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Four days later, they’d found a long-term hotel and had settled in. It was closer to Madeline’s, and on their first day at work, Julia said, “Hey, we’re so close. Why don’t we walk to Madeline’s?”
Nico stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I can’t believe you think we should walk to the restaurant,” he said. “We’d be vulnerable for four blocks instead of just for a few minutes. And at night? When anyone could be hiding along the route? Not happening, Jules.”
Julia grimaced. “I was thinking about saving the planet. I wasn’t focusing on our… situation.” She touched his arm. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s not your job to do threat assessment.”
“It’s my job to think about my surroundings,” she said. “Don’t let me off so easily.”
She slid into the car and waited for him to climb into the driver’s seat. As they pulled away from the long-term hotel, she said, “Nothing else has happened since the fire,” she said as they drove toward Madeline’s. “Instead of thinking about saving the planet, I should be worried about what he’s planning.”
“I’m not assuming it’s Dawson,” Nico said. “We have no solid proof.”
“No, we don’t. But we have a lot of circumstantial evidence,” Julia shot back. “And no other suspects.”
“I’ll agree everything points to him. But we still have no motive. You don’t know him. What could he have against you?”
“No idea,” Julia said. “But there has to be something.”
“Yeah,” Nico said, shaking his head. “Whoever’s behind this has a reason for targeting you. We just have to figure out what it is.”
“You know I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to think who wants to destroy me. And I’ve come up with nothing beyond a few feuds from culinary school. And hopefully, all my classmates are too busy in restaurants to think about petty fights from ten years ago.”
“I sent those names to Mel. Tory Gardner is working in a restaurant in Olympia. Mel called the restaurant, and she hasn’t taken any days off. Nothing on anyone else.”
Julia lifted one shoulder. “That was always a long shot.”
After greeting Flynn and reporting nothing new, they sent him back to the long-term hotel and walked into the kitchen. Julia got to work, and so did Nico. They were booked almost to capacity, including one large party. Someone who’d been part of one of the large groups the other night had recommended Madeline’s.
Eight hours later, already exhausted, Julia forced a smile onto her face and slipped out of the kitchen to greet the large party and thank them for choosing Madeline’s. Nico was refilling water glasses, and he barely glanced at her. Exactly as they’d discussed. At Madeline’s, everyone had to believe he was a busser. Nothing more.
After chatting with the host, then greeting the rest of the guests, Julia returned to the kitchen and allowed herself to relax. Although Madeline’s had been crowded, everything had gone smoothly. No problems at the stoves. The servers were all in top form. And Brady, the bartender, had been mixing drinks, pouring wine and pulling beers all night.
At nine that night, the orders were slowing down. Most of the tables were still full, but they were lingering over dessert and coffee. The cooks were winding down, beginning their cleaning. As Julia began to replace some food in the refrigerator, the swinging door opened and Nico walked in.
Instead of picking up a meal or dessert to deliver to a table, he came directly to her. He steered her to the side, out of the view of most of the cooks. In a low voice, he said, “Dawson just walked into the restaurant.”
