Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene Page B

be important.”
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Even though the showers that had been anticipated the day before had never materialized, thick gray clouds hung over Nashville, obscuring the skyline in many places. Traffic was just as heavy going into the city, and drivers were just as impatient.
    I made an unscheduled stop at the mechanic’s shop where Abe usually had the van repaired. It was still out in the yard with no work done on it.
    “I’ll get to it when I can,” Bernie promised from under a Honda. “I’ve got work piled up. I told Abe I was too busy to work on it right away. He should’ve sent it to one of his other mechanics.”
    “Just give me some kind of estimate,” I coaxed. “Or maybe you have another car I can use. This thing is a piece of crap. I barely got here today.”
    Bernie peeked out at the old Festiva. “I ain’t got nothing else, honey. You better talk to Abe. I’m sorry.”
    “I could take a look at it,” Lucas offered. “Not the van, but the engine on the small car. I fully understand how they work.”
    “Let’s get to the mortuary first. Maybe you can do something with it there.” I glared at Bernie who shrugged and went back under the Honda. “How am I supposed to pick up zombies if the car won’t get there?”
    I got in the Festiva and gunned the engine. The car shuddered and coughed until it died out again. So much for anger helping the situation.
    “This is as good a place as any.” Lucas had me open the hood.
    “I guess it can’t hurt for you to look at it.” I got out and watched him. “How did you learn about cars?”
    He started messing around with something in the engine. “I studied the engine in the old truck since we clearly needed another tool for going places when you weren’t home. It’s very simple, based on electrical principles. Magic is roughly based on the same ideas.”
    “But you haven’t been able to purposely access your magic—have you?” I studied the side of his face as he keenly went through the wiring in the engine.
    “Not purposely. If there are spells or incantations, I don’t recall them. But this I understand. Get back in and start it again.”
    I felt like it was a waste of time, but I did as he asked. The little engine started right up and purred like a kitten. I put my foot on the gas, and it revved loud and steady. It didn’t even die out.
    “You fixed it.” No one was as surprised as me. “You could open a mechanic shop and make a lot more money than you could on jam and apple butter.”
    He closed the hood and got in the car. “That might be true. I hadn’t considered it.”
    “Just kidding, Lucas. Why are you so worried about making money anyway?”
    “Because there are certain needs that cannot be met by bartering in your society.” He glanced out the window as a man in a gray Jag stuck his finger up at me for pulling out too slow. “I hope to help you meet those needs. Perhaps that will lessen the work you need do for Abe.”
    He smiled, and I glanced away, pretending to be intent on the road. He almost made my poor dead heart dance in my chest again. That bothered me. I didn’t want to have those softer feelings for him. We helped each other. That was enough.
    “Do you ever wonder if you’ll remember who you are some day?” I asked.
    “Are you concerned about it? If the spells and incantations return to me, I could become the man on the computer, the one everyone dreaded.”
    “I’m not worried about it, Lucas,” I reassured him. “I only care about what you are now. Besides, half of that stuff from the past isn’t true anyway. And we’re only guessing that you’re the same person.”
    “So you have no faith that I can spare you from the dark one’s subjugation.”
    I knew he meant Abe. I also knew that I didn’t want to be spared unless my life was going to continue. “You know I signed up for this, right?”
    “After he convinced you that it was necessary to keep Kate from being alone.” He stared