Andy Flynn took another taste of the sauce before finally nodding to his sous chef that it was almost perfect. He was trying a new Alfredo sauce and he was so close to being happy with it. He still had a few hours before the dinner rush, plenty of time to find that last perfect ingredient to set his sauce apart from every other one out there.
"Hey big brother," Brenda said, hopping up on the stool and helping herself to a piece of cheesecake on the servette. "You still messing with that sauce?"
"Still needs something," he replied, looking in the cooler.
"It's a shame Granny didn't write down her recipes. Now that was some sauce," Brenda replied, savoring the creamy cheesecake. "Oh, and her clam sauce was to die for. Although I was always partial to her tiramisu."
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in."
Brenda twirled on the stool, watching her brother rummage around the restaurant's kitchen. There were only a few waiters and one of the line cooks around this time of day; lunch rush was over and still a while before the dinner crowd would show up. The 918 was one of the hottest restaurants in LA and before long, there'd be a line outside, since they didn't take reservations.
"Did you get those pages into your editor yet?" she yelled, savoring another bite of the decadent cheesecake. "You know they were due, like a month ago."
Andy poked his head out of the cooler and glared at her. His first novel had been a huge success that he'd parlayed into a successful restaurant and a movie deal. Now they wanted another one.
"I'm just sayin'. They gave you that huge advance, they're gonna want something soon," she replied.
Andy emerged carrying a large container of dough. "I'm working on it," he said. "And if I wanted someone to nag me, I'd have stayed married to Teresa."
"She divorced you," Brenda said matter-of-factly, reaching for another piece of cake.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be, Little Sis?" he said, tying an apron around his waist.
"Nope, Louie said he was dropping by and wanted me to be here."
"And you listened for once."
Brenda and Andy both turned to see Louie Provenza enter the kitchen, briefcase in hand, customary frown in place.
"Speak of the devil."
"Louie!" Brenda exclaimed, jumping off her stool to throw her arms around his neck. He stood there rolling his eyes until she let go.
"Hey Provenza," Andy said, continuing to roll the dough out in front of him. "What's up?"
Brenda perched back on her stool and watched the white haired man who'd been her brother's business partner for as long as she could remember and her father's before that. He was also Andy's manager, best friend and pain in the ass all rolled into one. Provenza tossed his briefcase on the stainless steel work surface and pulled out what looked like contracts.
"Don't tell me…" Andy said, wiping his hands on his apron.
"After reviewing the police report and the last letter your received, your publisher is insisting we hire private security until they catch this creep."
"Damnit!" Andy yelled, slamming his fist into the dough. "I used to be a cop. I can take care of this."
"We've had two break ins here. Not to mention the death threats, they're gonna drop you if we don't hire outside help. Which means returning that big fat advance you've already spent."
"Death threats?" Brenda said, looking between Provenza and her brother.
"It's nothing," Andy replied, aggressively kneeding the dough.
"Doesn't sound like nothing to me. Louie?"
Provenza looked at Andy, who tried to warn him off, but he continued, hoping that Brenda would help talk some sense into her brother.
"Started a couple of months ago, letters to his editor, that Andy Flynn was about to get what was coming to him. At first they didn't think anything of it, but the next letter was accompanied by surveillance photos of him and more detailed threats," Provenza said, trying to sound calm.
"They think the break ins here is the same person?" she asked.
"The same day that each of the last two letters came was the same as the days of the break ins here," he continued. "Too much to be a coincidence."
"I told them who did it," Andy said, trying to contain his anger. He'd worked hard to get where he was and he'd be damned if someone took it away from him now.
"Who?" Brenda asked, trying to think if she knew someone who was capable of this.
"Joe."
"Teresa's brother, Joe?" she asked.
"Yeah, he thought Teresa deserved part of the book money, even though we'd been divorced for three years by then and I set up trust funds for the kids."
"Joe's been in New York for the last six months," Provenza supplied.
"He still coulda..."
"Nope, doing 2 years for grand theft."
Andy smiled at the thought of his ex brother in law cooling his heels in the clink. He always had been a no good, lazy son of a bitch.
"Your old squad are going through your old cases to see if it could be someone you collared, but no leads so far," Provenza said sternly. "So back to security."
"I don't need a babysitter," Andy yelled. "That publisher can take a flying…leap. She's just trying to drum up publicity."
"What the hell's it going to hurt? They're picking up the tab and you can concentrate on the new place and that book that was due a month ago."
Andy shot him a warning look. He'd write the damn book when he was good and ready. He also knew from the look on Louie's face that he wasn't going to win this one and the panicked look on his sister's face was enough to make him at least pretend to relent.
"What ya got?" he asked, referring to the papers in his partner's hand.
"MC Security, professional and most importantly, discreet," Provenza said, motioning to the back of the room past the preparation racks.
Andy watched as a woman stepped forward, tall, slender, mid-fifties with long auburn hair. She extended her hand, "Hello, Mr. Flynn. I'm Sharon Raydor, MC Security.