“This is ridiculous.”
Grizz looked at him.
“Probably.”
Dean relaxed slightly.
Grizz continued:
“So we'll know in five minutes.”
Dean picked up his tool roll.
“I've got customers waiting.”
Grizz’s voice remained gentle.
“Leave the tools.”
Dean stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“You're a guest in my shop.”
“Leave them there until we look.”
Dean laughed.
“You think I'm going to steal evidence?”
Grizz stared.
“I didn't say evidence.”
Silence.
Dean looked around.
Twenty eyes.
No one smiling now.
Then Dean put the roll down.
“Fine.”
Grizz went to the office.
Lucas remained beside the motorcycle.
Eddie looked at him.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Take the money.”
Lucas looked toward the five bundles.
“No.”
Dean laughed from across the room.
“Finally some sense.”
Eddie frowned.
“You fixed it.”
“I pushed a connector together.”
“That got it running.”
Lucas shook his head.
“If somebody loosened it on purpose, that's not a five-thousand-dollar diagnosis.”
Dean said:
“Nobody loosened anything.”
Lucas looked at him.
“Then I definitely don't deserve five thousand.”
That answer irritated Dean more.
Why?
Because Lucas was not playing the game Dean needed him to play.
Dean wanted arrogance.
Wanted victory speech.
Wanted the kid to overreach so he could cut him down.
Lucas gave him nothing.
Two minutes later, Grizz called Ray into the office.
Then Eddie.
Lucas waited.
Dean paced once.
Twice.
Then:
“This club always loved Daniel.”
Lucas looked at him.
Dean continued.
“Made him into some legend.”
“My dad wasn't a legend.”
“No?”
“No.”
“He forgot appointments.”
“He hated paperwork.”
“He once rebuilt a customer’s carburetor twice because he installed the same wrong gasket both times.”
Tommy laughed.
Lucas smiled.
“He was good.”
“That's all.”
Dean stared.
“You think you're him?”
“No.”
That answer came instantly.
Dean seemed almost disappointed.
Lucas continued.
“I’m trying to be me.”
The office door opened.
Grizz stood there.
His face was unreadable.
“Dean.”
Dean stopped.
Grizz held a tablet.
“Come watch.”
Everyone moved toward the office.
Too many.
Grizz said:
“Not everybody.”
Eddie.
Ray.
Lucas.
Dean.
The rest stayed outside, reluctantly.
Inside, Grizz closed the door.
Pulled up the security footage.
Timestamp.
Previous night.
10:28 p.m.
Eddie rode the black cruiser inside.
Parked.
Several members remained after the charity meeting.
People talking.
Cleaning.
Dean appeared in frame.
Lucas frowned.
He had forgotten Dean stopped by the previous night.
Grizz remembered now.
Dean had dropped off a performance part ordered for another customer.
Footage showed him speaking with Eddie.
Then Eddie left the camera frame.
At 10:41, most men walked toward the clubhouse side.