Page 7 of Canapés at the Beach House Hotel
“Love you,” I said, thinking how empty the bed was without him.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning when I went into the hotel, I walked into the kitchen to greet Consuela.She was like a mother to me.She and her husband, Manny, had worked for Rhonda before we opened the hotel and became our first staff members after we opened.More than that, they’d replaced the parents neither Rhonda nor I no longer had.
“ ’Morning,” I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.“How are you?”
“Busy as always, but I saved you and Rhonda cinnamon rolls, and the coffee is freshly made.”
“Has anyone told you what an angel you are?Besides, Manny, I mean.”
We chuckled together.Manny had no problem telling anyone how lucky he was to be married to Consuela.
“Rhonda’s already in the office.Will you take a sweet roll to her?”Consuela held a plate with two sweet rolls and waited while I poured myself a cup of coffee.
After seeing me off, she went back to overseeing the kitchen for the breakfast meal.Jean-Luc was responsible for dinner and, with the help of a sous chef, lunches.
When I walked into the office, Rhonda looked up at me.“Ah, a sweet roll for me.Thanks.”
I handed her one and settled the plate on my desk.Sitting in the morning sipping coffee and eating a sweet roll was often a sort of ritual for us as we began each hectic day.
Rhonda waited until I’d taken a sip of coffee and then said, “I’ve got some interesting news for you.I talked to a few friends in the hospitality industry in Miami about Jonny Arno.As Chet told us, he did get in touch with people and asked them not to hire Chet.Even so, the people I talked to don’t like Jonny and know he’s involved in some way with the mafia.They think that’s why Jonny moved to the Gulf Coast, to open up a new territory for them.”
“The mafia?We don’t want anything to do with them,” I said, horrified.
“It’s not like the old days that my father knew, but kickbacks on suppliers’ orders and the like still occur,” Rhonda said.“But we don’t have to get involved.”
“It makes me worried,” I said.“Let’s just let the new restaurant do their thing, and we’ll do ours.”
Rhonda studied me.“We’ll do what we can to stay out of their way.What about Chet?Do we walk away from him and Harper?”
“No,” I quickly said.“He deserves a chance to prove himself with us.Let’s interview Chet like any other prospective staff member, and if we approve, we’ll send him to Jean-Luc and let him make the decision about hiring him.Still, we need to inform Bernie about the situation.”
Bernhard Bruner was our General Manager and was as straight and proper as they come.His wife, Annette, whom he met here at the hotel at her daughter’s wedding, worked for us in the dining room and on special events.
“Let’s talk to him now while those conversations I had with my friends are still fresh in my mind,” said Rhonda.
“We’ll record our conversation just for the record,” I said.“In case we need it in the future.”
“Great idea,” said Rhonda.“Let’s go.”
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A few minutes later, Rhonda and I were sitting in front of Bernie.
After I explained the situation with Chet and Harper, Rhonda told him about the conversations she’d had with a few friends in Miami.
“No doubt about it, Jonny Arno is not well-liked and is considered untrustworthy,” said Rhonda.
“I did some research,” I said.“Jonny grew up in Buffalo, New York, which makes it plausible that he’d have a connection to the mafia because five families still intact are in New York City.The Genoveses and Gambinos are the stronger families.It makes sense they’d work in western New York State as well.A connection to Jonny Arno could be made there.”
“We’ll continue to conduct our business as normal,’ said Bernie.“We’ve been pretty clear about staying out of anything we consider illegal.There’s no reason to adjust to different standards.I refuse to take part in anything like that.”
“Like Annie and me,” said Rhonda.“The question we have for you is about possibly hiring Chet and making Jonny Arno upset with us.Is that wise?We don’t want to hurt our hotel.”
Bernie raised an eyebrow.“Is that how you normally choose to conduct your business?”
“No, but we haven’t told you everything.Brock Goodwin is part-owner of the new restaurant and is out to get Jean-Luc and ruin our restaurant,” I said.
