"Bruce Holland Rogers - Wind Over Heaven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rogers Bruce Holland)

The dinner rush had begun, and Gero had the makings for three white sauces started in three different
pans. In a fourth saucepan was an inch or so of mud-colored water. Eric watched it bubble. "That audit
was a waste of money," he said.
"You don't trust the accountant?" Gero said, stirring and tasting each sauce in succession. He opened a
jar.
"I trust the one I finally hired," Eric said, "the one who Sutherland didn't know. But he couldn't find
anything." Actually, that wasn't entirely true. The auditor had made a stink about the records for Gero's
purchases of ingredients. The saucier's suppliers did not furnish adequate invoices. Sutherland, with
obvious pleasure, was insisting that Eric do something about this, but Eric wasn't up to broaching the
subject with Gero now.
"Your kidneys are rising."
"Rising kidneys," Eric said. That could only mean that the roiling liquid on the stove was intended for
him.
Gero tossed a whole mushroom onto the oily surface and cut the flame. The he stirred the sauces
again. "So the partner, he is an honest man," Gero said. "Not parasite. Something else."
"No. I know he's pulling something, but he's clever. And he knows he's clever. God, I hate that smile
of his."
"Parasites are not always bad. I told you. Tarragon Leaf can have a parasite and still be Tarragon
Leaf."
"It's not just the embezzlement, Gero. He keeps insisting that I cut expenses, buy cheaper
ingredients..."
Gero looked up. "Cheap? He wants you to buy cheap for Tarragon Leaf?" Gero shook his head. "To
have the best is expensive."
"Yes."
"If it is not the best, is not Tarragon Leaf."
"That's how I feel about it. He'll bleed us to death. Bit by bit, we'll give up little pieces of what we do,
and the restaurant won't be The Tarragon Leaf anymore."
"So he is a parasite, this partner." Gero started straining the liquid. "Still," he said, "if we are patient, he
will learn. He will not be so bad."
Eric didn't think that was likely.
"If he doesn't learn, end the partnership."
"The only way to do that is to buy him out," Eric said. "I don't have the money. Especially now. He's
going to ruin me. I can feel it."
"Smart parasite does not kill his host."
"Not all parasites understand that, Gero."
"Kidneys are rising," Gero said, handing him a steaming cup. "Drink."
Eric sipped the steaming brew. Whether his kidneys fell back into place or not, he couldn't tell. In any
case, he didn't feel any better about the prospects for his restaurant.
***


"I'd take a big loss, selling," Eric told Gero. It was a Monday morning again, and they were alone,
watching water simmer in a pan. "But I probably can't get more out of him than he's offering, and the
partnership agreement ties my hands. But it's not a dead loss. I'm thinking we can start over. Sutherland
insists on a non-competing covenant, so we'd have to move to another city. It'd have to be a small
restaurant to begin with, but I'd take along any staff who want to make the move..."
"Not me," the saucier said. "I will not leave Tarragon Leaf."
Eric didn't know what to say. Finally, he told Gero, "It won't be The Tarragon Leaf, even if you stay."
"Listen for example," said Gero. "You have a good friend. You are always together drinking, talking.