17. The Keys Returned

Ervey had been waiting since daybreak for at least an hour that Monday and still Chonito had not showed up at the warehouse. Ervey kept looking around as if expecting his partner to round the corner the next second. He walked up and down the street in front of the warehouse and around the corner. Every now and then, he hammered the building walls with the meaty side of his closed fists.  The problem was not that Chonito was late, since nobody had arrived yet to open the warehouse, but that he had not put away the Kodiak like he had promised on Saturday night. When Celso, the hauling boss, arrived, he was going to see it and ask Ervey about it, not Chonito his cousin and the one who was responsible for it being out. Fortunately it appeared untouched where it was parked on the sidewalk in front of the warehouse , but the boss was not going to take kindly to the fact that it had been completely exposed two entire nights and all day Sunday. Had anybody wanted to hot-wire or vandalize it, they would have had more than enough time to have their way with it in this industrial corner of the city.


Eventually, Ervey saw Celso's truck approach the warehouse. Chonito was not going to be around to help deflect the heat. Soon Celso parked in front of the warehouse, and Ervey went over to greet him.


"Buenos días, Ervey, " said Celso, a tall plump man in his mid-fifties.


"Buenos días, Celso, " said Ervey.


"We have a problem, " said his boss.


"I already checked it out close and its perfectly alright, still locked and everything, " said Ervey, sheepishly, "seems nobody wants to bother with an 80´s haul truck."


Celso looked over at the Kodiak and took a deep breath. He shook his head and walked over to the front door. Inserting the key, he shook his head again.


"Oh. I hadn't seen it, " he said calmly, "you sure it's OK?


"Yeah," said Ervey, showing great relief.


"When Juan Jose came by and gave me the keys yesterday, he didn't say the truck was left outside," said Celso.


"What? You said, Chonito gave you the keys?" asked Ervey, clearly astounded.


"Sí, he came by my house to tell me he was quitting, and he handed me the keys, " explained Celso, "That's why we have a problem. Let's go inside and figure out what we're going to do today."