"You remember them, then?" Michael asked.
"Yes," John answered. "Naturally."
Eleanor stepped forward. She was shaking a little, but there was no uncertainty in her voice. "Do you remember telling me and my husband that people like us didn't belong here?"
John's eyes moved toward Arthur, as though expecting the manager to rescue him. "Ma'am, that's not exactly the way I intended it. We have to be careful with our inventory. Sometimes people misunderstand the screening process."
"We weren't screened," Walter said. "We were insulted. There was no question about our intentions, our qualifications, or our ability to make a purchase. You looked at us and decided."
The conversation had drawn attention, but Michael did not raise his voice to capitalize on the audience. He moved a step closer to his mother, giving her space to continue while making it clear she was not alone.
"Mr. Williams," he said, "whether my parents buy a car or not is irrelevant to the respect they should have received. The way you treated them was wrong before you knew my name. It would have been wrong if I were a schoolteacher, a mechanic, or unemployed. Do you understand that?"
John opened his mouth, then closed it. A few of the employees looked toward the floor. Arthur stood beside them with the unpleasant awareness that the entire showroom had become a place where his own management choices were being examined. He had trained employees to maintain a certain atmosphere, but he had never spent enough time asking whom that atmosphere excluded. Michael's questions were stripping away the polished vocabulary that had allowed him to avoid seeing it.
"I don't think this should be handled in the middle of the showroom," Arthur said at last. "We have a private room ready. Mr. Bennett, I can assure you the gallery takes its standards seriously."
"Then we're asking you to use those standards," Michael answered. He held out Rebecca's preservation letter. "My counsel prepared a request to retain the relevant footage and records. I would prefer an internal resolution based on facts, but my parents deserve an honest review."
Arthur accepted the letter. "I've already placed a hold on yesterday's recordings and notified human resources. We'll examine them promptly."
"Thank you," Eleanor said. Her courtesy unsettled Arthur more than anger might have done. It made the contrast between her conduct and his employee's behavior impossible to ignore. He led the group toward a conference room near his office, leaving John outside with instructions to remain available for the review.
The private room was furnished in the same carefully expensive style as the showroom, but it contained an ordinary table, comfortable chairs, and a screen mounted on the wall. Arthur asked whether anyone wanted water. Eleanor accepted a glass. Walter placed his hat on the table beside him. Emily sat only after Eleanor asked her to, and Michael took a chair at the far end rather than the one nearest the screen.