Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO SURVIVED THE STEAK
The laboratory results arrived four days later.
Investigators identified a dangerous substance in the sauce recovered from Ethan's plate.
The findings were consistent with deliberate contamination.
Ethan sat across from Detective Laura Mitchell as she explained the results.
“Someone tampered with your food.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Do you know who?”
“Not yet.”
“Gavin Pike?”
“He's a person of interest.”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“What about the man who collapsed three nights earlier?”
Mitchell opened another file.
“His name is Oliver Grant.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who is he?”
“A private investigator.”
Ethan stared.
“Investigating what?”
Mitchell looked at him.
“Brooks Hospitality.”
Oliver Grant had been hired by a group of minority shareholders concerned about financial irregularities.
He had been examining vendor contracts and unexplained transfers.
Three nights earlier, he had arranged to meet a source at Bellweather.
Instead, he became violently ill after eating an off-menu steak.
He survived.
But he spent two days in the hospital.
Ethan met Oliver through the detective.
Oliver was forty-one.
Thin.
Pale.
And furious.
“Someone tried to shut me up,” he said.
Ethan nodded.
“I think they tried the same thing with me.”
Oliver studied him.
“Then you finally understand what kind of company you're running.”
The words stung.
But Ethan didn't argue.
Oliver explained that he had discovered a pattern.
Large payments to fake vendors.
Inflated food costs.
Manipulated inventory.
And a reserve account carrying David Carter's name.
Ethan leaned forward.
“Why use his name?”
Oliver hesitated.
“Because whoever created it wanted the transactions to look like restitution.”
Ethan frowned.
“Restitution?”
Oliver nodded.
“Payments connected to an old legal settlement.”
Ethan felt cold.
“There was no settlement.”
May you like
Oliver looked at him.
“Exactly.”
