Chapter 2 - Six Months of Fridays
At 9:06 the next morning, my phone rang.
West Erie.
I stared at it until the fourth ring.
Then answered.
“Hello?”
“Rachel Hayes?”
A man’s voice.
“Yes.”
“Mr. Weston would like to speak with you.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Now.”
Of course.
Forty minutes later, I walked through West Erie’s locked front doors.
The restaurant was empty.
Garrett sat alone at table one.
Margaret’s usual table.
“Sit.”
I obeyed.
Garrett slid a tablet toward me.
A paused security video filled the screen.
Madison’s fingers were around Margaret’s wrist.
“When did you first notice?”
I looked at him.
“You know?”
“I asked you a question.”
“About six months ago.”
His jaw tightened.
“And you said nothing?”
“I didn’t know what I was seeing at first.”
“When did you know?”
“Maybe four months ago.”
His eyes hardened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I almost laughed.
“Tell you?”
“Yes.”
“That your fiancée was hurting your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Weston, you spoke directly to me seven times in two years.”
His eyebrow moved slightly.
“You counted?”
“You’re intimidating.”
“I’m sitting here.”
“You’re still intimidating.”
For half a second, something almost changed in his expression.
Then it disappeared.
“You could have told management.”
“I tried.”
Garrett became still.
“What?”
“Three months ago, I told Mr. Aldridge.”
West Erie’s general manager.
“What did he say?”
“That Miss Cole was family business and staff should stay out of family business.”
Garrett leaned back.
“Anything else?”
“He changed my section for two Fridays.”
“Why?”
“I assume so I couldn’t see table one.”
Silence.
Garrett picked up his phone.
“Victor.”
The door opened almost immediately.
A tall man in a gray suit entered.
“Find Aldridge.”
“He’s upstairs.”
“Bring him down.”
Five minutes later, Aldridge entered smiling.
The smile vanished when he saw me.
“Garrett.”
“Sit.”
Aldridge sat.
Garrett turned the tablet toward him.
“Rachel says she reported concerns about Madison touching my mother.”
Aldridge looked at me.
“I don’t remember that.”
“I do,” I said.
His face hardened.
Garrett tapped the screen.
Another video appeared.
Not from the dining room.
From the manager’s office.
There I was.
Standing in front of Aldridge’s desk.
The audio played.
“Something isn’t right with Mrs. Weston.”
Then Aldridge’s voice.
“Rachel, rich families are complicated. Keep serving food.”
The video stopped.
Aldridge went pale.
Garrett looked at him.
“You remembered.”
“Garrett, I can explain.”
“You had four months.”
“I thought Madison was simply—”
“Get out.”
Aldridge blinked.
“What?”
“You’re fired.”
“Garrett—”
“Victor.”
Victor stepped forward.
Aldridge stood quickly.
“This is insane.”
Garrett’s voice remained quiet.
“You knew someone was hurting my mother inside my building, and you protected my comfort instead of her safety.”
“I was protecting the restaurant.”
“No.”
Garrett looked directly at him.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Victor escorted him out.
The door closed.
Garrett turned back to me.
“Why did you finally interfere last night?”
“Because she hurt her.”
“She’d done that before.”
“Not like that.”
I hesitated.
“Mrs. Weston looked scared.”
Garrett stared down at the table.
That seemed to hurt him more than anything else.
Finally, he asked, “Did my mother ever tell you what was happening?”
“No.”
“Did she ask for help?”
“Not with words.”
His eyes lifted.
“But?”
“Every Friday, she started finding reasons to keep me near the table.”
“What reasons?”
“More tea. Another napkin. Salt she never used.”
Garrett understood immediately.
“She wanted a witness.”
“Yes.”
The private door opened.
Margaret Weston entered.
Garrett stood.
“Mom.”
She looked at me first.
Then at her son.
“You saw the recordings.”
Garrett’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
Margaret lowered herself into a chair.
“I didn’t want you to.”
“Why?”
“Because you loved her.”
Garrett’s expression changed.
“Mom.”
“You finally looked happy.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It mattered to me.”
Garrett crouched beside her chair.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Margaret looked at him for a long moment.
“Because the first time I tried, Madison told me something.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“She said if I destroyed your engagement, she would destroy you.”
The room became completely silent.
Garrett stood.
“How?”
Margaret reached into her handbag.
And placed a small flash drive on the table.
May you like
“I think,” she whispered, “this is what she was looking for.”
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