Chapter 2 - The Man at Table Twelve
Nora did not run. She wanted to. Her knees had become unreliable, and every instinct from the night she fled Roman's penthouse told her to find an exit. Instead, she walked to the service station, took out her phone, and dialed Detective Maya Chen, the investigator whose card she'd kept tucked behind Eli's photograph for three years.
Chen answered on the fourth ring. "Nora Bell?"
"I'm using Sadie Lane now. I'm at Lombardi's. Graham Vale is here."
"Is he threatening you?"
"Not verbally. But Roman DeLuca just showed me a photograph of Vale holding a chain at Pier Nine the night Eli died. Now Vale is watching me."
The detective's voice changed. "Are you somewhere public?"
"In the dining room."
"Stay near other people. Don't confront him. I'll send officers, and I want the photograph preserved."
Nora ended the call. It was the first concrete decision she'd made since Roman walked in, and the act steadied her. She had lost too much by trusting other people to handle danger on her behalf.
Cora came to stand beside her. "Arthur says you need to apologize to the man at table twelve. He claims you stared at him."
"Tell Arthur I'll speak to him after the police get here."
Cora blinked. "The police?"
"I don't want you involved unless you choose to be."
Cora looked at the dining room, at Arthur gesturing frantically, and finally at Nora's bandaged finger. "He makes us sign incident reports before we get our paychecks. I'm already involved. What do you need?"
"Write down exactly what you saw when Roman came in. Especially who spoke to Vale."
Cora nodded and pulled a guest-check pad from her apron.
At table twelve, Vale rose. He approached Roman's booth with a practiced smile, then noticed Nora standing a few yards away.
"Roman. I'd heard you were in town."
Roman remained seated. "Graham."
"And isn't that the young woman who made such a fuss after the accident?" Vale's gaze moved to Nora. "I thought she'd moved on."
"My brother didn't get that option," Nora said.
Vale's smile faded. "Your family suffered a terrible tragedy. I understand grief can cloud judgment."
She felt a surge of anger but remembered Chen's advice. "Then you won't object to answering investigators' questions."
"I answered them three years ago."
"About the emergency exit chain?"
His face changed just enough for her to see. "I don't know what you're suggesting."
Roman stood. Tommy shifted behind him, but Roman lifted a hand to keep him in place. "There's a photograph. It's been submitted for examination."
"A photograph of what?" Vale demanded.
"You'll hear from the investigator," Nora said. "Not from me."
Vale looked at Tommy, perhaps expecting him to intervene. Tommy stared at the floor. For a second, something like panic crossed his face. Nora filed it away.
The police arrived through the front entrance, not with sirens but with two uniformed officers. Vale immediately pulled out a business card and began explaining that there had been a misunderstanding. The officers spoke to Nora, Roman, and witnesses separately. Chen called Nora during the interviews and asked her to preserve her phone records. An investigator from the fire department would review the new photograph, she said, but authentication and context mattered.
Arthur paced nearby. He seemed more upset by the spectacle than the possibility of evidence in a fatal fire.
"You should have told me you knew these men," he hissed when the officers left. "We have investors dining here tonight."
"I didn't invite either of them."
"You dropped two thousand dollars' worth of dinner."
"I offered to clean it."
"I can't have police coming every time your personal problems show up."
Cora stepped between them. "I saw Mr. Vale speak to you before he sat down. What did he say?"
Arthur's face stiffened. "Go back to work."
"He asked for Sadie's section, didn't he?" Cora pressed.
Nora watched Arthur swallow. It wasn't proof of a conspiracy, but it made her skin prickle. Had Vale arranged to meet her here, or had somebody wanted the confrontation recorded?
Roman was waiting at the coat check, holding only his own overcoat. "I'll send the unedited photograph directly to Chen. I'll also tell her how I got it."
"Who gave it to you?"
"An anonymous courier. They left an envelope at my office, along with a note saying you're not the only one who remembers Pier Nine."
"So you came because you thought I had something?"
"I came because the note named you and gave your work address. I thought somebody might come for you next."
"You could have warned Chen."
"I have now. I should've done it first."
It wasn't the answer Nora had wanted, but it was truthful enough to hurt. She remembered standing in Roman's penthouse after Eli's funeral, begging him to investigate the locked rear doors. He had taken her hands and told her the report was final. She had mistaken his certainty for safety.
"Don't come to my apartment," she said. "Don't send anyone to watch me without asking."
Roman nodded. "I won't."
Tommy opened the entrance door. Before leaving, he paused beside Nora. "Your brother left a message once," he said so softly she barely heard. "I never got to tell you."
Nora caught his sleeve. "What message?"
Tommy looked at Roman and then at the street. "I can't do this here."
"You don't get to decide when I hear my brother's words."
He pulled a card from his wallet, wrote a number on it, and left it on the coat-check counter. "Call tomorrow. Bring your detective if you want."
After the last guest departed, Nora sat alone in the employees' break room. On her phone she found an old voicemail from Eli. She'd saved it to two places because she was afraid of forgetting his voice. Most nights she couldn't bear to play it. Tonight she did.
"Hey, Nor. Don't forget the blue candles for Saturday. The power keeps blinking here and the boss says it's nothing. Oh, and somebody's got a chain on the back door again. I told them—"
The message ended. For three years she'd heard the words without understanding why they mattered. It wasn't a last-minute emergency. Eli had noticed the chain before the fire.
She forwarded a copy to Detective Chen with the date and original device information. Then she looked at Tommy's card and typed a single message.
I want the rest of what Eli said. I'll meet you with Detective Chen present.
May you like
His reply came almost immediately.
Then don't trust what I told Roman that night.
