Chapter 24: Cleared

At ten to six on Friday, I stood at the door of the Lakeshore Room with nine coworkers and a card of my own.

It was the Marwick dinner, rescheduled for the third time.

The client's team was due at six-thirty.

The manager came toward me with the card machine in both hands.

"Ms. Prewitt," she said. "Welcome back."

"Thank you."

"The deposit has to clear before we seat the table. It comes off the bill tonight."

"I know."

Behind the host stand, Cassidy looked up from the reservation book.

She wore a black dress and a name tag, and her hair was pulled back in a plain knot.

She grinned at me, and then she remembered she was working and put on a professional face.

"Table for twelve, Ms. Prewitt," she said. "Right this way when you're ready."

Thane stood at my elbow in a charcoal suit.

He had said he would be there if I wanted him, and he would be gone if I didn't.

I had told him to stand where he was.

Down the hall at the bar, Bernie sat in her good cardigan, drinking ginger ale and reading a folded receipt.

She had come to audit the steak prices, she said.

I turned to the nine people who worked for me.

The man by the coat rack, the one who had laughed, stood with his hands behind his back and a very careful face.