Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 27

The evening spent with Gabriel turned out to be more fun than she’d expected.

He’d brought them to his work, a large garage with an assortment of cars parked to the side in the lot, all in a different state of repair. A few looked like all they would be good for was to salvage parts while others only showed minors dents or scrapes.

Inside was a different story, with a number of different vehicles up on jacks. A couple of the workers still there were half buried under the hood of a large SUV while a small group others sat at a computer discussing something on the screen while a handful of wires attached to the vehicle fed the device data for them to observe. Still more were scattered here and there throughout the place and nodded in their direction once they caught sight of Gabriel.

For a place that serviced cars, Vivian found it to be cleaner than she’d expected. The large doors were open, letting in the evening air as Gabriel escorted her through the room, waving to those who noticed their passing but not saying much until they arrived at what turned out to be his office.

Up a flight of stairs, his office was directly connected to the working area, with a large window that allowed him to look out over those he employed whenever he so chose.

The office itself was full of stuff, but felt organized all the same. Nothing was piled on the two chairs, nor the small sofa in the corner, but the shelves that circled the room, the cabinets and even the top of his desk were covered with… stuff.

Vivian didn’t know enough about cars to guess what each item was, but some things she knew were tools, others most likely parts. There was even a random tire in a corner that seemed like it both belonged and was wildly out of place at the same time.

“I just need a couple minutes to fill out an order request for a part,” Gabriel explained as he pulled one of the chairs out for her to sit on while she waited. “Then we can go back out and I’ll show you my baby.”

“You mean the car you’re restoring?”

“Yes, my baby. Her name is Sandra.”

Vivian stared at her brother for a long moment but he ignored the look. Instead he turned on his computer’s monitor and started tapping away on his keyboard, fingers a blur as he filled out whatever form needed filling.

Not finding him interesting to watch, Vivian returned to her feet and moved to the large window that overlooked the interior of the garage.

The mechanics were no longer looking under the hood of the SUV and busied themselves with putting things away in a rolling trolley with at least twenty drawers. If Vivian had to guess, they were getting ready to leave.

Those using the computer were still at it, one of them pointing at the screen while another shook his head, adamant in his disagreement at whatever his coworker was saying.

“What do you think so far?”

Looking over her shoulder, Vivian noted her brother hadn’t glanced away from his computer screen as he spoke. “It’s impressive.”

A grin spread over Gabriel’s face. “Yeah, I know right?”

“You’re only twenty, right?”

That had him looking up at her, something in his expression changing just a little. “Yeah. We’re all three years apart. Well. Except you.”

Ignoring his comment, Vivian focused on the word that had answered the question. “For your age, having something this successful is impressive.”

Gabriel stopped tapping at his keyboard to lean back in his chair, eyes never leaving his sister. “I’m a Devreaux, though, so it’s not really that big a deal to have all this; keeping it in the black is my main goal.”

“Do you? Keep it in the black, I mean?”

He gave her a slow nod. “With restoration on the side, we make a decent profit.”

Vivian mulled over his statement again. “Does that mean without restoration it would be in the red?”

This caught him by surprised, startling a laugh out of her brother. “Wow. I’m surprised you jumped to that conclusion.”

Vivian averted her gaze, instead focusing it back to the window. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he told her, laughter still in his voice. “I’m just surprised you’d think of it that way, that’s all. No, we’d still be in the black without restoring old cars on the side, but they bring in enough to make it worth the effort.”

“How so?”

“Well…” he hesitated in answering as he leaned further back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before saying anything more. “Most of us see restoring old cars as a hobby — an expensive one — and just don’t have the time to do it on the side. Making it part of the business means the employees who like that kind of work can do it without spending all their free time and money finding the right parts, and then finding a buyer for it after the fact. The business — me, that is — takes care of procurement and after it’s restored I then have access to the kind of clientele who’ll gladly pay a hefty sum for the finished product.”

“Why not just focus on restoring old cars then?”

“Because it’s not a steady business, and sometimes you can spend a ton of cash on a car only for it end up back in the junk pile. It can be a betting man’s game whether you can find the right parts or not in a timely manner. There’s one car we’re still waiting on a specific part and it’s been over a year.”

“Can’t you just … make the part somehow? Or have someone make it for you?”

This brought more laughter out of her brother. “If only it were so simple and cost effective. Come on, I’m done here so why don’t I show you where we do the restorations.”

A little curious now, Vivian followed her brother back down the stairs and outside. In the backlot were a couple large buildings that looked like more garage space. Did they really need all this space? Was the business so good they actually used it all?

“The building over there,” Gabriel gestured to the garage on the right, “is for storage. Sometimes we find good parts for cars we might use in the future — that kind of stuff — and store it there. We also store people’s extra tires and that sort of stuff there, too. For a small fee.”

“It’s pretty big for that sort of thing, isn’t it?” Vivian couldn’t help but comment.

“You think?” He asked, grinning back at her as he opened the door to the garage on the left, motioning for her to head inside first.