Red Flag

1. Heat of the Moment

The restaurant was alive and bustling with waiters scurrying back and forth and the hubbub of diners' voices rising above the background music. Abandoning my attempt to figure out why the place looked so familiar, I reexamined the greasy mess on my fork, wincing at the thought of another bite. "This is gawdawful, Nathan – similar to the quality at Dalliance last week."

"Yeah, I thought it might be, Kate. That's why I brought you here."

"Hunh?" I snapped my head to stare at him. "What the eff for?"

"To follow a hunch."

"And spoil our evening."

"No, not spoil. We have the new menu event at Pearl's in half an hour."

"Ooh! That's tonight? Good thing you keep track." I looked again at our appetiser plates and curled my lip. "So, why waste our time here?"

"To analyse why they're getting all the high reviews. I suspect somebody's diddling the online sites."

Swivelling in my seat, I scanned the crowded room again. "Yeah, with high prices for crap like this, there has to be another reason they're so busy."

Eyes wide, Nathan nodded in time with a rapid, "Yup-yup, yup-yup, yup-yup, yup-yup," before he caught himself, calmed and continued, "After last week's encounter at Dalliance, I began digging."

Oh, dear! Overexcited by another rabbit chase – need to play along and allow him to relax. "And what did you find?"

"Remember Dalliance used to be Bluestone? Renamed when it was bought out of receivership last month."

"Bluestone? That's why it looked familiar. But receivership? It was doing so well."

"That's another puzzling bit. Similar to here at Zack's – this was Cosecha before it failed."

"Hmmm." I looked around at the decor, finally connecting its familiarity. "What a sudden collapse that was."

Nathan squirmed in his chair, head bobbing. "Another red flag, Kate. Part of the pattern I'm seeing."

Oh, God! Is he off his meds? Building to another outburst? Need to cool him. I smiled and tilted my head toward the entrance. "Let's quietly pay and leave, Nathan. Ignore this and go enjoy Pearl's."

"No, I need to sort this out. Dinner at Nuance on Friday was also gawawful, to use your expression, and I smell a scam. Too many red flags to ignore, and I need to dig further."

I blew a deep breath. Why is he always attracted to red flags? "Dig further?"

"To analyse." He dry-washed his hands and fidgeted. "Remember the superb cuisine and impeccable service at the media dinners? Those at Dalliance and Nuance and the one here – Michelin-star-worthy. Now, they're down to this heat-and-serve crud misrepresented on the menu."

"Ummm, yeah! The grand opening here was outstanding, and I was so looking forward to this evening." I worked my mouth, still trying to get rid of the salty greasiness of the first bite. "But I didn't have your Friday's experience at Nuance as a warning."

"Hah! Because you played the editing deadline card again. You always use that excuse to stay home."

"Whoa, Nathan! Whoa, whoa, whoa. You know fricking well that my writing is why you don't have to work – the reason you can play restaurant reviewer and wannabe sherlock with no concern about expenses, about time."

"Let's not get into that one again, Kate."

"You brought it up."

"What? How?"