Everyone Had a Key but Me novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: What She Did on the Street

Gabe's POV

Dario's text came while Dario's mother was still pouring coffee.

Bay Ridge. Doorman found. Pellegrino trucks outside. Claire is here.

I left the long cloth without a word.

Nobody at the Table stopped me.

My driver took the Gowanus at sixty, and I called Dario four times, and he didn't pick up.

I knew why.

He'd have both hands full.

The bakery sat under the elevated tracks with a queue out of its door.

The two black SUVs stood at the curb with their hazards on.

Through the shop window I saw Claire.

She stood in the middle of the floor in her black coat, between the glass cases and four men in dark jackets.

She had a small black notebook in one hand and her phone held up in the other, and she was talking loudly enough for the whole queue to hear.

"I'm Claire Danner," she said. "It's four-ten on Monday afternoon. These men are from Pellegrino Security, and they came into this bakery without being asked. If you have a phone, please film this."

Every woman in the queue had her phone out.

I stopped on the pavement with my hand on the door.

The man in front was Bruno's night supervisor, the one who'd had my floor on his keyring for a year.

His jaw was working.

"Miss Danner. Mr. Pellegrino sent us to see you home safely."

"I'm home," she said. "Thank you."

"The book."

"It's the old Don's." She raised it an inch. "If you want it, take it from me. In front of all these people."

He took one step.

I came through the door.

I don't remember crossing the shop.

I remember the supervisor's collar in my fist, and the glass of the pastry case against his back, and a tray of cannoli sliding onto the floor.

"Who sent you onto my cousin's street?" I said.

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