Not loudly.
Enough.
Aaron felt heat rise behind his neck.
His right hand tightened once.
Then opened.
Craig watched him.
“You’ve been doing this eighteen years?” Aaron asked.
“Eighteen.”
“And you can identify a qualified buyer by looking at him?”
“I know buyers.”
“Interesting.”
“I know who’s serious.”
“How?”
Craig looked Aaron up and down.
“Experience.”
Aaron thought of Elbert walking into a bank in 1952.
Come back when you have collateral.
Different building.
Different vocabulary.
Same confidence.
Aaron said:
“I’d like your manager.”
Craig smiled.
“My manager would tell you the same thing.”
“I’d still like to hear him do it.”
“Look.”
Craig lowered his voice.
“We cannot let everybody who walks in off the street wander around thirty-million-dollar aircraft.”
“I did not walk in off the street.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I scheduled an appointment.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re qualified.”
“Then verify me.”
Craig blinked.
Aaron continued:
“Ask for the information you ask every other prospective buyer.”
Craig crossed his arms.
“Annual income?”
“Not in this lobby.”
“What bank?”
“I can provide financial references.”
“Credit?”
“I can provide whatever legitimate documentation is required.”
“Do you have it now?”
“Not printed.”
Craig laughed sharply.
“So you came to buy a thirty-million-dollar jet without paperwork.”
“I came to inspect an aircraft before exchanging extensive financial documents.”
“Wrong order.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
Aaron looked toward the white couple now seated behind glass.
A salesman had placed a Challenger model on the table.
No banker.
No documents visible.
No interrogation in the lobby.
Aaron pointed slightly.
“Did they bring tax returns?”
Craig’s face twitched.
“They’re established.”
“They arrived after me.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re new clients.”
“Are they?”
Craig stared at him.
Aaron waited.
Craig said:
“That’s confidential.”
“Convenient.”
The polite layer disappeared.
Craig stepped closer.
“Let me be honest.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“I don’t know what you expected when you came in.”
Aaron said nothing.
“But this isn’t a place for people like you.”
There it was.
Not implied.
Not coded.
Spoken.
Aaron looked at him for three seconds.
“You should probably stop talking.”
Craig gave a humorless smile.
“What are you going to do?”
Aaron reached into his jacket.
Craig flinched.
Small.
Immediate.
Aaron saw it.
He removed his phone.
“Call your manager?”
“No.”
He dialed.