Chương 9
This silence was longer.
Anna understood before he spoke.
“You covered it up.”
“I was trying to solve it quietly.”
“For Craig?”
“For Vincent.”
“By hiding that the manager of a restaurant he uses owes dangerous people money?”
“I didn’t know Craig was dangerous.”
“What did you know?”
“Six months ago, one of my guys saw him at a card room in Jersey. I checked. He had debts. He begged me not to tell Vincent because the restaurant owners would fire him.”
“And you agreed?”
“I told him to stop gambling. I helped arrange a repayment.”
Anna stared at the dark window.
Her reflection looked like somebody listening to a confession.
“Whose money?”
“Mine.”
She turned away from Leah.
“You lent Craig money?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“Because I’m not a machine.”
The anger startled her.
Then it disappeared.
“I had a brother,” he continued. “Same problem. Gambling. Loans. Lies. Everybody treated him like he was poison before he ever stole a dollar. I thought if somebody had helped earlier…”
He stopped.
Anna heard him breathe.
“What happened to your brother?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It obviously does.”
“He died.”
Anna closed her eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
She almost laughed at the echo of Vincent.
Daniel continued, “Craig paid me for three months. Then stopped. I found out someone else had cleared most of the debt.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s the forty-eight thousand.”
“Maybe.”
“Why didn’t you tell police all this immediately?”
“Because lending money to the manager of a restaurant my employer uses privately makes me look compromised.”
“You were compromised.”
“Yes.”
The admission came without defense.
Anna leaned against the wall.
“So you saw Craig near the plate.”
“Yes.”
“And switched it because you suspected him.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell Vincent?”
“Because if I was wrong, I’d destroy Craig over nothing and expose that I’d hidden the debt.”
“Self-protection.”
“Yes.”
“What did you think was wrong with the plate?”
“I didn’t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe he’d spit in it. Maybe he’d added something embarrassing. I knew Vincent was irritated with him over service last month. Craig takes humiliation badly.”
“So you switched the plate.”
“I went to the kitchen, told them Vincent wanted a replacement and changed it.”
“And the second plate was poisoned too.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Yes.”
Anna thought of something.
“Who prepared the replacement?”
“Cook on the line.”
“Who plated it?”
“Same cook.”
“Who had access after?”
A pause.
“Craig.”
Anna’s skin went cold.
“You saw him?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because I left the replacement at the pass for maybe twenty seconds while I moved the first plate.”
“That’s not knowing.”
“No.”
“Did anyone else have access?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Half the kitchen.”
Anna closed her eyes.
“You’re doing the same thing again.”
“What?”
“Deciding the answer because it fits the person you already suspect.”
Daniel said nothing.
Anna continued, “You saw Craig act weird. So you hid things. Then you saw him near a plate. So you switched it. Now both are poisoned, and you’re still trying to make Craig the answer.”
“You think I did it.”
“I think you lied enough that you don’t get to complain when people doubt you.”
A long silence.
Then Daniel said quietly, “Fair.”
Anna sat down.
“Why call me?”
“Because someone followed you yesterday.”
Her body went still.
“How do you know?”
“I sent him.”
Leah saw Anna’s face.
“What?” she whispered.
Anna held up a hand.
“You sent the car?”
“To watch you.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent pulled his people after you complained.”
“That does not mean you get to replace them.”
“I know.”
“No, apparently nobody around him knows.”
“The car wasn’t there to scare you.”
“It did.”
“I’m sorry.”
There was something almost absurd about Daniel apologizing like a normal man after secretly surveilling her.
Anna rubbed her temple.
“Was it your car today near the coffee shop?”
“No.”
Her hand stopped.
“What?”
“I only had someone on you yesterday. Vincent found out and threatened to fire every contractor I still know if I kept doing it.”
“He already fired you.”
“I resigned.”
“Sure.”
“I didn’t send anyone today.”
Anna looked at Leah.
Her sister’s face had changed.
“Tell Torres,” Anna said.
“I did.”
“Good.”
“Anna.”
“What?”
“Be careful who benefits if I look guilty.”
The line irritated her instantly.
“You don’t get to say mysterious things and hang up.”
“I’m not being mysterious.”
“Then say a name.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Goodbye, Daniel.”
She ended the call.
Leah stared.
“You are moving.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Anna opened her mouth.
Leah pointed at her.
“No speech. I love you, but you have turned our apartment into the final twenty minutes of a crime movie.”
“The cat hates hotels.”
“The cat hates spoons.”
As if summoned, the cat knocked a spoon from the counter.
Both sisters looked at him.
Leah spread her hands.
“Evidence.”
Anna moved that night.
Not because Vincent ordered it.
Because Detective Torres recommended it after learning Daniel had surveilled her and another unidentified vehicle had appeared near the café.
The hotel was quiet, anonymous and paid for by Vincent’s attorney through a witness-security expense agreement Torres insisted be documented.
Anna disliked owing him.
Vincent told her she could repay him.
“How much?”
“Don’t ask.”
“That means a lot.”
“It’s Manhattan.”
“I’m in Queens.”
“Still.”
She hung up before he could make the debt sound reasonable.
The restaurant reopened two days later.
Anna did not.
The owners officially suspended her pending “review of conduct related to guest contact and ongoing investigation.”
The wording infuriated Leah.
Anna was less surprised.
She filed for unemployment.
The website crashed twice.
That upset her more than the suspension letter.
Human beings could attempt murder, betray employers and hide gambling debts, but nothing made Anna feel more powerless than a government portal asking her to reenter an address for the fourth time.
Vincent called while she was doing it.
“I can get you a lawyer.”
“For unemployment?”
“For the suspension.”
“No.”
“Anna.”
May you like
“No.”
“You’re being punished for stopping me.”
