The Woman stared at the report.
The Single Dad whistled.
She looked at him.
“Yesterday you said you wouldn't guess.”
“I wasn't guessing.”
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“How much would you have paid me that first day?”
He smiled.
“If I were dishonest?”
“Yes.”
“Your hundred dollars.”
She stared.
Then laughed.
It was the first time she had laughed about the original offer without embarrassment.
“You could have had a five-million-dollar car for free.”
“Yes.”
“And you told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The Single Dad looked confused.
“Because it wasn't mine.”
“That has never stopped everybody else.”
“No.”
“But it stops me.”
She studied him.
“Your garage is struggling.”
The Single Dad's expression changed.
“How do you know?”
“I looked up the business.”
“You investigated me?”
“I investigate everybody now.”
He laughed.
She continued.
“You lost a major fleet contract.”
“Yes.”
“Your building mortgage resets in four months.”
“Yes.”
“You need money.”
“Yes.”
“And you still walked away from this.”
“It wasn't mine.”
She shook her head.
“You make that sound very simple.”
“It is.”
For him, maybe.
Not for her.
The Woman had built her career around negotiation.
Information advantage mattered.
Timing mattered.
If the other side did not understand what they possessed, that was usually their problem.
She had once considered that intelligence.
Now she looked at the Single Dad and wondered where intelligence ended and character began.
She offered him the preservation job officially.
Not as charity.
Not as a reward.
A contract.
Documented rates.
Insurance.
Parts budget.
Photography requirements.
He reviewed everything.
Then crossed out one line.
She frowned.
“What?”
“Bonus based on auction value.”
“You don't want it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because then I have an incentive to make decisions for sale price instead of preservation.”
The Woman stared.
“You are unbelievably inconvenient.”
“My daughter says that too.”
He accepted the job.
The car moved to his garage on a closed transporter.
Not a tow truck.
The Woman insisted.
The Single Dad tried not to look pleased.
He failed.
His Daughter met the car that afternoon.
She walked around it slowly.
Then looked at her father.
“This is the treasure?”
“Yes.”