She felt it now. A tremor rising up her spine. Fear. No not fear, panic.

Any moment now, she would get caught.

There was only so much stealth she could employ to allow herself to get away with this.

Someone would inevitably realise that she shouldn’t be here.

Not now, not anymore. Twelve years service. Twelve harrassing years of giving absolutely bloody everything.

And yet the news of her sacking must not have filtered through the general staff.

The waiters still greeted her, with the uncaring nonchalence of people embarking on their monotonous, daily ritual and yet -

She could hear a clamour at the front of the restaurant.

The kitchen buzzed away, cogs in a whirring machine, clearly unaware that the chief conductor had left the orchestra.

Her panic had her mixing her metaphors.

And then she found it, deep within her pocket.

The vial.

Oh they were certainly going to taste revenge!

***

Twenty five minutes later, Jed encouraged his family to their tables.

This was one of the perks of owning a restaurant.

Free meals for the entire family. And yet, something wasn’t sitting right with him today.

He remembered Katie’s face when he told her he’d have to let her go. It hadn’t sat right with him at all.

Yep, the books needed to be balanced, and yep that probably meant having to let some staff go, but Katie?

I mean her wages were disproportionately high, he’d tried to convince himself.

Anya disagreed. He eyed his wife now, her lips pursed, frown lines creeping onto her forehead. He could tell from her body language that she was actively ignoring him.

Great. Anya and Katie had regularly gone for drinks together. Just great.

And then he saw her.

Agitated and practically galloping through the restraunt - Katie.

Anya gave him the look. He sighed.

***

The job was done. Now all she had to do was get out of there, without being spotted.

Not so easy when the only exit happened to be across the restaurant floor.

Now if she could just get out without catching anyone’s attention.

Shit. Jed was walking towards her.

“Katie I-“ he began.

“Don’t worry about it” she interjected harshly. “You’ve said all you needed to.”

There was something on his face. What was it? Contrition?

“Katie, I think maybe I acted too hastily…”

***

The conversation wasn’t going well at all.

He’d ambled his words right at the beginning and she was definitely more angry than she’d seemed earlier.

She had launched into a stinging whisper attack. How could women convey so much feeling whilst whispering, Jed wondered. Lost in his own thoughts as his eyes glassed over, he only briefly captured words such as ‘betrayal,’ ‘disrespect’ and ‘Anya was like a sister.’

“Katie look, I acted rashly. It was a huge mistake. I’m sorry.”

***

She hadn’t expected this.

And the worst thing about it was, he seemed genuine.

Were those tears in his eyes?!

She couldn’t believe it. Was he offering her job back?

“Katie!!!” Came a bellow from across the table. She was, bounding towards her, plate in hand, Brian, Jed’s father.

The man who’d recruited her in the first place. He’d seemed anodyne enough at the time, but he had the propensity to get a bit handsy.

That’s why he’d been shuffled off management and replaced by his son.

Clearly, with no knowledge of the days events, Brian bundled over, dried red wine colouring the sharp whites of his moustache.

He pulled her into a tight squeeze, only half reciprocated, that lingered just a beat too long.

“Dad…can you just shake hands like normal people?” Jed sighed wearily.

“Oh nonsense!!” Brian boomed, “she’s missed me! Oh you’ve missed me haven’t you”

Katie opened her mouth to reply, but her response was lost in the largeness of Brian.

Sensing an opportunity to impose his dominion, Brian quickly reached for a pork pie.

“Here you go!!” He bellowed, stuffing a pork pie into her mouth.

She took a bite, feeling uncomfortably childlike at the scene that unfolded before her.

The jolly bully and the reluctant dismisser.

How the hell did she get here, she wondered, as she swallowed her mouthful.

She’d only come here to -

And then she froze.

Her mind slid back to a scene, twenty five minutes earlier.

The scene where she’d added ricin powder to the batter mixture.

The batter mixture that had been used to make the pork pies.