Ten-Gallon Tensions in Texas: A Kate on Vacation Mystery (The Kate on Vacation Mysteries Book 3) Read Free

back–”
    The phone jangled on the desk. Jimmy ignored it as he stood up. “What’s wrong with it?”
    A second ring. Jimmy snatched up the receiver. “Bolton Cars.”
    His face lost some of its ruddy color as he listened. “Yes, ma’am, we’ll send the tow truck out right away.” A pause. “I don’t know, Cindy, but we’ll find out. You sit tight. Our man’ll be there real soon.” He hung up. “Cindy Fowler’s car left her stranded halfway home from here.”
    Bobby Joe shook his head. “I’m not surprised.”
    “What?” Jimmy said.
    His chief mechanic didn’t answer, just jerked his head toward the door. They followed him across one end of the showroom and down a short hallway to a door marked Service . Bobby Joe shoved it open and kept moving through a small waiting area and out into a service bay.
    He gestured toward a tan pickup truck on a lift. “Ben’s truck. Fuel lines and the pump are all clogged up.” He hit the control on the lift and the truck slowly descended to the ground. He opened the driver’s door and flipped the lever to open the gas cap cover.
    Both Skip and Jimmy crowded around it.
    “What?” Kate couldn’t see past the wall created by the men’s backs.
    “Sugar,” Skip said, “all around the cap.”
    “I’ll bet my next paycheck that Ms. Fowler’s car has got the same problem.” Bobby Joe waved in the direction of the lot. “The men are checkin’ the other cars.”
    Jimmy said nothing as he stared at the side of the truck. After a moment, he turned and headed back inside the building.
    “Doesn’t sugar ruin the engine?” Kate said.
    “Nah,” Bobby Joe said. “That’s a myth. It just gums up the fuel system somethin’ fierce, and it can ruin the fuel pump if you don’t catch it in time.” He blew out air. “Guess I’d better get the tow truck out there to rescue Ms. Fowler.” He walked away.
    Kate looked up into her husband’s face. “If Sam Beauford’s doing this, wouldn’t he know that sugar doesn’t do all that much harm?”
    Skip frowned. “Maybe this was all the harm he wanted to do, this time.” He took her arm. “Come on.”
    When they returned to Jimmy’s office, he was hanging up the telephone. “I got Ben mollified. Told him we’d found some problems with the fuel system so we’d give him a loaner for his wife to take on her trip while we get it fixed for him. Hopefully this won’t get out about the sugar. If folks think their cars are gonna be sabotaged, nobody’ll bring them in here for repairs.”
    In a small town, keeping the sugar a secret seemed unlikely. Kate sank back down on one of the visitors’ chairs. “What are you going to do?” she asked her brother-in-law.
    Jimmy opened a desk drawer and pulled out a flask. “Right now, I’m gonna have me a drink.”
    Skip, still standing in the doorway, pointed to the flask. “That really isn’t helpin’ matters.”
    “Butt out, Skip.” He lifted the flask to his lips.
    Skip was next to the desk in one long stride. He snatched the flask out of Jimmy’s hand. “I will not butt out. You’re married to my sister and the father of my niece and nephews, and I’m not gonna let you make a bad situation worse by turnin’ into a drunk.”
    Jimmy grabbed the flask back and transferred it to his other hand, holding it out of Skip’s reach. He actually grinned at his brother-in-law. “Too late. I’m already a drunk.”
    Bobby Joe stepped into the open doorway, a grease-streaked, orange Texas Longhorns baseball cap in his hand. “Uh, boss, you might want to put that away for now. The customers.”
    Kate turned and looked through the plate glass behind her. A young couple stood next to a sedan on the showroom floor. They were trying not to stare, but their eyes kept flicking back toward the office. A salesman was valiantly attempting to distract them by pointing out the features of the car.
    Kate swiveled back around. Jimmy had lowered the flask below the top of the desk, but he