Chapter 4 - The Bill on Sterling’s Table
Within twenty minutes, the private dining room became something very different.
Waiters.
Dishwashers.
Cooks.
A bartender.
Two former employees who happened to still have friends working there.
They stood nervously around the table.
Vincent sat at the head.
Mom sat beside me.
Sterling remained standing.
“This is my restaurant,” he said.
Vincent looked around.
“Yes.”
“Then you don't conduct investigations here.”
Vincent tapped the paper.
“I'm eating dinner. People keep approaching my table with interesting stories.”
A dishwasher named Carlos stepped forward.
“Three weeks missing.”
A waitress spoke next.
“Twenty-six overtime hours.”
Another employee said, “He changes the clock.”
Sterling pointed toward them.
“You people should think very carefully.”
Vincent's head lifted.
“Stop.”
Sterling turned.
“What?”
“Threatening employees in front of witnesses is becoming a habit.”
“I am not threatening anyone.”
Carlos laughed bitterly.
“You threatened me Tuesday.”
Sterling spun toward him.
“You stole food.”
“I took leftovers you told us to throw away.”
“You admitted it!”
Vincent rubbed his temple.
“Luca.”
“Yeah?”
“Start writing names.”
Sterling's face reddened.
“You can't do this.”
Vincent looked up.
“I'm not doing anything.”
He pointed at Mom.
“She did.”
Then he pointed at me.
“And she brought the paperwork.”
I smiled.
Mom did not.
“Rory,” she whispered.
“Sorry.”
Vincent examined the page again.
“Why thirty cents?”
Mom blinked.
“What?”
“The total. $5,430.30. Why so precise?”
“Because those are my hours.”
“You calculated everything?”
“Every shift.”
Sterling laughed.
“She scribbled numbers on paper.”
Mom stood.
“No.”
For the first time all night, her voice didn't shake.
“I kept photographs.”
Sterling froze.
Mom took out her phone.
“Every time I clocked in.”
She opened her gallery.
“Every schedule.”
Swipe.
“Every closing shift.”
Swipe.
“Every text where you asked me to stay late.”
Sterling's face drained.
“And every time you promised to fix my paycheck.”
Vincent held out his hand.
“May I?”
Mom gave him the phone.
He read silently.
Then handed it to Luca.
“Send copies to counsel.”
Sterling stepped forward.
“You don't have permission.”
Mom looked directly at him.
“He has mine.”
Sterling stopped.
Vincent leaned back.
“Now we have evidence.”
Sterling's confidence finally cracked.
“What do you want?”
Mom answered before Vincent could.
“My money.”
“I wasn't asking you.”
Vincent's chair moved.
Sterling immediately corrected himself.
“I mean—”
“My mother answered you,” I said.
Sterling stared at me.
Vincent almost smiled.
“Yes, she did.”
Sterling walked toward his safe.
He opened it.
“What if I pay her tonight?”
Mom's lips parted.
Sterling pulled out several stacks of cash.
“Five thousand five hundred.”
He dropped them onto the table.
“There.”
Mom stared.
Vincent didn't touch it.
“What about them?”
He gestured toward the employees.
Sterling looked around.
“This was about Mara.”
Carlos laughed.
“No. You hoped it was only about Mara.”
Sterling's face hardened.
“Everyone goes back to work.”
Nobody moved.
“Now!”
Still nobody moved.
Vincent quietly said, “Interesting.”
Sterling turned.
“What?”
“For seventy-seven days, Mara needed you more than you needed her.”
Vincent looked around the room.
“But tonight you discovered something.”
Sterling said nothing.
May you like
“You need all of them.”
---
