Service Exit

[SFX: Gas hiss. Chair scrape; panic bar]

NARRATOR: Mina smashed the low pastry vent while Luca led diners out through the kitchen. Bea followed Tomas into the cellar, guided by the two-note service bell he struck while forcing a door.

CHEF LUCA VENN: I knew that bell would become branding.

BEA HOLT: For once, keep talking.

[SFX: Concrete footsteps. Bottles rolling]

NARRATOR: Tomas reached the loading alley but found Pike's colleagues arriving with police. Ellen had transmitted the counterfeit ledger before evacuating, choosing cooperation over one final profitable silence.

TOMAS GREY: They all sold lies. I only made mine drinkable.

BEA HOLT: You made murder absorb through a napkin. Do not ask terroir to carry that.

NARRATOR: Police recovered treated linen from Tomas's locker and Pike's route photographs from his phone. The reservation recording and sugar timer completed the chain.