“Mr. Meza never knew, of course,” said Noelia, and wiped her cheek with her wrist.
“But it was his rule.”
I couldn’t answer.
She stood up.
“I have to go back in,” she said.
“Hunter’s going to cut my hours again.”
“Again?” I asked.
“I told him about the device in June,” she said.
“I asked him what it was.”
“I’ve had twelve hours a week since.”
She hurried away.
When the door had shut, I took out my phone.
I did not call the restaurant’s lawyer.
I called Detective Ilene Trevino of the Fresno Police Department’s financial cr*mes unit.
She picked up on the second ring.
“Alonzo?”
I told her everything, in six minutes, without stopping.
When I finished, there was a silence.
“Don’t confront them,” she said.
“I need three things.”
“The device, the person who reads it, and the money.”
