Chapter 3 - The Diner Was Not Random

Leo locked the back door.

Gabriel stood.

The weakness returned immediately.

His hand caught the edge of the booth.

Norah moved instinctively.

He flinched.

Then stopped himself.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said.

Gabriel gave a tired smile.

“That makes one of us.”

She ignored the joke.

“Sit.”

Leo almost looked amused.

Nobody ordered Gabriel Hayes to sit.

Norah did.

And somehow he did.

She checked his pulse.

Too fast.

“Eight days without real food.”

“I had liquids.”

“Coffee is not nutrition.”

“It is in my world.”

“Your world is apparently stupid.”

Leo turned away to hide a smile.

Gabriel stared at her.

Then, unexpectedly:

“Rosa would like you.”

Norah looked at the receipt again.

“Someone was here three days ago.”

Benny emerged from the kitchen.

Terrified.

Gabriel looked at him.

“Who?”

Benny shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“Think.”

“A man.”

“What man?”

“Middle-aged.”

“Description.”

“Gray coat.”

“Baseball cap.”

“He sat by the window.”

Norah asked:

“What did he order?”

Benny frowned.

“Nothing.”

Gabriel looked at him.

“Nothing?”

“He asked about the old menu.”

“What old menu?”

Benny pointed toward a framed board on the wall.

Twenty years old.

One item had once been listed:

ROSA’S SUNDAY BEEF.

Gabriel stared.

“She cooked here.”

Benny nodded slowly.

“Before I owned it.”

Norah looked shocked.

“You knew Rosa?”

Benny shook his head.

“Only stories.”

“The old owner let neighborhood women cook specials.”

“Rosa did Sundays.”

Gabriel looked at the receipt.

Someone had researched his childhood.

Not just his businesses.

Not just his habits.

His hunger.

His memory.

His weaknesses.

Leo said:

“This was planned.”

Gabriel nodded.

Norah asked:

“How could they know you’d stop here tonight?”

“They couldn’t.”

Then Gabriel looked at the line again.

HE STILL EATS WHEN THE FOOD SMELLS LIKE HOME.

His expression changed.

“They weren’t waiting for tonight.”

Leo frowned.

Gabriel continued:

“They were building options.”

“Places.”

“Memories.”

“Triggers.”

Norah stared.

“Someone expected you to stop trusting your own house.”

“Yes.”

“And eventually go somewhere familiar.”

“Yes.”

Leo swore.

Gabriel looked at Benny.

“Cameras.”

Benny nodded.

“Front.”

“Kitchen.”

“Alley?”

“One.”

Leo moved.

Ten minutes later, they watched footage.

Three days earlier.

Gray coat.

Cap low.

The man entered.

Sat by the window.

Left after seven minutes.

Face never clear.

Then Norah froze the image.

“Wait.”

Gabriel looked at her.

“What?”

She pointed.

The man wore a ring.

Heavy silver.

Black stone.

Gabriel’s face changed.

Leo saw it too.

“No.”

Gabriel stood.

This time he did not wobble.

“Zoom.”

The image enlarged.

Blurry.

But enough.

A crest.

A lion split by a vertical line.

Gabriel stared.

Leo whispered:

“Mercer.”

Norah looked between them.

“Who?”

Gabriel’s voice went flat.

“Leo’s family.”

Silence.

Norah turned toward Leo.

He had gone pale.

“That ring belonged to my father.”

Gabriel looked at him.

“Your father is dead.”

Leo nodded.

“Ten years.”

Gabriel stared at the screen.

“Who else has one?”

Leo swallowed.

“My brother.”

Gabriel said nothing.

Norah looked at him.

“Where is he?”

Leo answered:

“Prison.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.

“For another six years.”

Leo nodded.

Then the diner phone rang.

Nobody moved.

It rang again.

Benny stared.

Gabriel said:

“Answer.”

Benny did.

“Benny’s.”

Silence.

His face changed.

He held the phone toward Gabriel.

“For you.”

Gabriel took it.

“Speak.”

A man laughed softly.

Familiar.

Leo went still.

Gabriel’s expression became unreadable.

The voice said:

“You finally ate.”

Gabriel whispered:

“Evan.”

Leo closed his eyes.

His brother.

The man who was supposed to be in prison.

Evan Mercer continued:

“Rosa always said hunger made you reckless.”

Gabriel’s grip tightened.

“How are you out?”

“Wrong question.”

“Where are you?”

“Also wrong.”

Then:

“Ask Leo who signed my transfer papers.”

Gabriel looked at his oldest friend.

Leo stared back.

The line went dead.

Gabriel lowered the phone.

“Transfer papers.”

Leo shook his head.

“I didn’t.”

Gabriel’s eyes hardened.

“Then who did?”

Leo whispered:

“I don’t know.”

Gabriel looked at the ring on the screen.

Then at the man who had stood beside him for twenty years.

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For the first time, the poison had a face.

And that face belonged to Leo’s family.