"It's all right with me. Just don't be surprised if the people inside aren't friendly."
"Have they been that way for long?" Daniel asked.
Walt exhaled slowly. "Longer than I'd like to admit."
Then he held the door open, standing straight despite the stiffness in his leg. Daniel thanked him and crossed the threshold, noticing the warmth of the air and the gleam of the floor just as he had a quarter of a century earlier. Inside, every surface appeared designed to communicate wealth. A wall-sized digital screen displayed a Meridian coupe climbing a mountain road at sunrise; polished steel railings separated the reception area from a private sales lounge; a chandelier of narrow glass rods hung above a stone fountain.
The cars were positioned as carefully as museum exhibits, leaving broad clean paths between them. Someone had arranged tiny orchids along the reception desk, and a silver coffee machine stood idle behind a counter with no customers nearby. Two employees watched Daniel enter. One was a broad-shouldered salesman in a fitted navy suit, his hair shaped into a perfect wave and his watch displayed prominently beneath his cuff.
The other was a sharply dressed woman standing beside a tablet, her expression impatient before he had said a word. Daniel would soon learn that the salesman was Tyler Pruitt and the woman was Vanessa Cole, the showroom's senior sales supervisor.
"Vanessa, look what the rain dragged in," Tyler murmured, just loudly enough for Daniel to hear. Vanessa glanced at his boots.
"Ten dollars says he wants to use the bathroom." Tyler's mouth twisted into a grin.
"Make it twenty and you've got a bet. Go ask him before he tracks mud across the marble."
Daniel stood near the center of the floor, looking first at the Meridian coupe and then at the two people who had already decided what sort of visitor he was. He did not stare them down or announce that he had overheard the wager.
He simply waited until Tyler approached, smiling with the thin, exaggerated courtesy of someone preparing to enjoy another person's discomfort. "Hey, buddy," the salesman said.
"The used-car lot is two miles down the road. This is the luxury showroom."
"I know where I am," Daniel replied. "I'd like to see the black Meridian coupe in the middle of the floor."
Tyler glanced toward Vanessa and laughed. "That car costs more than your whole neighborhood, pal."
Daniel looked at the coupe again. "Then it shouldn't take long to show me. Does it have a price on it?"
"Three hundred and forty thousand dollars," Tyler said, emphasizing each syllable. "Do you even know how many zeros that is?"
Daniel turned back to him. "I think I can manage the arithmetic."
Vanessa stepped closer, amusement sharpening into impatience. "Tyler, don't waste your breath. Walk him out before the Whitakers arrive."
At the reception desk, a young woman looked up from a scheduling screen. Her name badge read MARIA SANTOS, and she wore a simple white blouse beneath a charcoal blazer that had seen repeated dry cleaning. She had been following the conversation with mounting discomfort.