Chapter 7 - Manny’s Warning
They found Manny Lopez on Wednesday.
Not through payroll.
Through Eli.
“You want Manny?” Eli asked Claire.
“Yes.”
“I have his number.”
Claire stared.
“You do?”
“We talked about baseball.”
Manny answered on the second ring.
“Eli?”
“It’s me.”
“Everything okay?”
“Claire wants to ask about money.”
There was silence.
Then Manny said, “Finally.”
Claire put the call on speaker.
Manny had worked at Whitaker’s for eleven years.
He had not quit voluntarily.
Grant had fired him.
Official reason: suspected theft from petty cash.
Thomas remembered signing the termination paperwork.
He also remembered Manny refusing to shake his hand as he left.
Claire asked, “What did you mean when you told Eli to ask Grant where your hours went?”
Manny exhaled slowly.
“I worked six closing shifts that never showed up right.”
“Over what period?”
“Two months.”
“Did you tell Grant?”
“Every time.”
“What happened?”
“He said the time clock was glitching.”
“Did he pay you?”
“Some cash. Never enough.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Manny was quiet.
Then: “I did.”
Thomas froze.
“When?”
“November third.”
“I never spoke to you.”
“I left an envelope on your desk.”
Thomas looked at Claire.
“What was in it?”
“Copies of my hours. Notes. Cash payments. Everything.”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“I never saw it.”
Manny gave a humorless laugh.
“Grant called me the next day.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“What did he say?”
“That accusing management of stealing was serious. Two weeks later, he said seventy dollars was missing from petty cash.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
“Was there evidence?”
“He said the camera didn’t cover the drawer.”
Thomas remembered.
Grant had told him there was no useful footage.
Claire asked, “Do you still have your copies?”
“Most of them.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Manny continued.
“And I have something else.”
“What?”
“The camera did cover the drawer.”
Thomas opened his eyes.
“How do you know?”
“I installed that camera with the security guy.”
Claire leaned toward the phone.
“Do you know whether footage still exists?”
“Maybe not from November.”
“Why did Grant say it didn’t cover the drawer?”
“Because whoever took that seventy wasn’t me.”
The room went silent.
Claire asked, “Did you see who did?”
“No. Grant locked me out before I could check.”
After the call, Thomas did not speak for nearly a minute.
Then he stood.
“I fired an innocent man.”
Claire watched him.
“You acted on information Grant gave you.”
“I signed it.”
“Yes.”
“That matters.”
He walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To apologize.”
“Dad, Manny is two hours away.”
“Then I’m driving.”
Claire stood.
“Not yet.”
Thomas turned sharply.
“Why?”
“Because we still don’t know what Grant was protecting.”
Thomas stared at her.
Claire opened the list of suspicious payments again.
“Missing labor money. Fake vendor invoices. A false theft accusation. A development company.”
She looked at her father.
“This isn’t one bad decision anymore.”
The office phone rang.
Thomas answered.
“Whitaker’s.”
A woman’s voice said, “Thomas?”
He recognized it immediately.
His older sister.
Evelyn Doyle.
Grant’s mother.
“Evelyn.”
“I hear Claire is interrogating people.”
Thomas glanced at his daughter.
“Who told you?”
“My son.”
“Your son is suspended.”
“Yes, and apparently you’ve decided a dishwasher’s complaint is more important than your own family.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“This is about more than Eli.”
“Then tell me.”
“I will when I know the facts.”
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Act like you’re the only person Father trusted with this place.”
Thomas went still.
“This has nothing to do with Dad.”
“It has everything to do with him.”
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“You control the restaurant. You control the building. You control every decision. Grant finally makes progress toward fixing a failing business, and Claire comes home to destroy him.”
Thomas felt Claire watching him.
“What progress?”
Evelyn paused.
Only briefly.
But Claire saw Thomas’s face change.
He asked again.
“What progress, Evelyn?”
“Cost cutting.”
“You mean underpaying employees?”
“I mean keeping us alive.”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“How much do you know?”
There was silence.
Then Evelyn said, “Enough to know you should stop digging.”
The line went dead.
Claire and Thomas stared at each other.
Thomas slowly lowered the receiver.
“What did she mean?” Claire asked.
Thomas looked at the phone.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
But for the first time, he was afraid Grant might not be the only Whitaker betraying him.
