Forgotten Groom in the Back Alley novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Flat Above the Hall

"Yes," I said.

Hazel turned her head and looked at me.

Yvette's face did not change, but her shoulders loosened, and she nodded to the doorman.

"Release his boxes, please. Send them down on the service lift."

"Thank you, Yvette," I said.

It was the first lie I had told her in eight years, and it came out smoothly.

Twelve boxes came down on a cart, and Brodie stood in the lobby in his bathrobe and watched every one of them go by.

Hazel and I loaded them into the van in silence.

She waited until we were out of the garage and onto the lake road.

"You said yes."

"I said I'd come to a dinner."

"That's a yes."

"It's three weeks at her table, with her wire transfer at the end." I leaned back against the headrest. "Or it's three weeks to find out what she's hiding."

"What makes you think she's hiding something?"

"Nobody pays to seat a man she just threw out unless the room matters to her."

Hazel took her eyes off the road for a moment.

"Which room?"

"The dinner. I'll find out what she needs from it."

She was quiet for two blocks.

"My grandmother is going to want to hear that," she said.

Shanahan Hall sat on a corner lot in an old brick building.

It had a garden gate on the side street and a flat above the main doors.

Dot Shanahan stood on the front step with her arms folded.

Her cardigan had a tape measure sticking out of its pocket.

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