Free The Devil's Analyst by Dennis Frahmann Page B

Kenosha, Josh was pimping himself to Barbara. Stephen and Wally had wandered over to the other side of the room. Danny wanted to follow, but he knew Josh expected him to stay. He owed him that.
    “New York is our next big market,” added Orleans. “Last year, we signed all the major restaurants, hotels, and venues on the West Coast. And we built a set of curated content with potential for national interest. It only makes sense to move East.”
    “Of course,” said Barbara. Colby was nodding his head in full agreement.
    “The idea,” said Josh, “is to duplicate the same connections we provide our western customers, but in the East. Access to all the best restaurants, shopping deals to hot stores, rooms at great hotels. This is our prime mission: to be the best-connected concierge the country could ever have.
    “And,” he added, “you’ll be surprised how we plan to accomplish that. We’re scheduling a big announcement at the ABC Studios on Times Square this April. Barbara, you should come to the press conference.”
    “Of course, I’ll be there with bells on,” she replied. Kenosha clapped her hands in appreciation.
    Suddenly Danny felt tired. Neither Josh nor Kenosha ever mentioned an upcoming press conference, or even plans for an East Coast expansion. Where had the money come from? He didn’t pay enough attention. Even back in Thread, even with Pete, he had always been that way. Whatever happened to Pete and that crazy hat he used to wear? After that summer when the bank finally foreclosed on his theater and he lost everything, Pete’s spirit crashed in upon itself. Danny always felt a little bit responsible. Sure, he was only fourteen then, but he could have helped the guy.
    Someone moved up behind him. Josh looked over, startled. When Danny turned around, he was equally surprised.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked.
    “I wanted to check things out in person, and talk to you guys. Hope you don’t mind that I crashed your party. I told Cynthia I wanted to surprise you.”
    Chip Grant was in their house, uninvited, without Cynthia. From the look on Josh’s face, it was clear that he was not pleased.
    The next day Josh happily submitted himself to Barbara Linsky’s lunchtime reign. As queen of the table at his company’s New Loon Town Café event, she demanded the attention of all. Josh invited the technology guru so she could meet several people from his firm. Somehow Chip appeared as well, without an invitation and now sitting right next to Barbara. Both were engaged in a fast-paced conversation, which put Josh on edge. But he wasn’t going to show it.
    Like any restaurant of the moment, the place was crowded and unduly noisy. The plate glass window facing Hollywood Boulevard framed a large mechanized black bear; the taxidermist’s creation continually swatted at a cartoonish diving loon fashioned out of flashing neon. The bear paw batted back and forth in a never-ending volley that brought neither satisfaction to the bear nor safety to the bird.
    Josh never understood what the cafe’s diorama was meant to suggest, but somehow it epitomized the hip and ironic northwoods feel of the place and gave cover for people to order bratwurst and potato pancakes instead of organic salads or free-range chicken. It also evoked memories of old beer signs from long forgotten taverns on quiet wooded lakes, which seemed to mesh nicely in the patrons’ minds with the place’s broad array of on-tap microbrews and ales.
    The Loon Town’s reasonable prices and tasty food attracted steady crowds, even as it approached its tenth anniversary, and everyone knew restaurant years were even longer than dog years. But as Josh looked around the room, he was dismayed. He saw no dining guest to excite the paparazzi, assuming any still hung outside the front door—which they did not. The absence of the famous was just another talisman of the need for Josh’s money to move on.
    One long-term regular walked over with