Read Chow Down (A Melanie Travis Mystery) for Free Online

hat, and cows were milling around everywhere. Bear in mind we’re talking about a guy who thinks that suburbs are the wide-open spaces. He looked pretty silly trying to walk bowlegged and pretending he was chewing tobacco.”
    “I saw that,” said Peg. “Ben looked like he was afraid all those cattle might stampede and take him along for the ride. And I don’t think he ever managed to drive the truck.”
    “Okay, so he’s an actor,” I said. “Perhaps not a very good one. And Brando’s a Boxer. There must be more to the story than that. Is Brando a good dog?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” said Bertie. “He doesn’t have to be. Ben only shows to women judges.”
    “He’s very hetero.” Terry sighed. “More’s the pity.”
    I was beginning to get the picture. “And very good-looking, I assume?”
    “Enough to put a championship on a Boxer with a bad bite.”
    Ouch. “So Ben is handsome. And he apparently doesn’t mind manipulating people. Anything else?”
    Aunt Peg nodded. “Bertie was probably correct to talk about Ben’s career in the past tense. At one point when he was younger and starting out, it seemed as though anything at all might be possible: parts on Broadway, character roles in movies, Shakespeare in the Park. But somehow years went by and none of that ever came to pass.”
    She paused for breath, and Terry took up the explanation. “After the stint in the soap opera, Ben’s career pretty much stagnated. In any other business, he’d be in his prime. And Lord knows, the man looks good . But as an actor in his early forties, he’s already a has-been.”
    “Don’t let Ben hear you say that,” Bertie warned. “He’d probably lop your head off and hand it to you on a plate. Facing reality has never been Ben’s strong suit. His career might be fading, but he’s not going down without a fight.”
    “Which brings us back to you,” said Peg. “And this contest offering national exposure to the winner. Everybody knows how desperate Ben O’Donnell is to make a comeback. I’m betting he sees this as the way to make it happen.”
    “I read the contest rules,” I said. No point in mentioning that I’d read them after the fact. “Chow Down is offering exposure to the winner’s dog, not the owner.”
    “Don’t kid yourself, Ben will find a way to shoehorn himself into the publicity even if he has to handcuff Brando to his wrist.” Terry paused reflectively. “Though now that I think about it, the notion of Ben with a pair of handcuffs—”
    “Terry.” Aunt Peg glared.
    “Yes, ma’am.” He ducked his head.
    “You guys must be exaggerating.” I held up my hands as if forming a scale. “Chow Down dog food?” One hand rose. “Shakespeare in the Park?” The other plummeted. “What’s wrong with this picture?”
    “Plenty,” said Bertie. “And the worst part about it is that Ben and Brando are in it at all. But you don’t have to take our word for it. You can see for yourself what a sweetheart Ben is because here he comes now.”
    “Really?” Peg swiveled to look. I did, too. Then Terry joined in for good measure. Which meant that by the time Ben O’Donnell reached us we were all standing there staring at him like a quartet of idiots with nothing useful on our minds at all.
    I supposed he could be forgiven for tipping his head sideways and staring back. We must have looked rather odd. Not to mention the fact that we’d all suddenly fallen silent at his approach.
    “Ben!” Aunt Peg said heartily into the awkward silence. “Imagine that. We were just talking about you.”
    “Really? Saying only good things, I hope.”
    The actor’s smile was smooth and practiced and, all right, pretty darn appealing. He possessed the kind of rugged good looks that, at one time, would have been perfect for cigarette commercials; I could see why he’d been cast as a cowboy. Idly I noted that he was probably the only person on the show ground with better hair than Terry.
    Whom, as it