“Can I get you anything else, sir?”
Izzy Hartwell. The head waiter.
She smiles so brightly, it pisses me off that every man in the room does not turn to watch. At the same time, I know I’d kill them all if they did.
“Just the dessert menu,” I say with the straightest face I can muster. Because if I told her what it is I really want, she’d run fast in the opposite direction.
I know, because she already did it once.
“Of course. Coming right away, sir.”
After she’s gone, Giovanni leans forward slightly across the table.
“So,” he asks me, “why exactly did you ask us to meet here tonight?”
Straight to the point as usual. “I have information to share.”
Matteo blinks. “About what?”
Before I can answer, Luca Lucchese suddenly pushes his chair back. “Excuse me,” he says.
He walks toward the hallway near the bathrooms without another word.
Leone watches him go. “If I’m not mistaken,” he murmurs quietly, “his favorite waitress just slipped back there too.”
I glance at him briefly. “Mind your business.”
Leone smiles. “Just making an observation.”
“Stop observing.”
Across the room, Izzy moves toward the bar again.
She laughs softly at something the bartender says, then takes another tray and heads toward the dining room.
Moments later, Riccardo Romano stands.
“I’m stepping outside,” he says.
“For what?” Matteo asks.
“A smoke.”
Matteo frowns. “You don’t smoke.”
Riccardo shrugs slightly. “Never too late to start.”
He leaves the table without another explanation.
Leone leans towards Valerio, who has just appeared behind Riccardo’s chair.
“Looking for the cook,” I hear Valerio whisper. “His latest obsession.”
Leone lifts an eyebrow. “For how long now?”
“Months.”
Leone shakes his head. “Your boss has the patience of a saint.”
