He shrugged. “I guess I’m getting by. Business has been slow with the cold weather. Like I said the other day, people are only getting the work done that they can’t get by without.”
“I guess I never thought about a garage having slower seasons,” I said.
He nodded. “Oh yeah. For the month or two following Christmas everyone has spent all their money and they don’t want to get any work done that they don’t absolutely have to have done. Makes it hard on me, but I guess I understand.” He chuckled. “I wouldn’t spend any money I didn’t absolutely have to, either. I’m still paying off Christmas myself.”
“That’s true,” I said thoughtfully. “Everyone has probably spent all their money and are just trying to recover from the holidays.”
He sobered. “Yeah, but it’s about to kill me. I’ve got bills too, and I don’t have money to pay them unless I have customers.”
We turned as the door opened and Polly walked through the door. She smiled and got in line behind us. “This is the place to be this afternoon, isn’t it?”
Christy turned to her. “It is. A nice warm pick-me-up for a cold afternoon.”
I turned back to Fred. “I hope things pick up for you at the garage.”
He shook his head slowly. “I do too. I hate to lay off one of my guys, but this has been the slowest January I’ve had in years.”
“I wonder why this January is slower than others?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I guess I don’t know, but things have sure been tough. I told Mel the other day I might have to get a part-time job.” He chuckled. “I haven’t worked for anybody in so many years, I don’t know if I could handle that.”
“It does take some getting used to if you’re used to working for yourself,” I said.
His brow furrowed. “I tell you, things have been slow. I don’t mean to go on and on about it, but I’m just surprised it’s been drawing out the way it has. December was bad, too.”
“Paying for car repairs is the last thing I want to pay for. Ever,” Christy said.
He looked at her and sighed. “I’m serious about maybe having to lay someone off. If you ladies need any work done on your cars, be sure and stop by and I’ll give you a good deal.”
“I need two new tires and an oil change,” Christy said, brightening at the mention of a good deal. “I’ll try to bring in my car in the next couple of days.”
He smiled at this. “That would be fantastic. If we don’t have the size of tires you need, I can get them ordered. You just stop by anytime. We’re rarely busy enough to need an appointment these days.”
“I’ll do that,” Christy promised.
Amanda finished with Fred’s order and he paid for it and left.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Polly asked as we stepped up to the front counter. I turned toward her.
Christy looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “What do you mean?”
“Fred’s the crookedest mechanic in the state.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. She said it with such assurance that I had to wonder if he had cheated her.
She shrugged. “He’s always overcharging people. He comes on with his good old boy exterior, but deep down, he’s a thief.”
“Those are strong words. How do you know he’s a thief?” I asked. I’d heard the rumors, and Polly wasn’t one to gossip.
“I took my car to him a couple of months ago for an oil change and I thought he was very fair in his price,” Amanda said.
“An oil change is one thing, but anything else and you’re taking a risk. Those tires he’ll order for you, Christy? He’ll order the cheapest ones he can find and tell you that they’re the good ones. And believe me, he’s going to charge you a good price for them.” She looked at Christy knowingly.
“Well I don’t have money to throw away,” Christy said slowly. “But I’d hate to take it someplace else now that I’ve already said I’d bring my car to him.”
She shrugged. “It’s your money. But honestly, I wouldn’t trust him. He’s always overcharging people. He’ll give you one price and then when you come to pick up your car, he’ll charge another.”
That struck a chord. That was what Angela Karis had said he had done to Logan. I thought it must be true.
“It sounds like he took advantage of you,” I said.
She nodded. “It’s been a couple of years ago, but I took my car in to get a new radiator and he quoted me one price, but when I got there, he said some other parts were bad and he had gone ahead and replaced them. My bill was almost four hundred dollars more than what he quoted me.”
“That’s terrible,” I said. “What did you do?”
“I sent my husband down there to talk to him. But Fred wouldn’t back down, and we ended up paying the money. Later I heard other stories of him doing the exact same thing to other people. Never again will I take a car him.”
What she said made my stomach sink. I hated to think that Fred or anyone else in this town would cheat their customers, but I knew Polly well enough to know that she wouldn’t make this up.
“Maybe I’ll tell him I don’t have enough money for tires then,” Christy said slowly. “I can take my car in for the oil change. He can’t overcharge on that, right?”
She shrugged again. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he tries. He may say he noticed something else was wrong when he gets in there. But don’t leave the garage while he’s working on it so he can’t go ahead
