Chapter 4 - JULIAN WASN’T INNOCENT
I wanted Julian to become the good guy.
It would have made the story cleaner.
He wasn’t.
The storage locker contained three cardboard boxes of handwritten sheets.
Employee names.
Amounts.
Reasons.
“Broken wineglass — $24.”
“Guest complaint — $115.”
“Walkout — $286.”
“Wrong entrée — $72.”
My name appeared nine times.
Total:
$1,146.
I had forgotten half of them.
Because when someone takes twenty dollars here and sixty dollars there, you learn to stop naming the pain.
Then Dana found Julian’s handwriting beside several entries.
PAID.
CASH RECEIVED.
MANAGER VERIFIED.
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
His eyes closed.
“Yes.”
“You told me last night it was my responsibility.”
“Yes.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
That mattered more than any excuse.
“Then why?”
He sat on an overturned storage bin.
“Because Serena told me every manager who couldn’t control server losses would be replaced.”
“So you protected your job with our money.”
“Yes.”
No dramatics.
No blaming poverty.
Just yes.
I almost respected the honesty.
Almost.
Then Marcus found something worse.
Some employee cash never appeared on Serena’s signed pickup records.
Meaning Julian had collected more than regional management received.
Difference over three years:
$18,760.
I looked at him.
His face collapsed.
“I took some.”
There it was.
Not all.
Enough.
Julian admitted he sometimes kept employee payments from minor breakage and complaint charges.
At first, he told himself he was compensating for unpaid overtime.
Then it became easy.
Five dollars.
Forty.
A hundred.
“I was stealing.”
Dana said nothing.
Neither did I.
He looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I answered:
“You should be.”
No forgiveness.
Not yet.
Julian agreed to turn over his records, repay what he could, and cooperate with the investigation.
He was suspended immediately.
Not because Serena ordered it.
Because Redwood’s independent audit committee did.
Before leaving, Julian gave me his restaurant keys.
Then whispered:
“Watch Nicole.”
Nicole Ramsey was our assistant manager.
“Why?”
“She knows more than she says.”
The next day Nicole was promoted to acting manager.
At pre-shift, she smiled brightly and told everyone:
“Corporate is reviewing some boring paperwork. Please don’t get distracted.”
Then she looked directly at me.
“And employees should remember that sharing confidential company information can result in termination.”
Everyone went silent.
I raised my hand.
Nicole’s smile tightened.
“Yes, Emma?”
“Does that include speaking with the independent auditors corporate told us to cooperate with?”
Three servers looked down to hide smiles.
Nicole answered:
“Obviously not.”
Good.
Then she handed me my section.
Table 42 again.
When I opened my server book, a folded note fell out.
STOP TALKING OR CHLOE LOSES HER JOB TOO.
May you like
My sister didn’t work at Aurelia.
But she did work weekends at another Redwood property.
Related Stories
