Spencer decided to hit the car auctions. It took nerve and knowledge to buy that way but if you knew your stuff, you could get more bang for your buck. A couple of days later, amid a sudden and long-overdue downpour, he pulled into the loading bays with his new wheels.

Eddie had been leaning against the wall of the bay watching the rain lash the lot. He was chewing gum like a cow munched cud. He stood aside for Spencer’s car.

“What is it?” asked Johnny Boy.

“Infiniti G35.”

The deluge stopped almost as suddenly as it had come on, and sunlight broke through the dark clouds.

Eddie spat his gum out noisily. “Mileage?”

“One forty,” said Spencer.

“High.”

“It’s got three hundred brake horsepower, and these are for fat business guys so it won’t have been ragged. Reckon it’s got plenty of life in it.”

“Why didn’t you get a four-wheel drive?” said Eddie. He whacked the hood of Johnny Boy’s Mercedes SUV. If Cal had said it, Spencer would have known he was being criticized. But it was difficult to gauge Eddie.

“SUVs are top-heavy. They roll easily if you brake during a quick lane change.”

“Better in the rain,” said Eddie, nodding at the wet concrete lot now steaming in the sun.

“Eddie, they call SUVs four-wheel drive, but the power’s only going to two wheels at any one time. And those wheels can be any two of four. If I really wanted control in the wet, I’d go for an all-wheel drive car. Then the power’s going to all four wheels, all of the time. Your moneyman kept my leash too tight is all.”

Having eavesdropped Cal on his first day at the depot, Spencer had sussed Eddie out as the competition before they even met. And yet he didn’t seem to outright hate Spencer. He had a weird off-the-wall stare. Spencer couldn’t figure out whether it was because he could suddenly go batshit mad over some little thing or whether something was missing up top. At least with Cal you knew where you stood. And it was little wonder McGrath had no trouble when money was owed with someone like the Yo-Yo knocking on doors. He’d probably been the kid who wasn’t allowed to take the school pet home for vacation due to the danger of torture.

Johnny Boy, a careful man, quietly took this all in, not because he was especially interested in cars but because he appreciated an eye for detail. And he liked seeing evidence that his research was on point.

Before they put him to work, Spencer had a man-to-man with McGrath.