Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Blind Corner
Grant’s wife, Caroline Mercer, arrived furious.
Not frightened.
Furious.
“You told police I poisoned you?”
“I told them you were on camera.”
“I came here to speak to Derek.”
The assistant manager.
Grant’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Caroline hesitated.
That was enough.
Their marriage had been cold for two years.
Separate bedrooms some nights.
Separate vacations more often.
But Derek?
Thirty-four.
Good-looking.
Too polished for restaurant management.
Grant immediately assumed affair.
Thomas watched him make the mistake.
“You're thinking with your ego,” he said.
Grant turned.
“Stay out of my marriage.”
Thomas shrugged.
“I was talking about the investigation.”
Caroline finally admitted she met Derek privately because she had hired him.
Not as a lover.
As an informant.
“On what?”
“You.”
Grant laughed.
She did not.
For six months, Caroline suspected Grant was moving money out of Mercer Hospitality Group before their planned divorce.
Mercer Hospitality owned twelve restaurant properties.
Including the building where Vale & Ash operated.
Thomas leased it.
Grant was technically his landlord.
Caroline believed Grant planned to force Thomas out after the lease expired and sell the building to a hotel developer.
Grant denied nothing.
Business was business.
Thomas smiled slightly.
“So now we know why you came tonight.”
Grant looked at him.
He had not come merely to eat.
He had come to inspect the restaurant before informing Thomas that Vale & Ash had ninety days to vacate.
Thomas already knew.
“Derek told you?”
“No.”
Then:
“Your brother did.”
Grant’s face changed.
His younger brother Luke had died eighteen months earlier.
Car accident.
Drunk driver.
At least that was the official story.
“What did you say?”
Thomas repeated calmly:
“Luke told me.”
Grant stepped toward him.
“My brother is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then stop using his name.”
Thomas held his ground.
“He came here three days before he died.”
The room went quiet.
“Why?”
“He wanted to talk about you.”
Grant laughed once.
“Everyone wants to talk about me.”
“He said someone inside Mercer Hospitality was laundering money through restaurant acquisitions.”
Grant stopped smiling.
Caroline stared.
Derek went pale.
Grant noticed.
There.
“Derek?”
The assistant manager backed away.
“I don't know anything about that.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You know enough to be scared.”
Then police found Tyler.
Not across town.
In the restaurant basement.
Unconscious.
Locked inside a wine-storage cage.
He had never fled.
Someone had put on his jacket and walked out through the employee exit.
May you like
The person leaving on camera was not Tyler.
And the man who locked him downstairs had used Derek’s access code.
