"My teacher says I can show my project on Friday," Lily said. "The one with the repair station."
"That's wonderful."
"Will you come?"
His first instinct was to think about the investigation and the board meeting. Then he remembered that before the job offer he had promised Lily he would find a way to attend her school events, even if work became difficult. He opened the calendar on his phone and blocked the hour. "I'll be there," he said. "And if something changes, I'll tell you myself."
She nodded, satisfied. "Can Charlotte come too?"
The question surprised him. "Why would Charlotte come?"
"She liked my city. And she knows people who make cars, so she can tell everybody it's good."
"It doesn't need a CEO to be good, bug. It's good because you built it."
Lily thought about that, then grinned. "She can still come if she wants."
He promised only to ask. Later, once she slept, he called Charlotte and gave her an update on the interview with his attorney. She listened and thanked him without trying to turn the conversation toward business. Before hanging up, he mentioned Lily's school project. Charlotte said she would attend if Lily wanted her there and if the school allowed visitors, though she warned that she knew less about children's art projects than engines.
"That's all right," Evan said. "Nobody is going to test you."
She laughed quietly. It was the first time he had heard her laugh without caution, and the sound made him realize how rarely she allowed herself to be a person who had nothing to prove. He hung up with a feeling he did not examine too closely. Gratitude was easy to confuse with trust, and trust was easy to confuse with something more when a person appeared at the right moment in a desperate life.
The next morning Evan arrived at the garage to find Marcus waiting beside his workbench. Marcus had dark circles under his eyes, and in his hand he held an old photograph in a transparent sleeve. It showed Thomas Hail and Daniel Carter standing on opposite sides of a test assembly. Marcus handed it over without ceremony.
"I brought this because the date matters," he said. "It was taken three days before Daniel was dismissed. My father wrote on the back that the final validation data had been corrected. When I read the notebooks, I realized he meant altered, not repaired."
Evan read the note and returned the photograph. "Are you prepared to say that under oath?"
Marcus swallowed. "If that's where this goes."
"Then don't say it for me," Evan replied. "Say it because somebody else might get blamed next."
Marcus looked toward the black prototype. "I didn't plant that connector. I need you to know that."
"I don't know what you've done or what you haven't. Neither do the investigators yet. I'm not going to make the mistake of judging you by your father."