Chapter 3

"I assign the staff," Gina said.

"Knowing a locker number isn't a crime."

Dot did not look away.

"No."

"Then you've wasted enough of everyone's time."

Gina reached for the office door.

Two uniformed officers appeared beyond it.

The waiter stood behind them.

"The coat-check employee," he said.

"The one in the camel coat."

One officer looked at Dani's torn shoulder.

The other looked around the office.

"Who called?"

"I told him to," Gina answered.

"We recovered stolen property."

She pointed at the handkerchief.

The older officer held up one hand.

"Let's take this one person at a time."

Gina began again.

He stopped her again.

"What did you personally see?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"I found his medallion in her locked locker."

"Did you see her take it?"

"No."

"Did anyone?"

Nobody answered.

The officer turned to Dani.

"Your name?"

"Daniella Marchetti."

Gina glanced toward Sal.

Dani watched her do it.

The officer asked whether she needed medical help.

Dani moved her shoulder.

It hurt, but it moved.

"No."

"Did somebody tear your coat?"

"She did."

Gina made a short, impatient sound.

"I was stopping her from leaving."

"I wasn't leaving."

Dani looked directly at the officer.

"She pulled me out of the coat room."

Dot nodded.

"I saw that."

The officer wrote it down.

Gina's face changed.

Not much.

Enough.

"This is a misunderstanding," she said.

"You called it a theft downstairs," Dani answered.

Sal stayed behind his desk.

For once, nobody looked to him for permission.

The officers separated them.

Gina went into the hallway with one.

The older officer stayed with Dani and Dot.

Sal stood by the open door.

Dani described her shift.

Her coat had come off after she arrived.

It hung on a hook behind the counter.

She had put it on during her break.

The foyer doors kept opening to the cold.

Then Gina had stopped her beside the tables.

"Was the locker locked before that?"

"Yes."

"Who else can open it?"

Dot answered.

"Management has two master keys."

"Where?"

"One on her bracelet."

"The other hangs inside our supply cabinet."

"Locked cabinet?"

Dot lowered her eyes.

"Not during a shift."

Dani's fingers tightened around her own locker key.

That widened the list.

The officer wrote that down, too.

Dot did not try to take it back.

"Anybody working back there could reach it."

"Thank you for being clear," he said.

Gina's voice carried from the hall.

Then the other officer closed the door partway.

Sal pointed to the medallion on his desk.

"That came out of my safe."

"We'll need your statement about access."

"You'll have it."

The officer photographed the recovered medallion.

Then its broken clasp.

With Sal's permission, he placed it in an evidence bag.

He photographed Dani's pendant without removing it.

"That one was already on her," Dot said.

"All evening."

Dani lifted it enough to show the engraving.

The officer leaned closer.

He did not announce that it cleared her.

He wrote the letters.

Then he gave her a report number.

"Do you want the grabbing documented?"

Gina had stopped speaking outside.

Dani looked at the office door.

Her thumb found the new tear.

"Yes."

"You understand we may need another statement?"

"I'll give it."

Sal took a step toward her.

"We can replace the coat."

Dani's eyes stayed on the officer.

"That wasn't the question."

Sal stopped.

The officer finished writing.

When Gina returned, she looked at Dot first.

"Both of you can turn in your badges."

Sal spoke before Dot could answer.

"No employment decisions tonight."

Gina stared at him.

"They can accuse me in my own office?"

"They can answer the police."

The younger officer asked about Gina's claim downstairs.

Had there been an earlier theft involving Dani's mother?

Gina said yes.

Sal looked toward a row of file drawers.

"There should be a report."

"A police report?" the officer asked.

Sal hesitated.

Then Dot answered.

"There wasn't one."