The Waitress He Pushed Into the Pool

Chapter 1 - The White Towel

The mop barely touched the edge of his shoe.

Nathan Cole kicked it hard enough to send the wooden handle sideways. The elderly cleaner stumbled, caught his balance, and tightened his grip.

“Look what you did to my shoes!”

Music drifted through the open doors of the Bellamy Hotel. Beyond the terrace, the evening sky glowed over the water. Nathan stood between the cleaner and a table of guests, his cream suit immaculate.

Mara Ellis had been carrying fresh towels to the pool station. She stopped beside the old man.

“Please, sir. It was an accident.”

Nathan turned toward her. Mara found herself between him and the pool, with nowhere to retreat except along its narrow edge.

“Stay out of it!”

His hand struck her shoulder.

Her heel slipped beyond the stone. The white towel fell onto the terrace as she reached for something that wasn't there.

Cold water closed over her head.

For a moment, there was only noise and bubbles. Her apron floated across her arms. She pushed it aside, found the lights above her, and kicked upward.

She surfaced coughing and caught the edge with both hands.

The cleaner was already kneeling there. He held her forearm while she struggled to breathe.

“I've got you,” he said. “Keep your hand on the stone.”

Then he looked up at Nathan.

“You just made a terrible mistake.”

Nathan adjusted his cuff. “She slipped.”

The old man took a phone from his chest pocket, tapped the screen, and lifted it to his ear.

“Cancel the contract. Immediately.”

Something changed in Nathan's face.

The hotel manager came running with a lifeguard. Together they helped Mara up the pool steps and wrapped her in a blanket.

The manager looked at the cleaner.

“Mr. Bellamy. I'm so sorry.”

Mara stared.

Arthur Bellamy. The name on her employment papers. The founder whose photograph hung outside the staff dining room, younger by twenty years and wearing a suit.

Nathan recognized him now too.

“Arthur, surely we can discuss this.”

Arthur stayed beside Mara.

“We will. After she has been examined and the police have your name.”

Nathan glanced toward the security camera above the terrace doors.

Then he looked at the manager.

“That camera hasn't worked for weeks,” the manager said.

He said it before anyone asked.