“Okay. Well.” He stood up. “If anything comes up, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.” I shook his hand and left, my uncomfortable heels clack-clacking through the waiting room that would fill with dozens of young, bright applicants at the first hint of any job opportunity. It was a competitive industry and every year large numbers of graduates fought for a tiny number of positions at respected papers like the Tribune. I’d been lucky to be employed by them in the first place, and I knew all too well how unlikely it was I’d get a second chance.
Still, there was always hope.
At least, that’s what I told myself as I headed to the airport to fly back to San Dante.
From there, I drove straight to the café, where I’d arranged to meet Emmy, Butch, and Gigi.
The three of them were waiting outside when I arrived, and I greeted them as warmly as I could manage before unlocking the door. The builders had done excellent work with the repairs. Gigi and Butch walked in slowly, gazing around with their nostrils flared, as though disappointed with how great the place looked.
“See.” I stopped in the middle of the dining area. “It’s just like new. And I think we all know Mack’s Place is worth more than double what you’ve offered, so if you’ll increase the price, we could do the deal right now.”
Emmy nodded. “How about you give us ten minutes or so, Natalie, and I’ll talk it through with Butch and Gigi. See if we can’t come to a reasonable agreement.”
“Okay. I’ll go—”
“No need to leave,” Butch interrupted. “Our offer isn’t going to change. Sign the contract and we’ll take this place off your hands.”
“All these repairs must have been expensive,” said Gigi. “Surely you want to be able to put a little money back in your pocket and walk away?”
“You brought the contract with you?” Butch turned to Emmy.
Emmy nodded, drawing a sheath of papers from her satchel. “I have it. But it’s very low, and if Natalie negotiates—”
“No negotiation,” he growled. “We’ve named our price and we’re not budging. You want the deal to be done, tell your client to sign the contract.”
“Here, Natalie.” Emmy handed me the contract with a barely-supressed sigh. “Butch and Gigi have signed and made it official, so all it needs is for you to countersign. But I’m not going to pressure you.” She sounded business-like, but her smile was stiff.
I stared glumly at the low offer. Gigi was right, it was time to walk away from Dad’s beloved café. If only I didn’t have to leave it in the hands of people I disliked so much.
Still, what choice did I have?
“Do you have a pen?” I asked Emmy.
“Here.” She pulled one out of her satchel while I watched Butch and Gigi exchange a smug, self-satisfied grin.
Before I could take the pen, my phone rang. Tugging it out of my jacket pocket, I saw Private Number on the screen. I was about to send it to voicemail when I wondered if it could be Kade finally calling me back. Maybe he couldn’t use his own phone for some reason. Perhaps he’d changed his number.
As unlikely as it seemed, if there were even a tiny chance it was Kade, I couldn’t not answer.
“I need to take this,” I said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
With the contract still in one hand, I turned my back on the others and strode to the door, shouldering it open and heading outside for privacy.
“Hello?”
“Natalie, it’s Mason Lennox.”
“Oh.” A little disappointment leaked into my voice, and I cleared my throat and tried to sound cheerful. “Hi, Mason. What’s up?” Then a horrible thought struck me. “Is Kade okay? Nothing’s happened to him, has it?”
“No, Kade’s fine. But my computer forensics guy got back to me about those one-star reviews you got. They were uploaded by Lee Snyder.”
“That’s my old chef. I knew it was him!”
“And there’s more,” said Mason. “Are you sitting down?”
I looked around, but I’d packed away all the café's outside tables and chairs. “I’m outside the café and there’s nowhere to sit,” I said. “Tell me anyway.”
“Firstly, I looked into the threatening comments from Kade’s fans. None of the women posting were anywhere near San Dante when the vandalism took place. After reviewing a lot of CCTV footage, I ruled them out as suspects.”
“Okay.” I frowned. “So you have no leads?”
“Actually, I’m almost certain I know who did it.”
My gaze dropped to the contract I was still holding and caught on something weird. In the Purchaser’s Name field two names were neatly typed. It said: Butch Snyder and Gigi Snyder.
“Wait.” The word came out sounding strangled. “The people who want to buy the café, their last name is Snyder.”
“That’s what I was about to tell you. Your old chef is their son.”
I jerked my head around to stare through the café's window. Butch and Gigi were prowling around impatiently. Lee must have inherited his thickset eyes and bad attitude from Butch.
“You think Lee could have put the hose into the café?” I asked.
“There’s no direct evidence, but one of the CCTV cameras caught his car leaving the scene at around the right time.”
I dragged in a deep breath, trying to control my rising outrage. “I was just about to sell Mack’s Place to Lee’s parents for less than half the amount it’s worth.”
“That’s a pretty good motive for vandalism.” Mason hesitated, and when he spoke again I could hear the reluctance in his tone. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Carlotta told me how much you want to sell the café. So it’s up to you. Either I pick the Snyders up for questioning and see if we can make a case against them and their son, or I stop the investigation so you can go ahead with the sale.”
I opened my mouth to tell him there was no way I could let the Snyders get away with what they’d done. Then I
