Rest in Pizza by Chris Cavender Page A

sadness than anger, she explained, “Listen, I’ve tried to let him down easy a dozen times over the past two years, but he keeps asking. It sounds to me like he’s been crying on your shoulder. Did he tell you that I gave him a screen test when he came up with a really good idea?”
    “No,” I admitted. “He didn’t say a word about that.”
    Jessie just shook her head. “And why should he? The man couldn’t have been any stiffer if he’d been carved out of wood. He has so little stage presence that I almost lost him in the shot a time or two.” Jessie waved a hand in the air then, as though she were shooing away a cluster of gnats. “Listen, I’m really upset about what’s going on with Chef Benet, but you’re right, I shouldn’t have taken it out on Oliver. When he comes back, I’ll apologize and do my best to smooth things over, but in the meantime, we need to find Benet.”
    “Was Oliver really that bad?” Maddy asked. “He seems fine to me when he’s talking about cooking.”
    Jessie grimaced. “He nearly set the kitchen on fire during his audition, which would have been bad, but not as bad as his personality on tape. It’s never going to work, and the sooner he gives up that particular dream, the better off he’ll be. You may not believe me, but at first, I was just trying to help him.”
    “And now?” I asked.
    “Honestly? I’ve done everything I can to discourage him. It may sound cruel to you people, but stringing him along is a lot harsher, at least in my opinion.”
    She started for the door, and then turned back and looked at the rest of us. “Why are you all standing around just looking at each other? We need to find Benet.”
    I’m not sure why we all obeyed, but we did. There was something in the executive producer’s voice that eliminated all consideration of defiance.
    “Where should we look first?” Maddy asked as we hit the sidewalk together.
    “I think the first place we should check is the Slice. After all, he just took a key from me.”
    “You want to make sure he doesn’t trash the place, don’t you?”
    That was exactly what I was trying to prevent. Who knew how Benet might react if he felt as though he were being thwarted. “Maddy, if he so much as breaks a toothpick, the man’s going to have a world of problems that he hasn’t even dreamed about yet.”
    As I’d said the last bit, Jessie walked past us, glancing at my fiery promise with one eyebrow raised. I didn’t care if she thought I was capable of violence or not. I’d meant every word I’d said. The Slice was so much a part of me that I swore if someone wrecked it, I believed I’d feel the pain myself, like some kind of psychic connection between my mind and the business I ran.
    We hurried to the pizzeria, and I peeked in the window as Maddy handed me her key. I should have had Slick make an extra one for me after all. Not having my own key to the pizzeria was disturbing on a level I hadn’t even contemplated before.
    Was someone there?
    I used the key and unlocked the door. When I looked around the dining room, I didn’t see any evidence that anyone had been there since Maddy, Mark, and I had left earlier, and I had to wonder if the sun coming through the window had cast a shadow of something that had looked like a man.
    “Hello?” I called out as we went back to the kitchen.
    Nothing in the kitchen had been touched since we’d left it.
    “At the risk of being Captain Obvious, he’s not here,” Maddy said.
    “That doesn’t mean he won’t show up here eventually. We can check back later,” I said. “In the meantime, we can start hitting other places on the promenade.”
    “Why just around here?” Maddy asked as we started back toward the front door.
    “Come on, Sis. You saw him searching for a way off the square. He was clearly confused. How far do you think he’d get on his own? Let’s go.”
    Maddy smiled at me. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just stay here and stand guard