Ryder did not.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“You met me twenty minutes ago.”
“I investigated you.”
“That doesn’t improve this.”
“You think it’s a scam.”
“I think rich men don’t get rich giving nineteen million dollars to mechanics because their daughter was rude.”
“Correct.”
Theodore nodded.
“That is not why I’m offering it.”
“Then why?”
“Because I believe you are undercapitalized.”
Ryder stared.
“You’re what?”
“Undercapitalized.”
Theodore gestured toward the garage.
“One lift that should have been replaced.”
Ryder’s face changed.
“A building carrying expensive debt.”
Now suspicion.
“Equipment financing.”
“Theodore.”
“A customer base loyal enough to support expansion.”
Ryder’s voice hardened.
“You went into my finances?”
“Public records and voluntary information only.”
“That doesn’t make me like it.”
“You don’t have to like me.”
Theodore stood.
“This is not payment for the invoice.”
“Sounds like it.”
“The invoice is one hundred ninety-nine dollars.”
“Nineteen million is a weird adjustment.”
Theodore smiled.
“Agreed.”
Ryder looked away.
Theodore continued more quietly.
“My daughter showed me something about you without intending to.”
Ryder said nothing.
“She treated you badly.”
“That’s between me and her.”
“Yes.”
“And you want to reward me for not yelling?”
“No.”
Theodore shook his head.
“I want to invest resources in someone who apparently behaves the same when nobody important is watching.”
Ryder looked back.
“Everybody suddenly matters when they’re attached to nineteen million dollars.”
“That is why the money comes after the record.”
Theodore gestured around them.
“Eleven years.”
“Your reputation existed before I knew your name.”
Ryder remained silent.
“The laundromat.”
His face changed.
“Harlow Webb.”
Another.
“Mrs. Patton.”
Ryder looked genuinely irritated now.
“You had somebody interviewing people about me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s…”
“Weird?”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
Theodore smiled faintly.
“I have been called worse.”
Ryder looked down at the envelope.
“What are the conditions?”
“None on the gift portion.”
“Gift portion?”
“Open it.”
This time Ryder did.
Inside was not only a check.
There was a letter.
A preliminary legal summary.
Contact information for Sterling Legacy Trust counsel.
And a bank draft representing an initial nineteen-million-dollar irrevocable grant to a trust established for Ryder’s benefit and designated business/community purposes, subject only to standard tax, compliance and acceptance documentation.
Ryder read the number.
$19,000,000.00
His hands stopped moving.
“That isn’t possible.”
“It is.”
Ryder looked up.
“You expect me to believe this?”
“No.”
Theodore stood.
“I expect you to verify it.”
That answer helped.
Ryder stared at the documents again.
“Why nineteen?”
“Because twenty felt theatrical.”
Ryder looked at him.
Theodore smiled.
“That was a joke.”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“I get that often.”
Ryder sat again.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Whatever survives good advice.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only responsible answer.”
Theodore walked toward the bay entrance.