Page 60 of Suddenly Beck

‘That’s what he said,’ she muses.

‘Well, it’s true,’ I insist stubbornly.

‘We’ll see.’ She blows out a tired breath. ‘Anyway, although I’m glad I’ve had the chance to speak with you about Beck, that’s not the reason I called you in today.’

‘It’s not?’ I reply as I stare down at the mountains of paperwork, and I have an ominous feeling. ‘Mel, what’s going on?’

‘Nat,’ she breathes out, and her eyes fill with tears.

‘Hey.’ I jump out of my chair and round the desk, wrapping my arm around her as I grab for a tissue out of a nearby box of Kleenex.

‘Sorry.’ She takes the tissue gratefully.

‘It’s okay.’ I stroke her back soothingly as I pull up a stool so I’m sitting directly beside her. ‘How bad is it?’

‘Bad.’ The tears roll down her cheeks faster then she can wipe them away, and I grab the whole box of tissues and set them in front of her.

‘Alright.’ I nod. ‘Break it down for me,’ I tell her calmly.

‘There’s practically nothing left.’ She sniffs loudly and blows out a breath. ‘Scott hasn’t just run the place completely into the ground, he’s stolen all the money.’

‘What?’ My breath rushes out in disbelief.

‘I knew when I first started looking over the books that he’d been skimming, but the further I look, the more it’s like a horror show. Over the past year, he’s been using this place as his own personal piggy bank. He’s bled it dry, and now, it’s all gone, and he’s run off. He’s not working at a restaurant in Devon like he said.’ She looks up at me through tear-stained eyes. ‘He’s literally disappeared off the face of the planet.’

‘Mel, you have to call the police,’ I tell her firmly.

‘I have.’ She nods. ‘About half an hour ago, and they’re sending someone over to open an investigation, but even if they find him, there’s almost no chance we’ll be able to recover any of the money he’s taken.’ She swallows hard. ‘I’m going to have to close the restaurant.’ I watch as the tears come faster, and her face crumbles. ‘It’s like losing Sully all over again.’

I wrap my arms around her and rock her gently as she sobs, her face buried in my shoulder, and my heart breaks for her. My gaze skims over some of the paperwork littering the desk, and as I start looking at some of the figures, a plan begins to formulate. I mull the idea over in my mind, contemplating it from all angles as I let her cry out all of her pain and frustration. When her sobs finally quieten to a few hiccups, I hand her another tissue. I leave her blowing her nose and fetch her a cool glass of water, and when I return and slide back onto the stool beside her, she takes the glass gratefully, her eyes swollen and her voice scratchy.

‘Thank you,’ she says hoarsely as she takes a deep gulp. ‘Sorry, Nat.’ She shakes her head. ‘I didn’t mean to cry all over you.’

‘It’s okay,’ I tell her sympathetically. ‘Sometimes it’s better to have a purge, get it all out, and then you can see the problem more clearly.’

‘I see the problem very clearly.’ She sniffs loudly, wiping her nose. ‘But it’s a problem with no solution.’

‘What if there is a solution?’ I say slowly.

‘What?’ Her nose wrinkles in confusion.

I take a deep breath measuring my next words carefully.

‘I’m going to ask you a question, Mel, and I want you to think about it carefully before you answer.’

‘Okay.’ She frowns.

‘I know that you’re hurting right now, and that you’re still grieving for your husband, but ask yourself this, if you could save the restaurant, would you? Not because it’s your last link to your husband and you feel as if you should, but because you want to, because it’s important to you.’

I watch the play of emotions across her face as she considers my words carefully, and after a moment she speaks.

‘This wasn’t just Sully’s place, we built it up together from nothing. Our children ran wild in here when they were little. We celebrated every single milestone here, birthdays, anniversaries… graduations.’ She turns toward me with sad eyes. ‘After he died, it just hurt too much to be here without him, but being back here with you, cooking again, interacting with the customers… I’d forgotten how much I loved it. It actually helped with my grief, and slowly I’m starting to heal. I want to save this place, not as a shrine to him but because it’s a part of our family and the community.’

‘Well, alright then.’ I nod. ‘So, lets save it.’

‘We can’t,’ she says miserably. ‘There’s nothing left to save. The accounts are all empty, we owe money to suppliers who are no longer going to allow us to order on account, there’s no money to pay the staff we’ve got, let alone take on new staff. Although we own the building, it’s now going to have to be sold to settle the debts.’

‘Okay, let’s take this one step at a time. What’s it going to take to settle the outstanding debt?’