A Cozy Beatles Mystery: Larceny in Liverpool (A Cozy Beatles Mystery Series Book 1) by Kal Smagh

Author:Kal Smagh [Smagh, Kal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16: THE GOLDEN PHOENIX

On Hanover Street I gazed at the bright Golden Phoenix sign. Being smart and sticking to my plan I walked to the end of the block and entered from the back alley into the kitchen. An open screen door was my invitation.

It was a hot jungle, steamy and smelling of boiling vegetables, and a lot of Chinese was being spoken. I didn’t know Mandarin from Cantonese.

Who was I kidding?

I didn’t know Swahili or any other language for that matter. Freda was right, there was no way I was going to blend in as one of the kitchen staff. I received a growing number of odd glances as a stranger wandering around, then I heard the lady at the cash register out front. She was speaking English to a guest and then seating them. I came out of the kitchen and went up front to her. She wore a little name tag that said "Ping" on the front of her white blouse. Her straight black hair was shiny.

She said, "One for lunch, no boyfriend?"

I tried to decide if I’d been insulted. It was insulting...to have to figure it out. "No boyfriend. Just me."

"I know."

Insulted and now also offended. I was certainly capable of having a boyfriend. I just didn’t have one. I said, "I’ll wait for a moment."

"Why wait?" She wagged a finger dismissively, "You have no boyfriend coming."

"No. My boss is going to have lunch here with a business associate."

"Ah. Not good to have your boyfriend as boss. And he brings another businessman to be your boyfriend?"

"No. I’m just having lunch myself. But I want to be seated near my boss for his business lunch."

"Right. You have no boyfriend." She smiled. "It’s okay, honey. One day you’ll have a boyfriend."

I had no idea how this had even started. But I knew I needed to hear Brian’s conversation so I didn’t want to offend Ping by telling her how rude she was being, making so many assumptions about my boyfriend-worthiness.

Triple insulted, I sat down in a chair near the check-in stand and picked up a paper menu so that I could cover my face when they arrived.

Just moments later I heard Brian’s refined voice followed by a deeper voice of a man who must’ve been in his forties. Over my raised menu I peeked. Brian was easily taller than the man. The banker definitely looked like what Freda had described: medium height, maybe five foot seven inches, around the size of a small refrigerator, with butterscotch hair and thick brown glasses. He wore a dark gray suit straining at the waist button and if I didn’t know he already was a banker he could easily have passed as an overweight mortician.

I kept the menu up to my face, concealing my identity as Mr. Henry spoke hoarsely to Ping. "Table for two."

"Yes. Follow me."

As she led them, she turned around and looked at me and gave a big obvious wink that made Brian turn briefly toward my direction. Damn it, Ping! Stop blowing my cover!

She seated them in a booth.

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