Chapter 3 - Ryan Had Complained Three Times
Emily read every complaint.
The details were false.
One claimed she deliberately ignored Ryan for twenty minutes.
Another said she spilled wine on his jacket and refused to apologize.
The third accused her of insulting Madison’s appearance.
Thomas had rejected disciplinary action because camera footage
contradicted portions of the complaints.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was investigating.”
“You let them keep coming back.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Emily stared at him.
That answer mattered more than an excuse.
Thomas explained that Ryan was not merely a customer.
His father, Charles Cole, was negotiating to buy a minority stake in
Harbor House, the restaurant group that owned the waterfront location.
Thomas had been told by corporate leadership to handle complaints from
the Cole family “carefully.”
Emily laughed once.
“So carefully that nobody warned me?”
“I should have.”
“Yes.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Then he showed her something worse.
A personnel report recommended terminating Emily after one more
documented incident.
The report was unsigned.
“Who wrote this?”
“I don’t know.”
The document had appeared in the company’s internal HR system that
morning.
Someone had accessed Emily’s employee file without authorization.
Thomas had already reported it.
Then the restaurant’s owner, Evelyn Grant, called.
Thomas put her on speaker.
“I saw the incident,” Evelyn said.
Emily frowned.
“You’re here?”
“No. The dining-room cameras feed to our security office.”
Madison’s expression suddenly made sense.
Someone approaching the table had frightened her.
But perhaps not Thomas.
Perhaps she had been expecting somebody else.
Evelyn continued:
“Emily, do not resign tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good. Because the complaints against you are connected to something
we’ve been investigating for months.”
Ryan’s father’s proposed investment.
Altered employee files.
Customer complaints targeting specific workers.
Emily asked the obvious question.
“Why me?”
Evelyn went quiet.
“We don’t know yet.”
Then Thomas’s computer chimed.
A new email had arrived from corporate HR.
Subject:
TERMINATION APPROVED — EMILY CARTER.
May you like
Thomas stared at the timestamp.
It had been sent three minutes after Madison threw the drink.
