Chapter 7 - NAOMI’S INTERVIEW
Naomi Price was the first employee to request an interview.
The email arrived that night.
I want to speak before someone tells me what I’m supposed to remember.
That sentence told me almost everything I needed to know about the atmosphere inside Bellamy & Rowe.
We met the next morning at a law office conference room, not the salon.
Naomi brought her older sister.
I brought Helena Ward and an independent workplace investigator named Dr. Simone Graves.
No Lucian.
This was not his acquisition.
Naomi was twenty-six.
Three years at Bellamy & Rowe.
Started as stockroom support.
Promoted to sales associate.
Consistently high customer ratings.
No management track recommendation.
Simone asked why she had wanted to speak quickly.
Naomi looked at me.
“Because Sabine called everyone last night.”
Helena wrote something down.
“What did she say?”
“That no one should speculate about what happened.”
“Anything else?”
“She said Miss Rutherford is a long-term client and that everybody needs to be precise.”
Simone asked:
“Did that feel like instruction?”
“Yes.”
“In what direction?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Toward making it smaller.”
I felt something cold move through me.
Naomi continued.
“This isn’t the first time.”
She told us about clients who yelled at seamstresses.
A bride who refused a Black stylist.
A mother who demanded someone “more polished.”
A donor’s daughter who broke a display and blamed a stock assistant.
A customer who called an employee “girl” for three hours and complained when the employee stopped smiling.
“What happened to those complaints?” Simone asked.
“Usually we were told the client relationship mattered.”
There was the phrase.
Protect the relationship.
Naomi looked at me.
“You asked yesterday why I was stopped when I gave you a towel.”
“Yes.”
“Because when a high-spend client is upset, we are supposed to limit employee involvement.”
“Why?”
“So nobody says something that escalates.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“Even when the client just assaulted someone?”
Naomi’s eyes dropped.
“That’s why I said I wanted to talk before somebody told me what precise meant.”
Her sister reached for her hand.
Simone asked about promotions.
Naomi explained that high-profile clients were assigned to “presentation staff.”
“What does that mean?”
She smiled bitterly.
“Women who look like the brand.”
I knew the answer before asking.
“And you?”
“I’m told I’m excellent with families.”
I looked at her.
Naomi was Black.
So was I.
Bellamy & Rowe’s marketing materials featured diversity.
Its actual client assignment system apparently had a preferred face for wealth.
Simone asked whether the pattern was written.
“No.”
“Who communicates it?”
“Managers.”
“Sabine?”
“Sometimes.”
“Others?”
“Yes.”
The interview lasted ninety minutes.
At the end, Naomi looked at me.
“If you buy it, are you firing everybody?”
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“I’m figuring out who knew, who enabled, who objected, and who was never given power in the first place.”
Naomi nodded slowly.
Then:
“Can I ask something?”
“Yes.”
“Why were you dressed like that?”
I looked down at my replacement sweater.
“My mother used to work there.”
Her eyes widened.
“Upstairs?”
“Alterations.”
Naomi went very still.
“You’re Elise’s daughter?”
This time I was shocked.
“You knew my mother?”
“No.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“But the alterations staff do.”
