Free Eats to Die For! by Michael Mallory Page A

a few sabers were rattled, nothing much came of it.”
    â€œWho’s the guy?”
    â€œNick Bandini. He keeps threatening to run for mayor of L.A., but that would really be redundant since he controls the damn city anyway. Why, what are you thinking?”
    â€œSomeone left a threatening voice mail on Louie’s machine. It said, ‘You should know better than to eff with us, sister.’”
    â€œ Eff with us? You mean ‘fuck with us?’”
    â€œI’m trying to be polite. The point is, us implies an organization or a company, not just one man, no matter how rich.”
    â€œSo you’re thinking us is the Burger Heaven corporation.”
    â€œBased on the reason she came to me, that has to a consideration.”
    â€œHave you gone to the police about any of this?”
    â€œUm, no, I haven’t. I want to do a little investigating myself first without police interference.”
    He nodded. “Good move. We’ve been keeping tabs on the LAPD for some time, even before every other black teen in South L.A. began sprouting a target on their back. The heat doesn’t like being on the receiving end of investigations very much. If they were able to trace you back to me, things wouldn’t go so smoothly for you.”
    I didn’t bother informing him that my relationship with L.A.’s finest wasn’t that flowery to begin with.
    â€œWhat about you?” I asked. “Won’t they try to shut you down?”
    Zarian smiled, and his teeth were alarmingly small, straight and powerful looking. “They can harass and shoot people all they want, but even they know better than to take on the free press. So, Beauchamp, what’s your next step?”
    â€œWell—”
    Think fast, kid , Bogie said.
    â€œâ€”there was a woman at the Burger Heaven, Regina, who said she was the one who put on that little show with the people dressed up like food, though she claimed she had never heard of Luisa Sandoval, because Louie was operating under an assumed name.”
    â€œOur people do that sometimes.”
    â€œRight. But this woman claimed that Louie, or whatever name she gave, was fired because she wasn’t performing up to par.”
    â€œAnd you don’t think she was leveling with you?”
    â€œWell, it’s not like you have to be Meryl Streep to play a tomato. But more to the point, if that’s all there was to it, then where is she?”
    â€œYou tell me.”
    â€œI think Louie already had already discovered something about the Burger Heaven chain, something concrete and damaging, and believe me, it pains me to say this, since I love their food, but having gotten the goods on them, I think she had to disappear for her own safety.”
    â€œThat makes more sense. I was never sold on the abduction theory.”
    â€œEither way, my gut is telling me that something bad is going on, and this Regina might know more about it than she’s saying.”
    Always trust your gut, young man , I heard Sydney Greenstreet chortle.
    â€œWhen I talked to her before,” I went on, “she acted skittish, like she was afraid of someone or something. If I can figure out what she’s afraid of, I might able to get her to spill.”
    He grinned. “Is that a technical term, spill?”
    â€œIt’s an old movie term, actually.”
    Zarian smiled. “How would you like to keep working for me?”
    â€œYou mean in regards to finding Louie? I plan to do just that.”
    â€œNo, I mean any time we need an investigator. I’d like to put you on permanent retainer.”
    â€œOh, well—”
    Well what, stupid? Robert Mitchum asked. You got something against money ?
    â€œThat might impugn my independence a little,” I answered both of them.
    â€œShit, man, we’re the L.A. Independent Journal !” Zarian cried. “You can’t get much more independent than us!”
    â€œWhat would