Grilled for Murder Read Free

Jon who can call me that.” She pursed her lips in a pout. “And he’s gone.” She stroked his arm with her other hand and cast luminous blue eyes up at him.
    A shadow passed over Jim’s face as he carefully detached from Erica’s arm and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Jon, his twin, had killed himself in Chicago a year ago. Jim had told me how hard it’d been for him, and still was, to lose his twin, and to suicide, too. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll call you Erica from now on.”
    â€œNo, I want you to call me Rickie. Please?”
    Jim cleared his throat. “Have you met my girlfriend, Robbie Jordan? This is her restaurant and country store.” He slung his arm along my shoulders, giving my arm a squeeze.
    Erica narrowed her eyes and studied me before flashing a big smile. She held out her hand. “His girlfriend? Well, isn’t this a surprise?”
    â€œNice to meet you, Erica. Welcome back.” I forced a smile and shook her hand. I snuck a glance at Jim, who straightened his collar and was looking anywhere but at Erica. I gazed around the store. Almost everyone had stopped what they were doing, food halfway to their mouths, bottles halfway raised, to watch Erica.
    â€œIsn’t this a cute place you’ve got here,” Erica said. “It was a real dump last time I lived in town.”
    â€œRobbie did all the renovation work herself, too.” Jim’s smile at me was genuine.
    â€œImagine that. You’re so talented,” she said in a voice oozing insincerity.
    â€œI’ll be bringing out some hot sliders in a minute, and the pizzas over there are probably still warm, if you’re hungry. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll let you two have some time to catch up.” I cast another quick look at Jim before heading to the kitchen area, and if that wasn’t a panicked expression on his face, I don’t know what was. Well, he was a big boy. He could handle his former sister-in-law. Or not. I sure wasn’t going to get in the middle.

Chapter 2
    It was nine o’clock before I finally got a chance to take off my apron and sit down near my desk in the far corner. When Sue had made the arrangements for the party, she’d also made it clear she hoped I would join them when I could. She’d said I should consider myself part of the family and not only the caterer. So I’d worn my black swingy dress with the cap sleeves and my turquoise cowboy boots. A multicolored chunky necklace brightened up the dress. And even though I had to wear my thick, curly, Italian hair pulled back when I was working, I’d added a sparkly pin for a party touch.
    A group of guys over near the door, including Abe, laughed at some joke, and several couples danced in the middle of the space. Erica flitted from group to group, a bottle of beer in her hand. By the smiles and hugs, people seemed genuinely glad to have her back in town. I let the party flow around me, glad to hold a plastic cup of white wine and get off my feet. It’d been a long day, but I loved seeing the place full. Part of my dream in restoring the store and adding the restaurant had been to make it a community gathering place. Just like this.
    A tune sounding like West Coast swing came on and Jim strolled up, his eyes sparkling. “May I have the pleasure of this dance?”
    We’d gone dancing at a local roadhouse on our very first date, the one that unfortunately ended in news of a murder in town. We shared a love of dance, although my experience was mostly freestyle, while he knew steps to all different kinds of dances, from swing to contra to international folk dancing. He’d told me that was how he stayed fit, by going dancing every chance he got.
    I grabbed one more sip of wine, then said, “Why not?”
    I extended my hand and let him pull me up and lead me to where others were dancing. He was a good