Silent Harbour

Chapter 23: A Keen Eye

November 9, 2025

Thankfully, Erin doesn't leave me hanging when I text her to make plans for dinner at the diner this evening. Not that she realizes, but we definitely have a lot to unpack given that we haven't spoken since her abrupt exit from the house the other day.

After spending my day proctoring midterm exams while simultaneously thinking about everything I had learned from my interrogation of Jasper Everhart, six o'clock arrives quickly. I'm early as usual, or rather, Erin is running late. I take a seat at our usual booth, and find myself anxiously tapping my fingers against the table. Before long, the bell above the diner's door jingles, and I look up to see Erin walking in. She scans the room briefly before spotting me and making her way over.

"Hey," she says, sliding into the booth across from me. Her expression is guarded, but there's a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Hey," I reply, offering a reassuring smile. "Thanks for coming."

Erin nods, glancing at the menu. "I figured we should talk."

"Yeah," I agree, taking a deep breath. "There's a lot we need to discuss."

A waitress comes to take our orders, and we both settle on our usuals. Once she's gone, I lean forward, lowering my voice. "Erin, I'm really sorry about what happened with Henri. I didn't expect things to get so intense."

She sighs, rubbing her temples. "I shouldn't have reacted like I did." She pauses. "You must think I'm out of my mind for shouting at a seventeen-year-old kid, and you'd be right."

Erin meets my gaze. "He used to stay at Peter's quite a bit, as you know." She continues, "I always got the feeling he didn't like me coming around."

I watch Erin twirl the paper straw in her water glass around in her fingers.

"Negotiations were tense, and Peter and I would spend hours sometimes pouring over contracts and purchase agreements and a lot of the time Peter would have to come into the office. He was around a lot less, and I think Henri thought that was my doing." She shrugs. "I don't blame him, he wouldn't have known about any of that."

"Any of what?" I ask curiously.

"The bidding wars and all that. Peter didn't want to burden him with that knowledge, so he never told him what we were up to."

I nod, understanding now why Henri had assumed Erin had been Peter's ex-girlfriend. I'm about to reply when the waitress comes by with the food we've ordered.

"One homestyle chili and a corned beef hash," she declares as she places the chili in front of me and the hash in front of Erin. "There you go ladies. I regret to say it, but you've caught me at the tail end of my shift here, but don't you worry, Sadie is going to take great care of you, okay? If you need anything at all, she'll be over to help you out." With that, she waves us goodbye, and Sadie, our new waitress, a woman I recognize from my first visit to Corner Cup gives us a wave."

I smile politely and wave back, as does Erin. Sadie looks at Erin curiously for a moment, before retreating to the back kitchen.

I tuck into my chili and we eat in silence for a few moments. "Erin, you don't have to apologize. I understand. Henri can be a bit," I hesitate, "aloof at times, and it takes him a while to warm up to strangers, but...he's a good kid."

I continue, "I'm going to bet that he said something to you that may have come across a bit...blunt, maybe a tad standoffish?"

Erin's face relaxes. "The last time we saw each other, he told me to buzz off." She smiles sadly. "That he couldn't figure out why Peter was hanging around with a junkie like me."