A THIEF OF ANY MAN (Food Truck Mysteries Book 6) Read Online Free

a ginger to reduce the odds that someone can fake your hair. I thanked my Irish heritage for my ability to spot a break-in.
    I managed to get the truck to Elm Street and start work. I didn’t need to count the cash since it hadn’t been touched since my totals last night. I started on the coffee and made a note to tell Land we were almost out again. I paused for a second to ponder this. I was fairly certain that I’d just had a coffee delivery from Land last week. I doubted that we’d gone through all of his normal batch in just under a week. Our coffee sales weren’t high enough to support that. When inventory doesn’t match sales, that typically means that someone has either taken the coffee itself or is selling coffee without ringing it into the register.
    Great – now we could add coffee to the things being stolen around here. Nobody could be ringing up the register or filching cups of coffee in Dogs on the Roll without me noticing, but of course, coffee could be stolen after hours just as the cash could be taken. I was even more frustrated by the time I opened the window for business. Carter could tell my mood, but he kept to his work and left me alone.
    We managed to get through the shift without difficulty. I wasn’t sure what to tell Land about the coffee, though I walked across Government Plaza as soon as I had the money counted and the truck cleaned. I had to vent to someone, and I didn’t want Carter to think that I was blaming him for this in any way.
    “This doesn’t bode well. What happened now?” Land asked. He didn’t even look up from his work as he spoke. I knew that he was busy and focused, but I needed to talk this out with someone. My dad would only be concerned about the bottom line in the situation, and my mother would worry that I was getting involved in another police investigation that might put me in danger.
    “I think someone is stealing our coffee too,” I said without preamble. “We’re low on coffee, and it’s only been a week since your last delivery.”
    This did get him to pause. He looked far more concerned about the coffee theft than the money. “When did you find this out?” he asked, eyes focused only on me.
    “This morning. I just noticed we’re running low, and I don’t think the coffee sales support the amount of coffee used.” I shrugged. “Do you really think someone is stealing coffee too?”
    He didn’t blink, but continued to stare at me. “As much as I believe that someone is stealing ninety dollars from you, yes. Weird things happen to you.”
    I nodded and looked down at what he was doing. He had been chopping fish, but even though his knife continued to move, the fish had long been cut. He was now just chopping the cutting board with nothing under the knife. Land was usually so calm and collected that even a minor mistake like that told me that he was dealing with an emotion or situation that he was unfamiliar with. I didn’t know what, but I knew something had affected him. Given that I didn’t have much experience in this matter, I stood there in silence, hoping for a cue from someone.
    I waited a few seconds, hoping that he’d talk about it, but he didn’t speak. So I just began helping him get prepped for the evening rush. I knew that when he was ready I’d learn whatever was on his mind, but I also knew that I’d better get ready for something big. Land was not the type to chop without a food item underneath the knife.
    I finished working with him in about thirty minutes. He gave me a smile and a hug before opening the window. “I’ll be over around 9pm to see the action,” he said, giving me a bad imitation of Carter’s famed eyebrow wiggle. I rolled my eyes, thinking that it was not a good thing that Carter was rubbing off on Land.
    I smiled at him and left. I drove the truck back to the secured lot and spent some time working on the cameras to get the best vantage points for the register. Big budget movies spend less time on setting