Walt hesitated, as though he was crossing a boundary he had maintained for a quarter century. "A week or two after that day. He parked across the street and stood outside looking at the car in the window. I saw him from the door. I thought he'd come in again, but he just stood there a minute and left."
Daniel set down his cup carefully. He had never heard that before.
"Why didn't you go to him?" he asked. Walt's eyes filled with discomfort.
"I was afraid," he answered.
"Afraid of Victor. Afraid of losing work. I told myself it wasn't my place."
He looked at Daniel with an honesty that seemed more costly than any polished apology. "I've regretted it for twenty-five years. I'm not making the same choice today."
A uniformed officer entered a few minutes later, and the atmosphere changed at once. Victor straightened his tie, Tyler stepped back from the car, and Vanessa adopted a smooth, rehearsed expression.
The officer was a middle-aged woman named Officer Nina Lawson, and she took in the number of phones being held aloft before speaking. "Evening," she said.
"I got a call about a trespass complaint. Which one of you is the owner?"
Victor hurried forward. "I am. Victor Sterling. This man is refusing to leave. He's been making wild claims and wasting my staff's time all afternoon."
Officer Lawson looked toward Daniel, who rose from the chair slowly enough not to alarm anyone. "Sir, your name?" she asked. "Daniel Brooks. I'm a customer. I asked to buy a vehicle, and my payment is being processed. They told me I couldn't afford it, so I asked to speak with the owner."
Officer Lawson turned back to Vanessa. "Is a purchase in progress?" Vanessa shifted her tablet from one hand to the other.
"It's difficult to say. He claims a wire is coming, but we haven't received anything yet." The officer looked between them.
"Then perhaps verify the account before we discuss removing anyone. I don't see an immediate safety issue." She did not pretend the dispute had ceased to be a property matter, but she clearly had no intention of converting a sales argument into an arrest for the benefit of an audience.
Victor's face tightened. "Officer, I have a right to decide who enters my showroom." "You have rights over your property," she answered.
"And I need accurate information about what happened before I act. Has this gentleman threatened someone or damaged something?"
There was a small, revealing pause. Maria spoke from behind the reception desk.
"No, Officer. He asked to see a car and offered to pay for it. That's all I've seen."
Vanessa shot her a furious look. Daniel watched Maria flinch and then hold her ground. The gesture moved him more than the prospect of a three-hundred-thousand-dollar purchase. She could lose something real for speaking that plainly; he, by contrast, had spent years accumulating the financial security that would allow him to weather far worse than Victor's insults. Their courage was not being exercised at equal cost, and Daniel did not intend to forget the difference.