Getting Rich (A Chef Landry Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

back entrance. She gave me an apologetic smile and slipped off her coat. “Sorry I’m late.”
    “Late! You’re not late. You were absent all day.”
    “I wouldn’t have come in at all except I need a minute with you.”
    I pulled off my chef’s hat and smoothed a strand. “Uh-oh. I know that tone. What is it?”
    She grinned. “Don’t worry. It’s good news.” She pulled out a bottle of chardonnay from the wine cooler, snatched two glasses from the shelf above the plating table, and gestured for me to follow.
    I plopped down into my usual seat at the back corner table of the dining room and waited.
    “Don’t look so worried,” she said, handing me a glass. “Trust me. You are going to love me.” Whenever Toni said something like that, I just knew she was about to clobber me with bad news. She took a sip of her wine. “You’ve heard of Lauren Live , right?”
    I puckered my brow. “Of course.” Lauren Live was the number-one talk show in the country. “Who hasn’t?”
    Toni leaned forward excitedly. “Well, I have a friend who works at Global TV. She phoned last night. It seems that one of the guests scheduled to for tomorrow morning has cancelled, and you and I got the spot.” Her voice rose to a feverish pitch. “We’re going to be on TV.”
    “What?” I had a sudden vision of myself looking chubby and tongue-tied in front of an audience of millions. “You call that good news?”
    Toni’s smile crumpled. “Of course it is. This is an incredible opportunity. Think of the publicity. Viewers from all over the country will hear about Skinny’s on Queen. We’ll get so many bookings we’ll have to turn customers away.”
    I cleared my throat. “You’re right. It is a great opportunity. You do the interview. You’ll be much better than I could ever be. You have tons of television experience.”
    Unlike me, before becoming a chef and restaurateur, Toni had been a real model. She’d appeared in dozens of television commercials, had been interviewed on camera, and had even once played a small role in a movie.
    She shook her head, jaw set determinedly. “I am telling you right now, Nicky Landry. You are not squirming your way out of this. We both have to be there. Don’t forget, your face is on all our advertisements.” Her eyes shone with excitement again. “You can talk about the twenty-five pounds you lost since we developed our Skinny menu.”
    “You and I both know I didn’t lose that weight because of our menu—at least not all of it.” The first fifteen or so pounds I’d lost was following what I liked to call my heartbreak diet, after the breakup and subsequent murder of my then-boyfriend. Don’t ask . As if that hadn’t been difficult enough, the stress had become even worse when the police pegged me as the prime suspect. Me. Imagine! It was the first time in my life I’d actually lost my appetite. No wonder the pounds had melted away. What Toni didn’t know was that I had since gained back much of that weight—nine pounds to be exact.
    I swallowed hard. “I’ve never been on television. I wouldn’t know what to say.” Just the thought of all those people watching was already sending me into hyperventilation.
    “Come on, Nicky. You have to be there.” She picked up her glass. “Besides, you can’t back out. I already said yes for both of us.”
    “That’s why you waited until now to tell me, isn’t it?”
    She smiled, gulped down the rest of her wine and rose from the table. “You’ll thank me later.” She fished into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “Here’s the address. Be there tomorrow morning at seven sharp.” She disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later I heard the back door open and close.
    I stared morosely into my wine. Toni was right. It was an incredible opportunity, one we couldn’t pass up. But what in the world could I wear that would make me look thinner on TV? Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when the front door opened