I pulled out my phone and dialed.
“What's up, Thomas?”
“Hey, I need some info,” I said. “Sheriff Skye's got a daughter named Nicole. I need a cell phone number and any online accounts you can find. Twitter, Facebook—whatever.”
“Sure.”
I hung up with a smile.
Yeah, sure I could just ask her, but she could also refuse to tell me. Shit, I couldn't even get her name out of her, so the chances of learning anything more personal were just about nil.
I went to bed before Dad got home, woke up for my morning run, and then got ready for school. I left early so I could take the long way—that is, so I could drive past Rumple's house. Usually by the time I went past, she was either getting into her car to go, or she was already gone. This time, she was sitting in the driver’s seat and beating the dashboard with her little fist.
Kitten on steroids, not something I could pass up.
I swung my Jeep around and pulled into her driveway. She looked up at me and narrowed her eyes as she opened the door and climbed out of the car. I couldn't help but notice how nicely tight her jeans were and wished the weather was a little warmer so she wouldn't be in long sleeves. I turned off the car and got out, too.
“Having problems with that piece of shit, Rumple?”
“Nice,” she replied with a smirk. “It won't start.”
“Need help?”
“Yeah, if you could,” she said.
I went around to the front of the car and propped open the hood, looking around for a while before I figured out the damn thing just stayed up on its own and didn't have one of those little stick-things to hold it up. I looked inside and wondered what the fuck all the shit in there was and what it did.
“Try turning it on,” I suggested.
She got back inside and turned the key. It made a lot of noise, but nothing seemed to be going anywhere. I poked at a big round metal thing in the middle.
“Try again!” I called out. No difference. “Hold on. Let me try something.”
I looked around and found a little round piece to pull on. A stick came out and was all greasy and shit, so I figured that was okay. I found a belt that looked loose, but for all I knew, it was supposed to be loose. There was a big blocky thing with two bolts on top of it, which I thought was probably the battery. Could it be dead?
Fuck if I knew.
“Okay, Rumple!” I called out. “Give it another shot!”
She did, and nothing happened.
I started poking around again and heard the door to the car open and close.
“What do you think it is?” she asked as she peered over my shoulder.
“Could be a few things,” I replied, tapping my chin. I turned my head to look at her and smiled when I saw her biting her lip. “The battery could be dead,” I pointed at the blocky thing. “Or maybe a fouled fuel caliper. Could be the sparks or this—” I pointed at the big metal round thing “—which isn't spinning right.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“Ah, that's the…um…the manifold destiny.”
Her eyes narrowed again, and then her lips twitched before she busted out laughing.
“Manifold destiny?” she squealed. “Thomas Malone! Do you know anything about cars at all?”
“Well…no…” I admitted, “but this is a Hyundai!”
“Do you know anything about Hyundais?”