CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO – WORK PARTY

That evening, the staff of Fierro's Place gathered at Mr. Fierro's surprisingly spacious apartment. The place was decked out in what Mr. Fierro insisted was "traditional Italian party decor," which seemed to involve a lot of red, white, and green streamers, and an alarming number of plastic grapes. "Welcome, welcome!" Mr. Fierro boomed as Laura and Tina arrived. He was wearing a chef's hat adorned with blinking lights and holding a glass of what appeared to be violently purple punch. "Come in, come in! The party is just getting started!" Inside, the atmosphere was lively and chaotic, much like Fierro's Place itself. Luigi was manning a makeshift bar, concocting what he called "celebration cocktails" with an enthusiasm that suggested they might be more celebration than cocktail. Pete was regaling a group of their coworkers with increasingly outlandish stories about past health inspections he'd allegedly experienced. And in the corner, Dolores had set up an impromptu fortune-telling st