“You told me I would lose my job if I refused,” Jenna said.
“You said Mr.
Rourke had approved it.”
“You are lying.”
“You gave me five thousand dollars in the locker room.
It is still in my bag because I was too afraid to touch it.”
Victor pulled against Keller’s grip.
“This is ridiculous.
Adrian, clear the room.
We will handle this privately.”
Rourke studied him.
“You chose a public restaurant.
You arranged witnesses.
You do not get privacy now.”
The countdown reached three seconds.
Claire leaned toward the phone.
“The message is about to send.”
Victor lunged.
Keller drove him back into the chair.
The table jolted.
Cutlery jumped against china.
One of the women gasped as red wine spilled across the cloth like a spreading stain.
Rourke lifted the phone before Victor could reach it.
The countdown hit zero.
A progress circle appeared, then stopped.
“No signal,” Keller said.
Claire shook her head.
“Not no signal.
The message is waiting for a nearby device.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it did not open an email application.
It opened a local transfer window.
Whoever is supposed to receive it is inside Halcyon.”
Victor’s eyes moved toward the service corridor.
Claire followed the glance.
“There,” she said.
A small black case rested on the lower shelf of the sommelier station.
It had not been there when she began her shift.
Keller sent one of Rourke’s men to retrieve it.
Inside was a compact transmitter, a spare phone, a tiny plastic vial, and an envelope bearing Rourke’s name.
Victor closed his eyes for one second.
Rourke opened the envelope with a dinner knife.
The first page was a typed transcript of a conversation between him and Keller.
Several lines were highlighted.
Keller read them aloud.
“Dean has become a liability.
It has to be handled before the board meets.”
Rourke took the page from him.
“I never said this.”
“You said pieces of it,” Victor replied.
The admission escaped before he could stop it.
Keller turned slowly.
Victor tried to recover.
“Everyone in your position has recordings taken out of context.
That proves nothing.”
Claire looked inside the case.
