Read Online A Taste for Murder by Claudia Bishop - Free Book Online Page A

do at Doggone Good Dogs?"

John Raintree came into the room and settled unobtrusively! in a chair. Doreen tiptoed in behind him. Quill drummed her fingers in irritation and wondered who else from the staff was coming to watch her debut as an actress.

"Best hot dogs in the South," said Mavis.

"Best in the whole damn country!" said Marge. "Good plain American food."

"I never knew you worked for somebody else before," said Betty Hall stiffly.

"Oh, yeah. Managed a whole chain of 'em down to Atlanta," said Marge. "Mavis was in the Mid-Atlantic region. She was Human Resources Coordinator and - "

"That's just fine, Marge," said Elmer Henry impatiently, "but we've got to get on with this rehearsal."

"Let me finish," said Marge, "and the best damn actress in the whole chain."

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Mavis modestly.

"Do they have actors in fast-food places?" asked Esther, in genuine bewilderment.

"Of course," said Marge scornfully. "We had an employee talent show every year and Mavis got the cash prize every time. Sang "The Doggone Good Dog" theme song. Go on, sing it for' em, Mavis. She done a little dance, too," she said in a helpful aside.

"I don't have my costume or anything." Mavis sent a brilliant smile around the room.

Quill, acutely sympathetic to the agonies of performing in front of crowds, and still somewhat nettled over the "poisoned-guts" remark said, "Honestly, Marge. Let the poor woman sit down," surprising herself. If she kept this up, she could handle a dozen Mrs. Hallenbecks in a week.

"Go on, Mavis," said Marge.

"Well." Mavis cleared her throat and said confidently, "Now, y'all are going to have to do some imagining, and pretend I'm dressed as a hot dog." She winked at Dookie Shuttleworth, whose eyebrows rose in alarm. "The hot dog comes out in front of me, and out back - I'm in the middle of the bun." Then she sang, in a contralto:

"You can slather me with mustard

and a dilly pickle, too. Tickle me with onions,

I'll be doggone good for you.

I'm a plump and juicy red-hot

In a toasted whole wheat bun.

For less than two and fifty

We can have a lot of fun."

She and Marge locked arms and swayed together in

"Hot-Hot-Hot dog

Doggone Doggone good.

Bet you'd love our hot dogs

Anyway you could."

Harvey Bozzel broke the silence. "Could use a leetle bit of editing, but it's good. Pretty good."

"Sing it again," said Gil Gilmeister huskily. "You looked great, Mavis. You, too, Marge."

Mavis tossed her head, and dimpled. Her dangling earrings clicked. She reminded Quill of someone: a chubby Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. Quill cleared her throat and stood up. "This is a wonderful opportunity, don't you think? I mean, we practically have a professional right here. We'd be crazy not to take advantage of it. If you don't mind, Mavis, I think you'd make a wonderful Clarissa."

"We voted on Quill and we should stick with her," said Betty Hall. "Some newcomer just swanking on in here, even if she is a famous actress-I don't know how the town is going to feel about that."

"She's not a famous actress, Betty," Esther snapped. "She's a Human Resources Director."

"Whatever." Resentment was in every line of Betty's bowling jacket.

"Marge, you have the best judgment of anybody in the Chamber I know of," said Gil earnestly. "And I think this is a prime example of it."

"We gotta talk about that loan, Gil," said Marge jovially. "What d'ya think?"

"I move to have Mavis Collin wood take on the role of Clarissa in the History Days play," said Quill immediately. She ignored Myles's sardonic grin with the restrained dignity appropriate to an innkeeper rescued from public humiliation at the last minute.

"Second," said Gil.

Elmer called for a vote. Esther and Betty abstained, with what Quill identified as darkling glances, but the motion passed. Quill entertained a fleeting thought about the efficacy of Doreen's new commitment to prayer; she decided she was inclined to leniency in the matter of religious