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“I’ll be waiting to hear.” He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and jingled them in his hand. “I’m going to get over to your place. What time do you want me back here?”
“I’ll call you tonight after everyone leaves,” Nico said. He explained what he did every night when they returned to Julia’s house, and told Flynn where he left the tells that would alert him someone had been in the house. Then he handed over Julia’s extra set of house keys.
As Julia watched the transfer of her keys, she saw another piece of her independence vanish. Nico and Spence were helping her, and she appreciated what they were doing, but she hated relying on other people. Turning her safety and security over to the two men was unsettling. Uncomfortable.
Spence looked from her to Nico. Back to her. “I’ll see you tonight, then,” he said.
“Text me when you’ve had a chance to look around the house,” Nico said. “I want to know no one’s been in there.”
“Will do,” Flynn said.
Waving his hand at them, he hurried out the door.
Julia turned to Nico. Drew a deep breath. “That was uncomfortable with Zoe and Spence.”
“Yeah. It was.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “Flynn’s not usually like that. He’s the most easy-going person in the group.” He shook his head. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Don’t bother,” Julia said. “He’ll probably never see Zoe again. It wasn’t a big deal.” Zoe was her friend, and they got along great. But Zoe would never be described as easy-going. She was too driven, too focused on her company and her goals. Julia suspected Zoe was a tough boss. Although Julia had never seen it, she was pretty sure Zoe had a hair-trigger temper at work.
She glanced at the clock and sighed. “Delia will be getting here soon. Let me show you where the washer and dryer are, and you can start on your side job of laundering our kitchen uniforms and linens.”
* * *
That evening, after the restaurant closed and everyone but Nico and Julia was gone, Nico hovered over Julia as she slid into her desk chair. She swiped her hands down her thighs, then opened her computer, her hand shaking slightly. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, he moved closer. Crouched beside her chair. “Go ahead,” he said with a nod. “Open it up and see what it says.”
He’d used his counter again to calculate the meals sold. He was big on back-up plans. Julia fumbled for his hand as she waited for the page to load, and he curled his fingers around hers. Held on tight.
She sucked in a breath. “Seven meals were erased,” she said, gripping his hand harder. “With the bar tabs, appetizers and desserts, a total of seven hundred and fifty dollars. All served by Ruth and Andra.” She scrolled down and gasped. “And they’re using my ID.”
“Damn it!” Nico stared at her for a long moment. Took a steadying breath. “How easy would it be to get your ID?”
“Impossible, since they’d have to know the password to my computer, and that’s in the safe,” Julia said.
“How often do you change that?” Nico asked.
“Not often enough.” She closed her eyes. “Damn it all to hell.”
“You need to focus on how to fix it,” Nico said, gripping her hands more tightly. “Kicking yourself for not catching it sooner won’t solve anything.”
“Yeah. I know. It’s just… I trusted them. All three of them.”
Nico rubbed his thumbs over the backs of her hands. For a chef, someone who washed her hand constantly, her skin was incredibly soft. Smooth. He swiped his thumbs over them again. This time, he felt her shiver.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “You think Andra and Ruth are deleting the meals? Or is that Carole’s job?”
Julia tugged her hands from his and pushed away from her desk, her face white. “After what you said, I was pretty sure it was Andra and Ruth and Carole. But suspecting isn’t the same as knowing.” She drew in a deep, ragged breath. “Carole’s the most likely suspect for deleting the meals. She checks the screens a few times a night, to make sure no servers are slacking off. Making mistakes. No one would think twice about seeing her at a terminal.”
Julia scowled. Kicked viciously at her desk, then sucked in a breath as pain shot up her leg. Hopping on one foot, she said, “They’re probably splitting whatever they steal three ways.”
Nico took a deep breath. Saw the despair in Julia’s expression. The devastation in her slumped shoulders. “You gonna fire them tomorrow?”
“That’s exactly what I want to do. What I should do. But I promised Zoe I’d call her tonight.” She yanked her phone out of her pocket and stabbed the icon beside her contact number. Put it on speaker, so he could hear, too.
The phone only rang twice before Zoe answered. “Jules. What did you find?”
“Seven meals missing,” Julia said as she paced the hall outside her office. “All from the servers we suspected were involved.”
“Damn it,” Zoe said, hard anger in her voice.
