Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Restaurant
They left 30th Street Station through a service exit.
Gabriel hadn't survived as long as he had by using the obvious door.
Sarah hated every second of it.
She hated the men appearing from nowhere.
The black SUVs.
The whispered phone calls.
The way Gabriel could look at a crowded sidewalk once and know which faces didn't belong.
Most of all, she hated that Lucy seemed fascinated.
"Is this your car?" Lucy asked.
"Yes."
"It's really shiny."
Gabriel opened the door.
"Thank you."
"Do you have a dog?"
"No."
"You should get one."
Sarah sighed.
"Lucy."
"What?"
Gabriel said, "She's probably right."
Sarah gave him a look.
For ten seconds, despite everything, the tension eased.
Then Adrian entered the passenger seat.
"We lost Victor."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"You're sure it was him?"
"Facial match is solid."
"How did he get inside?"
"Public station, Gabe."
"He wanted us to see him."
Sarah interrupted.
"Why?"
Gabriel looked through the window.
"To remind me he's close."
They didn't return to Sarah's apartment.
Gabriel took them to a townhouse near Society Hill.
From outside, it looked like any expensive Philadelphia residence.
Inside were reinforced doors, cameras, and three men pretending not to be security.
Sarah looked around.
"No."
Gabriel removed his coat.
"What?"
"We are not staying here."
"Your apartment isn't secure."
"It was secure until last night."
"Exactly."
Sarah stepped closer.
"This is how Daniel started, isn't it?"
Gabriel frowned.
"Being protected. Moved. Told where he could sleep because dangerous men were making decisions around him."
"I'm not making decisions for you."
"You brought us here."
"Because Victor saw you."
"He saw you too."
"I can protect myself."
"And apparently I can't?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
Sarah laughed bitterly.
"Right."
Lucy wandered toward the window.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
"Sarah, there are things you don't know."
"Then start fixing that."
He studied her.
She crossed her arms.
"No more half-truths."
Gabriel nodded.
"Fine."
He poured coffee.
Sarah didn't take it.
Gabriel sat at a long wooden table.
"My father was Antonio Vale."
Sarah's face changed.
She knew the name.
Most Philadelphians over thirty did.
Antonio Vale had been a businessman publicly.
Privately, rumors surrounded him for decades.
Construction contracts.
Waste management.
Union disputes.
Nightclubs.
Nobody ever proved enough.
"He died nine years ago," Sarah said.
"Yes."
"You inherited everything."
"Legally."
"And illegally?"
Gabriel's mouth tightened.
"Some men believed I'd inherit that too."
"Did you?"
"For six months."
Sarah didn't expect the admission.
Gabriel continued.
"I convinced myself I could control it. Reduce the worst parts. Turn businesses legitimate."
"That sounds convenient."
"It was."
His honesty disarmed her again.
"Daniel made me realize I wasn't cleaning anything. I was preserving the machine."
"So you tried to leave."
"Yes."
"And Victor?"
"My father's accountant and adviser."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he knew where every dollar moved and where every secret was buried."
Sarah sat.
"Was he dangerous?"
"More than my father."
"Why?"
"Because my father wanted loyalty."
Gabriel looked toward the city.
"Victor wanted control."
Sarah thought about the photograph.
"Daniel found evidence."
"Yes."
"And you worked with him."
"For two years."
"Then Victor convinced Daniel you'd betrayed him."
Gabriel nodded.
"After the warehouse fire, Daniel disappeared."
"And you thought he died."
"Until last night."
Sarah looked at Lucy playing quietly with her rabbit.
"If Daniel discovered Victor was lying, why didn't he come back to you?"
"Because he found you."
Sarah's eyes sharpened.
"Don't make this sound romantic."
"I'm not."
"Then explain it."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"Before the fire, Daniel had nothing Victor could threaten except his own life. After he met you, that changed."
Sarah swallowed.
"And Lucy."
"Yes."
"So he stayed hidden."
"Probably."
"For years."
"Yes."
Sarah looked away.
The anger was easier when Daniel was simply a husband who'd kept secrets.
Harder when every secret seemed connected to protecting them.
"Why Laurel & Vine?"
"What?"
"Why do you own Table Eleven?"
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"I own the restaurant."
Sarah stared.
"I thought Reynolds did."
"He operates it. I bought the property ten years ago."
"Why?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"Daniel liked the building."
She laughed.
"Seriously?"
"Before it was Laurel & Vine, there was a terrible Italian place downstairs."
"Daniel loved terrible Italian places."
"I know."
Gabriel smiled at the memory.
"He used to order spaghetti there after late jobs. Said if we ever survived everything, we should buy it and make the food edible."
Sarah stared at him.
"You bought an entire restaurant because of a joke."
"Not immediately."
"But eventually."
"Yes."
She didn't know what to say.
Table Eleven suddenly felt different.
"Why that table?"
Gabriel looked down.
"Daniel chose it."
"For what?"
"Our meetings."
Sarah pictured her husband sitting where Gabriel had sat last night.
Quietly exchanging information.
Planning an escape from dangerous men.
Then years later, his hungry daughter had walked into the same room.
By accident.
Or maybe not.
Sarah looked up.
"Did Daniel know you owned the restaurant?"
"He may have."
"He came during renovation."
"Yes."
"And gave Reynolds the key."
"Yes."
Sarah frowned.
"Then what if last night wasn't an accident?"
Gabriel stared.
"What do you mean?"
"My apartment lost heat yesterday."
"So?"
"So the landlord sent someone who couldn't fix it. Lucy and I went to the library. When we left, the rain was too heavy for us to walk home."
Gabriel listened.
"We took a bus we'd never taken before. Lucy saw the restaurant lights and wanted to get out of the rain."
Sarah paused.
"What if someone caused the heat problem?"
Adrian, standing near the door, looked over.
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Landlord's name?"
Sarah told him.
Adrian was already typing.
Five minutes later, he looked up.
"Building maintenance request came through an outside management company."
"So?"
"Company was formed six months ago."
Gabriel stood.
"Owner?"
Adrian rotated the laptop.
Sarah saw the name.
Kestrel Property Services.
Her stomach dropped.
"Kestrel."
"The warehouse company," Gabriel said.
Sarah looked toward Lucy.
Someone had pushed them toward Laurel & Vine.
Maybe not directly.
But deliberately enough.
"Victor wanted us there," Sarah whispered.
Gabriel shook his head.
"If Victor wanted you at Table Eleven, why threaten me afterward?"
"Then who?"
Gabriel looked at Daniel's letter.
Trust what he does after hearing my name.
Daniel had expected Sarah to meet Gabriel.
Maybe someone else had spent years making sure that moment finally happened.
Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Gabriel.
"We found Reynolds."
"Where?"
"Hospital."
Sarah stood.
"What happened?"
"Someone left him unconscious in his car near the river."
Gabriel was already reaching for his coat.
"Is he alive?"
"Yes."
"Can he talk?"
"Doctors say maybe."
Sarah grabbed her own coat.
"You're staying here."
She glared.
"We discussed this."
"Sarah—"
"No."
Lucy looked up.
"Are we going somewhere?"
Sarah hesitated.
Gabriel crouched beside her.
"You and your mom are staying here for a little while."
"Are you going to find the restaurant man?"
"Yes."
"Tell him I liked the pasta."
Gabriel smiled.
"I will."
Then Lucy added:
"And ask him why Daddy gave him my blue box."
Gabriel froze.
"What blue box?"
Sarah turned.
"Lucy?"
"The restaurant man."
"Mr. Reynolds?"
She nodded.
"Daddy gave him a blue box."
"When?"
"When we went to see the piano."
Sarah stared.
"We never went to Laurel & Vine."
Lucy shook her head.
"Not Laurel."
Gabriel leaned closer.
"What piano?"
"The old one."
"Where?"
Lucy looked at her mother.
"At Daddy's work."
Sarah whispered, "Daniel didn't work anywhere with a piano."
Gabriel knew one place.
The old warehouse.
Before it burned, an abandoned upright piano had sat in the upstairs office.
Daniel used to make jokes about it.
Gabriel's blood went cold.
"Lucy was there."
Sarah looked terrified.
"At the warehouse?"
"After the fire."
He turned to Adrian.
"Get me every photograph of Kestrel Storage."
Adrian began searching.
A minute later, he found one taken after reconstruction.
Lucy pointed immediately.
"There."
The rebuilt warehouse.
Sarah stared at her daughter.
"When did Daddy take you there?"
Lucy thought.
"The day before he went away."
Gabriel and Sarah exchanged a look.
The day before Daniel's supposed car accident.
Which meant whatever happened to him hadn't begun on that road outside Wilmington.
May you like
It had begun at the place where everyone already believed he'd died once before.
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