Chapter 6 - THE DINER WITH NO CUSTOMERSTessa's second job was at a diner called Bell's Kitchen.
It sat between a tire shop and a boarded-up pharmacy.
When I walked in, the place was almost empty.
One waitress.
Two customers.
And Tessa.
She stared at me.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is using your workplace to watch you.”
She went pale.
“How do you know?”
I pointed toward the back wall.
A small security camera.
One of several.
Marcus had traced the camera's feed.
It didn't belong to the diner.
It belonged to a private surveillance company.
The company was owned by Victor.
Tessa looked like she might faint.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
She removed her apron.
“We need to leave.”
Before we could move, the front door opened.
A man entered.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Scarred knuckles.
Tessa stopped breathing.
“Dad.”
Daniel Cole looked at her.
Then at me.
“You brought him.”
Tessa stepped forward.
“You said you'd never come back.”
“I didn't.”
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel looked toward the camera.
“I came because Victor is getting desperate.”
He sat down.
I stayed standing.
“You know what happened to my father.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“Your father discovered Victor had built a second network inside Rossi Holdings.”
“Selling information?”
“Selling everything.”
“To whom?”
Daniel looked at Tessa.
“People who don't leave witnesses.”
I sat.
“What happened the night my father died?”
Daniel stared at the table.
“He called me.”
“When?”
“Two hours before.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to take the money and disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew they were coming.”
“Who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Your father never named them.”
I frowned.
“You're hiding something.”
“Yes.”
He looked directly at me.
“Because naming them gets people killed.”
I leaned forward.
“My family was attacked.”
“Tessa's family was attacked.”
“And now I'm being targeted.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Then you already understand.”
A server dropped a glass in the kitchen.
Daniel flinched.
That tiny reaction told me how frightened he really was.
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a folded document.
“Your father copied this before he died.”
I opened it.
It was an old internal authorization form.
At the bottom was a signature.
My father.
But beside it was another signature.
Victor Hale.
Then I saw a third line.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.
The name was blacked out.
“Who is this?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Tessa looked at him.
“Dad.”
He whispered:
“Your mother.”
I stared.
“Your mother was an authorized representative of my father?”
“Yes.”
“For the trust?”
“No.”
He pointed at the document.
“For the company.”
My blood ran cold.
That meant Tessa's mother hadn't been a housekeeper who accidentally stumbled into my father's affairs.
She had been working directly with him.
She had access.
Authority.
Knowledge.
And apparently, enemies.
Daniel continued.
“She discovered Victor was creating fake employee accounts.”
“Why?”
“To move money.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-eight million that your father moved into the trust to protect.”
“Protect it from Victor?”
“Yes.”
I remembered the ledger.
Everything fit.
Almost.
“What about the father of the boys?” I asked.
Daniel stared at me.
“I am.”
“You said your children were threatened.”
“I wasn't protecting them from Victor.”
“Then from whom?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
A black sedan was parked across the street.
His expression changed.
“They found us.”
The diner suddenly went silent.
The two customers had left.
The waitress was gone.
Only us remained.
Daniel stood.
“Get down.”
A bullet punched through the window.
The neon sign exploded.
Tessa screamed.
Marcus pulled her behind the counter.
Another shot.
Then footsteps.
Three men entered through the front door.
Daniel grabbed a metal chair.
I saw the first man raise his gun.
Marcus fired.
The man dropped.
The other two turned.
We ran.
Through the kitchen.
Out the rear door.
Across the alley.
Snow.
Ice.
Sirens in the distance.
We kept running until we reached Marcus's SUV.
Daniel climbed inside.
He looked at me.
“You still want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then listen carefully.”
“What?”
“The twenty-eight million was never the biggest secret.”
He pulled out a photograph.
This one showed my father.
Victor.
Tessa's mother.
And another man.
A man I didn't recognize.
Except I had seen his face before.
On a portrait hanging in my father's office.
My grandfather.
Dead thirty years.
Daniel pointed at the photograph.
“That man was your grandfather's lawyer.”
I stared.
“He died before my father.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
I looked at him.
“He didn't.”
Related Stories
