LITMIR.BIZ

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she was up to. There was no way she’d forget.

      “Oh, yes, that’s right. Charming girl. You spent all day yesterday with her too, didn’t you?” Della was positively glowing.

      I sighed. “I’m working a case for her. I explained this to you.”

      “Of course you are, sugar,” she said with a coquettish grin.

      “Have a nice day, Della,” I said, shaking my head as I turned and went down the stairs.

      * * * *

      I drove to Salvatore’s, and the Friday afternoon party atmosphere was already getting into full swing even though it was only two-thirty. There were more cars in the lot, and the place was busier than before, but it still had a calm mood which made a nice contrast.

      When I walked in, Felix was behind the bar and he lit up when he saw me. “Hey, Dino! Long time, no see.”

      He came around the end of the bar to give me a hug and handshake. Felix is a big guy with pure white hair that had already turned when I knew him ten years ago. Now there was a little less of it.

      “Hi, Felix,” I said, patting him on the back. “It’s good to see you.”

      “Good to see you too, kid.” He paused and cocked his head at me. “What the hell happened to you? You get attacked by a piranha?”

      I frowned. “What are you talkin’ about?”

      He pointed to my neck and smirked. I leaned over to check myself out in a beer mirror and discovered a string of small bruises that ran from my ear to my collar bone. That’s what Seth had been up to. Nice.

      Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned to find Gigi looking at me with a mix of amusement and disdain. “That’s very charming,” she said.

      “Ah, yeah,” I said, rubbing my neck. “Listen, could we talk in your office, please?”

      “Of course. Have you found something?”

      “I don’t know,” I told her, following her down the back hall. “I want to take a look at your personnel files, if you don’t mind.”

      She held the office door for me. “I don’t know, Dino. I’m not sure that’s legal.”

      “Don’t tell anyone,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not going to use the information for nefarious purposes. I just want to check out the staff.”

      She closed the door and folded her arms over her chest, apparently weighing her options.

      “If it helps you make up your mind,” I said, “I already ran background checks on everyone.”

      She raised her eyebrows. “Then why do you need to see the files?”

      “There’s different information in there. And I want to see who was tellin’ the truth on their application and who wasn’t.”

      “Do you find it difficult to have to distrust people for a living?” She wasn’t being pissy, she looked genuinely uncomfortable. I supposed that was because I was asking her to question the honesty of her staff. Too close to home.

      “No, I don’t,” I told her. “In the end, I find out a lot of people are actually honest and decent, so it works out all right.”

      She nodded and said, “All right. But please don’t let anyone know I gave you permission. I don’t need that kind of reputation right now.”

      “You have my word, Gigi, I swear it.”

      She crossed the room and pulled open a drawer, laying her hand on top of the contents. “All the personnel files are in front here. Do you want something to drink while you work?”

      “I’d love some coffee if you don’t mind.”

      When she came back with a steaming cup, I took a grateful sip. It was damn good coffee. I was in the process of going through the files in order, rather than just grabbing the three I was most interested in. I didn’t want to prejudice myself.

      “If you need anything else,” she said, “I’ll be in the kitchen. I need to meet with Angelo.”

      “Actually, I do have a question for you.” I didn’t think she was going to like this.

      “Yes?”

      “Are you aware that Marco has a criminal record?”

      “I... Do you mean recently?” She furrowed her brows and came back to stand in front of the desk where I sat.

      “No, not recently. Before you hired him, but he doesn’t say so on his paperwork here.” I held up the file.

      “Well, I know that he went through a phase when he got into a lot of trouble. People can change. Why are you so concerned with Marco?” She sounded irritated.

      “Ah, because he’s got a record and he lied to you. He’s also in a pretty good position to be someone who’d want to see you go down. If the restaurant tanks, and you decide to sell, he’d look like a knight in shining armor if he offered to buy it cheap when no one else will. Why are you so hell bent on defending him?”

      “He’s been a wonderful employee for a long time. I trust him.”

      “Did you know about the record?”

      She was silent for a minute. Finally she sighed and said, “No.”

      “Okay, then I think we need to have a little talk with Marco.”

      A knock at the door interrupted whatever reply she was about to make. She opened the door to find the prep cook standing there in his white coat. “Joe, good, are all the supplies put away?”

      He looked ill and licked his lips. “No. That’s why I came to find you. The truck hasn’t even shown up yet.”

      “What?”

      He winced and held up his hands. “It’s not here.”

      Gigi spun around with fury in her eyes and reached for the phone. “I do not need this today,” she said, stabbing at the buttons.

      “Is this unusual?” I asked.

      “It’s not common,” she said, “but they’ve been late before. I told the warehouse manager if it happened again on a Friday, I might start looking for a new food supplier.”

      “Put it on speaker. I want to hear this.”

      The phone rang a few times before someone answered. “Five Star Food Service, how can I help you?”

      Gigi said, “May I speak to Richard Kemp please?”

      “Yeah, just a sec.”

      After a moment, another voice came on the line. “Richard, here.”

      “Richard, this is Gigi Sapora, at Salvatore’s.” She was working to control her voice. “I’m calling because we’re still waiting for our delivery, and it’s getting very late. You assured me this wasn’t going to happen again.”

      “What the hell are you talking about, lady? You cancelled the order yesterday.”

      “I most certainly did not. We need that order. We’re only a few hours from our weekend dinner rush. There’s got to be some kind of mistake.”

      “Look, I got caller ID and the call definitely came out of Salvatore’s. The guy I talked to said you’d hired another food service and didn’t need us anymore.”

      Gigi ran a hand through her hair. “That’s...that’s not true. I never authorized anything like that.”

      She turned and gave me a ‘what am I gonna do’ face.

      I leaned toward the phone. “Who made the call?” I asked.

      “I don’t know, the guy didn’t leave a name.”

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