“Which you haven't asked me for.”
“We usually schedule serious consultations.”
“I am here.”
“Without an appointment.”
“Your website says walk-ins are welcome.”
The manager stared.
“You checked the website?”
“I usually understand a business before entering it.”
Something about that sentence made the manager uncomfortable.
She masked it.
“Then you also understand this is not an ordinary dealership.”
“Very clearly.”
The woman removed one hand from beneath her feathered wrap.
A phone.
The manager watched.
Noticed the case.
Plain.
No obvious designer logo.
The woman glanced at the screen.
4:23.
Then put it away.
The manager asked:
“Are you expecting someone?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“You'll know when they arrive.”
That sounded deliberately mysterious.
The manager’s patience weakened.
“Ma’am, we have clients here who have been waiting months for allocation opportunities.”
“So?”
“So we cannot allow every visitor to treat a Bugatti like a showroom prop.”
The woman looked at her for several seconds.
Then removed the feathered wrap from one shoulder and handed it to the junior associate.
He nearly dropped it.
“Could you hold this?”
“Yes.”
The manager’s eyes widened.
Before she could object, the woman opened the driver’s door.
The manager stepped forward.
“Please don’t.”
The woman paused.
Her hand remained on the door.
“Is it locked?”
“No.”
“Then why is it open for display?”
“Because qualified customers are allowed access.”
Again.
Qualified.
The woman looked directly into the manager’s eyes.
“You keep using that word without asking a single qualifying question.”
A nearby man in a navy suit looked over.
His wife whispered something.
The manager became aware of attention.
That changed her tone.
“Fine.”
She reached toward a leather specification folder resting on a nearby stand.
“Let’s start with basics.”
She opened it.
“Before we permit access, we normally establish whether the customer has realistic purchase capability.”
The woman nodded.
“Ask.”
The manager hesitated.
The woman waited.
“What do you do?”
The woman smiled.
“What answer would satisfy you?”
“I asked a simple question.”
“I invest.”
“In?”
“Companies.”
The manager’s expression suggested she had expected something vague exactly like that.
“Professionally?”
“Yes.”
“For a firm?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
The woman named an investment group.
The manager blinked.
She recognized the name.
Not immediately from finance news.
From internal emails.
The group had appeared several weeks earlier around discussions she was not included in.
Corporate restructuring.