The specialist spent two hours examining the vehicle. He photographed welds, original metal seams, areas beneath trim, and the manufacturing marks that could not be easily changed without leaving evidence. The paint was convincing. The story on paper was convincing. The metal beneath it told a different story.
“This is not the car described in the title,” he told Price.
The body had been assembled from parts produced for more than one vehicle. Some were genuine period components. Others had been altered. The identification plate had been replaced. Beneath a repaired panel, the specialist found signs of a number that had been ground away.
“What about Grant’s car?” Price asked.
“We’ll need to inspect it independently, but his father’s restoration records already show several manufacturing details missing here.”
The auction house paused the sale and preserved its records. Its managers had believed the paperwork supplied by Lakeview. They had no immediate reason to think the title history was invented. One employee, however, recalled that Gregory Hartman had insisted the car be sold before the end of the month despite a request for additional verification.
When Price asked why the deadline mattered, she found the answer in a loan document obtained through the investigation. Lakeview had borrowed against anticipated auction proceeds. Payment was due soon. If the sale failed, the lender could claim the company’s pledged assets and demand additional security.
The fake car was not simply a vanity project. It was part of a financial house of cards.
To make its paperwork stand, Gregory needed the real Mustang to be unavailable long enough for the transaction to close, and preferably for its physical identifying marks to be tampered with. An ownership dispute and a controlled storage lot would provide both time and access.
Suddenly, Logan’s desperate attempts to borrow the Mustang no longer looked like the whole plan. His tantrum had provided Vivien with a public pretext to make Elijah appear unreasonable. The fraudulent title filing had begun before the boy’s loudest confrontation. Gregory had been arranging the real operation while his family kept Elijah occupied with HOA letters.
Price called Elijah with only what she could properly share.
“We’ve found evidence that the second vehicle isn’t what its title claims,” she said. “Your father’s records are important.”
“Was he involved in any of this?”
“We have no evidence he did anything wrong. In fact, there’s evidence he refused to cooperate with people who wanted identifying information.”
Elijah closed his eyes. He pictured his father bending over a notebook with grease on his fingers.
“He knew something was off,” Elijah said.
“It appears he did.”
For the first time since the police had arrived in his driveway, Elijah allowed himself to feel more than anger.
