Chapter 2 - The Man in the ReflectionNathan had trusted Mark Reynolds for eighteen years.
“Sir,” he whispered, breathless. “Don’t eat that.”
Nathan froze.
Around him, the private dining room of the Hawthorne Grand in downtown Chicago glittered beneath crystal chandeliers. A dozen investors sat around the long table, waiting to celebrate the largest acquisition Nathan’s company had ever completed.
At his right sat his wife, Vanessa.
Beautiful. Elegant. Perfectly composed.
At least she had been until the boy spoke.
A waiter rushed forward.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Cole. He came through the service hallway.”
The child looked eleven at most. His hair was dirty, his jacket several sizes too big, and dried mud covered his sneakers.
Nathan slowly lowered his fork.
“What’s your name?”
“Eli.”
Vanessa sighed dramatically.
“Nathan, security can handle this.”
But Eli tightened his fingers around Nathan’s sleeve.
“I saw her.”
The room changed.
Nathan looked down at him.
“Saw who?”
Eli pointed at Vanessa.
Every conversation stopped.
Vanessa stared at the child.
“What exactly are you accusing me of?”
Eli swallowed.
“When your husband went to the restroom, you took a tiny bottle from your purse.”
Vanessa’s face remained still.
But her right hand moved toward her handbag.
Eli continued.
“You poured something on his food.”
Nathan looked at the steak in front of him.
Then at his wife.
Vanessa laughed.
Not loudly.
Not naturally.
“This is insane.”
She turned toward their guests.
“A homeless child wanders into dinner and suddenly everyone treats him like a detective?”
Nathan said nothing.
His eyes stayed on Vanessa.
“You were watching my plate?”
“I was cleaning dishes near the kitchen door,” Eli explained. “A cook gave me leftovers sometimes. I saw your wife look around. Then she poured drops onto the meat and mixed them into the sauce.”
Vanessa stood.
“That’s enough.”
Nathan’s voice became cold.
“Sit down.”
She stared at him.
“Nathan.”
“Sit.”
For the first time in their twelve-year marriage, Vanessa looked frightened by him.
She slowly returned to her chair.
Nathan called the restaurant manager over.
“Nobody touches this plate.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“This is humiliating.”
“Then it should be easy to prove him wrong.”
Nathan looked toward Eli.
“Did you see the bottle?”
The boy nodded.
“Small. Brown glass. Black cap.”
Nathan turned toward Vanessa’s purse.
Her hand was resting on it.
“Give me the bag.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
One of Nathan’s business partners shifted uncomfortably.
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“Why not?”
“Because I refuse to have my personal belongings searched because some street kid invented a story.”
Eli’s face dropped.
Nathan noticed.
“He has a name.”
Vanessa blinked.
“What?”
“His name is Eli.”
Nathan reached for his phone.
“I’m calling security and the police.”
Vanessa stood again.
“This marriage is already difficult enough without you publicly humiliating me.”
She grabbed her purse.
Eli shouted.
“She’s leaving with the bottle!”
Nathan rose immediately.
Vanessa turned toward the door.
A security officer stepped into her path.
“Ma’am, please stay here.”
“Move.”
“Mrs. Cole—”
“MOVE!”
The elegant mask shattered.
Vanessa shoved him.
Her purse slipped from her shoulder and struck the floor.
The contents spilled across the carpet.
Lipstick.
Keys.
A diamond compact.
A prescription bottle.
And a tiny brown glass vial with a black cap.
Nobody moved.
Vanessa stared at it.
Nathan felt something cold spread through his chest.
Eli whispered, “That’s it.”
Vanessa bent down.
Nathan got there first.
He picked up the vial with a napkin.
“What is this?”
Vanessa’s face had gone pale.
“It’s nothing.”
“Then why were you hiding it?”
“I wasn’t.”
Police arrived fifteen minutes later.
The plate, the vial, and Vanessa’s purse were collected.
Nathan barely heard the questions.
His attention remained on the woman he had shared a bed with for twelve years.
Vanessa refused to answer anything without a lawyer.
Then, while an officer was speaking with the restaurant manager, Eli quietly started backing toward the service door.
Nathan noticed.
“Where are you going?”
Eli looked frightened.
“I shouldn’t be here.”
“You just stopped me from eating something that may have hurt me.”
“I only told you what I saw.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Where are your parents?”
Eli looked at the floor.
“My mom’s gone.”
“And your father?”
The boy’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t know.”
Before Nathan could ask anything else, a detective approached.
“Mr. Cole?”
Nathan turned.
The woman’s expression was serious.
“We need you to come with us.”
“Why?”
“The hospital lab ran a preliminary test on residue from the plate.”
Vanessa stopped whispering to her attorney.
Nathan’s heart began pounding.
The detective lowered her voice.
“Whatever your wife poured onto your food wasn’t harmless.”
Nathan looked toward Vanessa.
Her confident smile was completely gone.
“What was it?”
The detective hesitated.
“A medication that can become extremely dangerous when combined with the heart medicine listed in your medical records.”
Nathan felt the floor disappear beneath him.
Only three people outside his doctors knew about that medication.
Nathan.
His assistant.
And Vanessa.
The detective continued.
“If you had finished that meal, Mr. Cole, there’s a chance everyone in this room would have believed you died from natural causes.”
Nathan stared at his wife.
Vanessa stared back.
For the first time, he saw something in her eyes he had never seen before.
Not love.
Not anger.
Fear.
Then Eli suddenly whispered beside him.
“Sir?”
Nathan looked down.
The boy was staring at Vanessa’s phone, which an officer had placed inside an evidence bag.
“What?”
Eli’s face went white.
“I know the man in her lock-screen photo.”
Nathan frowned.
The photograph showed Nathan and Vanessa smiling together during a charity gala.
“No,” Eli said.
“Not you.”
He pointed toward the reflection in a mirror behind them.
A man stood in the background.
Watching Vanessa.
Nathan recognized him immediately.
His closest business partner.
Mark Reynolds.
May you like
And before Nathan could speak, Eli said the words that turned one terrifying dinner into something much bigger.
“I saw him give her the bottle.”
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