“I would love to go with you, but I need to get home.” Autumn glanced at her watch. “Cole is meeting me at the apartment.”
After dropping Autumn off, Carlita headed to the restaurant. Although it was well past the dinner hour, they were still busy.
“I see a table for two.” Mercedes and Carlita zigzagged past several tables until they reached a small table near the back. It offered a clear view of the front of the restaurant and a partial view of the kitchen.
“I wonder if TG is here,” Carlita said. “Do you remember her real name?”
“Tierney Grant. Tierney Grant aka ‘The Ghost,’ remember?”
“Yeah. Catchy for sure.” A male server approached and handed them each a menu. “Welcome to The Ghost Roast. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water will be fine.” Carlita glanced at the man’s nametag, Jim. “We’re wondering if TG, I mean Tierney is around.”
“She’s in the back. Would you like to see her?”
“If she has time. She may not remember us. Tell her it’s Carlita and Mercedes Garlucci. She gave us a ghost tour a coupla months ago.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be back in a minute to take your order.”
The women perused the appetizer section of the menu. “Jalapeno poppers sound good,” Mercedes said.
“Uh-uh.” Carlita patted her stomach. “I’ll be up all night.”
“Mozzarella cheese sticks with marinara sauce?”
“I think I can handle those.”
The server returned a short time later with Tierney trailing behind, a wide smile on her face. “Mrs. Garlucci, Mercedes. It’s nice to see you again. Have you opened your restaurant yet?”
Carlita smiled back. “You have a good memory, Tierney.”
“It goes with the territory. Are you here to munch or pick my brain?”
“Both,” Mercedes said. “We’ll take an order of the mozzarella sticks with an extra marinara sauce.”
“Good choice. Tierney’s marinara sauce is the best.” The server jotted the order on his notepad and walked away.
“Do you have a minute to join us?” Mercedes asked.
“Sure.” Tierney dragged a chair from the empty table next to them and plopped down. “How’s business on your side of town?”
“We haven’t opened Ravello yet. We’re close, though. That’s not the reason we’re here,” Carlita said.
“Oh?” Tierney lifted a brow.
“Have you ever heard the name Lawson Bates?”
“Bully Bates?” Tierney asked.
Carlita lifted a brow. “I take it you’re not a fan, then.”
“Not at all. He’s a ruthless business owner.”
“Lawson’s riverboat, the Mystic Dream, was damaged a couple of days ago. Last night, someone attacked him and he’s in the hospital in a coma,” Mercedes said.
“We have friends who are also business associates and are suspects in both the attack and the fire,” Carlita added.
“Someone finally went after Lawson. I’m surprised it took this long.”
“The reason we’re here is the authorities mentioned another name…Kyle Flinch. It’s not a common name and we wondered if you knew Kyle.”
“Are you serious?” Tierney’s mouth fell open. “Kyle is my brother. He works for me, but before that he worked for Lawson on the Mystic Dream.”
“Then consider this a courtesy visit and your warning the authorities will soon be talking to Kyle about Lawson’s attack.”
“They can talk away,” Tierney said. “Kyle was here all last night, until closing. After closing, we went back upstairs to our apartment. Kyle is staying with me until he can afford a place of his own.”
“You were with him all night?” Mercedes quietly asked. “I’m sure the authorities are going to ask the same thing.”
“Well, I mean, he was in the apartment all night.”
“Would it be okay if we asked Kyle a couple of questions?” Carlita asked. “Maybe he can shed some light on why Lawson would name him.”
“Sure. He’s in the back cooking. I’ll go get him.” Tierney popped out of the chair. She returned a few minutes later, carrying their plate of mozzarella sticks and accompanied by a young man who looked a lot like Tierney.
“Kyle, this is Mrs. Garlucci and her daughter, Mercedes.” Tierney slid the plate of food onto the table. “They want to ask you a couple of quick questions about Lawson Bates.”
The young man eyed them warily as he swiped his bangs from his eyes. “Okay.”
“I need to head back to the kitchen.” She patted her brother’s shoulder and smiled at Carlita and Mercedes before walking away.
“We’ll make this quick. I know you’re busy. How well do you know Lawson Bates?” Carlita asked.
“I worked with him for about six months. I started out in the kitchen prepping. By the time I finished, I was a server. Lawson liked to ‘cross train’ his employees. One week you worked in one spot. Another week you worked somewhere else.”
“Did you like working for Lawson?” Mercedes asked.
“In the beginning he was all right. After a couple of months, he started acting weird.”
“Weird like how?”
“Like secretive. He kept hiring and firing people. As far as I know, he never gave anyone a raise. In fact, he kept threatening to cut our wages. By then, The Ghost Roast was getting busy and Tierney needed help anyway, so I quit.”
Mercedes reached for a mozzarella stick. “I wonder why he would name you as one of the suspects who may have set fire to the Mystic Dream.”
Kyle shrugged. “We got into an argument and I walked out. I told him one of these days he was going to tick off the wrong employee and they wouldn’t put up with his crap.”
“And he remembered that?” Mercedes dipped her stick in the sauce and took a big bite. “I betcha there was more than a coupla employees who had it in for Lawson.”
“That’s a fact. I was working on a petition before I left, demanding my three-month review. I even told him I was going to contact the labor board.”
“You
