A small office.
And a handwritten sign near the register:
DIAGNOSIS FIRST. PARTS SECOND.
Victoria had looked at it.
Then at Daniel.
“You work on Mercedes?”
“I work on cars.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Daniel had glanced toward her vehicle.
“Cars don’t know what badge is on hood.”
Thomas stood behind her.
He looked mildly irritated.
Victoria almost smiled.
Daniel continued.
“Tell me what happened.”
Thomas answered before Victoria did.
“Engine hesitated under load yesterday.”
“Today crank, no start.”
Daniel nodded.
“Any warning lights?”
“Fuel-system message.”
“Recent service?”
Thomas hesitated.
“No.”
Daniel noticed.
Victoria did not.
He plugged in a scanner.
Then checked pressure.
Then electrical command.
The fuel pump itself was functional.
The control module had intermittent power.
He removed a trunk-side access panel and found a connector partly unseated.
Not broken.
Not corroded.
Not normally something that backed out on its own.
Someone had released the locking tab.
Daniel frowned.
Thomas stood nearby.
“What?”
“This connector didn’t fail.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was loose.”
“Vibration?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Not likely.”
Victoria checked her phone.
“Can you repair it?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I want to check harness before reseating.”
“Why?”
“Because if somebody touched this, I want to know whether they touched something else.”
Thomas laughed lightly.
“Who would touch it?”
Daniel looked at him again.
“That is what I’m wondering.”
Victoria was already answering an email.
“Please just make it reliable.”
“I have meetings.”
Daniel nodded.
Thomas handed him the keys.
That was when the camera recorded everything.
What Daniel did not know was that Thomas Bell had deliberately loosened that connector twelve hours earlier.
Not because he wanted Victoria hurt.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
He had selected a failure that would prevent the car from starting without creating dangerous behavior at speed.
He had learned enough watching mechanics over three decades around Sterling family vehicles.
His plan was simple.
Create an unscheduled repair.
Choose a small independent shop without corporate security protocols.
Remove the bracelet before handing over the keys.
Wait until Victoria noticed.
Suggest the mechanic.
The bracelet would be sold months later through a private broker in Antwerp after stones were separated.
By then Daniel Carter would be one more poor service worker who could not prove a negative.
Thomas had done versions of it before.
Never exactly like that.
But close enough.
And that was the part Daniel’s question forced Victoria to confront when she reached Sterling House that afternoon.
“Figure out whether this is the first person Thomas let you accuse.”
Victoria sat in the rear of a black SUV while security vehicles moved ahead.
Her security chief, Aaron Wallace, sat opposite.
Neither spoke for the first ten minutes.
Finally Victoria said:
“Tell me he hasn’t done this before.”
Aaron looked toward window.
“That is not something I can promise.”
“You’ve worked for me nine years.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas hired you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever suspect him?”