Chapter
One
It was happy hour, but murder was on the menu.
Death by daiquiri—or more accurately by cocktail glass—was seconds away from killing my new career as a restaurant server when my shift supervisor, Claire, swooped in and liberated the glass from my hands. She set it safely on the table while giving a smile to the sleazy middle-aged man who’d just doled out his fourth inappropriate comment about my body since I’d started serving him and his buddy twenty minutes ago.
I opened my mouth to give the creep a piece of my mind, but Claire was still in damage-control mode. She clamped an arm around my shoulders and steered me toward the back of the restaurant.
She spoke in a low, stern voice that contrasted starkly with the smile she kept on her face. “We don’t dump drinks on our customers, Emersyn.”
“Actually, I was planning to smash the glass over his head,” I said, shooting a glare over my shoulder at my intended victim.
He winked at me, and my stomach churned.
“We don’t do that either.”
“You might want to rethink that policy,” I said, seething.
Claire pushed me into the small employee break room. It wasempty, the fluorescent lights buzzing and flickering overhead. Claire took me by the shoulders and turned me around so we faced each other.
“I’m taking over your shift,” she informed me.
I was about to protest when she cut me off.
“Chad wants to see you in his office.”
My stomach sank. “Again? That can’t be good.”
Chad, the restaurant’s manager, wasn’t exactly an Emersyn Gray fan. I wasn’t sure why. I hadn’t mixed up allthatmany orders, and I’d only broken a few dishes. Okay, so maybe I knew why. I had to admit—to myself, not Chad—that I wasn’t exactly a natural at waitressing.
Claire tipped her head toward the door. “Don’t keep him waiting.”
I gulped a breath of air, barely getting it past the lump of apprehension in my throat, and then started down the hall toward Chad’s office.
Half an hour later, I sat on a park bench in the West Bronx, jobless for the second time in a month. I longed to drown my sorrows in a caffè mocha with extra whip, but I was painfully aware of the sorry state of my bank account balance. I couldn’t afford to indulge in unnecessary treats. I also couldn’t indulge in a pity party. Not for long, anyway.
I gave myself one more minute to stare morosely at the pigeons pecking at the ground beneath an oak tree. Then I heaved myself up off the bench and set a course toward home.
I’d almost reached the edge of the park when a familiar voice cried out with delight.
“Auntie Em!”
My spirits lifted even as my heart clenched. My seven-year-old niece, Livy, let go of her babysitter’s hand and barreled toward me,her two strawberry blonde braids flying out behind her like kite tails. She launched herself at me so hard that she nearly knocked the breath out of me. I had to take a step backward to keep my balance as she wrapped her thin arms around my middle.
“Hey, Livysaurus.” I kissed the top of her head. “What mischief have you been causing today?”
She giggled, releasing me and looking up at me with blue eyes so familiar that my heart clenched again. “I don’t cause mischief. Mrs. Nagy bought me a hot dog from Alfonso!”
Alfonso was a hot dog vendor who often stationed his cart at the far end of the park. He always had a smile and a warm greeting for us whenever we saw him, even though I rarely bought his wares.
“Lucky you,” I said to Livy before addressing my eighty-something neighbor, who’d just reached us. “Thank you, Mrs. Nagy. You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was my pleasure.” She had a comforting voice, laced with a Hungarian accent. “I enjoy having a youngster around to spoil.”
Zita Nagy and her husband had no children or grandchildren of their own. They lived in the unit next door to me and Livy, and they’d been a godsend over the last several months since we’d moved into the apartment building. They never let me pay them a dime for babysitting Livy, insisting that it was a treat for them, one that they always looked forward to.
“Well, I appreciate it,” I said as we walked along the sidewalk at the edge of the park. “Thank you.”
