At 7:40 p.m., Gregory Hale entered the office.
He looked exhausted.
Naomi gestured toward a chair.
“Sit.”
He did.
Michael remained.
Naomi asked:
“Why didn't you tell Officer Mercer I was shopping?”
Gregory swallowed.
“I should have.”
“Why didn't you?”
He looked down.
“Victoria.”
Naomi waited.
“She is difficult.”
“That is a description.”
“Yes.”
“Not an answer.”
Gregory exhaled.
“When she complains, corporate gets involved.”
Naomi looked at Michael.
Michael looked away.
Gregory continued.
“She knows people.”
“She contacts regional leadership.”
“She threatens to move spending.”
“She posts online.”
“After the incident with Elise last year…”
Naomi opened another file.
“Elise Morgan?”
Gregory looked surprised.
“Yes.”
Elise had been an assistant manager.
She refused to reopen the boutique twenty minutes after closing because Victoria wanted to retrieve shoes for a dinner.
Victoria complained.
Elise received a formal warning for failing to “maximize premier-client recovery.”
Naomi looked at Michael.
“Did you approve that?”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
Gregory continued:
“After that, everyone knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Don't fight Victoria.”
Naomi leaned back.
There it was.
The company had trained employees to surrender.
Not explicitly.
Through consequences.
Naomi asked:
“So when she accused me?”
Gregory looked ashamed.
“I wanted it to go away.”
“By letting police question me.”
“Yes.”
“Potentially detain me.”
“I didn't think it would go that far.”
Naomi’s eyes hardened.
“That is what people say when the risk belongs to someone else.”
Gregory looked down.
Naomi continued:
“You believed the safest outcome for your job was letting her assumption become my problem.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
Honest.
Ugly.
Useful.
Naomi looked at Michael.
“Leave us for five minutes.”
Michael hesitated.
Then left.
Naomi looked at Gregory.
“You did not recognize me.”
“No.”
“Good.”
He looked confused.
“That means we know what would have happened to someone without my title.”
Gregory closed his eyes.
Naomi continued:
“You are not being fired tonight.”
He looked up.
“I thought…”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I don't make employment decisions while angry.”
Gregory stared.
“You are being placed on paid administrative leave pending review.”
He nodded.
“What about Michael?”
Naomi smiled without humor.
“That's not your concern.”
He understood.
This was bigger than him.
The next morning, Carter Vale Group’s legal department received a formal notice.
Not from Victoria.
From another person.
A woman named Danielle Brooks.
Forty-one.
Accountant.
Black.
She had visited the boutique eleven months earlier.
Her lawyer had been preparing a claim against the store.