She shifted in her seat to stare at him. “What?”
“Someone loosened those bulbs, and it must have been tonight. Your employees would have noticed if they went out while you were gone. I searched the perimeter and didn’t find anyone. But some of the ground cover plants were squashed.”
“You think someone was waiting for me to walk out the door?” she asked sharply. She’d never thought twice about leaving Madeline’s alone late at night.
“Possible,” Nico said, his voice flat. “Don’t you think it’s kind of suspicious that on your first night back, the lights are out?”
Her hands curled to fists in her lap. An icy finger traced a path down her back, and she shivered. “If you’re trying to terrify me, you’re doing a good job.”
“I don’t want to terrify you,” Nico said, and his voice softened. “But you need to understand you’ve been targeted. Loosened lightbulbs so your parking lot is completely dark? That’s a flashing red warning light.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I get it.” She made a mental note to ask Delia if she’d noticed anything off while Julia had been in Montana.
To break the heavy silence in the car, Julia tried to change the subject. “Aside from no lights in the parking lot, how was your first night?” She hoped the answer was an unqualified fine. “Any problems? Anything jump out at you?”
His silence was uncomfortably long. Finally he said, “It was fine. I did a decent job, and I’ll do better tomorrow. By the third or fourth day, I’ll have the routine down. Be able to focus better on the people.”
That was not an unqualified ‘fine’. She shot him a quick glance as the streetlights flashed past, illuminating his tense jaw every few seconds. “Something happened,” she said, her voice flat.
He nodded slowly. “A few things.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Tell me about Carole. How long has she worked for you? Did you hire her as a hostess, or did she start as a waitress?”
A single siren howled in the distance. Far ahead, a stoplight blinked red. A signal to stop, then proceed. It only underlined how deserted the street was. Julia turned to look at him, and he stared back at her until the car behind them honked impatiently. “Carole?” she said as he accelerated and the car shot through the intersection.
“Yeah. Tell me everything you know about her.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Nothing happened. But I want to know who she is.”
What had Carole done?Her hostess could be prickly, especially if she thought someone was challenging her authority. Julia sighed, organizing her thoughts. Finally said, “She started as a waitress, but wasn’t crazy about the work. Her customers loved her, but she had trouble with the heavy trays of food. Carpal tunnel. After six months or so, our hostess left, and Carole asked if she could switch jobs. I was fine with that, because she’s good with people. And I’ve never had a complaint about her.”
“Is she single? Married? Any kids?”
Julia frowned. “What does that have to do with how she does her job?”
“I just want a sense of her.” Nico’s voice was patient. But underlying it was a hint of sharpness. As if he didn’t like her challenging him.
Nico could kiss her ass. Madeline’s was her restaurant. Her responsibility.
She glanced at Nico again and saw him staring straight ahead. But a muscle ticked in his jaw. “She’s divorced,” Julia said slowly. “Has one daughter, Harper, who’s fourteen or fifteen. Old enough to stay at home by herself, so Carole doesn’t have to worry about child care. Carole adores her. They talk on the phone once or twice a night. They live in an apartment not too far from here. Her daughter seems like a nice kid. She comes by every once in a while and walks home with her mom.”
“No complaints from customers? From the servers or bussers? The bartender?”
“Nope. Everyone gets along with Carole.” As he slowed for a red light, Julia frowned. “What’s going on? What happened with Carole?”
Nico took a deep breath. Blew it out. “A couple of things. First, she disliked me from the moment you introduced us.” He held up his hand as Julia opened her mouth to speak. “No, let me finish. The very first words she spoke to me were sharp. Edgy. Angry, almost. I have no idea why. I wasn’t threatening. Didn’t disrespect her. But it felt like a case of instant hate.” He turned to look at her, a half-smile curving his mouth. “And I’m not a delicate flower who needs to be loved. I don’t get bent out of shape when someone doesn’t like me. There are people I don’t like, either.”
Julia thought back to when she’d introduced Nico to Carole. “You’re right,” Julia said slowly. “She didn’t seem happy to see you.” Julia had ignored it at the time, because she had so much work piled up after her time off.
“Exactly. And I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t encroaching on her turf. She was supervising me. I didn’t act like I knew everything already.” He smiled again. “I know how to play nice when I have to.”
“Is that it? She was mean to you?” Julia scowled. Shook her head.
“Hell, no,” he said. “I can handle mean. I might wonder why, but I wouldn’t go to the boss with it. No, there were a couple of things that bothered me.”
“Such as?” Julia asked, pressing her palms into her thighs.
“She didn’t give me my tip share.” He held up his hand as she started to speak. “I don’t need the money. Or want it. But that’s not the point. As far as Carole knows, I’m the new busser. The bussers get tip share. I didn’t get any, and I thought it was odd.”