Vengeance. Mystery Writers of America Presents B00A25NLU4

Joe had followed the Lamborghini straight here when Valiant left for the day, but Valiant used valet parking, and Joe had to take twenty minutes to find a spot on his own. He didn’t want to leave any more obvious a trail than necessary.
    “Seltzer,” he told the barman after jostling his way to the front.
    “Fourteen dollars.”
    He made the drink last. People drifted in and out. Finally, after a quarter hour, Valiant’s companion stood and made her way to the restroom, in an alcove at the end of the bar.
    When she came back out, Joe had maneuvered himself to stand where she had to brush past him.
    “Excuse me?” he said, as politely as he could.
    “Yes?” Up close she looked even more like someone accustomed to brushing off strange men in bars — flawlessly beautiful, dark eyes, precisely cut hair.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t know if I should even tell you this, but …”
    “What?” She was on the verge of pushing through and ignoring him.
    “While you were in there? I happened to see your fella — he’s the handsome man in the blue shirt, right? He, well, he put something in your wineglass.”
    That got her attention. “Say that again.”
    “I’m waiting for my date, she’s coming down with one of her friends, so, you know, I’m just killing time. And I noticed, after you stood up — pardon me, miss, but I noticed
you
and I hope you’re not offended by that. But after you left, your man, he took something out of his pocket and reached across the table and held it over your drink. Like he was dropping something in.”
    A long pause. The woman stared hard at Joe, then even harder at Valiant, who hadn’t noticed her returning yet.
    “Are you sure?” she said.
    “I’m afraid so. But surely, if he’s a good friend of yours —”
    “I met him this weekend at a party.” She made up her mind. “Thank you.”
    “Oh, no. Really, I’m sorry.”
    “Yes.” And she walked straight out of the restaurant.
    Joe finished his seltzer, placed the glass on the bar, and went into the dining area.
    “Mr. Valiant?” He pulled out the woman’s chair and sat down. “Mind if I join you for a moment?”
    “Wha —”
    “Don’t worry, your companion won’t be here for a few minutes.”
    “Who are
you?
”
    “Joe Beeker.” Joe held out his hand, not expecting Valiant to take it. “I used to work at Fulmont Metal.”
    Valiant looked around. Up close, he had presence — fit, strong, clear-eyed, with a haircut and clothes that even Joe could tell cost vast amounts of money. Someone accustomed to watching other people get out of his way.
    “You’re interrupting a private dinner,” he said. “Leave now, or the police will haul you away.”
    “Yeah?” Joe said. “Do you
really
want to do that? Because I won’t go quietly. I’ll be hollering about how badly you treated us, stealing the company, stripping the pensions, cheating the suppliers. I’ll bet there are forty cell phones with cameras in here. You’ll be all over the internet in half an hour — and I’ll walk, since I haven’t actually done anything wrong.” He paused. “Unlike you.”
    A smile flashed. “You’re trying to threaten me?”
    “Me? I just turned sixty-two. I’m a tired old man. I’m not threatening anybody.”
    Valiant shrugged. “What do you want?”
    “Just to talk for a couple minutes.” Joe looked closely at Valiant’s eyes. “Mostly, I’m wondering, do you understand what you did to us?”
    “I —”
    “Deep down? Because I don’t think a regular person would have gone there. I think you just don’t realize the suffering you caused in order to make an extra few million bucks for yourself.”
    “Just business.” Valiant looked toward the bar, frowning a bit, then drank from his wineglass. “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “Oh, I —”
    “Everything we did was perfectly legal. By the book.”
    “I keep hearing that.”
    “Your boss had run the company into the ground. What you don’t get is, we saved the place. If we hadn’t come along to fix it, the entire operation would have gone under, and
nobody
would be working anymore.”
    “Fulmont was doing fine until you called the debt.”
    “That was entirely within our rights.”
    “That was ruthless and unnecessary — except to give you an opening to loot the place.” A waiter appeared, looking confused.
    “Excuse me, sir, are you joining the party? And the lady … ?”
    “We’re fine,” Valiant said.
    “Ah, shall I bring out the