Chương 3
Her father had said only, If you see the ring, give him the envelope. Nobody else.
Mara sat down.
Rocco’s face had closed again. “Don’t tell the police about it.”
“My father may have been attacked.”
“And the officer outside may be honest. Or careless. Or somebody’s cousin. Which one would you like to gamble on?”
The bakery door opened.
Officer Ellis Ward stepped inside, water shining on the shoulders of his uniform. Mara had known him since high school, when he was two grades ahead and famous for driving his mother’s minivan as if it were stolen. He had gained weight around the middle and lost hair at the temples, but his expression was the same careful one he used whenever he believed two people were about to make his day harder.
“Morning, Mara.”
“Ellis.”
He looked at Rocco. “Sir, I need your name.”
“Rocco Castellano.”
Ellis paused.
It was barely a pause, but Rocco saw it. Mara did too.
“Date of birth?”
Rocco provided it.
Ellis wrote slowly. “Ms. Vale says you were asked to leave private property several times.”
“The sidewalk is public,” Mara said.
Ellis did not look at her. “She also says you threatened customers.”
“I didn’t,” Rocco said.
“Did you speak to her?”
“No.”
“You never spoke to her?”
“She asked me if I knew what soap was. I told her yes.”
Mara folded her arms.
Ellis’s mouth twitched, then flattened. “Did you throw anything?”
“No.”
“Did you touch her?”
“No.”
Mara said, “She poured coffee over him. I knocked the cup away.”
“That part she mentioned.”
“How generous.”
“Mara.”
“She assaulted a man who couldn’t stand up.”
Rocco turned his head toward her. “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Use me to make it sound worse.”
She stared at him.
“I couldn’t stand before she arrived either,” he said. “The assault is the same.”
Ellis looked between them. “Does the coffee cup still exist?”
“Outside,” Mara said. “Unless somebody picked it up.”
“Any video?”
“Two people recorded it.”
“The salon camera is broken,” Rocco said before Mara could answer.
Ellis gave him a longer look. “You know that?”
“Ms. Vale said so.”
“That’s not what she told me.”
The front door opened again. Celeste entered with Nadia behind her. Bianca stayed outside beneath the awning, typing on her phone.
Celeste had replaced her wet heels with black salon slippers. “Officer, I want her charged.”
Ellis sighed. “Celeste, wait outside.”
“She struck me.”
“I struck a cup,” Mara said.
“While I was holding it.”
“While you were emptying it over his head.”
“He had been sitting outside my business for three days, frightening clients.”
Rocco’s gaze rested on her. “Today was my first day here.”
Celeste’s confidence faltered.
Nadia looked at the floor.
Ellis asked, “Ms. Vale, how many times did you personally ask him to move?”
Celeste opened her mouth.
Nadia said, “She didn’t.”
Celeste turned slowly. “Excuse me?”
“You asked Anthony to do it,” Nadia said. “But he talked to the older man. The one with the gray beard.”
“That’s the same person.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Bianca appeared at the doorway. “The video’s at forty thousand views.”
No one spoke.
Bianca looked up from her phone. “That happened fast.”
Celeste went white beneath her makeup. “Delete it.”
“It isn’t mine.”
“Whose account?”
“That kid across the street, I think.”
Celeste lunged for the door.
Ellis stepped into her path. “You’re not going anywhere until I finish.”
“My business is being defamed.”
“The video shows what happened?”
“It shows fifteen seconds without context.”
“What context makes the coffee reasonable?”
Celeste stared at him.
Ellis rubbed two fingers along his eyebrow. “Nobody is being arrested right now. I’m taking statements. I’m requesting copies of every recording. Mr. Castellano, do you want medical assistance?”
“No.”
“Do you want to file a complaint?”
Rocco looked through the bakery window at the crushed cup on the sidewalk.
“No.”
Mara said, “Yes.”
All four of them turned toward her.
Ellis said, “You can’t file for him.”
“He was assaulted.”
“I know what I saw,” Rocco said.
Mara lowered her voice. “Then why let her decide the official version?”
His eyes sharpened. “Because this is not the worst thing happening today.”
Celeste had been watching him. At those words, something shifted behind her anger. Recognition again, faint but undeniable.
Rocco saw it.
“Have we met?” he asked.
“No.”
“You’re bad at lying.”
“I don’t know you.”
“Your eyes do.”
Celeste looked toward Ellis. “Can I go now?”
He told her no.
Rocco placed both hands on the wheels and turned toward Mara. “Take me to your father.”
“You’re soaked.”
“So is he, if he fell in your storage room?”
“He’s in a hospital.”
“I know where Saint Agnes is.”
Mara glanced at the rain. “You can’t roll three miles in that chair.”
“I came four.”
“That explains the wheel.”
“It was broken before.”
Ellis said, “I can call transport.”
Rocco’s expression made the offer disappear.
Mara retrieved her coat from the hook near the ovens. “My van has a ramp.”
“It has a plywood board,” Mrs. Talbot said from the pastry case.
Everyone had forgotten she was still there.
Mara pointed toward the rye loaves. “Take two.”
“I only need one.”
“Take two and lock the door behind you.”
Mrs. Talbot selected the largest loaf. “Your father should have sold this place when your mother died.”
Mara buttoned her coat. “Thank you, Gloria.”
“He should have. That isn’t an insult.”
“I know.”
Mrs. Talbot paused beside Rocco. “You were in the paper.”
He looked up.
“Years ago,” she said. “Or someone with your eyebrows was.”
Then she left with one loaf under each arm.
Mara found the van keys beneath a stack of invoices. “Ellis, you have my number.”
“You’re leaving during an active report?”
“You said nobody was being arrested.”
“I said right now.”
“Then call me when right now changes.”
May you like
He stepped closer. “Mara, do not make this larger than it is.”
She glanced at Celeste, whose phone was vibrating continuously in her hand. Outside, two more people had arrived to photograph the spilled coffee.
