“I need to check something.”
He moved quickly now.
The Woman followed.
The Single Dad dropped to one knee beside the driver's door opening.
He pulled a dirty cloth from his tool bag.
“What are you doing?”
“There should be a chassis stamping.”
“Where?”
“Depends.”
He wiped the lower frame rail.
Nothing.
He checked beneath the door sill.
Then behind a trim plate.
Rust.
Dirt.
Paint.
He rubbed carefully.
Letters emerged.
The Woman crouched despite the expensive trousers.
The Single Dad wiped again.
KMW-XR1-EXP001
Neither spoke.
The Woman looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
He sat back.
“I think your father owned a car people have been looking for for decades.”
She laughed.
But this time it was nervous.
“That's dramatic.”
“I’m not joking.”
“You recognize that number?”
“I recognize the story.”
“What story?”
The Single Dad stood.
“In the mid-sixties, Kingsley developed an experimental performance platform before they released the XR series.”
The Woman stared.
He continued.
“Three prototypes were rumored.”
“Maybe four.”
“Most records were destroyed when the advanced division closed.”
“One was crash-tested.”
“One apparently went back to the factory.”
“And EXP-001 disappeared.”
“How do you know this?”
“I restore old cars.”
“People talk.”
“Collectors obsess.”
The Woman looked at the rusted coupe.
“This?”
“Yes.”
“This is the car?”
“I said I think.”
She looked at the documentation.
“What would something like this be worth?”
The question came immediately.
The Single Dad smiled faintly.
“There you are.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
He shook his head.
“I won't guess.”
“Hundreds of thousands?”
“Maybe.”
“More?”
“Could be.”
“A million?”
He looked at the car again.
“If the documentation is real.”
“If the chassis is original.”
“If the engine matches.”
“If this is what it appears to be.”
The Woman lowered her voice.
“How much?”
The Single Dad hesitated.
“Potentially several million.”
Silence.
The Woman laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
The Single Dad shrugged.
“You wanted to give me a hundred dollars to take it.”