On Wednesday afternoon Naomi presented her conclusions to William, Martin, and a representative of the minority investors. Her recommendation was termination of Croft's employment for cause under the gallery's conduct standards, with appropriate payment of earned compensation and an opportunity to collect his belongings privately. She also recommended an independent review of supervisory practices, new reporting procedures, and a revised system for measuring customer experience beyond completed sales.
Martin read the report in silence. When he reached a complaint he had personally signed off without contacting the customer, he stopped and looked away. William did not rescue him from the discomfort. Accountability was not a costume one wore for a public audience; it began when a person read a record of his own decisions and admitted what they had allowed.
"The recommendation is justified," Martin said after a long pause. "Richard's conduct was unacceptable. But I also approved the monthly reports that rewarded him for it."
"And I approved the ownership plan that measured revenue without checking how it was earned," William added. "So our response can't end with terminating him."
Croft was informed privately the following morning. He argued, disputed several findings, and insisted that no one could expect him to spend an hour with every person who wandered through a luxury showroom. Naomi explained that the company had never required him to do that. It had required him to provide basic service without insults, apply consistent standards, and refrain from intimidating employees who disagreed with him.
"You should have told me who Mrs. Bennett was," he said to Martin. "I would have handled it differently."
Martin looked at him for a long moment. "Richard, that's exactly why you can't continue managing this floor."
Croft gathered the things from his desk in a cardboard box. There was a framed sales award, a leather notebook, two photographs of his children, and a pen he had received after closing his first major deal. He had once believed the room beyond his office belonged to him because he controlled the door to it. Walking out through the side entrance, he discovered that the door had never been his to own.
He would spend several weeks telling himself he had been made an example of to protect the gallery's powerful investor. Eventually he read the investigation summary again and recognized the places where his own words were quoted accurately. Whether he would build a different character from that recognition remained his choice. The gallery could provide consequences and an opportunity for honest reflection, but it could not manufacture remorse.
When Christina heard that Croft had been dismissed, she stood at the kitchen sink with the telephone balanced between her shoulder and ear. She listened to William explain the findings and then asked a question he had not expected. "What happened to the young people who were afraid to speak?"