I watched until he disappeared behind the trees
The conversation did not erase what he had done
It did give me reason to believe he understood more than he had on the morning of the theft
The following day Dana called with a question about the old photograph
She wanted to know whether I could identify the restoration broker from a current picture
I said I could try
She arranged a formal identification procedure rather than sending me a photograph by text
At the office I recognized the man I remembered from the car show
His name was Peter Rusk
He had worked in classic car sales before becoming a consultant for storage and liquidation companies
Dana did not tell me whether he was suspected of a crime
She asked me to describe his conversation with Laura as accurately as I could
I remembered his expensive shoes and the way he had inspected the Mustang before greeting either of us
He offered a price that sounded generous until Laura asked how much he expected to make reselling it
He had smiled and said the market decided those things
Laura told him the car was not available
He asked whether she would change her mind if the offer doubled
She said he had misunderstood her answer
I remembered the moment because Laura had squeezed my hand afterward and whispered that some men thought everything had a price
Dana wrote down the words without commenting
She asked whether Rusk had contacted us again
I said he left a business card under our windshield wiper at the end of the show
I had kept it in the folder with the registration papers
Dana asked me to bring it to her
I returned home and searched the drawer where Laura stored receipts from our trips
The card was still there beneath a faded parking ticket
I placed it in a clean envelope and drove it back to the office
Dana thanked me and said the original could be important for establishing the history of the contact
She did not promise that it would prove anything more
I was learning to appreciate that kind of caution
On Thursday evening the neighborhood clubhouse filled long before the scheduled meeting
People stood along the walls holding folders and printed statements
Meredith sat at the front table beside Conrad Vale and two board members who avoided looking at the audience
