A few people laughed.
She did not.
“Good service is easy to claim when we only ask people who bought.”
She held up a folder.
“We’re going to ask the people who walked away.”
Emma sat near the end of the table, taking notes.
Claire looked at her.
“And Emma will begin the sales trainee program next month.”
Several heads turned.
Emma flushed.
A woman across from her smiled.
“About time.”
After the meeting, Claire returned to her office.
On her desk sat a photograph taken twenty-two years earlier.
Walter stood in front of the original dealership beside Claire’s father, who had been service director at the time.
Both men were younger.
Both wore work shirts.
Neither looked wealthy.
Claire had grown up around the business.
She understood why the incident with Tyler had bothered Walter so deeply.
Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about something he had said.
You should have known.
He was right.
Tyler’s numbers had been good, and good numbers had made everyone less curious about how he produced them.
That was dangerous.
A successful employee could damage a business quietly.
Not through theft.
Not through fraud.
Through contempt.
Claire opened her email.
She found customer notes from the previous year.
Then she started reading.
By noon, she had found fourteen complaints mentioning feeling ignored, dismissed, rushed, or judged.
Not all involved Tyler.
That was worse.
She called Walter.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Yes?”
“It’s Claire.”
“I know. Your name is on the screen.”
She smiled despite herself.
“I went through the old complaints.”
“And?”
“We have a larger problem than Tyler.”
Walter was silent.
Claire continued.
“Not huge. But larger.”
“What are you going to do?”
She told him.
When she finished, Walter said, “Good.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want, applause?”
“No.”
“Then good.”
She laughed.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Before hanging up, Claire said, “Rebecca called.”
Walter groaned.
“She got the SUV?”
“She got the SUV.”
“And?”
“She said, and I quote, ‘Tell my father I’m going to kill him.’”
Walter smiled.
“Did she like the color?”
Claire laughed.
“I think so.”
Three weeks later, Walter returned to Sterling Crown.
This time he wore clean khaki pants and a navy sweater.
Emma saw him through the glass and hurried over.
“Walter.”
“How’s training?”
“Hard.”
“Good.”
“I sold a car yesterday.”
“What kind?”