Calvin turned.
“You know what it’s worth.”
“About fifteen.”
“Then why offer twenty-five?”
Silence.
Ellie noticed.
“What’s special about it?”
Calvin shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Then you’re overpaying ten thousand dollars.”
“I want this situation gone.”
“There it is.”
Calvin’s eyes hardened.
“You’re fifteen.”
Ellie felt anger rise.
Daniel stepped slightly forward.
“That sentence better end somewhere useful.”
Calvin changed tone.
“I mean you don’t understand what a drawn-out investigation does to businesses.”
Ellie stared.
“Your business?”
“Forty employees.”
“You disabled my tractor.”
“Allegedly.”
“You bid against me on something your own company owned.”
“Legal questions are more complicated than you think.”
“Why did you come here?”
Calvin stopped.
Daniel asked quietly:
“Who wrote the card?”
Calvin looked toward the tractor again.
Then:
“Leonard.”
“Hayes says he didn’t.”
“He’s lying.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants to save himself.”
“From what?”
Calvin did not answer.
Ellie stepped closer.
“What is the tractor?”
Calvin looked at her.
“What?”
“You don’t want the investigation gone.”
“You want the tractor.”
“No.”
“You came here yourself and offered ten thousand above market.”
Calvin stared.
For the first time, genuine uncertainty crossed his face.
Ellie continued.
“So what did we miss?”
He turned to leave.
Daniel said:
“Calvin.”
He stopped.
“If you’re offering twenty-five, we’re not selling at twenty-five.”
Calvin looked over his shoulder.
“You should.”
Then he drove away.
Ellie stood beside the tractor after dark.
Flashlight in hand.
Daniel joined her.
“You thinking serial number?”
“Yes.”
“Already checked.”
“What if not that?”
“What else?”
Ellie remembered the auction.
Calvin had not inspected the engine first.
He looked at the rear.
Then the underside.
She followed that path.
Rear housing.
Drawbar.
Three-point assembly.
Axle casting.
She wiped grease from the right axle.
Casting number.
Normal.
Then left.
Different.
Daniel crouched.
“That’s odd.”
The left final-drive housing carried a prototype casting number.
Not matching standard parts catalog.
They searched online.
Nothing.
Daniel called Mike Ellison.
Mike called a collector.
The collector asked for photographs.
Then called back ten minutes later.
“Where did you get that tractor?”