Deep-Fried Homicide (The Laurel Falls Mysteries Book 1) by Patricia Lee Macomber Read Free Book Online

to them. “But I have to point out that we’re running a restaurant here. And it’s time to open. And it’s meatloaf day.”
    “I’ll put the chalkboard sign out,” Rachel said, busying herself and trying to make amends for breaking her promise to Rick.
    “Don’t worry,” Macy said to Diane. “It won’t get bad until lunch time. Just ease into it with breakfast, okay?”
    Diane nodded. Her mind was still stuck on Mike’s face from the video and on Rachel’s attempt to solve the mystery.
    She wasn’t sure which frightened her more.
     

Chapter 3
    T he breakfast crowd had been thin, though Rachel supposed that was mostly due to the fact that people were saving their appetites for lunch time and meatloaf. Diane had shadowed Macy and learned all she could from her. Macy was ever-cheerful, ever-helpful, and fast on her feet. In the end, Diane decided that if she were to become half the waitress that Macy was, she could be proud of the accomplishment.
    Tensions ran high for the first two hours of the day as Rick and Rachel moved about the restaurant without so much as a glance at each other. Whatever argument was to come, it would build throughout the day. The ensuing explosion would be massive and, hopefully, private.
    At eleven-thirty, the time when the menu changed from breakfast to lunch, four parties entered the diner at the same time. Macy and Diane seated them, handing out menus and smiles as they scurried about. Diane still possessed an awkwardness born from insecurity, but she showed great promise, according to Macy.
    By noon, there was only one booth left open, plus three stools at the counter. All three women were hustling as hard as they could and empty meatloaf pans were piling up in the sink. Rick whistled while he worked, a smile dimpling his cheeks.
    They were down to a single empty counter stool by the time Sheriff Dooley walked through the door. He was on his phone at the time; Rachel was wiping the counter down. She flipped open a menu and was about to stick it into his hand when the larger-than-life lawman waved her off.
    “Yea, get him down to the morgue ASAP and get Dillon out there. Call me if anything turns up.” He ended the call and thrust the phone into his breast pocket. “Just bring me the meatloaf, darlin’. Side of green beans and potatoes. Lotsa gravy, too. And keep that Joe coming.”
    Rachel smiled, nodded, scribbled the order on her pad. “Bad day, Sheriff?”
    “Hells yea!” He slapped one beefy hand on the counter and frowned. “We got us a homicide. Can you believe that? Little ol’ Laurel Falls has its first ever homicide.”
    “No!” Rachel exclaimed, her jaw dropping of its own free will and closing only by Herculean effort. “Who? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
    “Horace of all people. The caretaker down at the cemetery.”
    Rachel filled a cup and slid it into place in front of Dooley. “Why in the world would anyone want to kill poor Horace? He was the gentlest man in the world.”
    “That’s what I said,” Dooley bellowed, throwing his hands in the air in a display of incredulity.
    “So, the cemetery again,” Rachel said softly, her eyes darting to the door, where two more parties had gathered to wait for free tables.
    “Whatcha mean, again?”
    The bell behind Rachel made that familiar ding sound and she turned to retrieve the order. “Well,” she began as she slipped the plate across the counter, “I hear there’s been some disturbances in the cemetery as of late.”
    Dooley eyed her suspiciously, one eye half-closed. In the end, his watering mouth drew his attention and he picked up his fork. “Minor stuff. Prob’ly not connected to this.”
    “I’m being nosey again. I don’t want to overstep,” she said, stepping back and holding up her hands. “You flag me down if you need anything else, okay?”
    He saluted her with a full mouth and an empty fork.
    Rachel scooted off to tend to her other customers. She saw Diane juggling