Caleb placed notebook down.
“Either your contractor has the unluckiest paperwork in Montana…”
“Or?” Helena asked.
“You’re paying for parts not installed.”
“Some installed parts are lower-grade than billed.”
“Wheel service is inconsistent.”
“One brake invoice impossible based on wear.”
“How certain?”
“Enough to tell you not to send those six back until your own technicians re-check every safety item.”
Darren nodded grimly.
Helena’s face remained almost expressionless.
“How much theft?”
“I can’t say.”
“I can diagnose vehicles.”
“Not audit invoices.”
Vivienne spoke.
“But you can tell us what should be there.”
“Yes.”
Helena looked at Darren.
“How many vehicles has Calloway serviced in eighteen months?”
“Forty-three.”
“Bring them through.”
Caleb raised hand.
“No.”
Helena looked.
“No?”
“You asked six.”
“That was before.”
“I have customers.”
“I have a daughter.”
“I don’t become yours because you found bad invoices.”
Helena’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Respect.
“Fair.”
She leaned back.
“What would it take?”
Caleb thought.
“To do all forty-three?”
“Yes.”
“Three days minimum.”
“Two if I have another competent tech.”
“Darren?”
“Your employee.”
“Conflict.”
Caleb nodded.
“I know a retired mechanic in Bozeman.”
“Eddie Salazar.”
“Call him.”
Helena said:
“Done.”
“You don’t know him.”
“You do.”
“That is enough for phone call.”
Caleb almost laughed.
“I also want every Calloway invoice—but only after physical inspection.”
“So I don’t chase paper.”
“Good.”
“Vehicle history from drivers separately.”
“Good.”
“And I want one thing in writing.”
“What?”
“That you’re paying me for inspection whether I find fraud or nothing.”
Helena nodded immediately.
Vivienne looked at him.
Caleb continued:
“No bonus tied to uncovering problems.”
“No percentage.”
“No reward.”
“Why?”
Vivienne asked.
“Because if I make more by finding something wrong, then eventually everything starts looking wrong.”
Helena stared at him.
Then slowly smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The reason my daughter made me drive here.”
Vivienne rolled her eyes.
“I did not make you.”
“You called me at eleven-forty in a snowstorm.”
“You were already awake.”
“I am always awake.”
Caleb looked between them.
For the first time, billionaire Helena Vale looked like a mother being annoyed by her daughter.
It humanized both.
He did not know yet whether that was dangerous.
The audit started the next morning.
Russ Calloway arrived before Caleb finished the third vehicle.
Nobody had invited him.
He entered the maintenance depot with two employees and an attorney.
Helena met him near bay door.
Caleb kept working.
Russ’s voice carried.
“You’re allowing an unlicensed mobile mechanic to inspect work performed under our certified service agreement?”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.