Grease on his hands.
That ridiculous grin whenever an old machine woke up.
Mason swallowed.
Ray smiled openly.
That alone would have shocked the regular customers.
The motorcycle settled into a steady idle.
No misfire.
No hesitation.
No mysterious electronic collapse.
Nothing suggesting the catastrophic failure Victor had described.
Mason shut it down after less than a minute.
Silence returned.
Eli clapped.
Sarah cried.
Victor said:
“Lucky.”
Nobody answered.
He continued:
“A loose connector doesn't mean the system is healthy.”
Mason looked at him.
“No.”
“Module could still be intermittent.”
“Yes.”
“You'll need hours of testing.”
“Probably.”
“So let's not pretend a child solved—”
Mason's expression changed.
Victor stopped.
Mason said:
“He noticed the blue mark.”
Victor looked at Eli.
Mason stepped between them.
“Look at me.”
Victor did.
“He noticed.”
“No one said he repaired it.”
“No one is putting a wrench in his hand near a running engine.”
“No one is turning him into a stunt.”
“He looked.”
“He remembered his father.”
“And he pointed.”
Victor exhaled.
“Fine.”
Mason held up the blue-stained glove.
“Now explain this.”
Victor frowned.
“Explain what?”
“Blue compound.”
“Why would I explain it?”
“You use blue.”
“So do thousands of mechanics.”
“Not in my shop.”
“You think I sabotaged the bike?”
Sarah's head turned sharply.
Eli looked between adults.
Mason immediately moderated his voice.
“I didn't say that.”
“You implied it.”
“No.”
Victor pointed at him.
“You've hated me for years.”
Mason almost laughed.
“Hate requires more energy than you receive from me.”
Victor’s face reddened.
Ray stood.
“Enough.”
Victor looked at Sarah.
“This is exactly why I told you to sell.”
Sarah stared.
“What?”
“These people are emotionally attached.”
“They'll keep throwing money at a forty-year-old machine because Daniel touched it.”
Mason said:
“Stop using his name.”
Victor ignored him.
“Twenty-two thousand is fair.”
Sarah looked at the motorcycle.
Then the purchase agreement.
Something changed inside her.
Not certainty.
Suspicion.
She asked:
“When did you write that contract?”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“The revised one.”
“This morning.”
“What time?”
He stared.
“Why does that matter?”
Mason looked at her.
Sarah continued.
“You called me at seven twenty.”
“Yes.”
“You said you had already increased the offer.”
“Yes.”
“So you prepared twenty-two thousand before you knew Mason's shop had given up.”
Victor paused.
Only half a second.
Enough.
“I knew they'd give up.”
Ray laughed once.
Victor looked at him.
Ray said:
“You knew we'd fail before we did?”