PART FOUR: THE SECOND SET OF BOOKS

CHAPTER 15: RENEE’S CHOICE

Renee Carter sat in her car behind Harbor Table with her keys resting in the ignition and the morning schedule folded across her lap.

She had worked at the restaurant for six years, first as a cashier, then a shift supervisor, and eventually as the assistant manager who absorbed every problem Victor did not want to address.

She had covered holidays, cleaned flooded restrooms, apologized to angry customers, and trained employees who disappeared when their promised hours failed to arrive.

She had told herself that every business was difficult and that Victor’s temper was the price of keeping the restaurant open.

Now she held a disciplinary notice accusing Tessa of misconduct on a date she knew Tessa had not worked.

Victor had ordered Renee to sign it as a witness.

Renee took a photograph of the unsigned notice and wrote down when it had been delivered to her.

Then she walked into the building and asked Victor to remove her name.

He said she was making a personal disagreement into an administrative problem.

Renee replied that a false document was already an administrative problem, whether or not either of them liked the people named in it.

Victor leaned across the desk and asked whether she had forgotten who gave her a chance when other restaurants refused to hire her.

Renee remembered the small apartment she rented after her divorce and the nights she stayed awake wondering whether she could provide for her son.

She also remembered how Victor used that history whenever she questioned him.

“I appreciated the job,” she said.

“I never agreed to testify to something I didn’t see.”

Victor dismissed her from the office and said he would review whether she remained suitable for management.

Renee returned to her car and cried with anger before calling the employee hotline.

She provided the document, her own account, and the names of people who could corroborate the closure date.

The hotline representative explained how the information would be preserved and asked whether Renee wanted outside legal support.

Renee said yes.

She drove home knowing that Victor might remove her from the schedule, but she was no longer willing to protect him by accusing somebody else.

CHAPTER 16: JULIAN’S GARAGE

Julian Sloane operated Meridian Cold Chain from a rented garage behind a tire warehouse, where three refrigerated trucks stood beside a wall covered with spare parts.

He had once delivered produce to neighborhood restaurants and dreamed of building a reliable independent distribution company.