Chương 5
Margaret sat in an armchair near the windows. Chicago’s lights spread below them, indifferent and orderly.
“Sit down, Ethan.”
He chose the edge of the farthest chair.
“I’m sorry I talked in the ballroom.”
“Why did you?”
His eyes moved toward Evelyn.
“I thought she was going to say I made it up.”
“She did.”
“I mean before anybody knew.”
Margaret waited.
Ethan pressed his palms together.
“At the rehearsal dinner, she asked me if I knew who you were. I said yes. Everybody here knows. She asked if I liked working for rich people.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What did you say?”
“That rich people tip better when they’re happy.”
Despite herself, Margaret smiled.
Ethan did not.
“She thought it was funny. Then she asked if I had ever seen a hundred million dollars. I said no. She said I was looking at someone who would have it by the next morning.”
“Where was this?” Jonathan asked.
“Near the west service station. She was waiting for Mr. Westbrook. I thought she’d been drinking.”
“I had one glass of wine,” Jackson said from the doorway.
No one had heard him enter.
He had removed his tuxedo jacket. His bow tie hung loose around his collar. Without the jacket, he looked less like a groom and more like a man who had been awake for too long.
Ethan stood.
Jackson lifted one hand.
“Sit.”
Ethan remained standing.
Jackson looked at Margaret.
“Can I hear this?”
“It concerns you.”
He came inside and closed the door.
Ethan sat again.
“What happened tonight?” Margaret asked.
“I was clearing the champagne from the bridal room. Mrs. Mercer was there with two bridesmaids. They left. Natalie stayed behind.”
He glanced at Jackson before using her first name.
“She was on the phone. I was in the service pantry. The door doesn’t close all the way because one hinge is bent.”
Evelyn made a note on her phone.
Ethan swallowed.
“She said, ‘By morning, it’s ours, and I won’t have to smile at that bald old woman again.’ Then somebody on the phone said something. I couldn’t hear. She said, ‘Jackson will handle her. He always does.’”
Jackson’s face changed, but he said nothing.
“Did she see you?” Jonathan asked.
“After. I came out with the tray. She asked how much I heard.”
“And what did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“That was not an answer.”
“I said I heard enough.”
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
Ethan looked at her.
“I know. It was stupid.”
“What did she do?” Margaret asked.
“She gave me five hundred dollars.”
Jackson looked up.
“In cash?”
Ethan nodded.
“I gave it back.”
“Where is it?”
“I put it on the counter.”
“Did anyone see that?” Jonathan asked.
“No.”
“Did you touch it?”
“Yes.”
“Did she say why she was giving it to you?”
“She said it was a wedding tip. Then she said the hotel had blamed me for stealing before, so nobody would believe me if I made trouble.”
The mark on Ethan’s neck darkened as he spoke.
Margaret looked at Evelyn.
“What theft issue?”
Evelyn did not answer immediately.
“Six months ago, a guest left an envelope containing two thousand dollars in a meeting room. Ethan found it during breakdown and carried it to the security office. The guest complained because the envelope was not where she had left it. Security reviewed the footage and confirmed Ethan turned it in within seven minutes.”
“Then why was there an accusation in his file?”
“There isn’t. There is an incident report with his name because he found the envelope.”
Ethan gave a small shrug.
“The supervisor told me not to go through guest areas alone anymore.”
“That was not discipline,” Evelyn said.
“It felt like it.”
Margaret looked at Jackson.
“Did Natalie know about the incident?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
Ethan stared at the carpet.
“She knew.”
The statement settled over the room.
Jonathan asked, “Did you tell anyone what you heard before the ballroom?”
“My sister.”
“By text?”
“Yes.”
“May I see it?”
Ethan took out his phone. The screen was cracked at one corner. He scrolled, then handed it over.
Jonathan read silently.
“What time?”
“Eight thirty-one,” he said. “He wrote, ‘Bride just offered me five hundred because I heard her say the old lady’s money is theirs tomorrow.’ His sister replied at eight thirty-two, ‘Do not take it and tell your boss.’”
“It doesn’t prove what Natalie said,” Jackson replied.
“No,” Jonathan said. “It establishes that Ethan reported the allegation before Margaret’s announcement.”
Jackson rubbed his forehead.
“Did you record her?”
“No.”
“Was anyone else close enough to hear?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she say the exact amount?”
“No.”
“So you heard a woman talking about money at her wedding, assumed it was my mother’s transfer, and then turned it into—”
“I knew what transfer,” Ethan said.
Jackson looked at him.
Ethan’s voice shook, but he did not lower it.
“She told me the night before.”
Jackson looked away.
Margaret felt no satisfaction. She had imagined, for perhaps two minutes in the ballroom, that certainty might feel clean. Instead it arrived sticky with other people’s shame.
“Thank you,” she told Ethan.
He stood.
“Am I fired?”
“No,” Evelyn said.
Margaret glanced at her.
“Not for this.”
Ethan nodded, but his face did not relax.
“The video has my face,” he said. “People are sending it to my account.”
“How did they find you?” Margaret asked.
“My name tag.”
Evelyn swore softly.
Margaret looked at Jonathan.
“Arrange legal support if he needs it.”
“I don’t want money,” Ethan said quickly.
“I didn’t say money.”
“My mom’s going to think I did this for money.”
“What does your mother usually think?”
He blinked.
“That I make things harder than they need to be.”
Margaret understood that sort of mothering. It came from fear and disguised itself as criticism.
“Call her before she watches the video,” she said.
“She won’t answer this late.”
May you like
“Then leave a message.”
Ethan looked toward the door.
