“Do you know why he’s decided to keep it?” Morelli asked. “It’s because no one will buy it. It’s known as the Demon Deli. Sometimes it’s called the Death Deli. And on special occasions it’s the Deli of Doom or the One-Shoe Horror.”
“I hadn’t heard it called any of those names.”
“Do you know about the managers? Three managers have disappeared in two weeks. Always leaving a shoe behind. No other clue. Not a shred of evidence. They just went through the back door and evaporated.”
“Is it your case?”
“Jimmy Krut pulled it but I’m the secondary. I came in when the third manager disappeared.”
“I didn’t know about the disappearances when I took the job this morning. I found out when I got to the deli.”
“It hasn’t received a lot of publicity. The first manager who disappeared had been manager for six years. Elroy Ruiz. Entire family was in Mexico. He sent most of his money home. He went out to smoke some weed at eight-fifteen on a Monday night and never came back. They said it wasn’t the first time Elroy took off for a while. No one thought anything about it until Wednesday. Didn’t get reported to the police until Friday.”
“What about the shoe? Didn’t they think it was odd that his shoe was left in the parking lot?”
Morelli grinned. “Everyone thought he was on a good buzz.”
“And the second manager?”
“Kenny Brown. Twenty-six years old. Ten years of restaurant experience. Started washing dishes when he was sixteen. Lived with his mother. Straight arrow except for his coke habit.”
“The drug?”
“The drink. Was on the job for a week. Took a bag of garbage out to the dumpster around nine o’clock and never came back. Everyone assumed he’d left for the night. One of the cooks found Brown’s car still parked in the lot the next day. Brown’s shoe was next to it. The third manager, Ryan Meier, lasted two days. The little fry cook freaked when he went out to look for the manager and tripped over the shoe in the dark.”
“Is this happening anyplace else?”
“No. Just at Red River Deli. And just to managers . . . so far.”
“Jeez.”
“Yup,” Morelli said. “That about sums it up. Tell me you’re not going back there.”
“I was going to quit but Vinnie isn’t in the office.”
“Send him a text message.”
I typed the message into my phone. As of this instant I quit my job as manager of Red River Deli.
“I’ll throw the burgers on the grill at six o’clock,” Morelli said.
I returned to my car and buckled myself in.
“Did you see him?” Lula asked. “It was the hot guy in black. Wulf. He was in a shiny black 4×4 pickup with oversized tires and bug eyes on the cab. He drove right past us and turned at the corner.”
“I wasn’t paying attention to the traffic,” I said. “I was talking to Morelli.”
“How’d that go?” Lula asked.
“Good. He’s grilling burgers tonight, and I texted Vinnie that I quit.”
“I’ve been thinking about it, and maybe this is a good thing. Maybe Vinnie will make me manager. It could get me a raise.”
“You aren’t afraid you’ll disappear?”
“I have it figured out. I won’t go near the parking lot. I’ll always go out the front door.”
“What about the garbage?”