Chapter 1 - The Tip
Daniel turned the card over in his large hands.
He asked what he was supposed to do with the orange construction paper.
Lily looked at him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
She told him to keep it so he would remember he had a table.
Daniel stared at the messy crayon letters for a very long time.
He slowly folded the paper and placed it inside the inner pocket of his expensive coat.
He thanked Lily and told her it was the best Thanksgiving gift he had ever received.
He left a few folded bills on the table and walked toward the diner exit.
Clare watched his broad shoulders push through the glass doors into the freezing rain.
She began gathering their empty plates to help the overworked waitstaff.
She picked up the bills Daniel had left beside his coffee cup.
Clare stopped breathing.
It was not a twenty-dollar bill.
It was a stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills wrapped in a blank check.
The check was signed by Daniel Mercer, but the amount was left totally blank.
A waitress walked by with a coffee pot and stopped to stare at the money.
She asked Clare if that man had just tipped her a small fortune.
Before Clare could answer, the volume on the diner’s television suddenly spiked.
A breaking news alert flashed across the screen with a bright red banner.
The news anchor looked grim as a photograph appeared on the broadcast.
It was a picture of Daniel Mercer, looking exactly as he had five minutes ago.
The anchor announced that the reclusive billionaire CEO of Mercer Home and Living was dead.
His private helicopter had exploded over the Tennessee mountains less than an hour ago.
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Authorities confirmed there were absolutely no survivors.
Clare looked at the empty chair where a dead man had just eaten her daughter's stuffing.
