Chapter Thirty-Four
“Look at us, double-dating, huh?” Rajiv said as they took their seats. “This place is really something. I’m surprised you could get in, Hawkins. Hope this isn’t awkward for anyone.”
He looked between Katarina and Charlie expectantly, dropping his arm across the back of her chair as if to say, I’m fucking her now.
“Why would it be awkward?” Juliette deadpanned. “You mean because Charlie got the job you both applied for?”
Charlie choked on a poorly timed sip of water, turning his head to cough it out.
“What?” Rajiv gave a slightly panicked laugh. “That’s not … no. Is that what you’re telling people, Hawkins? No. I … no. They wanted me for that gig, yeah, but I had to turn them down. Got a better offer from a different outfit. Didn’t I, babe?”
“Mm,” Katarina said noncommittally. “It really was a shame you couldn’t play us, Charlie. Though I doubt you would have given us much competition. I heard they had to resod the green after your lesson with Chipper, Juliette.”
“I have a powerful fore swing, not every green can handle it,” Juliette said expansively.
“Welcome to Chiêu,” said their waiter. “What can we craft to slake your thirst this evening? I highly recommend the Purple Smoke or the Whispering Valley. Both have a great floral palate that pairs well with tonight’s offerings.”
“Where do you source your lavender?” Katarina demanded. “And is the vodka imported or based in the States? I’m surprised you don’t indicate the carbon footprint on your menu.”
Kate had not been wrong about Katarina’s fussy drink order, and as she volleyed questions at the poor server, Juliette took the chance to get her bearings.
The restaurant was a rather clever layout, the snaking greens and sparkling waterfalls hiding the more mundane operations like the kitchen pass and the bathrooms. It meant she would be shielded from most diners’ view when she slipped into the office, but it also meant she’d have to get past the waitstaff flowing in and out to do it.
“You know what, I’ll just have a glass of the house red,” Katarina said, holding up the drink menu pinched between her fingers. “I assume it’s kept at seventy degrees and decanted?”
“I’ll check with the bar and confirm,” the waiter said, looking to Juliette as if she could provide the sweet release of death from this situation. “And for you?”
“Whiskey sour, and I don’t care if the sour is house made or the whiskey is peat-based,” Juliette said, handing off her own menu. “Do you have a bathroom?”
“Of course, I can guide you—”
“No need, I’ve got an excellent sense of direction,” Juliette said, standing and heading toward the waterfall where all the servers seemed to be emerging.
“It’s the other direction, actually!” called the waiter, stopping her in her tracks. “Behind the bar, there’s an ivy arch. The hallway is fully mirrored, so do be sure you’re touching an actual door handle before attempting to walk in. There have been … incidents.”
She headed for the bathroom as Rajiv started some loud, obnoxious story about Charlie in medical school, an anecdote that was no doubt handpicked just to humiliate him.
She crept behind the bar, peeking out of the ivy arch to make sure their server was otherwise occupied before making a beeline for the kitchen.
She knocked into a few of those suspended raindrops—resin, thankfully, and not cut glass—as she waited for a break in the serving line to sneak in.
Her phone buzzed insistently from her clutch, and she pulled it out in irritation.
“Why are you calling?” she whispered harshly as she spotted her opportunity, ducking into the hall lit by long tubes of neon.
“What’s the status?” Kate said.
“I’m looking for the office now,” Juliette said.
“Not that, with Katarina! Have you emotionally reduced her to a blubbering child? What did she order? Has she brought up her still water allergy yet? Did she criticize Charlie’s outfit?”
“Like right away!” Juliette said, pulling on a door and peeking inside, disappointed to find mostly janitorial supplies and an industrial tub of resin she assumed was for the raindrops. She couldn’t imagine the minimum-wage hours some poor sap had put in to make them.
“She was always like that, nitpicking everything about him until you wanted to put a fork in her eye. She even criticized the way he held his fork! She said it would cause a routine stress injury and as a surgeon he should know better. She’s the worst.”
“She is the fucking worst,” Juliette agreed, pressing against the wall as another burst of servers exited the kitchen.
The neon lights illuminated the white bust of her dress, making her stand out like a snaggletooth, and she reached for the next door.
It was locked, which was a good sign. “Although somehow not worse than this Rajiv guy. I don’t understand how Charlie got mixed up with either one. ”
“Because he’s too nice, I tell him all the time,” Kate said.
“He is very nice,” Juliette murmured absently, squatting down and surveying the lock. It was a basic keyed knob lock, probably too hard to pick, but maybe she could wedge something in and force the door open.
“You agree he’s nice?” Kate said, her tone sly on the opposite end.
“What?” Juliette said, distracted. “No, I didn’t mean it like—”
“What are you doing?” An older Vietnamese woman in a trim black outfit stood over Juliette.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” Juliette murmured, hanging up and regarding the woman from her awkward squatting position. “I was looking for the bathroom.”
“This is not that hallway,” the woman said, clearly not believing Juliette. “The sign says employees only.”
“There was a sign?” Juliette said, not even convincing herself. She straightened up, clearing her throat. “I must have missed it.”
“I don’t think you did,” the woman said. “You’re one of those reporters, poking around about Troy, aren’t you?”
“I—what? What reporters?”
“Don’t pretend, I know someone fishing for a story when I see one,” the woman said. “Troy is a good boy, and he’s worked hard for this restaurant. I’m not letting you people mess that up. What’s your reservation name? I’m having you banned.”
“What? That’s ridiculous! I just needed to pee.”
The woman took her by the arm, dragging Juliette forward despite being half her height. “No, no, you’re out. You’re banned!”
“That’s not necessary, I swear I’m not a reporter,” Juliette said. “Look, I’ll go back to my seat and play along. I’ll even hold my pee, no bathroom break needed.”
“I don’t trust you,” the woman said, looking at her suspiciously. “All that blond hair, it’s not good for you.”
“I … don’t have a great response for that,” Juliette said, at a loss. “But really, I’m not a reporter. I swear on a stack of menus. Just let me go back to my seat. Please.”
“Fine,” the woman said, marching her back to the waterfall and releasing with a little push. “But I’m watching you. We have eyes everywhere.”
She pointed to the ceiling, as if all those raindrops were tiny cameras, before pointing to her own eyes and thrusting a finger at Juliette. She stood there glaring at Juliette as she made her way back toward Charlie. She pulled her phone out and quickly texted the group chat.
Got caught but I think I know where the office is
Need a distraction
Veeta’s response was swift. I’ve got you.
“This guy, he looks like he’s about to upchuck a frog, right?
” said Rajiv as she returned to her seat.
Charlie’s strained expression and tight smile set her teeth on edge.
“I mean, there he is, holding this scalpel over the body, hand shaking like a nervous teenager, and he can’t even break the skin!
Professor had to push his hand down, and then he goes and loses his lunch in the offal bucket! ”
“It was my first surgical certification course,” Charlie said, smiling weakly. “I didn’t realize they removed the heads and used them separately for plastic surgeon certifications. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“You should have seen him, babe,” Rajiv said with a shit-eating grin, giving Katarina’s shoulder a squeeze and shake. He picked up his knife, pretending to be Charlie as he wielded it over their starter course. “‘Uh, is this it, Professor? Is this it? Did I cut it now?’”
“Have we ordered yet?” Juliette asked as Charlie’s expression grew more and more pained. “I’m thinking lobster.”
“Did you ever talk to your boss about getting a raise?” Katarina asked instead of answering Juliette. “I told you, they’re undervaluing you. If Rajiv had gotten that job, he would have made partner by now. You’re letting them walk all over you.”
“I’ve got a great gig, I told you, babe,” Rajiv said with an unconvincing smile.
“Nobody makes partner in under five years,” Charlie said, frowning at his food. “And I like Dr. Henderson. He’ll promote me when the time is right. I trust him.”
“You trust him like you trusted that other guy who took your big surgery?” Katarina demanded, rolling her eyes. “Rajiv is right, you’re too nice. Too soft.”
“Even now, his incisions are so tiny and delicate,” Rajiv said, grinning again. “He cuts like an arthritic little grandma.”
Juliette had absolutely hit the limit of what she could take from these insufferable morons. She slammed her hands flat on the table, making the silverware jump. “Well, he fucks like a goddamn Clydesdale!”
Katarina sprayed her ecologically conscious wine all over the table, speckling their food with flecks of red as Juliette’s phone buzzed.
Veeta: get ready
“Excuse me, that’s work,” Juliette said as the door to the restaurant flew open with a bang.
“Hurry!” Veeta shouted from the door. “Bill Gates is outside and he’s throwing hundred-dollar bills out of his Porsche!”
Bill Gates? She mouthed at Veeta. Really?
Juliette had never seen people knock each other over so fast in their efforts to break for the door.
She took full advantage of the chaos to slip toward the waterfall, keeping an eye out for the militant woman as she dodged servers and patrons alike to head down the neon hallway.
This time she didn’t bother with half measures, setting her back against the opposite hallway and landing a solid kick that splintered the frame and swung the door open with a bang.
The motion-sensor lights clicked on inside.
“Got you,” Juliette said, looking at Brigitte Ellingham’s hidden office.