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CHAPTER19
Sylvie checkedthe time on her phone so often she’d drained most of the battery. Every second she waited for Freddie was interminable. Her mind was a speeding train teeter-tottering as it flew around a track, flames sparking and cars rocking.
While she waited, Sylvie cleaned every inch of the bakery. She couldn’t keep still. If she wasn’t on her knees scrubbing the tile grout, she was checking the time.
The sound of a knock on the glass door sent Sylvie’s heart into overdrive. It was beating so hard, she was sure it would break loose from her arteries.
Scrambling to dry her hands, she shut off the faucet with her elbow. “Coming!”
She rushed around the counter and darted for the door. Through the glass, Freddie waved.
Dressed in a cute, baggy suit, Freddie had obviously been somewhere important. “Hey! I’m so sorry I took longer than I expected.”
Sylvie greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. “Please, don’t apologize. Are you hungry? Can I make you something?”
She was desperate to know what was in the file tucked under Freddie’s arm, but that didn’t mean she’d throw away her good manners.
“I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“Oh, please.” Sylvie gestured to a table with her eyes. “Sit. I’ll make you something.”
Returning with a pressed ham and cheese sandwich and a pineapple juice, Sylvie was a shaken up soda bottle dying to pop. She sat across from Freddie and tried not to burst.
After two enormous bites and a chug of her drink, Freddie moved her plate to the side of the small table. She placed the folder at the center of the table.
“I have to take these with me and destroy them,” she reminded her.
Sylvie stared at the manila cover wishing for x-ray vision.
“You can’t tell anyone that I showed you this, okay?”
Sylvie stared, her heart racing.
“Sylvie. Did you hear me?”
Clearing her throat, Sylvie looked up. She’d agree to anything to find out the truth. “Yeah. I promise.”
“No matter what?” Freddie’s eyebrows crept over the top of her glasses.
“I promise,” she replied despite the complete lack of moisture in her mouth.
Freddie flipped opened the cover of the folder, revealing two sparse sheets of paper. Could a few words typewritten onto thin, yellowing paper really hold all the secrets?
“What is this?” Sylvie leaned over the table as if getting closer would provide clarity.
Freddie slid the top sheet over so Sylvie could look at them both at once.
“This is the truth that your grandpa and Grandpa Machado discovered that led them to drop the lawsuits.” Freddie tapped her finger on the old paper. “This is a telegram from Pedro Gutierrez the Third. Ever heard that name?”
Sylvie shook her head. The words on the page made less and less sense the more she read.
“I’m guessing he found out that they were investigating the roots of the old bakery. The original in Cuba. La Magnifica.”
Sylvie nodded.
Thatname she recognized. It was the place the Campos and Machados families owned together four generations ago. Before they fled political persecution.
“Mr. Gutierrez wrote a letter to the court detailing how Bernardo Campos and Antonio Machado stole recipes from the third in their partnership. His grandfather. The senior Mr. Gutierrez. It seems to have defeated their right to claim full ownership. A death blow to a trade secrets lawsuit.”
