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.”
“A restaurant calls to cancel their business with you, and you don’t even ask?” I shook my head.
“Hey, no offense, pal, but restaurants are a dime a dozen around here. We lose one, and two more pop up.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Gigi said. “This is all just a mix up. Could you fill the order and put a rush on it. Late food is better than no food.”
“Sorry, lady, all my drivers are gone for the day. I got no one to make the delivery.”
I snatched up the phone and spoke to the guy directly. “Listen, I can come get the order if you’re willing to load up a truck. We realize this isn’t your fault, we just need to fix it. Cut her a break, will ya?”
“No way, man. There is no way I’m letting someone from your outfit take one of my trucks. Even if I didn’t mind, I’m sure my insurance agent would. We’re not covered for that.”
“I’m a licensed private investigator, and I’m fully bonded. I do vehicle repossessions for Ernie Schmendrick in St. Pete, you can call him and check me out.”
“I don’t really—”
“I’ll pay you a hundred bucks cash to use the truck.”
“Two hundred.”
“Deal. You just get the truck ready.”
I hung up the phone and turned to Gigi. “I’m gonna get Seth and we’ll go pick up the truck. You carry on here and when I get back, I’m going to have a chat with Marco.”
She huffed and said, “He didn’t do this, Dino.”
“Was he here yesterday?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then I want to talk to him. I’ll be back as soon as I can, all right?”
“All right,” she said. “Thanks, Dino.”
Chapter 6
I was in the car and heading back north before I took out my phone and dialed Seth. He answered on the fourth ring and sounded preoccupied, which probably meant I had pulled him out from underneath a car. Tough.
“Dino, hi, what’s going on?”
“You really are an evil little shit, and now you’re gonna do me a favor and you don’t get to say no.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. We need to go pick up a truck, and you have the license for it. I’m assuming you can drive a refrigerated panel truck?”
“I can drive anything, Dino,” he said smugly.
“Great. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, be ready. We’re in a hurry here.”
“Okay. Dino, wait. Why am I an evil shit?”
“You know the answer to that. So does everyone else who’s gotten a look at me today. Including Gigi, so I think you made your point.”
I snapped the phone shut and threw it on the seat, because I was no mood to listen to him gloat. I know a lot of people think leaving bruises like that is pretty hot, but I prefer not to advertise. Something Seth knows very well.
I turned on the causeway, and when I pulled up in front of the auto shop, Seth already had the place closed up and was standing on the curb waiting for me. I suspected his extreme willingness to cooperate was something of an apology.
He jumped over the door and slid into the passenger seat, leaning over to plant a kiss on my jaw.
I gave him a sharp look and said, “You bite me again and I will knock you flat on your ass, you got that?”
He bit his lip to suppress a smirk. I was wrong. He wasn’t sorry at all. I suppose I could have worse problems in life.
“Where are we going?” he asked as I pulled back into traffic.
“We’ve gotta’ run and get a shipment of supplies for Gigi. The saboteur struck again and cancelled their order. If they don’t get stocked up for the weekend, they’re screwed, and the warehouse doesn’t have anyone to drive the truck.”
“You have any leads yet?” he asked.
“I have one, but Gigi’s not buying it. She swears the guy is legit.”
“I bet she’s sleeping with him,” Seth said.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “How in the hell can someone who sleeps around as much as you do have such a catty jealous streak? If anything, I should be the one who gets to act this way.”
“Slept around.”
“What?”
“Slept around. Past tense. You don’t think I still do that, do you?” He actually looked kind of hurt.
I sighed. “No. That’s not what I meant. I’m just sayin’, I’ve got one ex, and you have like thousands.”
“That’s not true on either count,” Seth pointed out, “and I don’t have anyone that serious in my past. You’re it, dude. You’re the one.”
“So, what, you’re making up for lost time?” Admittedly, I liked hearing that, and I was willing to put up with a fair amount of his crap. I suppose in some twisted way, you could call it romantic.
* * * *
We got to the warehouse by four-thirty to find one lone guy with a pallet jack, loading up the most pathetic, run-down truck I’ve ever seen. It didn’t look like it would make it out of the alley, let alone halfway down the coast.
I climbed out of the car and walked across the lot, Seth right behind me. “Hey!” I said to the guy. “I’m not paying you two hundred for a truck I have to push.”
“She’ll run,” he said, giving me a weary look. “She may not look like much, but she runs fine. You the guy from Salvatore’s?”
“Yeah.” I took out my wallet and showed him my both my driver’s license and my P.I. license.
He
