“Then what are you suggesting?”
Calvin glanced toward the container.
“That the freight was inadvertently included in the liquidation inventory.”
Mara folded the card between two fingers.
“The auction company had it listed for three months.”
“I understand.”
“Your client just noticed today?”
“There were administrative complications.”
Wade laughed.
“Those must be some complicated complications.”
Calvin ignored him.
He looked at Mara.
“Would you be willing to step aside privately?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Calvin’s jaw tightened.
Then he lowered his voice anyway.
“My client is prepared to compensate you generously for your inconvenience.”
“How generously?”
Calvin looked toward the men nearby.
Mara waited.
Finally:
“Ten thousand dollars.”
Wade stopped laughing.
Mara stared at Calvin.
“You're offering ten thousand for something I bought for fifteen?”
“To purchase the container and contents back.”
“What’s inside?”
“Old company property.”
“What kind?”
“Engineering materials.”
Mara looked through the narrow opening.
Darkness.
She turned back.
“Which company?”
Calvin hesitated.
That was mistake number two.
“The former Bellerose Controls Corporation.”
Something moved inside Mara’s memory.
Not enough to identify.
A name from somewhere.
Old farm magazines?
Her father’s papers?
She could not place it.
Wade whistled.
“Ten thousand.”
He looked at Mara.
“I’d take it before somebody tells him you only paid fifteen.”
Calvin said:
“I know exactly what she paid.”
Mara looked at him.
“How?”
Another hesitation.
“Public auction records.”
“They were finalized less than an hour ago.”
Calvin did not answer.
Mara’s curiosity sharpened.
“No.”
He frowned.
“No what?”
“I’m not selling.”
“Mara.”
She looked at the business card.
He knew her first name although she had never said it.
Calvin realized.
Another mistake.
She asked:
“How do you know my name?”
“Your invoice.”
“I didn’t show you my invoice.”
“No.”
“But the auction office confirmed the buyer.”
“When?”
“Before I came over.”
Mara looked toward the office.
Possible.
Still unsettling.
Calvin softened his tone.
“Ms. Quinn, I don't think you understand.”
“Probably not.”
“That’s why I keep asking questions.”
Wade laughed again.
Calvin ignored him.
“Fifteen thousand.”
Mara blinked.
“You just increased five thousand dollars because I asked your client’s name.”
“This isn't a negotiation about information.”
“Looks exactly like one.”
Calvin opened his case again.
He removed a slim folder.
“I can authorize immediate payment.”
He wrote something.
Turned the page toward her.
$25,000.
Mara stared.
The yard had become quiet.
Even men loading pallets had slowed.
Calvin continued:
“You sign transfer of title.”
“We assume all hauling costs.”
“You walk away today with twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Mara asked:
“Without opening it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”