“I’m gonna head to my room,” Mercedes said. “Before I forget, we got a couple of promising applications for tenants. I ditched a few I didn’t think were good matches and emailed the others to you.”
“Great. I’ll look at them while I eat.” Carlita fed each of her pets a treat before piling roast beef on a slice of bread. She smeared a thick layer of mayonnaise on a second slice before adding lettuce and tomato. She carried the soup and sandwich to her desk and settled in.
After a quick check of the bank accounts, she opened her email and found Mercedes’ message and an attachment with the tenant applications.
She decided both looked promising and sent a reply to Mercedes, telling her both sounded like good fits, but the decision was ultimately up to her daughter.
Carlita polished off the homemade minestrone and roast beef on seeded rye before carrying her dirty dishes to the kitchen. There was just enough time to freshen up and head next door to meet Dominic.
“Hey, Mercedes.” Carlita rapped lightly on her daughter’s door and jumped back, waiting for it to fly open. She wasn’t disappointed.
“Hey, Ma. I got your message. You want me to go ahead and meet with the potential tenants?”
“Yes. The ball is in your court now, Mercedes. I trust your judgment.”
“Thanks.” Mercedes grinned, the dimple in her cheek deepening. “You heading over to chat with Dominic?”
“Yes. I better get going, or I’m going to be late. You wanna go with me?”
“Nah. I want to get a little writing in and then head down to check on Tony.”
“Which reminds me. I think we should join the others for dinner later. I figured we could head to Russo’s restaurant. Now that I’m a member of the restaurant group, I think we should try to support each other’s businesses.”
She thanked her daughter for taking care of weeding through the prospective tenants and then wandered down the steps. Carlita passed the parking lot and caught a glimpse of Elvira, still digging holes on her property.
She stepped inside the restaurant and discovered Dominic had already arrived and was rifling through the filing cabinet.
“Hey, Dominic.”
“Hello, Carlita. What happened to the employee applications that were in the filing cabinet?”
“I took them out the other day. They’re in my home office.”
“I…need the applications.” Dominic shut the cabinet door. “Two of the new workers quit on Saturday, during the wedding reception.”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of anyone quitting.” Carlita wondered if Dominic was talking about Monica Clay and the person she knew as Duane Sorensen/Blake Tanner.
“What with the guest keeling over, I figured you had your hands full, and I didn’t want to add to your troubles. I was thinking I could take a second look at the applicants we didn’t hire.”
“I’ll bring the folders back over later.”
“I need them now.”
Carlita lifted a brow, taken aback by the tone of his voice. “I’ll bring them over later,” she repeated. “If you recall, we hired a few extra workers in case someone quit.”
“That was our original plan. I’m having second thoughts. I think we’re stretching our staff too thin.”
The warning bells went off in Carlita’s head. Dominic knew about Monica Clay’s death.
“You heard the body of one of the servers, Monica Clay, was found out behind the bus station,” Carlita said quietly. “Is she one of the workers who quit?” The pieces were beginning to fall in place.
“Yes. I got a buddy who works downtown. He said Clay’s strangled body was found behind the bus station and her friend, one of our other employees, Duane Sorensen, is missing.”
“I heard the same.” Carlita didn’t mention the anonymous tip to the crime hotline, implicating her. “I also believe Duane Sorensen’s real name is Blake Tanner.”
An unreadable expression crossed Dominic’s face. “He wasn’t Duane Sorensen?”
“No. He was lying. Not only that, his cell phone has been disconnected, as was Monica Clay’s.”
“We need to do a better job of screening the applicants,” Dominic said. “Or hire people with better references.”
“You sound like Elvira,” Carlita muttered.
“Elvira?”
“Never mind.”
“So you gonna go get the applications?”
“No.” Carlita’s mind whirled. How much did Dominic know? Should she trust him? She slowly shook her head. “I think it’s best if we wait to see how our first couple of days pan out. We might not need to hire more people.”
“But I need those applications,” Dominic insisted.
Carlita ignored his comment and changed the subject. “Overall, I think the guests enjoyed the wedding food, and the servers did a great job of handling the crowds. You spent most of your time in the kitchen. Did the kitchen staff complain about being overwhelmed?”
“A little.” Dominic mentioned a problem with the walk-in cooler’s temperature and appeared to relax as they discussed the service and the food.
They went over the work schedule for the following week, and the more Carlita thought about it, the more she was convinced they needed to stick with the employees already hired and trained.
Her cell phone chimed, and Carlita glanced at the screen. She pressed the dismiss button. “I think that about covers everything. Thank you for coming in. I’ll walk you out.”
Dominic followed Carlita to the front. He joined her on the sidewalk. “You sure you don’t wanna bring a couple more people on board?”
“Positive.” Carlita nodded firmly. “I think we’ll have a better idea if or what we need after our first couple of days.”
“You’re the boss. I’ll see you on Thursday for the all-employee meeting.” Dominic waved good-bye and then crossed the street to the trolley pick up.
Carlita locked the front door before retracing her steps and making her way to the kitchen. She flipped the lights off and exited through the
