Chương 7
“What statement?” she asked.
“One accepting responsibility for the manager’s conduct and confirming the internal investigation.”
“Internal investigations mean powerful people investigate themselves.”
“Often.”
“So what are you doing?”
“Bringing in an outside firm.”
“Chosen by you.”
“Paid by me, yes. Chosen jointly with employee representatives, if anyone is willing.”
“We don’t have employee representatives.”
“Then perhaps that is one of the problems.”
She studied him. “You really didn’t know about the fund.”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to decide based on evidence.”
“People upstairs say you know every bottle of wine that leaves the cellar.”
“I know every bottle of wine because wine is stolen by people who understand inventory. I entrusted employee assistance to a man I had known for fifteen years.”
“And he stole from you.”
“He stole from them.”
The distinction sounded rehearsed, but his face did not.
Mara crossed her arms. “Why did you trust him?”
“His father worked for mine.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the answer. It is simply not a good one.”
Dominic walked to the window overlooking the dining room. Below them, servers laid polished flatware beside empty plates.
“Victor handled people I did not make time to know,” he said. “Schedules. complaints. leave requests. emergencies. I reviewed numbers, not names.”
“So you built a fund to feel generous and let someone else decide who deserved it.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get points for agreeing with me.”
“I’m not seeking points.”
“What are you seeking?”
He looked down at the dining room. “The least dishonest way out.”
Mara followed his gaze. Colin adjusted the angle of a chair by half an inch. Rosa stood near the service station folding napkins too hard.
“The least dishonest way out gets people fired,” Mara said.
“Yes.”
“People who had nothing to do with Victor.”
“Yes.”
“And if the restaurant closes?”
“Then I pay them.”
“For how long?”
Dominic did not answer immediately.
“That’s what I thought.”
He turned. “What would you have me do?”
She almost said, You’re the boss. The words were ready. Then she saw the trap in them. Victor’s entire system had been built from people believing the boss would solve what they were too frightened to name.
“Ask them,” she said.
The employee meeting began after midnight.
Aurelia closed early under the explanation of a mechanical problem. Guests complained. One demanded reimbursement for a car service from Connecticut. Colin provided it. By twelve thirty, sixty-three employees filled the dining room, some still in uniform, others in coats with backpacks at their feet. Kitchen staff sat beside servers they usually blamed for everything. Bartenders leaned against the wall. The pastry team brought a tray of leftover lemon tarts because no crisis at Aurelia could stop food from being salvaged.
Dominic stood near the center of the room without the ceremonial jacket. He had changed into a black suit, which somehow made him look more like the person people feared.
Leah sat at a table with two outside investigators, both women, neither introduced as friends of management. Mara stood beside Rosa near the bar.
Dominic did not make a speech.
“Victor Sorrelli stole money from the employee assistance fund,” he said. “He appears to have falsified requests in at least seventeen names. There may be more. He also endangered a child and attempted to blame her mother. He has been terminated. Authorities have been notified.”
A cook near the back raised his hand halfway. “Which authorities?”
“Labor investigators and law enforcement.”
Murmurs moved through the room.
A bartender called, “Are you shutting down?”
“No.”
“Should we believe that?”
Dominic looked at him. “You should believe your next two weeks of wages are guaranteed whether the restaurant opens or not. Beyond that, you should ask for proof.”
The bartender nodded once.
A woman from housekeeping stood. “What if we took help from Victor?”
Leah answered. “Receiving legitimate assistance does not make you responsible for his fraud.”
“What if he made us sign things?”
“We need to see them.”
“What if some of us don’t have papers?” someone called from the kitchen.
The room tightened.
Dominic looked toward Leah.
She spoke carefully. “The outside review concerns wage records, fund misuse, retaliation, and safety. Participation will not require employees to discuss immigration status with management. Independent legal support is being arranged.”
A man near the kitchen doors laughed bitterly. “Independent paid by who?”
“Mr. Moretti.”
“So not independent.”
Mara felt several people look at her.
Leah did not bristle. “That concern is fair. We can discuss other funding structures.”
A dishwasher asked whether Victor could see the statements they gave. Another employee wanted to know whether speaking would affect promotions. Someone else said promotions at Aurelia already depended on whether Victor liked a person’s face. Colin objected. Three servers told him to sit down. To Mara’s surprise, he did.
The meeting grew messy.
People interrupted. A line cook accused a manager of changing his hours after he asked about overtime. The manager denied it. Rosa began explaining that Victor had charged her a “processing fee” when her son needed emergency dental work. A pastry assistant said Victor told her the fund had been exhausted. Calvin, the dishwasher, admitted he had seen checks delivered to Victor’s office and assumed they were vendor payments.
Dominic listened without rescuing the room from itself.
At one point, a server named Beth complained that the lemon tarts were stale. The pastry chef stared at her in disbelief.
“They are from tonight,” he said.
“They taste emotionally stale.”
Someone laughed. Then several people did, too loudly and for too long. The tension broke just enough for everyone to breathe.
Mara watched Dominic during the laughter. He did not smile. He looked toward the empty table where Victor usually sat during staff briefings.
When quiet returned, Dominic said, “I failed to know what was being done in my name.”
A sous-chef crossed his arms. “That’s a nice sentence.”
“It is also true.”
May you like
“What happens to you?”
Dominic met his gaze. “That depends on what the investigation finds.”
