Chapter 1 - THE DOOR NO EMPLOYEE WAS ALLOWED TO OPEN
“A woman who hides her baby behind restaurant supplies has no business calling herself a responsible mother.”
Rochelle Pierce said it loudly enough for the entire service hallway to hear.
Three cooks stopped moving.
A dishwasher looked down.
Nobody defended me.
I barely heard her.
My daughter was gone.
One hour earlier, eight-month-old Elodie had been asleep in her infant carrier on a clean folded blanket inside the linen room at Harbor & Ash.
Now the blanket was empty.
The diaper bag remained.
Her wooden rattle lay beneath a shelf.
“Elodie?”
Nothing.
“Elodie!”
I ran into the hallway.
Rochelle stood beside the employee time clock with both arms folded over her black blazer.
Her expression was not worried.
It was satisfied.
“I told you this would happen.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“You brought an infant into a commercial restaurant.”
“Where is she?”
“When Mr. Calloway comes upstairs, you’ll be terminated.”
I stepped closer.
“Rochelle.”
She smiled.
“And I’ve already notified Mason.”
My stomach dropped.
My ex.
Elodie’s father.
“What?”
“He deserves to know where his child was abandoned.”
“I did not abandon her.”
“You left her in a storage room.”
Because at six that morning, Mrs. Keene had called crying.
My regular babysitter had a fever.
Her doctor told her to stay in bed.
I called six people.
One wanted two hundred fifty dollars.
One could take Elodie next Tuesday.
Three never answered.
My bank balance was eighteen dollars and forty-six cents.
Rent was due in five days.
Mason’s child-support payment was six weeks late.
I had already missed two shifts that month because Elodie had an ear infection.
Rochelle had warned me after the second one.
“One more attendance problem, Brielle, and I will replace you with someone whose personal life doesn’t become my staffing problem.”
So I made the worst decision I had made since becoming a mother.
I brought Elodie to work.
Not because I thought a linen room was childcare.
Because desperation had shrunk my choices until every one of them frightened me.
At 3:15, Elodie slept.
At 4:04, she woke, drank four ounces of formula, smiled at me, and grabbed my nose.
At 5:10, she was gone.
I looked toward the far end of the hallway.
A dark wooden door stood open.
My chest tightened.
Nobody used that door.
A brass plaque read:
EVERETT CALLOWAY
PRIVATE
Beyond it, a narrow staircase descended beneath the restaurant.
Everett Calloway owned Harbor & Ash and four other restaurants around Seattle.
He had not worked a dinner service in months.
According to Rochelle, he was recovering at his home on Bainbridge Island after a heart procedure.
Employees were forbidden from entering his lower office without permission.
I ran toward it.
Rochelle grabbed my arm.
“Don’t.”
I pulled away.
“My daughter is missing.”
“You’re about to make this worse.”
“I don’t care.”
I went down.
At the bottom was a small lounge.
Bookshelves.
A leather couch.
A desk covered in folders.
Another door stood partly open.
Then I heard breathing.
Slow.
Heavy.
I pushed the door.
Everett Calloway sat in a leather chair beside the window well.
His head rested against the back.
His eyes were closed.
And Elodie was asleep against his chest.
One of his large hands supported the back of her head.
Her pink sock rested against his shirt.
For a second, I could not move.
“Elodie.”
Everett opened his eyes.
He looked disoriented.
Then down at the baby.
Then at me.
“Oh.”
I rushed forward.
“What happened?”
His voice was rough with sleep.
“She started crying.”
“Where?”
“In the hall.”
“What hall?”
He pointed toward the office entrance.
“Outside this door.”
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
He adjusted Elodie carefully.
“She was in her carrier.”
“Who brought her down?”
“I assumed you did.”
“No.”
His eyes sharpened immediately.
I held out both hands.
“Can I take her?”
“Of course.”
He passed her to me.
Elodie stirred.
Opened her eyes.
Then smiled.
My knees almost gave out.
I pressed my face against her hair.
Everett reached for a cane beside his chair and stood slowly.
“Why was your baby outside my office?”
Before I could answer, heels struck the stairs.
Rochelle appeared.
Her face changed when she saw Everett standing.
“Mr. Calloway.”
He looked at her.
“Rochelle.”
“You weren’t supposed to be here.”
Silence.
She corrected herself.
“I mean—I thought you were resting at home.”
“I was resting here.”
He pointed at Elodie.
“Then apparently babysitting.”
Rochelle forced a laugh.
“This employee brought a child into the restaurant against policy.”
“I gathered that.”
“She hid the baby in the linen room.”
Everett looked at me.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
His expression did not soften.
Good.
I didn’t want someone pretending it was a good decision.
“Why?”
I told him.
No sitter.
No money.
No emergency leave.
Two prior absences.
Eighteen dollars.
Rochelle interrupted.
“She had choices.”
Everett looked at her.
“What choices?”
“She could have stayed home.”
“And lost her job?”
“I didn’t say that.”
I stared at her.
“You told me one more absence and I was replaceable.”
“I said attendance mattered.”
Everett looked between us.
Then footsteps sounded above.
A man’s voice.
“Where is she?”
Mason.
My stomach tightened.
He came down the stairs first.
Thirty-two.
Gray jacket.
The same face Elodie made when she frowned.
Behind him came his mother, Judith Cole.
Pearls.
Perfect hair.
A camel coat that probably cost more than my car.
Judith saw Elodie in my arms.
“Give her to Mason.”
I backed away.
“No.”
Mason raised both hands.
“Brielle, calm down.”
“I am calm.”
“You left our daughter in a restaurant storage room.”
“I know what I did.”
Judith stepped closer.
“And now we know what kind of mother you are.”
Everett leaned on his cane.
“Excuse me.”
Nobody looked at him.
That was their mistake.
Judith said:
“Mason has rights.”
“Yes.”
I held Elodie closer.
“He does.”
“Then hand her over.”
“No.”
Mason pulled a folded document from his coat.
“My lawyer is filing an emergency parenting motion tonight.”
I stared.
“Tonight?”
Judith answered.
“We are asking the court to place Elodie with Mason temporarily.”
My chest tightened.
Rochelle stood behind them.
Still satisfied.
Everett looked at Mason’s paperwork.
Then at Rochelle.
“Interesting.”
Mason frowned.
“What?”
Everett reached into his pocket and removed his phone.
“I came here this afternoon because my controller asked me to review something privately.”
Rochelle’s face tightened.
“I didn’t announce I was downstairs.”
Nobody spoke.
Everett continued.
“So while I was resting, the building system kept logging badge activity.”
Rochelle went still.
He looked directly at her.
“You called Mason Cole at 4:17.”
My stomach dropped.
Mason looked at Rochelle.
She said nothing.
Everett continued.
“Brielle did not discover her baby missing until after five.”
May you like
He tapped the screen.
“So perhaps somebody can explain why her ex-boyfriend was notified almost an hour before there was supposedly an emergency.”
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