Grilled for Murder Read Free Page B

dimple creasing his right cheek, his brown eyes smiling, too.
    â€œI’d love to hear you play.”
    â€œCould happen. Hey, sorry we never got our dinner in. I know you’re, um, hanging out with Shermer, but if an evening ever frees up, you give me a call, okay?”
    â€œOkay. Right now I think I’d better get back to cleaning up the food table.” I headed for the decimated dinner array, but paused at the drinks table.
    â€œHow’s it going, Phil?” I asked. A couple of bottles of bourbon had made an appearance on the table, and neither was full, by the looks of it.
    â€œNot bad, not bad at all. I’m keeping an eye on a couple of folks, though. Might need a little backup from the owner at some point.” He raised his eyebrows and pointed his gaze toward Max.
    â€œHe’s overindulging?” Gah. Acting as a bouncer wasn’t what I’d signed up for.
    â€œGetting a little sloppy.” He gestured at the bottles of whiskey. “With this stuff, we could have quite a few overindulgers”
    â€œSue said it’s okay to have the whiskey?”
    He shrugged, and winked one of his startlingly blue eyes. “It was her husband who brought it. So I guess it is.”
    â€œNow,” a man’s voice said from a few tables away.
    I looked in that direction. Max stood in front of where Paula sat talking to a couple of women.
    â€œIt’s time to go.” His deep voice carried to Phil and me.
    Paula shook her head. “I’m having fun, Max. I’m staying.”
    â€œYou need to come home with me. I’m concerned about our baby.” He reached down and grabbed her wrist, pulling upward.
    Not this again. Probably not a good idea to try to intervene, but I hated seeing him rough with her.
    â€œMax.” Now Paula raised her voice. She swatted at his hand with her free one. “Let go. It’s my sister’s party and I’m not leaving. The baby is fine.”
    Max drew his mouth down and looked like he might erupt. “Get your own ride home, then.” He let go of her wrist and stalked toward the door.
    Erica waylaid him halfway there. “Hey, big guy.” She set one hand on her hip and laid the other hand flat on his chest. She gazed up at him, a little smile curving her lips. “You be nice to my big sister now, hear? She just wants to have a little fun before she becomes a mama.”
    â€œYou, too, huh?” Max’s face hardened. “Get out of my way, Erica.” He lifted her hand off his chest. “I’m simply thinking about her health, but I guess I’m the only one who is.”
    â€œNow, now, big Max. We all love Paulie, you know that.” Erica still smiled but her voice turned as steely as my best knife. “And we love you, too. I don’t want to be seeing you guys argue.”
    Max glared down at her. Without speaking he turned and left the store.
    Whew. Erica sashayed back to the fold while I tried to remember what I’d been doing before the eruption.
    â€œOh, Robbie, hon,” Sue called from the table where she sat, waving her hand. “Can you bring out them cupcakes?”
    Shoot, of course. The dessert. I never should have removed my apron.
    â€œComing right up,” I said. I hurried to tie on a clean apron, and rushed through consolidating the rest of the food at one end of the table. I spread a clean cloth on the other half, retrieved the cupcakes from the walk-in cooler, and carried out the big box from the local bakery. After I opened the box and slid the foil-topped cardboard tray onto the table, I set a stack of small plates and napkins next to the dessert. The cupcakes were decorated with tiny versions of the town’s landmark Jupiter gazebo, once the site of a famous sulfur spring and spa, thus the town’s name. When I’d moved here from Santa Barbara, I’d found a name with the word lick in it slightly vulgar, but I’d learned it was