“Since I was a kid. I was a whiz at numbers and calculations. I wasn’t as good at things like abstract math,” she admitted. “But if what you’re asking is could I possibly remember an account number, then yes, I can. I’ve got those pages in my head. Oddly enough it actually makes it easier that they took those two pages. Otherwise, I would be awash in a sea of accounts. Those two pages only held the data for four accounts, so easy peasy. If the Italian guy wants a number, I can give it to him. But I don’t know how that gets the mob off my back.”

“Taggart himself does that,” Remy explained. “Charlotte Taggart has close ties to the Denisovitch Syndicate. By Taggart standing next to you in court, he was letting everyone know that he backs you and therefore the syndicate does as well. Now whether or not Dusan Denisovitch would go to war on Big Tag’s word, I have no idea, but I don’t think anyone wants to find out.”

She sat there quiet for a moment, as though letting it all sink in. “So you think they’ll leave me alone as long as there’s no trial.”

“I do. I’m talking to Big Tag tomorrow and he’s going to sit down with Will,” Remy explained. “They’ll decide when it’s safe to bring you home. They’ll put some protocols in place, ensure you have all the safety features money can buy, and you’ll be relatively free to move on with your life. Big Tag is trying to get in touch with Biondo to find out what his real motives are.”

“So I could be home by next week.” Her tone was bland, emotionless.

Was she desperate to leave him behind? “I think it’ll likely be the week after. He has to be sure.”

“But that time is coming.” She turned back to the bar and opened the refrigerator. “Well, I want to know before I go and now is as good a time as any.”

“Know what?”

She grabbed the simple syrup. He’d watched her make it in the kitchen before the lunch crowd came. “I want to see if I pass. The daiquiri test. You didn’t get to try it before. I was too busy drowning in oysters and shrimp and glitter. Would this make me qualified to work here?”

“I would never put you behind the bar. You’re too valuable to the rest of the place. I can train a bartender. I can’t train an all-around manager.” He actually didn’t know what he would do without her. In the few days she’d been around, he’d come to rely on her. She’d made some changes that had helped out enormously and her processes, as she called them, forced the whole team to be prepared.