Chapter 4 - The Second Inventory
I didn't open Beatrice's office that night.
That would have been reckless.
Instead, I waited.
At 11:40 p.m., the last dishwasher left.
At midnight, the sous chefs disappeared.
At 12:17, Beatrice finally walked into her office.
I watched from the shadow of the storage corridor.
She locked the door.
Five minutes later, the light went off.
I waited another ten minutes before moving.
The kitchen was silent.
I entered the office using the spare key hidden inside the emergency supply cabinet.
The bottom drawer was exactly where Ethan said it would be.
Inside was a black notebook.
No restaurant logo.
No label.
Just handwritten dates and numbers.
I turned the first page.
Supplier names.
Amounts.
Delivery times.
Then I found something stranger.
Several pages contained two prices for the same ingredient.
One was the official amount.
The other was almost four times higher.
I photographed everything.
Then I saw my own name.
CLARA MORETTI.
Beside it was a date.
The date was tomorrow.
Underneath were three words:
“REMOVE AFTER SERVICE.”
I froze.
Someone planned to remove me.
But why?
I turned the page.
There were names of other employees.
Some had red marks beside them.
Some had dates.
One name made my chest tighten.
Daniel Voss.
The former head chef.
Next to his name:
“REFUSED.”
Then:
“PROBLEM.”
Then:
“GONE.”
I heard footsteps.
I shut the notebook.
The office door handle moved.
I slipped behind a storage cabinet.
Beatrice entered.
She wasn't alone.
A man followed her.
I couldn't see his face.
Only his expensive watch and dark coat.
Beatrice whispered.
“She knows too much.”
The man answered quietly.
“Then stop letting her look.”
My heart began pounding.
Beatrice looked toward the desk.
“She photographed the floor.”
The man went silent.
Then he said:
“Then the situation has changed.”
They left.
I waited until the door closed.
Only then did I breathe.
I photographed the final page before returning the notebook.
There was one handwritten sentence at the bottom.
“If Moretti reaches the old kitchen records, everything collapses.”
I stared at it.
Until that moment, I had believed I was investigating food safety.
Now I understood.
May you like
Someone was hiding a much larger crime.
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