Chapter 2 - The Man in the Charcoal Suit
I met Adrian Voss that evening in a downtown Edmonton hotel bar, seated beneath low amber lighting while two men waited near the entrance without drinking. Adrian wore a charcoal suit and the quiet expression of a man accustomed to rooms adjusting around him. When I confronted him about Keith, Adrian answered without apology, explaining that Keith had been laundering money through independent restaurants and that Marigold was the third business he had entered through romance, joint accounts, and promises of expansion. "The fire was ordered to destroy the accounting trail," Adrian said. "Keith was instructed to remove the records."
When I asked if Adrian had ordered it, he said no, but admitted Keith worked for him—an admission that made him infinitely more frightening. Adrian placed a one-year employment contract between us, asking me to restructure the finances of his hospitality group consisting of six restaurants, two hotels, and a catering company. The salary could save my mother’s house, and the final clause required him to rebuild Marigold at the end of the contract. I told him he expected loyalty because he was paying a debt, to which he replied, "I expect accuracy because you cannot be bought." But when I pointed out he had known Keith was using my restaurant for eleven months without warning me, his jaw tightened. I stood to leave, but he slid a photograph across the table that changed the trajectory of my entire life forever.
