Watchin' The Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance Read Online Free Page B

of
the diners stands up and says, “I’m a doctor. Let me look at
him.”
    The wife shouts, “Did someone call an
ambulance?!”
    Hamid assures her, “Yes, Madame. They are on
their way.”
    She kneels down next to her husband and tries
to make the bleeding stop with her hand.
    The doctor tells her, “Let me see him.” He
kneels down next to the body. “It looks like he’s been shot in the
head.” He grabs the man’s wrist, and checks for a pulse. “I’m so
very sorry. I don’t feel a pulse,” he says to the man’s wife.
    “No!” the wife screams, and the woman she’s
with tries to comfort her.
    “I am her sister,” she tells the doctor.
“Can’t we cover up the body with a tablecloth or something?”
    The wife says, “No! I won’t believe he’s gone
until the paramedics say so.”
    Hamid says, “Okay, everybody. Let’s try to
keep calm until they get here.”
    The diners whisper and murmur at their
tables. Isabella looks at Joshua, and says, “This is scary.”
    He moves his chair closer to her and holds
her hand. Trying to comfort her, he says, “I’m sorry this is
happening, sweetie.”
    She says, “I’m the one who’s sorry. Dragging
us all into this.”
    “I wouldn’t change this night for anything,”
he says.
    “You’re kidding?!”
    “No. I’m serious. This is a big deal for me.
You finally agreed to go out with me. And here we are at last.”
    “You probably wish we’d gone out to dinner
and then back to your place.”
    “Well…I got to admit, that was my number one
choice.”
    “I remember.” They both laugh. “I’ll make
this up to you, Joshua. I promise.”
    “You haven’t done anything wrong. Although, I
could think of some ways you could make it up to me,” he tells her
with a wink and reaches over to squeeze her knee.
    The paramedics finally arrive and all eyes
are back to the man on the floor. Blood leaks out of the edges of
the tablecloth that’s covering him. The doctor and sister convince
the wife to get up off the floor and sit down at the table. Her
sister holds her hand and talks softly to her. Her sister’s date
has his eyes closed and looks like he is praying.
     
    *******
     
    The paramedic confirms that the man is indeed
dead.
    “Don’t you want to take him to the hospital
to be sure?” the wife pleads, refusing to believe that her husband
is gone.
    Her sister puts her arm around her shoulder
and says, “He’s gone, Karen.”
    The paramedic says, “The body can’t be moved
until the pathologist gets here. I’m sorry, ma’am.”
    The praying man opens his eyes and introduces
himself as the victim’s brother-in-law. He asks the paramedic, “Was
he shot in the back of the head?”
    “It looks that way.”
    “Why didn’t we hear the gun shot?”
    “That will be something to take up with the
police.”
    As if on cue, a patrol officer arrives at the
restaurant. He says to everyone, “Okay. Nobody leaves here until we
say so.” He walks over to the covered body and asks the paramedic,
“What have we got here?”
    “The deceased looks like he’s been shot in
the back of the head. It doesn’t look like the bullet exited his
brain.”
    Upon hearing this, the wife lets out a
scream. The doctor goes over to comfort her, and then asks the
paramedic if he has a sedative or anything to calm the poor woman
down.
    Meanwhile, the members of the cast still have
their aprons on and serve up coffee and brandy to the diners. They
are no longer their former campy, confident selves and are just as
uncomfortable as every else in the room. What a strange twist that
they are now real-life waiters and waitresses to the paying
guests.
    A man at a table says, “Can’t I go out for a
smoke?”
    “Nobody leaves this room,” the cop reminds
him. He talks to the wife and her family, writing down notes in his
pad.
    “What is he saying?” Isabella asks
Joshua.
    “I can’t hear him either.”
    The policeman is making a phone call when a
woman walks into the