Victoria had worked with Reyes before. Driscoll was new to Cole. They spent 4 hours in the shop without asking a single unnecessary question, which Cole appreciated. He walked them through the documentation sequence he'd prepared. Physical evidence first, historical record second, cross-references throughout, and answered their technical questions directly.
Reyes and Driscoll conferred in the shorthand of specialists, and Cole followed most of it and let the rest go. At the end of the 4 hours, Driscoll straightened up from examining the titanium plate on the engine block and looked at Cole with the expression of someone completing a calculation. "The plate is original," Driscoll said. "Same titanium alloy as the block itself. The weld beads are consistent with a date range of 2016 to 2018.
I can get that to a 1-year window with spectroscopic analysis. The surface oxidation pattern is consistent with the overall thermal history of the vehicle. " He looked at Reyes. "It's not a retrofit. It was put there during original manufacture. " Reyes nodded slowly. He'd been working through Cole's documentation for the last hour and had said almost nothing.
Now he set the binder down on the bench and looked at both of them. "I want to be careful about how I phrase this before we run formal analysis," he said. "But on the basis of what I've seen today, the physical evidence, the documentation, the internal consistency of the component markings, and their correlation with the archival records, I have no basis to conclude this is anything other than what the documentation says it is. " The room was quiet. Victoria was standing near the workbench with her arms crossed, not because she was defensive, but because it was apparently what she did when she was holding herself still. Cole was standing with his hands in his pockets.
"You're not saying it definitively," Cole said. "That's what the formal analysis is for. " Reyes held his gaze. "But off the record, in this room? Yeah. This is the car.
Cole heard it and felt nothing dramatic. No rush, no particular elation. What he felt was closer to the satisfaction of a measurement that comes out exactly where your calculations said it would. Confirmation, rather than surprise. "How long for formal analysis? " Victoria asked.
"Three weeks for the full spectroscopic and materials report. One week for preliminary findings I can put in writing. " "One week," she said. Reyes nodded. After they left, Cole and Victoria stood in the shop in the late afternoon quiet. The car sat on its stand under the overhead lights, looking exactly as destroyed as it had always looked.