Chapter 5 - What Ray Knew
Maeve Riley had owned a tiny art studio in Pilsen.
Cormac hadn't entered it in seven years.
He still had the key.
The room smelled of dust and turpentine.
Unfinished canvases leaned against brick walls.
June watched Cormac stop beneath a painting of Lake Michigan.
His daughter had signed it.
M.R.
“You kept everything?”
“I couldn't throw it away.”
June understood.
Grief was strange.
She had thrown away Ray's toothbrush the day after his funeral but still couldn't move his slippers from beside the bed.
They found locker 214 behind a false wall.
Inside was another ledger.
And a photograph.
Maeve and Ray.
Together.
June's stomach dropped.
“When was this?”
Cormac examined the date.
“Two weeks before she died.”
June sat down.
“My husband knew your daughter.”
“Apparently.”
A letter explained everything.
Maeve had discovered Mercer was feeding information to Patrick Doyle, one of Cormac's longtime rivals.
She had approached Ray because the diner was neutral ground.
Together they began collecting evidence.
Maeve died before they could expose Mercer.
Ray kept investigating.
For seven years.
The gambling debts had been partly fabricated to hide payments he made to sources.
June felt furious.
Proud.
Betrayed.
Devastated.
All at once.
“He spent seven years lying to me.”
Cormac read the final page.
“Seven years trying to finish what Maeve started.”
“That doesn't make the lies disappear.”
“No.”
“Stop agreeing with me.”
“I'll try to become more irritating.”
“You already locked me in a diner.”
“True.”
She almost smiled.
Then Cormac found something else.
A list of dates.
Future dates.
The last one was tomorrow.
Beside it:
HOLLOWAY DINER — 8 PM — P.D. / A.M.
Patrick Doyle.
Alan Mercer.
“They're meeting at my diner.”
“They think Ray left something there.”
June's mind raced.
Then she remembered Ray's final week.
He had repaired the old dumbwaiter himself.
Wouldn't let anyone help.
June stood.
“I know where the rest is.”
They returned to the diner after midnight.
Cormac's men searched first.
June went straight to the dumbwaiter.
Behind the lower panel was a steel compartment.
Inside sat three recording devices and a handwritten notebook.
Cormac opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Enough evidence to destroy Mercer and Doyle.
Then June noticed a red light.
One recording device was active.
“Cormac.”
He followed her gaze.
Someone had been listening.
The diner lights went out.
Darkness swallowed them.
Then came a voice.
“Mrs. Holloway.”
Mercer.
Cormac pushed June behind him.
A flashlight clicked on near the kitchen.
Mercer stood there with a pistol.
Patrick Doyle appeared behind him.
“You should've given me the drive,” Mercer said.
June's heart hammered.
“You killed my husband.”
Mercer smiled.
“Your husband killed himself by believing he was brave.”
Cormac moved slightly.
Doyle raised his weapon.
“Don't.”
Mercer looked at Cormac.
“You spent seven years hunting the wrong people for your daughter's death.”
Cormac's expression didn't change.
That was somehow terrifying.
“You killed Maeve?”
“No.”
Mercer smiled.
“Doyle ordered it.”
Doyle's head snapped toward him.
“You idiot.”
That fraction of distraction was enough.
Cormac lunged.
The gunshot deafened June.
She ducked.
Men crashed into tables.
June grabbed the first object she could reach.
A cast-iron skillet.
Mercer turned toward Cormac.
June swung.
The skillet connected with Mercer's wrist.
His pistol flew away.
Mercer stared at her in disbelief.
June hit him again.
This time in the face.
He collapsed.
Cormac looked at her.
“Remind me never to criticize your eggs.”
Doyle ran.
Cormac's men caught him outside.
Sirens approached.
June stared down at Mercer.
“You murdered Ray.”
Mercer spat blood.
“He wasn't worth dying for.”
June lifted the skillet.
Cormac gently took it from her.
“Enough.”
Her eyes filled.
Cormac stepped between her and Mercer.
“Don't let him change who you are.”
Police flooded the diner.
Not Mercer's people.
Federal agents.
Cormac had anonymously delivered copies of Ray's evidence hours earlier.
Mercer realized it too late.
As agents handcuffed him, he laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Cormac said nothing.
Mercer looked at June.
“Ask Riley why he really bought Raymond's debt.”
June turned.
Cormac's face changed.
Mercer grinned.
“He knew exactly who Raymond Holloway was.”
June stared at Cormac.
“What is he talking about?”
Cormac didn't answer.
“Cormac.”
Finally, he said the words.
“I bought Ray's debt because I suspected he knew what happened to Maeve.”
June's chest tightened.
“You didn't come to my diner because you wanted a cook.”
“No.”
“You used me.”
“At first.”
At first.
Two words.
They hurt more than they should have.
June stepped backward.
“Get out.”
“June.”
“Get out of my diner.”
He didn't argue.
Cormac Riley walked away.
May you like
June watched him leave.
And for the second time in six weeks, she stood in her diner feeling as if a man had died.
