Chapter 2 - The Warning No One Heard
Chloe had barely made it back to the kitchen when Marco blocked her path.
“What happened in there?”
She balanced the dirty plates against her hip.
“Mrs. Costello wanted risotto.”
Marco stared at her.
“That is not what I asked.”
“It’s the answer you’re getting.”
Around them, the kitchen had resumed moving, but everyone was pretending not to listen.
Marco lowered his voice.
“Gabriel Costello does not like surprises.”
“Neither does his mother, apparently.”
“Chloe.”
She looked at him.
For the first time that night, Marco did not look irritated.
He looked afraid.
“You need to finish your tables and go home.”
Chloe frowned.
“My shift ends in forty minutes.”
“It ends now.”
“You’re firing me?”
“I’m telling you to leave.”
“Those are different things.”
Marco glanced toward the mahogany doors.
“Tonight, they’re the same.”
Before Chloe could answer, the doors opened.
Every conversation in the kitchen died again.
Gabriel Costello stood there.
He did not raise his voice.
He did not have to.
“Ms. Bennett.”
Chloe slowly put down the plates.
“That sounds ominous.”
“Come with me.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Mr. Costello, she’s exhausted.”
Gabriel looked at him once.
Marco stepped back.
Chloe wiped her hands on her apron.
“I suppose that means my break is canceled.”
Gabriel turned and walked away.
Chloe followed him into the VIP room.
Something had changed.
The six men who had been laughing earlier were now silent.
Beatrice sat with her seafood risotto untouched.
Her hands were folded tightly in her lap.
Gabriel pulled out the chair beside his mother.
“Sit.”
Chloe stayed standing.
“I’m working.”
“You were apparently just sent home.”
Chloe looked toward the kitchen doors.
Of course he had heard.
She sat.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“My mother has been trying to tell me something.”
Beatrice immediately raised her hands.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“Translate everything.”
Chloe turned toward the older woman.
Beatrice signed slowly at first.
Not because she needed to.
Because she understood how dangerous the next words were.
The man with the blue ring is stealing from you.
Chloe’s stomach tightened.
She looked around the table.
Three men wore rings.
One had a gold wedding band.
One wore a black signet ring.
The third wore a sapphire ring on his right hand.
Dominic Marchetti.
Gabriel’s oldest lieutenant.
Dominic noticed Chloe looking at him.
His expression did not change.
Chloe swallowed.
“What did she say?”
Gabriel’s voice was quiet.
Chloe turned back to Beatrice.
The older woman repeated herself.
The man with the blue ring is stealing from you.
Chloe translated.
Nobody moved.
Dominic smiled first.
“Beatrice thinks I’m stealing?”
Beatrice’s hands moved faster.
Not money.
Cargo.
Three shipments.
Pier Forty-Eight.
May.
July.
Last Tuesday.
Chloe translated every word.
Gabriel’s face became unreadable.
Dominic leaned back.
“With respect, Gabriel, your mother barely leaves the house.”
Beatrice’s eyes flashed.
She signed.
Tell the liar I can read.
Chloe almost smiled.
“She says she can read.”
Dominic’s smile faded.
Beatrice continued.
Documents were left in the library.
Gabriel’s office.
He thinks deaf means blind.
Chloe translated.
Gabriel slowly turned toward Dominic.
“You were in my office last Tuesday.”
Dominic shrugged.
“So were fifteen other people.”
“You stayed after midnight.”
“We were handling the customs problem.”
Beatrice slapped the table.
Everyone jumped except Gabriel.
Her hands flew.
He met a man in the garden.
Gray coat.
Scar under the eye.
They exchanged envelopes.
Dominic stood.
“This is absurd.”
Gabriel remained seated.
“Sit down.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Gabriel.”
“Sit.”
Dominic sat.
Chloe suddenly wished she were anywhere else.
She had spent the last five years worrying about rent, health insurance, utility bills, and whether her ancient Honda would survive another Chicago winter.
Now she was translating accusations of betrayal between men who probably solved problems in ways she did not want explained.
Beatrice signed again.
I tried to tell you at Christmas.
You told me you were busy.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
She hesitated.
“Translate.”
“She says she tried to tell you at Christmas.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Beatrice continued.
I tried at New Year’s.
You gave me bread.
One of the men at the table looked down.
Chloe translated.
Gabriel’s eyes closed for half a second.
Beatrice was not finished.
I tried in March.
You told Rosa I was confused.
In April.
You told me to rest.
Last week.
You kissed my forehead and walked away.
Gabriel did not ask Chloe to continue.
She did anyway.
“She says you kept deciding what she meant before you actually listened.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Beatrice’s final signs were smaller.
Almost tired.
I am deaf.
I am not gone.
Chloe’s throat tightened.
Gabriel stared at his mother.
Something inside his expression cracked.
He reached toward her.
Beatrice pulled her hand away.
Dominic cleared his throat.
“Gabriel, we can settle this privately.”
Beatrice looked sharply at Chloe.
Then she signed something else.
Not him.
Chloe froze.
Beatrice repeated it.
Not only him.
Chloe stared at her.
Gabriel noticed.
“What?”
Chloe did not answer immediately.
His voice hardened.
“Ms. Bennett.”
Chloe looked around the room.
Beatrice signed again.
The restaurant man knows.
The one who grabbed your arm.
Marco.
Chloe felt cold.
“What is she saying?”
Gabriel asked.
Chloe looked directly at him.
“She says Dominic isn’t the only one.”
Dominic’s chair scraped backward.
Gabriel’s men moved instantly.
Two blocked the door.
Another reached inside his jacket.
Gabriel never took his eyes off Chloe.
“Who?”
Beatrice answered.
Chloe whispered the name.
“Marco.”
The kitchen doors suddenly swung open.
A young busboy stumbled inside.
Blood had drained from his face.
“Mr. Costello.”
Gabriel stood.
“What?”
The boy could barely speak.
“Marco’s gone.”
Everyone looked toward the kitchen.
“He took his coat, emptied the office safe, and went through the back exit.”
Gabriel turned toward Dominic.
Dominic lifted both hands.
“I had nothing to do with that.”
Beatrice signed sharply.
Liar.
Chloe translated without being asked.
Dominic’s face darkened.
Gabriel rose slowly.
“What was in the office safe?”
The busboy swallowed.
“Cash.”
He looked at Chloe.
“And Chloe’s employee file.”
Her heart stopped.
“My what?”
“Your address.”
The room went silent.
Gabriel reached for his phone.
Chloe stood.
“Why would Marco need my address?”
No one answered.
That frightened her more than any answer could have.
Gabriel made one call.
“Lock down the building.”
He listened.
Then his expression changed.
“Too late?”
Chloe’s pulse jumped.
Gabriel ended the call.
His eyes found hers.
“Marco left seven minutes ago.”
“So?”
“He wasn’t alone.”
Chloe glanced toward Dominic.
Gabriel’s voice became colder.
“There was a man waiting in the alley.”
Beatrice began signing urgently.
Chloe watched.
Then every muscle in her body tightened.
Gabriel saw it.
“What did she say?”
Chloe looked at him.
“She recognized the man.”
“From where?”
Beatrice signed.
The garden.
Gray coat.
Scar under his eye.
Chloe translated.
Gabriel’s face went still.
Then Beatrice added one more sentence.
This time Chloe stopped breathing.
“What?”
Gabriel demanded.
Chloe stared at Beatrice.
The older woman repeated it.
Chloe whispered.
“She says that’s the same man who followed her home from church three days ago.”
Gabriel moved so fast his chair struck the wall.
The room erupted.
Orders.
Phones.
Men rushing toward exits.
But Beatrice caught Chloe’s wrist.
Her fingers tightened.
She signed only four words.
They know you understand me.
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
He had already realized the same thing.
And suddenly the seventy dollars in her bank account was no longer Chloe Bennett’s biggest problem.
Someone had spent months making sure Beatrice Costello could not be heard.
May you like
Now Chloe had heard her.
And whoever was behind the betrayal had just discovered that silence was no longer guaranteed.
