Rialto (Unbreakable Bonds 8)

“When I’m not working. I just love watching him work. So damn sexy.” He gave a demonstrable shiver.

Hollis chuckled, his hand on the small of Ian’s back. “I think half his class is here for the same reason. Some are pretty blatant—just watching.”

“What do you mean half?” Geoffrey laughed and pointed at his boyfriend. “There’s a reason Rowe has Sven lead this course.” His expression grew serious. “Why are you here? Are you getting a bodyguard? Is there a reason you need one?”

“No, I have a meeting with Rowe and the triplets, that’s all.”

Geoffrey lowered his voice. “Listen, I’ve seen the reviews lately and just wanted to say that anyone who has half a brain could tell they’re not true, that someone has it out for your restaurant.”

It didn’t make him feel better knowing anyone had seen the damn reviews, fake or not. “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious. Figuring out who is the hard part.”

“Is that why you’re here? I’m being very nosy, aren’t I?” He grinned and it was so cheeky, it made Ian smile. Geoffrey had zero remorse when it came to being nosy and curious. “I’ll let you get to your meeting. Sven and I have reservations at Rialto next weekend, so I’ll see you there.”

They said good-bye to Geoffrey and took the stairs up to Rowe’s office. Rowe looked up at them when they walked in, his red hair a disheveled mess, a scowl on his rugged face.

“Hey,” he said. “Just a sec and we’ll head over to the triplets’ room.” He poked at the keyboard of his computer a few times, cursed, then stood up. “I will forever hate the paperwork part of this business.”

“I’m with you there,” Ian said. “It amazes me how much paperwork goes into a restaurant when all I want to be doing is cooking and talking with the customers.”

“I prefer being out in the field and leaving Andrei to this crap, but I took more of it on since Daci’s arrival.” He went to the door. “I hope the triplets have some good news.”

They walked down the hall to a big room filled with electronic equipment and a conference table. Gidget was on her computer with Quinn leaning over her chair and pointing to something on the screen. He looked up. “Hey, Ian. Hollis.”

Gidget waved them over to her computer. She had several screens around her, and she pointed to one that was frozen on a scene from behind Ian’s restaurant. “The only thing suspicious on the tapes was this guy painting graffiti on the brick at the back of Rialto.” She frowned at Ian. “It would have helped me if I’d known I was looking for a graffiti artist.”

“Wait, when did you deal with that?” Hollis asked, coming around to look at the screen.

“I didn’t say anything about it because it happened right after the magazine came out, and it was your standard hate stuff. I dismissed it entirely—just painted over the words. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with that kind of thing before. Since opening Rialto, I think we’ve been hit with this kind of graffiti about a half dozen times.” Ian squinted at the image.

“But if this happened recently, when all this other stuff is going on, it’s important,” Rowe pointed out. “Do you recognize this person at all?”

“How could I? They’re wearing a hoodie. But it’s too big to be Ginger. She was tiny.”

“It’s not a tall man, but a man nonetheless,” Gidget pointed out. “Look at the ropey forearms.” She zoomed in on the arms. “Also, whoever this is uses drugs. See the track marks?”

“I don’t think we’re dealing with Ginger in any of this anyway,” Hollis said. “She took a job in Louisville and has been out of town this whole time. Took me some time to track her down.” He looked at Quinn. “What about the IP addresses?”

Quinn shook his head. “That’s a dead end. Tracked them back to a library.”

“So we have no leads?” Rowe barked out. “We’re hitting a wall on this. Any ideas on who would want to hurt you, Ian?”

“Hollis and I have already gone over this, and the only person we came up with has been out of town this whole time. She could still be putting out some of those reviews, but I can’t help but feel this is all coming from the same person. The only logical explanation is another restaurant owner, but why come to my house and physically hurt me?”

Rowe nodded. “You’re right, that was too personal.” He paused and chewed on his lip a moment as he stared at Ian. “I hate to say this, but what about someone from your past? Not everyone who worked for Jagger was arrested.”

Ian wrung his hands. “But that’s been such a long time. Why would anyone carry a grudge that long and why start attacking me now?”