Nia looked at Meredith.
“You knew.”
Meredith’s face flushed.
“I knew she said something.”
“No.”
“You knew I was a customer.”
“I did not know who you were.”
Nia’s expression remained still.
“Exactly.”
Nobody spoke.
The sentence landed harder than shouting.
Celeste reached them.
“Ms. Caldwell.”
Nia turned.
Celeste looked as though she might faint.
“I am so sorry.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“What are you sorry for?”
Celeste hesitated.
Wrong answer already.
Nia waited.
Celeste tried:
“For the misunderstanding.”
Nia looked toward Maya.
Then Meredith.
Then the officer.
“No.”
She said.
“That word is not available yet.”
Celeste blinked.
“I don't understand.”
“I know.”
Nia handed the three dresses to Maya.
“Please place these in the back office.”
Maya took them carefully.
Nia continued:
“Do not retag them.”
“Do not rescan them.”
“Do not alter the inventory record.”
Celeste frowned.
“Why?”
Nia looked at her.
“Because that is why I came here.”
Daniel’s head turned sharply.
That was the second moment the atmosphere changed.
Meredith’s humiliation had been public.
Now something else entered.
Business.
Daniel asked:
“Nia.”
“Not here.”
Her voice was quiet.
He stopped.
Nia looked at Officer Blake.
“Are you finished with me?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Do you need my identification?”
“No.”
“I think you do.”
He frowned.
“You’re not being detained.”
“You responded to an accusation involving me.”
“I want the report to contain an independently verified identity, not a regional president telling you who I am.”
Blake studied her.
Then nodded.
“That’s reasonable.”
She took her wallet from her burgundy handbag.
Handed him her driver’s license.
He checked.
Returned it.
Nia pointed gently toward his body camera.
“Please preserve the recording.”
“It’s automatically uploaded.”
“Good.”
Meredith scoffed.
“Now you're treating this like some civil-rights case.”
Nia looked at her.
“I haven't called it anything yet.”
That frightened Meredith.
Good.
Nia turned toward Celeste.
“Close the upstairs conference room.”
“For what?”
“For us.”
“Us?”
“You.”
“Daniel.”
“Maya.”
“Our head of security.”
“And anyone responsible for VIP-client protocols at this location.”
Celeste went still.
Nia continued:
“No deletion of internal messages.”
“No modifications to customer profiles.”
“No changes to loss-prevention logs.”
“Do not call anyone to warn them.”
“Do not send a summary.”
“Do not ‘clean up’ anything.”
Daniel’s expression became guarded.
“Nia, perhaps we should—”
She looked at him.
He stopped.
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Who told you I was downstairs?”
Pause.
Celeste answered: