Ellie understood what he was doing.
She appreciated it.
She was still angry.
After dishes, she returned to the shop alone.
Daniel allowed it.
She did not touch the tractor immediately.
Instead she stood six feet away.
Looked.
That was another habit Daniel had taught her.
Sometimes mechanics became so intimate with individual components that they stopped seeing the system.
Step back.
Look again.
Fuel.
Air.
Compression.
Spark.
Timing.
All apparently present.
Then why no sustained ignition?
Ellie moved around the left side.
Her flashlight crossed the fuel-pump area.
She stopped.
The linkage.
Earlier, she thought it looked recently disturbed.
Now, under direct light, she noticed something else.
The retaining clip sat on the outer face instead of behind the lever.
That seemed wrong.
She crouched.
Compared its movement with a diagram she had pulled up on Daniel’s old tablet.
Then again.
Backwards.
The lever was installed backward.
Not enough to look obviously incorrect.
Enough that under load, instead of opening fully, it bound against the pump body.
She touched it.
The polished mark matched exactly where the lever rubbed.
“Dad!”
Daniel appeared from the house less than a minute later.
“What?”
“Look.”
He crouched beside her.
Ellie showed him.
Daniel did not react immediately.
“You sure?”
“Diagram.”
She held up the tablet.
He compared.
Then looked at the linkage.
“Interesting.”
“That means I’m right.”
“It means it’s backwards.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Doesn’t mean that’s the only problem.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Useful trait.”
Ellie reached for a wrench.
Daniel stopped her hand.
“What?”
“Photograph it first.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because anything installed wrong on a tractor sold as ‘unknown engine failure’ should be documented before you correct it.”
Ellie stared at him.
“You think someone did it on purpose.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re thinking it.”
Daniel took out his phone.
“I think photographs are free.”
They documented the linkage from several angles.
Then Ellie removed it.
The small pivot seal behind it looked newer than almost every surrounding component.
She held it up.
“This was repaired recently.”
Daniel nodded.
“Could have been somebody trying to fix the failure.”
“By installing the part backward?”
“People make mistakes.”
Ellie turned the linkage in her hand.
“Maybe.”
She cleaned it.
Replaced the worn seal.
Installed the lever correctly.
Adjusted travel.
Reassembled everything.
By then it was almost nine.
Daniel looked toward the clock.
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Ellie.”
“If it starts, I won’t sleep anyway.”
“If it doesn’t start, you definitely won’t sleep.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel sighed.