Kathy Hogan Trocheck - Truman Kicklighter 02 - Crash Course Read Online Free PDF Page A

you’d made, and even charge you wildly inflated towing and storage fees. The next day, the same lot could sell the same car all over again.
    It was a beautiful system, if you owned the car lot.
    Like most of the other scams that flourished like mildew in Florida’s tropical splendor, the easy-pay lots catered to people without any other options. Poor people. Immigrants. People with no credit, bad credit, minimum-pay wage earners.
    Every year the Florida legislature promised to change the laws that allowed the easy-pay lots to exist. Every year, the car dealers’ lobbyists reminded lawmakers that poor people don’t make campaign contributions.
    “That paper you signed obligates you to pay $77.10 a week for three years,” Truman said. “That’s 156 payments. You’re paying twenty percent interest, Jackie, and $12,027.60.”
    “Is that legal?” Ollie asked. “That ain’t legal, is it?”
    “Florida doesn’t have any usury laws,” Truman said. “It’s a wonderful state, my friend.”
    Jackie was sitting down now, too, looking even glummer than when she’d started the morning.
    “For that you could get a new car,” Truman said. “A good one.”
    “Not a ‘Vette,” Jackie protested. “See, that’s how much you know about cars, Mr. K. You’re out of touch, no offense. And that car is the prettiest thing I’ve ever owned. I don’t care what it costs. It’s worth every cent.”
    “If you miss a payment, it’s history,” Truman said. “So’s your investment, your equity in the car.”
    “I’m not gonna miss a payment,” Jackie said heatedly. “I’m a hard worker, Mr. K. I’ve wanted a car like that my whole life. Nobody’s going to take it away. It’s mine. And as soon as I get it fixed, you’ll see how fine it is.”
    Truman knew he had pushed her too far. It was time to back off a little and try some tact. He didn’t want to see her cheated. Nellie always did say you caught more flies with honey than vinegar.
    “You are a hard worker,” he soothed. “You’re smart and decent and good-hearted. If anybody deserves something good, it’s you, Jackie. Would you mind if an old friend made a suggestion?”
    “What kind of suggestion?” she asked. She knew Mr. K was trying to look out for her, but she was an adult, wasn’t she? And she knew what she was getting into, didn’t she?
    “You’ve got a cousin who’s a mechanic, right?”
    “My cousin’s husband,” Jackie said reluctantly. “Milton.”
    “Let this Milton take a look at the car. See what the problem is, and if there’s anything else wrong. He can tell you if you got a good deal or not. If the car’s as good as you say, I’ll shut up.”
    “What if Milton says it’s a good car? Then will you believe me?”
    “Absolutely,” Truman said. “That’s all I’m saying.”
     

Chapter FIVE
     

     
    Milton Tuten was a man of very few words. He towed the Corvette into one of the bays at the garage where he worked, and while Jackie watched, he opened the hood and peered inside, like a scholar studying some ancient writings. He put it up on the hydraulic lift and walked around underneath it, peering up at its underbelly with a flashlight and muttering under his breath.
    When he was done, he wiped his hands on a rag and put the greasy rag in his back pocket, giving Jackie a look of utter disbelief. “You telling me somebody got you to pay nine thousand dollars for this thing?”
    Jackie nodded glumly. She didn’t dare tell him what Truman had said about the car’s true cost. Milton would tell his wife, Sonya, and she would tell her mother, Jackie’s aunt Louise, and it’d get back to her mother, and Jackie would never hear the end of it. Not until the day she died.
    “Something wrong with my car?” She was already regretting asking Milton for his advice. She felt defensive and protective toward the ‘Vette, like it was her own child or something, and folks were telling her it had buckteeth and knock-knees and no