The Taxman Killeth Read Free Page A

tables.
    The maitre d’ hurried over to
them and, with a feigned French accent, asked how many would be in their party.
    “Only the two of us,” Todd
answered, thinking that there certainly wouldn’t be room for many more than
that. Practically every table was full.
    “The firm rented out the entire
restaurant for our celebration,” Amy whispered.
    “I hope so.”
    He watched Amy easily slip in
and out of the maze of diners. She was certainly an attractive woman, although
that had not been his main reason for asking her out. Todd wished that he could
ease his bulk as lithely as she. Instead, he managed to bump into several
tables, leaving pairs of faces scowling after him.
    When the maitre d’ asked whether
the table closest to the kitchen would be satisfactory, Todd shook his head.
    He felt Amy slip her arm around
his.
    “We could wait for a better
table or go someplace else. I don’t mind.”
    Todd pulled out several bills
from his trouser pocket and handed them to the maitre d’. The cost could be
included on his expense account.
    Suddenly, they were shown to a
table toward the front of the restaurant, and a reserved sign was quickly
swiped off the tablecloth. Todd pulled out a chair for Amy, since the maitre d’
had hurried off to welcome two more suckers. Her shoulder blades swept across
the knuckles of his hand, bringing a slight static electric charge. She moved
forward and away from him instantly, and Todd found himself a bit disappointed.
    “Sorry,” he murmured.
    “Oh, no, my fault.”
    “I think it’s really the fault
of the carpeting,” he said, taking the seat across from her.
    Even in the dim light, Todd
could see Amy’s face color as she nodded. God, he didn’t expect that she would
be this pretty, actually more like beautiful, he thought, as he took in the
high cheekbones and sea-green eyes. Her nose was classically perfect and the
lips full and moist, glistening passion under the flickering light of the
candle. He reminded himself that this was a job. Not a bad one, he conceded.
    Finally, a waiter brought them
two menus, and Todd was able to bury his head behind two pieces of cardboard.
    “Do you like escargot?” Amy
asked.
    Snails. All he could think about
were those slimy shelled creatures that crawled across the back porch of his
parents’ house when he was a child.
    “If you do, the garlic and
butter sauce is delicious.”
    Todd swallowed hard.
    “I think I’m just going to have
a salad and skip the appetizer, but if you care for something, please order
whatever you want.”
    Todd was hoping she’d give up on
the idea of snails; sitting across from someone picking around in one of those
shells could ruin his good appetite.
    “Since I’ve already had the
escargot, I think I’ll try something different. The sweetbreads look
interesting.”
    Why did Joey suggest taking her
to this restaurant when he would have been much happier at a steak house? Todd
ran his finger down the list of items. There must be beef here somewhere. Ah! Tournedos
of beef. He wondered how cow meat was turned into tournedos. As long as they
kept the sauce simple, he’d be all right. He glanced at the table. Salt and
pepper. No ketchup. He supposed there wouldn’t be any fries on the plate when
his entree was served.
    “Has your friend eaten here?”
    “My friend?”
    “The one who recommended this
place.”
    “I doubt it.” Joey was more a
McDonald’s kind of guy.
    “How did he hear about it?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “How did he know to send you
here?”
    “We were just walking by, and he
mentioned that the place had been rated highly somewhere.”
    “Gourmet?”
    “No, he’s not.”
    “I mean, did he read about the
restaurant in Gourmet magazine?”
    “Doesn’t sound like his kind of
reading material; probably in the local paper.”
    Amy nodded and ran through some
of the entrees that her fellow workers had tried.
    “Trudy said the beef was a
little tough here, so you may want to skip that,