Julian flushed. "Do you think I'm involved?"
"I don't know who's involved. That's why we need the review."
"I'm your son."
"I know that better than anyone."
"Then trust me."
Nathaniel studied him with sad affection. "I trust that you love this company. I'm not asking an investigation to decide whether you're a good son. I'm asking it to find out why customers have been receiving wrong bills and whether unsafe cars were approved for sale. Those aren't questions love can answer."
Julian looked away. He hated how small he felt whenever Nathaniel reminded him that the business had existed before his career began. He had joined at twenty-four, first sweeping showroom floors, then working in accounting and learning the details of inventory finance. He had spent years trying to convince his father that he could lead the group. Yet on nights like this, a single question from Nathaniel could make him feel as though he was still a boy who had brought home a disappointing report card.
"Victor says your people are overreacting," Julian said.
Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "My people?"
"The outside reviewers."
"Victor can provide records to them. If there's nothing wrong, the review should establish that."
"He says the duplicate transactions are a routine reconciliation issue."
"And the inspection signatures?"
Julian hesitated. "There may have been a software migration problem."
"Has Victor shown you evidence of that?"
"Not yet."
Nathaniel waited. Julian rubbed his forehead.
"I know how this sounds," Julian said. "I know you're going to tell me I've become careless."
"I was going to ask when you last visited the service bay without an appointment."
Julian gave a humorless laugh. "That's what I mean."
"Do you remember when you were twelve and you rebuilt that lawn mower with me?"
"You did most of the work."
"You insisted on taking apart the engine because it wouldn't start."
"I remember."
"And do you remember why it wouldn't start?"
Julian smiled reluctantly. "We'd forgotten to put fuel in it."
"No. We'd put fuel in the wrong container and were pouring in cleaning fluid. Your mother noticed before we ruined anything."
Julian laughed. "She made us clean the garage."
"For the rest of the afternoon. And what did she say?"
Julian stared at the bread in his hand. He remembered the scene in sudden vivid detail: his mother leaning against the garage door, laughing at the two men who had spent an hour diagnosing the wrong problem.
"Look at what's in front of you," he said quietly.
Nathaniel nodded. "You can have the finest tools in the world and still miss what's right under your nose."
Julian looked toward the hotel window. Rain ran down the glass in narrow streams. "You think I've missed something."
"I think we both have."
That answer unsettled Julian more than blame would have. He had prepared to defend himself against a father who always seemed certain. Instead he found an old man admitting uncertainty and asking for help.
"Victor says we're three weeks away from closing the credit facility," Julian said after a while. "If the banks lose confidence, we could have a liquidity problem."
"How serious?"
Julian hesitated. "Serious enough that we can't simply freeze all operations."
"Then let's see the actual position. No presentations. No reassuring summaries. Bank balances, debt obligations, inventory lines, related-party exposures, all of it."
"That will take time."
"Then we start tonight."
Julian stared at him. "You're seventy-eight. It's almost ten."
Nathaniel smiled. "I promise to be seventy-eight tomorrow too."
Against his instincts, Julian laughed. A tension he had carried since leaving Cincinnati began to loosen. He ordered coffee, opened his laptop, and started calling trusted colleagues. For the first time in years, he and his father looked at the company together rather than arguing about which of them understood it better.
The numbers were not immediately reassuring. Several subsidiaries had grown far more dependent on short-term credit than Julian realized. Inventory financing costs had risen, and some receivables appeared to have been assigned to outside entities under arrangements described in vague terminology. Victor had presented each transaction as a practical way to free working capital. Julian had approved the broad strategy, trusting his chief financial officer to manage the details.
"I signed this," Julian said at one point, pointing to a financing resolution.
Nathaniel leaned closer. "Did you read it?"
"I read the summary. Victor said the rest was standard."