I left Sadie sleeping, and quietly left the room. She needed the sleep, and I needed to think. I cleaned and inspected, letting the helpers go once everything was to Sadie's standards. I locked up and sat in the dining hall, thinking. The rudiments of a plan developed, I knew the lawsuit wasn't the end. The timing was deliberate. They meant to kill the banquet and destroy the City Kitchen's funding. Things would get worse before they got better. I would need help, and, to get it, I had to come out of hiding.

I woke to a pounding sound. I had fallen asleep, my head pillowed in my arms...