Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) by Riley Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

cheering me up too much, Evelyn.”
    Morty was looking askance at the cayenne, too. “You don’t have to worry about going to jail, Cherry—you didn’t do anything. And since you’re innocent, they won’t discover any evidence that could make them take you in.”
    Cherry was still put out. “Except for a tarp with my name on it that wrapped up the body like a present. What a dumb night for me to wander around the festival. If I’d only stayed in the booth, they wouldn’t even be considering me as a suspect. I wasn’t planning on beinggone for very long—I was just poking my head out for a few minutes after spending all day with that barbeque.”
    “I’m wondering what’s going on with Sharon and Brody next door,” said Lulu in a low voice. “Are they shocked at what happened? Do you think one of them did it?”
    Evelyn raised an eyebrow. “Well, of course one of them did it. Neither of them could stand Reuben. We know Cherry didn’t do it. And it sure doesn’t seem to be some random act of violence at the festival.”
    “Somebody’s got to be pretty mad to stick a butcher knife into a man,” said Morty.
    “But this was the kind of man who probably made tons of people mad at him. He made Cherry mad at him and she barely even knew him,” said Lulu.
    Morty stood up. “I’m going to head next door and see if I can sweet-talk my way into their booth and sample their barbeque. Just to get an idea of what the mood over there is like and what kind of information they might have.”
    Lulu nodded. “It would be good to get your impression of them. I’ll head over there soon. I brought goodies from the restaurant and I’ll offer them to the Jensons as sort of a sympathy gift.”
    Morty left for the next tent and Lulu noticed that someone was standing at the edge of the Graces’ booth. “Is someone officially on hostess duty?” she murmured. “We’ve got a guest.”
    Cherry was still cooking and Evelyn was in no hurry to move, so Flo hurried over. “Can we help you? Oh,” she said, peering closer at their guest, who was looking meek and taking off a baseball cap to uncover dark hair with a white skunk-like stripe down the middle. “It’s…John, isn’t it?”
    “The John Smith who so conveniently disappeared into thin air as soon as we got into trouble?” growled Cherry, turning around and brandishing her metal spatula. “Pardon me if I don’t jump up and down with joy.”
    John seemed chastened.
    “That’s the reason I came by,” he said, looking them each in the eye with difficulty. “I wanted to apologize for my ungentlemanly behavior yesterday. When tensions escalated in that tent, I should have stepped in and defused them. Instead, I took off. Y’all must really think poorly of me.”
    Actually, Lulu had plumb forgotten about the man, in the wake of all the commotion. But it was kind of odd that he’d seemed almost afraid of the argument that was going on in the booth.
    “My parents always argued a lot when I was a kid, and my whole adult life I’ve tried to avoid any kind of conflict at all. It grates on my nerves so bad that I can’t stand to be around it. But y’all deserved better than that…I’m sorry.” John’s gray eyes were solemn and embarrassed, too.
    Flo quickly said, “Hon, I know how that can be. Don’tthink a thing about it.” But Flo didn’t like conflict, either, and she hadn’t even witnessed the scene yesterday because she was taking the girls around the festival.
    Cherry, who’d been staring studiously at the grill while John had been talking, turned and looked sideways at him. “It’s okay, John. Sounds like life wasn’t much fun for you growing up. I can see how you wouldn’t want to see stuff like that as a grown-up, either.”
    “Are we friends again?” he asked anxiously.
    “Friends!” they chimed in.
    “Why don’t you sit down with us for a few minutes and sample our barbeque,” said Evelyn.
    He glanced at his watch. “That sounds good