another direction.

“What kinda car is that?” He pointed toward Joe's prize possession, a black and white '64 Thunderbird convertible, a big four-seater with long, sleek fins. Joe only drove it once in a while but he had really enjoyed fixing it up.

“That's a T-bird, son. They don't make 'em like that anymore.”

“Can I see inside?”

Joe flicked a glance at Lottie, who seemed content where she sat on the brown vinyl sofa in the waiting room and tilted his head toward the car. “Sure, why not?”

Teddy grinned and raced over. One of his eye teeth was missing, though his front two had come in, a sign that the boy was growing up.

“You get a quarter from the tooth fairy for that?” Joe asked.

Teddy looked up at him. “She came for these two.” He pointed at his two front teeth. “I got fifty cents. Gramma said the fairy would come