The Chop Shop Part 2

Bradley Lewis went to work the next day like nothing was wrong. As if he had not just stolen 815 dollars the day before by falsifying the invoices paid for in cash. Bradley did it for a reason and he knew that without doing that his young daughter Sasha would have been without a home.

While working on his first car of the day Bradley is called into Peter's office.

"Good work yesterday Brad. All invoices seem to be in order."

"Thank you Peter. "

Bradley goes back to work. Peter stares at the receipts from yesterday. He was having a particularly tough time figuring out a car he was working on. Bradley saw two men in suits enter and head into Peter's office. He began to make mistakes because his mind was distracted. He decided now was the perfect time to have a smoke and regain his composure. It was snowing lightly. Bradley let the snow fall on him as he puffed slowly on the cigarette.

The two men that had come to speak with Peter drove fancy cars. Much fancier than the cars they were used to seeing in the shop. Bradley figured they werent police because these were not the standard issue cars but he still found it odd that they were here.

He tossed his cigarette onto the ground and the lit end extinguished as the snow smothered it out. He walked back inside and back to the cars he was working on. Peter was now showing the two men around the shop as if they were taking inventory of what was in the shop.

Bradley was hard at work when they approached his work station. He had the car up on a hoist and was working underneath it. He slid out from the bottom of the car and Peter and the two mystery men were staring at him.

"Hey Brad. Hard at work I see" Peter said with a nervous tick in his voice.

"Yeah. I am trying to solve the problem but I can't see it. Giving out free tours now are we?" Bradley tried to play it off as a joke but he truly was after information.

"Yeah these are two of my investors. They wanted to come by and see what is going on"

Bradley could tell there was more to the story than met the eye and figured it may have something to do with his actions the prior day. Of course he was not about to offer up the truth if that was not the case. Eventually they made their way outside and Peter showed them around the lot.

About a half hour later Bradley watched as the two men entered their respective cars and drove away. He could almost see the relief in Peter as soon as they left. He knew Peter was in more trouble than he's letting on.

Bradley watched Peter enter his office and close the curtain in the window. Just after that there was a large crash. Everyone in the shop stopped what they were doing. Bradley knew Peter was releasing his aggression and went back to work. Peter would talk when he was ready. Bradley finished up the work on the car he had started. He looked at the clock and it read 12:15. Bradley's stomach rumbled and he knew it was time to get food. He walked past Peter's office and could hear him on the phone.

"I promise that I will get to the bottom of what happened. I know. I know you have to make sure all money is accounted for. I will come by the club later and we can chat."

Bradley quickly shuffled away and down to the sandwich shop a few blocks away. Payday was coming in a few days. He was going to place 20 percent of his own cash back in and try to save the rest until he and Sasha needed it. For now he just had to lay low and let Peter handle his side of things.

That evening he set up an old DVD player that his sister had given him. Sasha liked movies and he knew plenty of places he could pick up a few movies for dirt cheap. It was him and Sasha. Now that her medical expenses had been taken care of he could try to return them to a sense of normality. Something they had both needed for a long time. Except no matter how hard he tried to distract himself his mind kept going back to the conversation that he had overheard. It sounded like Peter was going to owe someone a big favor. Bradley knew he needed to figure out what that was. Afterall it was his actions that got Peter involved in this mess.

After the movie he got Sasha ready for bed. He sat on the edge of the bed as she closed her eyes. He did not want anything he had done to impact her. It was an act of desperation and he did not stop to think about the consequences.

He spent all night tossing and turning while Peter spent all night trying to smooth talk some bookies into not taking action.

"I know. I know money is missing." Peter said as he sat across from an older gentleman and his wife.

"Then what exactly are you doing about it Peter? We said this cannot happen again or you owe us."

"I know. I know what you said. I know what it means. My guys would not do this maliciously so I take the blame."

"Peter, that is noble of you but you can't protect everyone. We know which one of your guys did this. Now you both owe us. You were supposed to be our legit business. Now anyone investigating us will be onto you. You just fucked us. All of us."

Peter downed the rest of his Rye and Coke and motioned for the bartender to bring him another one. She set it down and Peter drank almost all of it one drink.

"You can't drown these sorrows away. Sorry Peter but you let your guys screw this up. Now you must have dirt on you so that you are not inclined to involve law enforcement. We hate that it has come to this Peter but your guy left us no choice. Make sure Bradley Lewis knows this is just as much his fault as it is yours"

Peter downs the rest of the drink. The Gentleman calls over the bartender. She makes her way over.

"Let my man Peter here drink on me tonight. Peter, keep your phone on. We will be in touch."