Brad opened his mouth, then closed it. From across the showroom, Mr. Lang watched with increasing interest. He had recognized something about Margaret's face, but the pale cardigan and ordinary handbag had made him doubt his memory.
Margaret pointed toward the framed sales ticket hanging beside the old photographs. "Before anyone discusses taking me home, Mr. Keller, would you do me a favor? Read that frame."
"It's wall decor, ma'am."
"Read it anyway, please. Out loud."
Brad sighed and walked toward the display. He glanced at the faded ticket.
"Sale number one. Nineteen seventy-four. Walter and Margaret Hale. Hale Automotive Group. There. Happy now?"
Mr. Lang slowly stood up. He looked from the photograph to the elderly woman. "Mrs. Hale?" he said, his voice suddenly softer. "Is that really you?"
Margaret turned. "Hello, Mr. Lang. It's good to see you again."
He let out a surprised breath. "The children's hospital gala two years ago. You gave the opening remarks. I sat beside your grandson at the reception." He looked at Brad with visible disbelief. "You said she was nobody."
Brad looked down at the ticket, then at Caleb, then back at the woman who had been standing near the window all morning. "Sir, she's wearing..." He stopped, aware too late of how the rest of the sentence would sound.
"A cardigan with a missing button?" Margaret finished for him. "Yes, Mr. Keller. I noticed."
At that moment the front doors opened again. Dana Whitfield, the dealership's general manager, came through with her phone still in her hand. She saw Margaret, then Caleb, then Evelyn, and her expression changed immediately.
"Mrs. Hale," Dana said. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here. Is everything all right?"
"Not entirely, Dana. I believe we have some work to do." Margaret looked at Brad. "But first, would you tell Mr. Keller who I am?"
Dana swallowed. "Brad, this is Margaret Eleanor Hale. Founder and chairwoman of Hale Automotive Group. She owns the controlling interest in every Crestline dealership."
The showroom became so quiet that the air-conditioning fan above the reception desk sounded suddenly loud. Brad's gaze moved to the floor, the cars, and the people who had stopped working to watch him. The woman he had threatened to remove had owned the building long before he was hired.
His mouth opened. "Mrs. Hale. I didn't know."
Margaret nodded once. "I know you didn't."
"If I'd known who you were, I never would have spoken to you like that."
She held his gaze. "That's the problem, Brad. You only behave when you know."
Brad looked at Dana as if she might still explain his way out of the room. She did not. Her eyes were fixed on Margaret, who stood in the middle of the showroom with the paper cup of water still in her hand. The contrast between her simple cardigan and the carefully polished luxury cars had become so striking that several employees seemed unable to look anywhere else.
"Mrs. Hale, I am deeply sorry," Brad said. "I made a terrible mistake."
"You made several," Margaret replied. "And you made them before you knew my name."