MURDER IN THE SPOTLIGHT (Food Truck Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free

the routine in this challenge. The young man nodded a few times, as if he approved.
    He then asked, “Land, I’m sure you had something to do with the menu for today. Could you explain why you chose these particular dishes for the challenge?”
    Land, despite the fact that English was his second language, could be quite articulate when he wanted to be. He explained the desire to represent the Basque Country with some traditional dishes, but the need to find menu items that would appeal to the customers and had ingredients that were likely to be purchased at the local grocery store. He also talked about the need for portability since this would be eaten on the go, rather than in a sit-down restaurant. He went through each dish with thought, explaining the choice.
    The young man said, “Why two liquid dishes? Any thoughts on that?”
    I could see Land bristle a bit at the question, but he politely stated, “One is definitely a soup that would be served before the entrée. The other is a main dish that could be eaten alone as a meal. I wanted to offer something light that could serve as an appetizer and then two main dishes, given that this would be something ordered in the afternoon as a meal.”
    The man nodded and looked at his papers. The question had rattled me a bit. I had felt so sure up to this point that we had a good shot at winning the challenge, but now I began to question every decision and all of our strategies. I didn’t want to end up in the bottom three or worse yet, be asked to leave the show so soon.
    The questions continued for a few minutes before we were excused. I was too nervous to sit down on the set, so I spent the time pacing back and forth. The others were on edge as well. Betty came out of her interview crying, and I quickly recalculated the odds that we’d made the top three rather than the bottom three.
    After waiting for nearly an hour, the lights came on over the set. Johnny Ruck came out of the shadows and all of the six remaining contestants lined up. Marsha stood to one side, and slid two notecards to the celebrity chef.
    He quickly read off the winners. “Anthony, you came in third place today. Congratulations. Jerry, you were second. We’d like to see some more daring choices from you in the future. Maeve and Land, you won the challenge. You’ll receive a full set of my signature line pots and pans, a television commercial to be aired locally for a week, and immunity in the next challenge.” I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop from squealing and gave Land a hug. Given that we’d agreed to keep our interactions to a minimum in front of the camera, it was not the best move I’d made. I knew that Marsha would edit this into a romantic gesture for this episode, but for the moment I didn’t care.
    We were escorted off the stage. The winners didn’t stay around for the lowest scoring player to be removed from the competition. It seemed like gloating in a way.
    Marsha led us to the green room, where we had to share some of the answers we’d given to the judges along with our feelings about winning. Land was extremely nonchalant about the whole thing, acting as though he won every challenge. Of course, I nearly bounced off the walls, adding a nice balance to Land’s imperturbability.
    We were about to wrap up the interview when the door burst open. Betty stood in the doorway. Her mascara had run down her face and her make-up had done the same. I guessed she’d lost the challenge, since the show also requested an interview with the departing contestant as well.
    “Finish your gloating, and get out of here,” Betty snarled. “It’s my turn to talk.” The camera spun to get her expression on film. This was the type of drama that they lived for. Ratings came from strife, not happiness.
    We shuffled out of the green room as fast as we could. I didn’t want to deal with her, and Land hated hot confrontations. We could still hear her wailing as we left the building.

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