The Second Owner Brought A Claim On My Clock

Mina Ortiz arrived at Alder Lock Rooms carrying a blue folder and a folded tape measure.

"I'm here about the loan," she said. "Nobody needs to make a scene."

Nolan stood beside the ticket desk with his coat still on.

"This has gotten confused," he said.

"Then we'll count," I said.

Dana had hired an equipment inspector named Russ to make an independent list. Thuy came as my witness. She waited by the wall until I asked her to hold the clock face.

I took out six screws. Behind the face, the serial plate read NV-M01-114.

Russ photographed it beside a ruler.

Mina opened her folder.

"Same number."

We checked the ore lift next. Then the lantern rack, the sliding jail wall, and the cart brake.

Eleven plates. Eleven matches.

I had used a three-tap pattern to mark each plate with a center punch before drilling it. Two close marks, then a third farther away. It helped me line up parts in poor light.

Nolan stared at those little dents as if I had put them there that morning.

"They're standard units," he said.

"There's nothing standard about these," Russ said. "This one has a hand-cut drive plate."

"I cut it," I said.

Mina showed me the schedule attached to her loan.

It was my list with a new line above it: EQUIPMENT OWNED BY NOLAN MERCER.

The note named Nolan as the borrower. He had taken $38,000 from Mina seven months earlier, promising repayment with interest after the summer season. The listed mechanisms secured the loan. If he failed to pay, she could seek to take them for Lakeglass Maze.

He had also signed a statement that no one else held title.

"You told me your wife painted the walls," Mina said.

Nolan reached for her elbow.

She moved back.

"Please don't."

I knew that move. The soft touch before he tried to guide a person somewhere quieter.

Ellis, Dana's attorney, had joined by phone. Russ set it on the empty ticket counter.

"Nobody removes equipment today," Ellis said. "My client won't close with these claims unresolved."

"The company needs this sale," Nolan said.

"The sale needs clear title," Dana answered.

He turned toward me.

"Tell them we can work this out at home."

"We can work it out in writing."

Thuy kept holding the clock face. She had not spoken once.

When we finished, Russ emailed his report to everyone. I watched the eleven photographs appear on my phone.

Mina stopped beside me at the door.

"I'm sorry he put us against each other."

"You didn't build the problem."

She gave me a copy of her note, the signed title statement, and the bank confirmation for her advance.

"I want my money back," she said. "I don't want to pull your walls apart."

After she left, Nolan told Dana he needed to show her revised income figures. He opened the office door, and I saw a stack of papers beside the printer.

On top sat a bill from Cedar Shift Services LLC.

October staffing: $7,840.

We had two part-time game hosts. Their wages went through our regular payroll service. I knew because I had trained both of them to reset the lift safely.

"Who worked those shifts?" I asked.

Nolan covered the bill with his folder.

"Contract help."

"We were closed on Tuesdays. There are five Tuesday shifts on that page."

"You don't understand staffing."

I tapped my pencil against the ticket desk. Twice, then once.

He picked up the pencil and laid it beyond my reach.

"Stop making that noise."

I asked for a copy of the bill. He refused.

I wrote down the amount and the vendor's name in the back of my notebook while he watched.

That night, I stayed with Thuy in her spare room. I brought clothes, my tool case, and the signed agreement. I left Nolan a message saying where legal mail could reach me. I did not give him Thuy's home address.

At 8:06, our host, Abby, texted me.

Nolan changed the shop code. He said you quit. Is that true?

I told her I had not quit and that she should keep her time records. I did not ask her to choose a side.

At 8:19, Nolan sent an email.

He offered $12,000 if I signed away my fabrication claim, my share of the business, and any claim to the sale money.

The deadline was noon the next day.

Below it, he had written one more line.

If you won't sign, my lawyer will explain what your interference is going to cost you.