Chapter 3 - Mara Hayes Had Worked My Section Before I Did
Luis did not have a dramatic story.
I was grateful.
Mara had worked at Bell & Finch from nineteen to twenty-five.
She was good.
Fast.
Argumentative with managers.
Great with children.
Terrible at closing side work.
“Sounds dangerous,” I said.
Luis smiled.
Daniel didn't.
“She quit?”
“More or less.”
“What does that mean?”
Luis glanced toward Daniel.
“She stopped showing up.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Exactly when Daniel said she disappeared from Noah's life.
“Did anyone know why?”
Luis shrugged.
“She had family stuff.”
Daniel stood.
“We're done.”
Noah immediately said:
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Buddy.”
“Don't buddy me.”
I looked at Helen.
She pretended not to hear.
Noah folded his arms.
“You said you don't have a sister.”
“I said—”
“You said I don't have an aunt.”
Daniel stopped.
Different sentence.
Harder to escape.
“I should have told you.”
“Then tell me now.”
Daniel looked toward me.
As if I had caused the question by existing in the room.
I held his gaze until he stopped.
He sat again.
“Mara is my older sister.”
“How old?”
“Forty-one.”
Noah processed.
“Where does she live?”
“I don't know.”
“When did you see her last?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Seven years ago.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the door.
“I don't want to tell this story in a restaurant.”
Noah said:
“Then why did it happen here?”
Nobody answered.
Luis excused himself.
Helen told me I could leave my section to another server.
I stayed.
Not for Daniel.
For myself.
Somebody had walked through my workplace using my identity.
I wanted to know why.
Daniel finally said:
“When you were little, Mara picked you up without permission.”
Noah frowned.
“From where?”
“Day care.”
“Why?”
“She said she was helping.”
“Was she?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“No.”
The answer sounded settled.
Too settled.
I asked:
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“You really want to be in this?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
I continued:
“I want my name out of it. Unfortunately someone put it in.”
He nodded once.
Fair enough.
“Mara picked Noah up and didn't tell me where he was.”
“For how long?”
“Almost a day.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
“Did Mom know?”
Daniel took too long.
There.
Noah saw it too.
“Dad.”
“Katherine was upset.”
“That isn't yes.”
I almost smiled.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“She knew Mara had picked you up.”
“So Aunt Mara didn't take me.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I came home and my son was gone.”
“That isn't the same sentence.”
This kid was eight and already refusing inherited grammar.
Daniel looked at me.
I did not rescue him.
“What happened next?” I asked.
“I called Katherine. She wouldn't tell me where Noah was.”
“Why?”
“She said she needed time.”
“With her child somewhere you didn't know.”
“Yes.”
“And Mara?”
“She wouldn't answer me.”
His hands had curled around the edge of the table.
Whatever else had happened, that fear was real.
“I called the police.”
Noah stared.
“On Aunt Mara?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing criminal. Katherine came back. Mara brought you home.”
“And then?”
“I told Mara to stay away from my family.”
Noah looked down.
“You mean me.”
Daniel's face changed.
“Yes.”
The room went quiet.
Helen appeared at the doorway holding my old name badge inside a clear plastic bag.
“We found this.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Under the dry-storage stairs.”
The magnetic clasp had been bent.
Someone had pulled it off quickly.
Daniel stared.
Helen continued:
“There's something else.”
She held out a paper towel.
On it was a cheap brass locker token.
Not ours.
Stamped with three letters.
BFC.
Luis saw it from the hallway.
His face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
He stepped closer.
“Bell & Finch didn't always have employee lockers.”
“So?”
He pointed at the token.
“Those are from the old train-station lockers across the street.”
Daniel looked up.
Luis continued:
“Mara used one after she stopped keeping anything at her apartment.”
“Why?”
Luis stared at Daniel.
“You don't know?”
Daniel didn't.
Luis looked uncomfortable now.
“She was sleeping here.”
“What?”
“Not inside the restaurant.”
Luis shook his head.
“In her car. Sometimes the staff break room after close.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“When?”
“The month before she disappeared.”
Daniel looked genuinely blindsided.
His sister hadn't simply vanished from his family seven years ago.
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She had apparently been falling apart right in front of his old restaurant.
And he had never known.
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