The partnership’s administrator replied that some documents could not be produced because a software migration had misplaced invoices.
Eleanor asked for the backups and the migration log.
Within an hour, Victor called Samuel directly.
He said the inquiry was frightening staff and costing the restaurant reservations.
Samuel asked why Victor was contacting him instead of answering the requests through counsel.
Victor said they were both businessmen and ought to solve the matter privately.
“A private conversation will not replace records,” Samuel replied.
Victor ended the call without mentioning Lily once.
Samuel realized that the waitress had already vanished from the manager’s version of the crisis.
That omission disturbed him more than the insults outside the restaurant.
CHAPTER 8: THE ROOM ABOVE THE LAUNDROMAT
Lily attended her first interview at a family-owned breakfast shop on Wednesday.
The owner, Mrs. Patel, looked at her resume and asked why she had left Harbor Table.
Lily answered that she had been dismissed after purchasing a meal for someone outside the restaurant and that the circumstances were under review.
Mrs. Patel asked whether she expected to bring legal trouble into a new workplace.
Lily said that she expected to arrive on time, do her work carefully, and tell the truth if someone asked a direct question.
Mrs. Patel studied her for a moment and said she appreciated an answer without an invented excuse.
The breakfast shop could offer only three shifts a week, but its pay was predictable and the owner posted schedules a month ahead.
Lily accepted a trial shift for Friday morning.
On her way home, she stopped at the laundromat beneath her landlord’s office and asked to speak with him.
Mr. Velez was a quiet man who maintained the building himself and disliked discussing rent as though it were a personal failing.
Lily explained her dismissal and showed him a letter confirming her appointment with the worker clinic.
He agreed to divide her rent over two payments if she put the agreement in writing.
She thanked him and asked for the late-fee provision to be removed from the written plan.
Mr. Velez considered the request, then crossed out the fee in pen and initialed the change.
“People tell me stories every month,” he said.
“You came with a plan.”
The small victory made Lily feel steadier than Samuel’s dramatic phone call had.
She returned upstairs to find a padded envelope waiting beside her door.
Inside was a printed copy of Saturday’s receipt and a typed note accusing her of conspiring to damage Harbor Table’s reputation.
