Read By Cook or by Crook (A Five-Ingredient Mystery) for Free Online

hall, and saw her grandfather still on the phone. He’d never chat that long with Monique. Maybe he was negotiating with another contractor.
    Fifteen minutes later he returned to the kitchen as she was browning the crab cakes. “That was your tennis partner from Sunday night calling. Gunnar. He asked for you, but I told him you were up to your elbows in crabmeat.”
    She nearly dropped the spatula. “You talked to him all that time?”
    “Figure I’d vet him while I had him on the phone. His voice reminds me of Richard Burton’s but with an American accent. We talked fishing. I asked him to drive you to Monique’s, told him you’d point out the good fishing spots on the way. He’s coming by in half an hour.”
    “What?” Bad enough he offered her services for free. Now he was setting her up. Val flipped a crab cake and smacked it down so hard the oil splattered. “I told you I’d drive myself.”
    “Go easy on those crab cakes. Listen, I know you’re worried about what you’ll find at Monique’s house. If there’s a problem, a younger man will be more help than your grandfather. Besides, I want to take a nap after lunch.”
    She couldn’t fault his reasoning. “Just don’t take up matchmaking, okay?” She would give Gunnar a chance to back out of the mission her grandfather had given him.
    “In case you’re interested, he’s not married. Don’t turn purple, Val. I asked a casual question, if his wife enjoyed fishing too. I call that clever.”
    “I call it nosy.” But also helpful. He’d managed to find out something Val wanted to know. Even so, his interference steamed her.
    She got over it once they were seated at the table and the sweet crabmeat kissed her tongue. During lunch she and Granddad discussed the house repairs that still needed to be done.
    The doorbell rang while she was washing the skillet.
    “I’ll get it.” Granddad left the kitchen.
    He came back a minute later. “Gunnar’s on the porch. I tried to get rid of him when I saw who he was. He won’t leave without talking to you.” Granddad clutched her shoulders. “Don’t go with him. He’s dangerous!”

Chapter 4
    “Calm down, Granddad.” Val set the skillet in the dish drainer and dried her hands. Last night she would have laughed at the idea of any real danger in Bayport. Now she knew better. “What makes you think Gunnar’s dangerous?”
    “Saturday night when I left the Mentors Club dinner, I saw two lowlifes hanging around the docks together. A swarthy hulk with a big mustache like a pirate and Gunnar in tattered jeans. Mean bullies, waiting to pick on somebody. I steered clear of them.”
    Understandable. Gunnar’s face would daunt most people even if he didn’t have a pirate with him. “You can’t judge a person based on appearances. I know Gunnar isn’t a mean bully. I spent two hours with him on the tennis court. Mean players blame their partners. Bullies intimidate their opponents. He didn’t do that. He was a good sport, win or lose.”
    Granddad rolled his eyes. “He was just trying to impress you. Like today when he shows up here in a suit.”
    “In grungy clothes he’s a troublemaker. In a suit he’s a phony. What can he wear to make you happy?”
    “It’s not just his clothes. You know a man by the company he keeps.”
    “You know nothing about his company on the docks beyond the man’s build, complexion, and mustache. That’s not enough to condemn both of them. After talking to Gunnar on the phone, you liked him enough to invite him here. Let’s talk to him now.” She tugged her grandfather toward the porch, where he’d left Gunnar to swelter. No stamp of approval, no air conditioning.
    Gunnar sat on a wicker settee, rolling up his shirtsleeves, his jacket folded on the seat beside him. He stood up when he saw her. His smile made the rugged terrain of his face less forbidding. “Good to see you again, Val.”
    She shook his extended hand. “I’m glad to see you too, and surprised.