“Charles.”
“I am so sorry.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You know her?”
Charles stared at Vanessa.
The question almost offended him physically.
He walked toward Amara.
“I told reception you were arriving.”
Molly had come outside now.
Her eyes widened.
“No one told me.”
Charles looked toward operations.
Operations director looked horrified.
“We emailed the morning brief.”
Vanessa remembered.
She had not read it.
Too busy preparing numbers for the surgeon.
Charles opened the black case.
Inside rested two sculpted keys.
A leather title folder.
Registration.
A handwritten thank-you card.
He removed one key.
Held it toward Amara.
“Your secondary key.”
Then the second.
“Primary.”
Vanessa’s face drained.
Charles continued, still focused on Amara.
“Title is registered.”
“Insurance documents are in the folder.”
“Payment cleared yesterday at 4:17.”
“Final purchase total, including custom specification and delivery, was eight hundred forty-two thousand dollars.”
Nobody moved.
Amara accepted the keys.
Vanessa looked at the red car.
Then Amara.
Then the cloth.
She slowly lowered it.
Charles finally noticed the brochure on the ground.
His eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
Vanessa spoke immediately.
“Charles, there was a misunderstanding.”
Amara looked at her.
“There wasn't.”
Vanessa froze.
Amara continued:
“She understood exactly what she wanted to do.”
Charles’s expression hardened.
“What did she do?”
Amara looked toward the seat Vanessa had wiped.
“She ordered me out.”
Charles closed his eyes briefly.
“She threw the brochure down.”
Charles looked toward it.
“She told me the car was for serious clients.”
Vanessa began:
“I had no way to know—”
Amara raised one hand.
Vanessa stopped.
“She offered to move me toward more appropriate inventory.”
Charles looked directly at Vanessa.
“What?”
“She then called security.”
Tom immediately said:
“I didn't touch her.”
Amara looked at him.
“No.”
“You didn't.”
Tom exhaled.
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Closed.
Then:
“I thought she was trespassing.”
Amara nodded.
“Why?”
“The car was reserved.”
“For me.”
“I didn't know that.”
“Because you never checked.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened defensively.
“You didn't identify yourself.”
Amara smiled.
“There.”
Charles frowned.
Amara continued:
“The sentence underneath everything.”
Vanessa stared.
“If I had announced I was the buyer immediately, you would have behaved differently.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“If I had opened my banking app?”
Silence.
“Shown you the transfer?”