more after that, just checked her watch and said she had to finish up her work for the night. I followed her down to the first floor, then bid her goodnight as I stepped into the kitchen to pick up my handbag. That’s when I heard my cell phone chiming.
“Hello, Clare. You needed to speak to me?” The voice was female, familiar, and blunt as a kitchen mallet.
Prin Lopez was returning my call.
ELEVEN
“PRIN,” I said, sitting down at the large table, “thank you for calling back.” On the other end of the phone, I could hear clattering sounds, the familiar noises of plates rattling in a busy restaurant kitchen. “I found out what happened to you, just today,” I told her. “Jacques informed me. I’m so sorry”
There was a pause, followed by a cutting laugh. “Does that bastard want me to come back? Too late, I got my old job again, and with a raise, too. Tell that pompous pig I’m staying in the city.”
Okay, I thought, so there’s no love lost between Prin and David. Or was she referring to Jacques?
“Prin, I’m sorry to be nosy but…why were you let go?” I asked carefully. “Jacques either didn’t know or didn’t want to tell me.”
“Screw his so-called propriety. What do I care? I’ll tell you why I was fired. I ‘imposed’ on one of David’s precious guests.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ve been trying to make it as a singer for a couple of years now. I even recorded a demo, but I haven’t gotten much traction with it. Then, last week, Big D came into Cuppa J.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who that is.”
Prin sighed. “Big D? Devon Conroy? Among other things, he’s the host and producer of American Star—”
“Oh, right, right. Like that Star Search show from the eighties with Ed McMahon.”
“Ed McWho?” I could practically hear Prin rolling her eyes.
“Forget it,” I said, feeling my age (and for a moment there, I actually felt good that I didn’t have to go all the way back to Ed Sullivan for an example!) “Go on.”
“Well, Big D was having lunch with some television people. I saw him sit down at one of Graydon Faas’s tables. So I pulled Graydon aside, begged him to switch with me, give me the chance to wait on them. You know that prick Faas actually made me pay him a Benjamin to trade tables?”
I was sorry to hear that bit of the story. Obviously, Graydon wouldn’t be the first young man interested in making a buck (or a hundred) where he could. But it didn’t speak very highly of his character to charge a fellow worker for a favor.
“So you waited on Big D’s table?” I prompted.
“Yeah, I did. And along with the check, I slipped Devon my demo CD.”
“Ohhh…” I groaned, finally understanding why David had fired Prin. She’d broken his first commandment of working at Cuppa J.
“Remember that celebrities are here on vacation,” David had lectured the staff at the beginning of the season. “My guests do not want to be harassed, photographed, or hounded. And while they’re under my roof they won’t be. No one is ever to do anything but wait on them. No fraternizing, asking questions, requesting autographs, ever. On grounds of immediate termination.”
“Fine, so I knew it was against the rules,” Prin went on. “But it’s not like rules can’t be bent a little. And Big D was totally down with it. He didn’t complain. David wasn’t even there to see me do it.”
“You mean someone ratted you out?”
“Nobody had to. Jacques caught me in the act and fired me on the spot.”
“What? It was Jacques who fired you?”
“Yeah. Who do you think fired me?”
“Jacques told me it was David.”
Prin laughed. “Mintzer was nowhere in sight. I pissed Jacques off so he got rid of me. And let me tell you, he was looking for a way to get rid of me, so he did.”
I wasn’t so sure Prin was telling the truth. “But David hired you,” I argued. “And he owns the restaurant…”
“I’m sure Jacques got David to see things his way. Based on what I actually did, it wouldn’t have been too hard. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m glad to be back in Manhattan. Madre Dios, I thought people on the Upper West Side had attitude, but they’ve got nada on the ‘I’m all that’ divas out there.”
“Prin, back up. You said Jacques was looking for a reason to fire you.” One particular reason suddenly came to mind. “Did