They Sold a Boy 180 “Dead” Starters for $65 — Then the Dealership Called Him Back
Chapter 4
Mr. Alvarez owned a small repair shop three blocks from the railroad tracks.
He had retired twice.
Both times, he came back because he got bored.
When Caleb arrived, the old mechanic was sitting beneath a hood-mounted lamp, rebuilding a carburetor.
“You look worried.”
“I found something.”
Caleb placed the starter on the bench.
Mr. Alvarez examined it.
“Where’d you get this?”
“Lakeview Motors.”
“Ah.”
“You know them?”
“Everyone knows them.”
“What’s wrong with this?”
“Nothing obvious.”
Caleb explained everything.
Mr. Alvarez listened without interrupting.
Then he picked up the starter.
“Don’t open it.”
“Frank said the same thing.”
“Frank is smarter than he looks.”
“He’s actually pretty smart.”
“That’s why I said it.”
Caleb laughed.
Mr. Alvarez turned the starter over.
“See this?”
“What?”
“Two extra weld marks.”
Caleb leaned closer.
He hadn’t noticed.
“Someone opened the housing.”
“Then resealed it.”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Mr. Alvarez called a friend who owned a small industrial inspection company.
Two hours later, the starter was scanned.
The X-ray appeared on a monitor.
Caleb stared.
Inside the housing was a small rectangular object.
Not mechanical.
Electronic.
“That’s a data module,” Mr. Alvarez said.
Caleb’s eyes widened.
“Like a computer?”
“Something like it.”
The module was attached beneath the starter’s internal assembly.
Whoever installed it had done so carefully.
Mr. Alvarez looked at Caleb.
“Now we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Because whoever put that in didn’t want it found.”
Caleb remembered Richard’s reaction.
The phone call.
The sudden interest.
The $1,500 offer.
“What should I do?”
“Don’t tell anyone you scanned it.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone hid evidence, they may come looking for it.”
Caleb’s stomach tightened.
That evening, he told his mother.
She immediately called Frank.
Frank sounded alarmed.
“You shouldn’t have opened anything.”
“We didn’t.”
“Good.”
“Frank, what is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Someone does.”
Silence.
Then Frank said:
“Caleb, listen carefully.”
“I’m listening.”
“Don’t bring it back to the dealership.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who I can trust.”
His mother looked at Caleb.
Frank continued.
“There’s a former technician named Robert Hayes.”
“Who?”
“He worked here in 2019.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
Caleb frowned.
“Disappeared?”
“Quit suddenly.”
“Where did he go?”
“No one knows.”
“What does he have to do with the starter?”
Frank lowered his voice.
“He was working on the car that starter came from.”
Caleb stared at the module.
“What car?”
“A 2019 Blackridge sedan.”
“Who owned it?”
“That’s the problem.”
“What?”
“The vehicle was registered to a company.”
“Which company?”
Frank hesitated.
“Walker Industrial.”
Caleb froze.
His mother looked at him.
“What?”
Caleb couldn’t speak.
Walker Industrial was his father’s old employer.
The same company his father had worked for before leaving the family.
Caleb’s father had disappeared from their lives when Caleb was eleven.
He had never explained why.
His mother had always told him:
“Your father made choices we couldn’t fix.”
Caleb had never asked more.
Now he stared at the starter.
“Frank…”
“Yes?”
“Was my father connected to that car?”
Frank didn’t answer.
“Frank?”
“I need to check.”
“Please.”
“I’ll call you back.”
The call ended.
Caleb looked at his mother.
She was pale.
“Mom?”
She sat down.
“What?”
“Why would Dad’s company own that car?”
She looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I don’t know, Caleb.”
“You do.”
She closed her eyes.
Then she whispered:
“Your father worked on a project for Walker Industrial.”
“What project?”
“I never knew.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he told me never to ask.”
Caleb looked at the starter.
The little electronic module inside suddenly felt much heavier.
His mother stood.
“Promise me something.”
“What?”
“If this has anything to do with your father, you stay out of it.”
Caleb didn’t answer.
“Caleb.”
“I promise I’ll be careful.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t know if I can promise that.”
His mother closed her eyes.
Outside, a car slowed near the house.
Neither of them noticed.
A man inside the vehicle watched the garage.
Then he made a phone call.
“They found the unit.”
