Family Feud in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 16) by Hope Callaghan (read with me txt) 📗

Carlita’s mind whirled. Was this the woman who sold the ring? She was almost certain Tony had remembered the last name Zhao. “If you don’t mind me asking, can you tell me why you quit?”

“I wanted to work in a restaurant where diners tipped more.”

“And you thought since Ravello’s serves alcohol and specialty drinks, the tips would be better here.”

“The bigger the bill, the bigger the tip,” Mei said. “And I was ready for a change.”

“I see.” There was only one way for Carlita to find out if Mei Zhao was the woman who sold Sandy Sue’s ring to the pawn shop. She needed to get a snapshot of her without raising suspicions.

A sudden idea occurred to her. “I think it would be nice to start a posterboard for new employees and maybe even add an employee of the month program.”

“That’s a great idea,” Arnie said.

“Let me snap a couple pictures of you for our wall board.” Carlita removed her cell phone from her pocket and waited for Mei to pose. After snapping a couple pictures, she checked to make sure she had clear shots. “Welcome to Ravello’s. Arnie is a great boss.”

“He is very nice.” Mei gathered her belongings, and Arnie accompanied her to the exit. They talked briefly before he returned. “I think an employee recognition program is an excellent idea.”

“Me too,” Carlita said. “You’re not at all concerned about her leaving Sandy Sue’s and coming here?”

“Servers bounce around.” Arnie waved dismissively. “I’m sure some of ours have left and gone to competitors. It’s the nature of the business.”

“True.” Carlita excused herself and headed up to Tony’s apartment. She gave the door a light rap, and he answered moments later. “Hey, Ma.”

“I’m sorry to bother you. I want to show you a picture of Ravello’s new employee to see if you recognize her.” Carlita pulled up the picture of Mei and handed her phone to her son.

Tony squinted his eyes as he studied the picture. “Nope. Never seen her before.”

“This isn’t the woman who sold us Sandy Sue’s stolen ring?”

“No. The woman was older. Early fifties, if I had to guess.” Tony handed the phone back. “Why?”

“Because our new employee’s name is Mei Zhao. She just quit Sandy Sue’s place.”

“Seriously?” Tony stared at his mother. “Maybe it’s a coincidence.”

Carlita lifted a brow. “Do you believe that?”

“No. But even if she’s somehow linked to the robbery, how you gonna prove it? It’s my word against hers. Besides, she wasn’t the woman who brought the ring in.”

“They’re linked. I’ll bet money on it.”

“What’re you gonna do?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know.” Carlita thanked him and then made her way downstairs. Something fishy was going on. She remembered what Autumn had said about Steve, her brother, almost renting from someone named Zhao and how he had backed out.

Determined to delve a little deeper into the “Zhao” connection, Carlita vowed to stop by Steve’s tattoo shop first thing the following morning.

*****

Steve was already with a customer when Carlita arrived at his tattoo shop. “Hey, Carlita. I’m almost done if you want to hang out.”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I have some new artwork designs if you’re in the market for a tattoo,” he teased.

“Right,” Carlita chuckled. “I guess it won’t hurt to see what you have.” She’d often wondered how much a small tattoo would cost, not that she had any plans of getting one.

Autumn had once shown her a small butterfly Steve had tattooed on her shoulder. It was pretty – colorful, and perfect for a young woman, but not for her.

She was still perusing the book when Steve finished. He gave the client detailed instructions on caring for the new artwork. The man paid for the services and exited the shop.

Steve made small talk while he cleaned up. “Autumn told me about the ghost tour that you, Mercedes, and Tony took.”

“Tony’s going through a rough patch, so we did something fun.”

“Rough patch?”

“It’s a long story. Shelby left him.”

“No kidding.” Steve started to say something and stopped.

“What?”

“It’s none of my business.”

“No. I want to know,” Carlita persisted.

“Shelby was in here a coupla weeks ago with this other chick. They were talking about getting matching tattoos. The woman with her was a little…”

“Rough around the edges,” Carlita said.

“Yeah. Not a person I envisioned Shelby hanging out with.”

Carlita changed the subject, briefly filling Steve in on her run-in with Sandy Sue, the robbery and then the ring showing up at the pawn shop. “Unfortunately, we lost our record of the person who brought the ring in. Tony is certain the person’s last name was Zhao.”

“Zhao? Now, there’s another one. I almost rented some retail space from them a year ago when I was thinkin’ about expanding.” Steve made an exaggerated swipe across his brow. “Good thing I dodged that bullet.”

“Why?” Carlita asked.

“Their contract was one-sided. I would still owe them money even if I only signed a year’s lease.” Steve told her there were several questionable terms he refused to agree to and backed out. “Hou Zhao was ticked. You would’ve thought I told him his kids were ugly or something.”

“Does the name Mei Zhao ring a bell?”

Steve thought about it for a minute. “Nope.”

“My restaurant manager recently hired Mei Zhao after she quit working for Sandy Sue. I was thinking maybe there’s a link between the Zhao you knew and Sandy Sue or my employee.”

“There are a lot of them in the area,” Steve said. “I’ve heard the name more than once.”

Another customer arrived. Carlita thanked him before making her way out. Not paying attention, she barreled around the corner of her building, nearly colliding with