Chapter 3 - The Price of Thirty-Eight Dollars
Emily wanted to go home.
Dominic refused.
For once, she didn’t argue very hard.
“My apartment has everything I own.”
“Then we’ll retrieve it.”
“We?”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I have neighbors.”
“You have neighbors who will become witnesses.”
Emily stared at him.
“You always make everything sound terrifying.”
“I usually don’t need to.”
By morning, Dominic’s people had checked Emily’s building.
Someone had already been inside her apartment.
Nothing valuable had been stolen.
Instead, her nursing-school box had been opened.
Her photographs had been moved.
A single drawer was left on the floor.
Emily stood in Dominic’s study when his security chief, Marcus Shaw, delivered the report.
“No forced entry,” Marcus said.
Emily felt sick.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“Reed had access to locksmiths, contractors and surveillance crews.”
“So he searched my apartment?”
“Probably.”
“For what?”
Marcus answered.
“To determine whether you had contacted anyone.”
Emily laughed once, without humor.
“I found two children behind a dumpster. How did that turn into this?”
Dominic leaned against his desk.
“Because Reed needs to know what Lily told you.”
“Then I’ll tell the police.”
Marcus and Dominic exchanged a look.
Emily caught it.
“What?”
Dominic said, “You can.”
“That doesn’t sound encouraging.”
“It isn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Reed spent six years handling my security. He knows detectives. City officials. Port employees.”
Emily folded her arms.
“And you?”
Dominic remained silent.
She understood.
“Right.”
His phone rang.
Marcus answered his own at the same time.
Then Marcus’s expression changed.
“Boss.”
Dominic looked at him.
“The diner.”
Emily stepped forward.
“What about it?”
“Someone broke in overnight.”
“My manager?”
“Calvin is fine.”
She exhaled.
Marcus continued.
“But the place is wrecked.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Miller’s Corner wasn’t hers.
But it had been stable.
Her shift.
Her routine.
Thirty-eight dollars in tips.
A life small enough to understand.
Now even that was gone.
Dominic said, “I’ll repair it.”
Emily looked at him.
“No.”
“It happened because of my family.”
“So?”
“So I’m responsible.”
“You can’t write checks until everything disappears.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Usually I can.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t want your money.”
Marcus looked surprised.
Dominic didn’t.
“Everyone wants something.”
“I want my boring life back.”
“That may be the first thing I can’t give you.”
The words landed harder than Emily expected.
She turned toward the window.
After a moment, Dominic asked, “Why did you leave nursing school?”
She looked back.
“That’s none of your business.”
“You knew how to help Grace.”
“I told you. I studied.”
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“Why stop?”
Emily’s face hardened.
“My mother got sick.”
Dominic waited.
“Bills happened,” she said. “Life happened.”
“And now?”
“Now I serve coffee to truckers at two in the morning.”
“You say that like it makes you less intelligent.”
“It makes me broke.”
Dominic walked behind his desk.
He opened a drawer.
Emily immediately said, “If you pull out a checkbook, I’m leaving.”
He paused.
Then, surprisingly, closed the drawer.
“All right.”
She blinked.
“All right?”
“You don’t want charity.”
“No.”
“Then I won’t offer charity.”
That should have relieved her.
Instead, she became suspicious.
“What are you offering?”
“Nothing yet.”
The girls entered before he could continue.
Lily wore borrowed pajamas.
Grace held a stuffed bear somebody had found for her.
Lily went directly to her father.
“Did you find Mr. Reed?”
“No.”
“Is he coming back?”
Dominic crouched.
“No one is getting near you.”
Lily glanced around the enormous room.
“That’s what Mr. Reed used to say.”
Dominic went completely still.
Emily saw the wound those words created.
Lily immediately looked guilty.
“Daddy—”
Dominic pulled her close.
“You did nothing wrong.”
Grace approached Emily.
“Can we go to the diner?”
“Not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
Emily hesitated.
Dominic answered.
“When it’s safe.”
Grace frowned.
“But Emily works there.”
Dominic looked at Emily.
“Not anymore.”
Emily’s head snapped toward him.
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t return while Reed is free.”
“You don’t get to fire me from a job you don’t own.”
“I didn’t fire you.”
“You just announced I don’t work there.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“I didn’t ask you to manage my life.”
Lily whispered to Grace, “They’re fighting.”
Grace whispered back, “Daddy always fights.”
Emily almost smiled.
Dominic heard them.
“So does Emily.”
Grace considered this.
“Maybe they should be friends.”
“No,” Dominic and Emily said simultaneously.
For the first time since arriving, Lily laughed.
The sound changed the room.
Dominic looked at his daughter as if hearing something he had feared he’d lost forever.
Then Marcus entered.
“Dominic.”
His tone erased the moment.
“What?”
“We have Reed.”
Dominic stood.
“Where?”
“He called.”
Emily frowned.
“Called?”
Marcus nodded.
“He wants to trade.”
Dominic’s expression became unreadable.
“For what?”
Marcus looked at Emily.
May you like
“For her.”
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