“Do you know the man who specified this bracket?” he asked.
Venn replied, “I know no criminal craftsman.”
“That was not my question.”
Fiske said, “Mr. Venn, let her finish.”
Nell laid the bracket beside the surviving pieces. She showed them that a narrow steel tongue had been inserted to keep the cable from slipping away too early. It required tools and knowledge that Pike lacked. Silas had admitted filing the pin, but he had insisted the guide tongue arrived already made. At the time Daniel had assumed Pike bought it at the smithy. Now Nell recognized the stamping beneath the rust: a faint triangular impression used by the very firm that supplied the portable press.
Venn bent to inspect it and immediately straightened. “Many firms buy components from us.”
“Then we can discover who ordered this one,” Fiske said.
Venn stared at his senior partner. “You intend to delay the demonstration because of a mark?”
“No,” Fiske said. “Because a man nearly killed me.”
Venn walked toward his wagon, claiming he needed a document from a case beneath the seat. Daniel noticed that he had gone to the rear of the wagon where no case was visible. He called Aaron over and asked the boy to fetch Ruth and Mercy. He did not tell them to confront Venn. He wanted people positioned where they could see what the young man did next.
Venn returned with a length of black leather belting. He told Alden the portable press was ready. Without waiting for agreement, he ordered his mechanic to connect it to the louvers. The mechanic hesitated. Nell stood beside the beam and pointed at the unguarded wheel.
“Not with children still carrying timber through this yard.”
“Then send them away,” Venn snapped.
Ruth had arrived with the three apprentices who had carried spare parts that morning. She looked at the press, at Venn, and then at Alden. “We will move the timber when the machine is made safe.”
Alden began to object, but Fiske spoke first. “The test may wait.”
“Every day we wait costs you money,” Venn said.
“Every day I live,” Fiske answered, “I can earn some of it back.”
Venn’s composure cracked. He accused Daniel of organizing defiance, Nell of interfering in work that was not hers, and Alden of allowing his household to embarrass a firm that had extended him generous credit. Each accusation landed somewhere real. Alden had little money. The estate depended on crops that could spoil if drying was delayed. The field workers knew how quickly a lack of food or fuel became their emergency. Venn had selected his leverage carefully.
Daniel knew the tempting response would be to repair the press on Venn’s terms and prove it safe by working faster than any other man. That was what Alden had demanded of him for years: solve the owner’s problem with his own body, then be grateful for the praise. This time he asked everyone operating the machinery to leave it untouched until a protective guard could be fitted.
