“Could be wiring.”
“Could.”
Dean smiled.
“Isn’t.”
Grizz walked closer.
“What makes you certain?”
Dean pointed toward the bike.
“Seen it.”
“Module intermittently fails internally.”
“Sometimes communicates.”
“Sometimes doesn't.”
“Eventually dead.”
Eddie groaned.
“How much?”
Dean named a number.
Eddie stared.
“For a box?”
“For a programmed box.”
Ray said:
“I want to test the harness.”
Dean smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Something in the way he said it bothered Lucas.
Not confidence.
Anticipation.
Ray spent thirty minutes.
Connector checks.
Power.
Ground.
Continuity on accessible sections.
Nothing obvious.
Bike remained dead.
Another mechanic from the club, Tommy Reese, tried.
No start.
Dean leaned against a workbench.
Enjoying himself now.
Grizz noticed.
“What?”
Dean shrugged.
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
Dean looked around.
“Just thinking Daniel Bennett would've had a theory by now.”
Lucas stopped wiping the socket tray.
Grizz’s eyes hardened.
“Leave Daniel out of it.”
Dean lifted both hands.
“I complimented him.”
“No.”
“You baited his son.”
Dean looked toward Lucas.
Lucas kept working.
Dean smiled.
“His son isn't part of this.”
Lucas said:
“Good.”
Dean laughed.
The room grew quiet.
Lucas regretted speaking.
Dean walked toward him.
“You got something?”
“No.”
“Sounded like something.”
Lucas placed the rag down.
“I said good.”
Dean looked at the broom leaning against the wall.
Then Lucas.
“Smart.”
Grizz stepped between the direction of their attention, not physically between them.
“Dean.”
The warning was gentle.
Dean changed course.
“Fine.”
He turned toward Eddie.
“Tell you what.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Pulled out a bank envelope.
Set it on the workbench.
Then another.
Cash.
Bundled.
Grizz stared.
“What are you doing?”
Dean stacked five bundles.
“One thousand each.”
Eddie laughed.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Dean spread his hands.
“Five grand.”
“For?”
“Anybody in this shop gets that thing running without replacing the module.”
Ray frowned.
“That's stupid.”
“Why?”
“Because diagnosis isn't a circus.”
Dean smiled.
“Only if you're scared.”
Ray turned away.
He was not taking the bait.
Dean tapped the cash.
“Five thousand.”
“Five minutes.”
Grizz looked at him.
“Five minutes?”
“Plenty.”
“Module's dead.”
“You all think wiring.”
“Prove me wrong.”
Tommy Reese laughed.
“I'll take your money.”
Dean nodded.
“Do it.”