The last recipe E-Book

K.K. Novotny

• Herausgeber: K.K. Novotny
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

The attractive forty-five-year-old social climbing and tyrannical Luca Scala enjoys a particularly intense lifestyle in Milan, Italy. He is an acclaimed chef at the peak of his career, in addition to being a sex symbol for his many fans. But uncurbed hunger for success often leads to grave errors. Paola Girardi, young crime scene unit inspector must reconstruct the facts of a contortedly dark and mysterious sequence of events that takes place in the Leonardo, the award-winning Milanese restaurant manned by the cooks of a kitchen brigade. The investigation also benefits from the vital support offered by retired former detective Armando, Paola’s father, who acts as his daughter’s secret agent on a top secret mission. The Last Recipe is an erotic thriller that races along at breakneck speed, pulling the reader into a vortex of emotions set into motion by four main ingredients: mystery, sensuality, food and love. The exquisite recipes featured in the book are included in an appendix.

Leseprobe

THE LAST RECIPE

by

K.K. NOVOTNY

Translated from the Italian by Evan D. Meares

For my parents, with infinite affection

Prologue

Wagyu sashimi to ashes with Jerusalem artichoke

puree, hawthorn and edible flowers:

chinese black tea

wagyu-entrecote

jerusalem artichokes

milk

extra virgin olive oil

maldon salt

sichuan pepper

thyme

edible flowers

hawthorn

1

Luca’s apartment is located in one of Milan’s most elegant neighborhoods, with its picture-perfect historic homes and tree-lined streets that smell good in springtime and could almost make you forget, if just briefly, that you are in one of the world’s most polluted cities. All this just steps away from the city’s beating heart.

The interior is minimalist and refined, all the while abounding with visual references to his achievements. Countless plaques and beautifully framed magazine covers crowd the walls in a display of his success. Only recipe books here and there give the home a personal touch, making it less barren.

However, the true underlying reason for all this show is for him to surround himself with confirmation which serves to pump up his ego and to remind him just how far he has come and how low his starting point had been. Undoubtedly, he is an attractive man, yet his appeal has more to do with attitude than anything else.

He looks good for a man of forty-five, wearing the classical expression of someone who is self-confident from all points of view. At the moment, his career is on the upswing. But he is much more than a chef. He is an ambitious and social-climbing businessman selling something with irrepressible steadfastness: himself.

Luca divides his time frenetically between collaborations with trade publications, TV programs, commercials, cooking shows and hisprestigious well-paid appointment as executive chef of the Leonardo, the restaurant of the five-star Grand Hotel Élite.It was heand he alone who projected it into the pantheon of Italy’s finest restaurants with the avant-garde spirit of his cuisine, allowing him to earn his second and highly coveted Michelin star recently.

It is early morning and total silence still reigns in the apartment. One of Luca’smany girls du jourclings to his body as the twoare still fast asleep on the futon. The Japanese-style bed quilt, unknowingly cast off during the stirrings of the night, offers glimpses of their beautiful nude bodies.

Luca is a die-hard single. He has never desired to be sentimentally committed, orcreate a family, considering it little more than a waste of time, an unmistakable index of his boundless egoism. It is 6:30 a.m. The alarm clock goes off ruthlessly as it does every day of his life. His eyes instantly open wide as if programmed.

In all actuality, getting out of bed has recently become more difficult with this excruciating backache which makes him feel like a feeble old man. He sits up on his futon, places his hands on his lower back, kidney level, feet firmly planted as if physically wanting to contact reality. He pushes himself up and stands.

He pulls on a light robe bearing the hotel’s emblem and walks barefoot to the kitchen with a slightly uncertain gait. He starts up the espresso machine, fills the cup and gulps the dark energizing liquid whose fragrance wafts through the room. This boost of energy makes him feel cocky.

“This cup of espresso is just what the doctor ordered!” he says to himself. Then his eye wanders over to the living room where he and his young date had gotten a bit wild the night before. He is taken over by a feeling of dejection, certainly notout of longing for the momentsthey shared but for the huge mess.

Luca is an order and cleanliness freak. He picks up articles of clothing strewn left and right, looking for the missing pieces, when he happens to spy an envelope from the healthcare clinic lying in wait.

He promises to open it later, as soon as time will allow. Given the increasingly intense and disabling pains he was having, his physician had recommended that he have an x-ray done, in order to get to the bottom of these new and bothersome pains.

But right now, he has too many things to think about, the first of which is getting rid of this guest quickly. Having taking over the entire bed still warm from his body, the young woman appears not to even consider waking up. Luca disdainfully drops all her clothing on the armchair in the bedroom near the window. He uses the remote to raise the electric roller window shutter, even if it is too early for sunlight to enter. He approaches the bed impatiently.

“Buongiorno.”

The woman finally awakens, rubs eyes and seeing him, instinctively grins.

“And good morning to you, you hot thing,” she says in a sleepy voice.

“It’s late. I have to go and so do you,” Luca says without mincing words.

He hands her clothes to her with one hand, using the other to point to the bathroom in a gesture of undeniable indifference.

The young woman, enormously irritated, bolts from the bed and attacks him verbally. “Are you crazy? It’s still dark!”

Luca gives her a look which expresses the totality of his aloofness.

“Ok, fine, I get it. I’m out of here!” She stands up furiously, snatches her clothes from his hand, slaps them on quickly. As she exits the front door, still barefoot, she shrieks, “Get fucked, stronzo!”

Hearing the thud of the closing door behind him, Luca breathes a sigh of relief.

2

After some fruit and cereal for breakfast, Luca heads to the room he uses as a gym where he will soon begin his daily workout, despite the backache. He turns on his state-of-the-artwifi speakers and starts up his “Workout” playlist.

Seconds later, the explosive voice of Kanye West comes on with Jay-Z’s in “No Church in the Wild”, making even the walls vibrate. He does a series of sit-ups fiercely, preferring reclined crunches so he won’t hurt his back, twisting his trunk right then left to work the obliques.

While his muscles contract to the pounding rhythm of the music, little beads of sweat pop up on his honey-colored skin. After an intense workout of an hour, he jumps under an energizing shower. The bathroom is one of his favorite spaces in the house, made to his image and likeness.

It is a mixture of cold, withthe gray tones of the natural stone covering the floor and walls, and of heat, created by the massive Jacuzzi walk-in shower with steam bath which cost almost as much as a sportscar.

The monsoon shower head covers Luca’s body in a waterfall, caressing and massaging it, enveloping him in a fusion of sensory emotions. Using his favorite body wash-freshly fragrant with a bouquet of bergamot and lemon, he rubs his magnificently sculpted body.

His hand mechanically moves downto his member. He grips it and begins to caress it rhythmically and it brings him pleasure. But it also helps him to relax before facing the long day ahead of him.

With only a tiny bathtowel to cover his buttocks and private parts, he enters thewardrobe room where he selects his clothes carefully. All aspects of his life, whether cuisine, his way of dressing or decorating his home, are infused with good taste.

He prepares his shoulder bag inserting a smartphone, tablet, the envelope from the healthcare clinic, a seemingly anonymous folder withpapers and an airtight food container. He puts on his cashmere overcoat and leaves.

3

Winter. Early-morning Milan appears in all its grayness and annoying chaos. Buses and streetcars stand each other down at intersections, cars blow horns at traffic lights at the first hesitation to proceed, pedestrians obsessed with their watches, marching gaits and haste their only companions.

The Grand Hotel Élite staff is already in full swing in its frenzied daily work activities. It is like watching thousands of ants move in no specific direction inside an anthill, though in reality, each is performing his or her own role in the most orderly fashion.

It is a medium-sized hotel wrought out of the skillful transformation of ahistoric Milanese mansion into a world-class venue. The interiors are modern and sophisticated, suited to a clientele seeking luxury, discretion and privacy. In a word, these are thehighest levels of quality whether for service, accommodations or the Leonardo restaurant, a landmark for those who enjoy cuisine intended as synesthetic art, composed of flavors, fragrances, visual and tactile sensations.