“With you or the customers?”

“Both,” said Amelie. “I’m not saying she went out of her way to be mean, it just… I don’t know what I’m really saying. Sorry. I can’t believe this…”

I said, “Kat was sharp-tongued.”

“She was — sometimes it was what she didn’t say. To the customers.”

“Not good at stroking egos.”

She sat up straight. “To be honest, guys, this business is all about fear. Most of our clientele is mature, who else can afford the prices? We’re talking about used-to-be size eights who are now fourteens. When you get older your body changes. I know, because my mom was a dancer and that happened to her.”

Stroking her own flat-plane abdomen.

Milo said, “Kat didn’t understand that.”

“We get lots of women coming in for special occasions. Wanting to look really fabulous and ready to pay for it. Sometimes it’s a challenge but you need to work with the customer. You examine her assets and liabilities without being obvious, guide her toward stuff that’ll minimize her issues. If she tries on something and it turns out horrible, you say something nice and ease her toward something else.”

“Applied psychology,” said Milo.

“I was a psych major in college and believe me, it helps.”

I said, “Kat didn’t take that approach.”

“Kat thought her job was to help carry garments to the dressing room and stand around examining her nails during the try-on. She’d never volunteer an opinion. Never. Even when the client was obviously needy — crying out for validation. I tried to tell her we were more than attendants. Her answer was ‘These are grown-ups, they can make their own choices.’ But that’s not fair. People need support, right? Even if something looked good Kat would just stand there and say nothing. She gave no guidance and that led to customers bringing a lot of her sales back. Returns come straight off the commission.”

Milo said, “Do you guys split commission?”

“That’s the way it used to be but I told the owners no way would I split with someone like Kat. They value me so they agreed and I ended up making around three times as much as Kat.”

“Is commission a big part of your salary?”

“Seventy percent.”

“So Kat wasn’t exactly raking it in.”

“And boy did she complain about that. Constantly. It made no sense. All she had to do was be nice.” She bit her lip. “I know it sounds like I’m putting her down but that’s the way it was. That’s why after she stopped coming in and didn’t return calls, the owners figured she’d flaked out. After three days, they fired her.”

“Who are the owners?” said Milo.