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

to me. I’ve got a few minutes.”
    Flo said, “You got to meet up with your ride to go home?”
    “Oh no. No, I’ve got a booth here myself,” said John. “But I’m part of a big team and we’re rotating in and out, so I’m taking a break now. With a small team like this, though, you’d have to be here almost all the time.”
    “Or we should be here all the time,” said Cherry darkly, still thinking about her little alibi problem.
    John sat down at a table and they served him up some ribs. He took a bite and his eyebrows rose in surprise. “Hey, this is good stuff!”
    The women laughed. Flo said, “Well, of course it is, honey! Did you think we couldn’t cook?”
    “If they can’t cook, then I’ve made a really terrible investment of my money,” said Evelyn drily.
    John took another bite of the pork and chewed for a minute before answering. “I guess I saw the campy Elvis stuff and thought y’all were here to have a good time and couldn’t really cook. My stomach is glad to find out that I was wrong.”
    “We’re here to have a good time, but part of our good time always revolves around food,” said Cherry.
    John shifted uncomfortably. “With the situation going on at the booth next door, I’m thinking it hasn’t been fun all the time. Did it ever settle down over there?”
    Cherry snorted. Lulu said, “Define ‘settle down.’ ” At John’s confused expression, Lulu said, “The arguing stopped over there. But the fellow who was causing all the trouble is still managing to make some from beyond the grave—he’s been murdered.”
    “What?” John’s eyes opened up wide. He sure didn’t like conflict; that was a fact. Even so, it seemed like a big reaction from someone who didn’t even know the man.
    Lulu said, “It was last night. Reuben Shaw, who was the one everyone was mad at yesterday afternoon, was stabbed and stuck in a storage area at the booth next door.”
    “Lulu and I discovered the body,” said Cherry with disbelief in her voice as if she was having a hard time coming to grips with it all.
    John said seriously, “Do the police know what happened? Did they catch who did it?”
    Lulu shook her head. “They sure don’t know, but they’re talking to everyone to try to find out. They talked to Cherry and me a long time since we witnessed the argument next door and also discovered the body.”
    “The tension in that booth was running high yesterday,” said John, shifting uncomfortably just thinking about it. “I could tell, even for the short time I was over there, that they were all furious with each other.”
    Lulu said, “There was a lot of anger there. Clearly, since they started fighting with each other. But some of it might have been people who were spending too much time together and were getting on each other’s nerves.”
    “I guess that’s only natural,” said John. “Well, I wanted to let y’all know that I was sorry. You’re nice to feed me, especially under the circumstances.” He stared down at his empty plate.
    “Don’t spend another minute worrying about it,” said Lulu.
    “Guess I’d better get back to my booth now,” John said with a sheepish smile. “Otherwise, I’ll be on their bad side, too.”
    He stood up to leave and narrowly missed running into Sharon on his way out. He muttered a quick apology as he hurried out of the booth.
    Sharon peered after him for a second, then turned back to the women. Her eyes were red and her face blotchyas if she’d been crying. She soon started crying again as she said, “Y’all. I am just so sorry. You must think I’m awful!” She’d put on a lot of eye makeup, probably to distract from the exhausted circles under her eyes. Her crying made her mascara trickle down her face in rivers.
    It was clearly the day for apologies. The women hurried over to soothe Sharon and find her some barbeque…and a few tissues. At this rate, there wouldn’t be any barbeque left for the judges to sample. Still,