Read Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) for Free Online Page B

was your opinion of the other team members?” asked Lieutenant Clark. “Did you get along okay? What was the problem between them and Reuben?”
    Cherry shrugged. “They weren’t the most fun-lovingpeople to be around, but I guess that’s because they acted really stressed out. But they were better than Reuben. They’re probably fine under ordinary circumstances, but were worse when they were around Reuben.”
    Lulu said, “And of course lately they’d been around Reuben for twenty-four hours a day. From what I could tell about Reuben, he was especially hard to deal with when he was being competitive.”
    “He was one of those people who thought he knew best all the time. Plus, he wanted to win. So he was being a real jerk, from what I could see,” said Cherry with fire in her eyes.
    “What about the other man, Brody?” asked Pink. “How did he figure in? I know he was Sharon’s husband, but what was his connection with Reuben?”
    Cherry said, “I think he was a friend of Reuben’s. Although they sure weren’t friendly yesterday.”
    Lieutenant Clark closed his worn leather notebook. “Okay, that’s going to be it for now. I’m going to want to talk to you later, Cherry, so make sure you’re not planning on leaving Memphis.”
    Cherry snorted. “Leaving Memphis? I’ll be lucky if I even leave this booth. We’ve had Evelyn in charge of the food for the last couple of hours, so who knows what kind of catching up I’m going to have to do. Or what perfectly good food I’ll have to throw into the garbage. It’s okay if I stay here, isn’t it?” she asked suddenly, frowning. “I mean, with the crime scene next door.”
    “It’s okay as long as you stay in this booth and don’t visit that one,” said the policeman in a clipped voice as he walked out of their booth.
    “Don’t worry about catching up with the cooking. Flo was helping, too,” reminded Lulu. “Everything will be just fine.”
    *   *   *
    When Lulu’s alarm went off the next morning, she was genuinely surprised and felt certain she had a few more hours of sleep. Of course, it had been a really short night, after the police interview and everything. Then Pink had escorted her out to the parking lot so she could finally get home and rest.
    She’d wanted to check in at Aunt Pat’s and make sure everything was going well before she made it over to the Graces’ booth.
    Aunt Pat’s was quiet when Lulu arrived at eight in the morning, and wouldn’t start bustling until the diners started coming in at eleven. As usual, she felt a real sense of peace as soon as she walked into the dining room and saw the familiar wooden booths, red-checkered tablecloths, and creaky hardwood floors. You couldn’t even see the restaurant walls because they were covered with photographs and memorabilia of all types and descriptions. As usual, the framed black-and-white photo of Lulu’s gently smiling Aunt Pat helped her relax. It looked like she was about to hop off the wall and visit with her.
    The kitchen wasn’t quite as still as the dining room had been. There Ben was busily checking off a food delivery and putting it away. It was a large one, too…always a good sign in this business. They must have really gone through some food at the restaurant recently.
    Sara was also checking things off the order sheet and putting them away. “Can I help?” asked Lulu. They both waved her off and kept counting.
    The tables were even already set up for the day, with fresh paper towel rolls on each table and clean checkered tablecloths and silverware all set to go. The old wooden floor shone. Either they’d worked their tails off after the restaurant closed last night, or they had brought in so much temporary help that it only took minutes to get it in tip-top shape.
    Seeing nothing to do, and feeling a bit befuddled about it, Lulu retreated to the sanctuary of the front porch. She was delighted to see her friend Morty already there. Morty was one-third