Read Online Going For Broke by Nina Howard - Free Book Online Page A

toddler on one side of her and a newborn on the other,  and one random punk rocker with a blue mohawk.  Nobody paid any attention to the guy with the mohawk.  They were all focused on Victoria.
                  When Mike walked in, Victoria was in a heated confrontation with what appeared to be a pair of local cops.  Everyone in the restaurant had stopped talking and was watching the show.  Mike found an orange leatherette stool at the counter  and grabbed a front-row seat. 
                  “What’s going on?”  He asked the trucker sitting next to him, who was also riveted on Victoria and the police.
                  “Crazy lady tried to walk out on her bill.  They called the cops,” he answered, not taking his eyes off the scene before him.
                  “She tried to sneak out?”
                  “Oh, no, she just refused to pay.  Said the food was so bad, it wasn’t worth what they were charging.”
                  Mike had to laugh and shook his head.  He had to say he agreed with her.  He watched as Victoria stood her ground.  The local sheriff must have been sent from central casting.  Mid-fifties with a waistline to match, he probably thought he could take down the little lady with the two cute kids and be back at his desk playing computer solitaire in less than fifteen minutes.  He had no idea what he was getting into, Mike thought.
                  “Would you want to eat this?” Victoria held her still-full plate up to the sheriff’s nose.  He stepped back to avoid having her eggs shoved into his face.  “No, I didn’t think so.  If there’s a crime here, it’s that they wanted to take my money for this...this slop.”
                  Mike could see that Victoria Vernon wasn’t what the sheriff was expecting, and he had to give the sheriff credit: He wasn’t about to back down, from a woman.  He started tapping his billy club, trying on his menacing face. 
                  “Ma’am, either you pay the bill, or we’re going to have to take you in,” he said. 
                  “I will not pay,” Victoria said, head held high.  “Arrest me.”  She held out her hands.  Her engagement ring, one of the things the FBI did not collect, caught the midmorning light.  No one in the restaurant missed it.
                  The manager of the Denny’s stepped in.  “It’s all right Carl --”
                  “No, it’s not all right.  We can’t have fancy folks coming in and not paying their bill.  Hell, if I didn’t pay every time I got a bad meal I’d be a rich man today.  Okay little lady, you asked for it.”  He grabbed the handcuffs off his belt.
                  “Carl, no.  You don’t need to,” the manager protested.
                  “I don’t care.  Take me down Andy Griffith.”
                  “Mommy!” The little girl cried out.  Even a six year old could see where this was going. 
                  Mike felt like he had to end this game of chicken now.  He got up and approached the cop.  If Victoria recognized him from her apartment, it didn’t she didn’t show it. 
                  “Sheriff, I’m sure there’s a better way to handle this,” Mike tried to give it his best regular guy voice.
                  The sheriff whipped around.  “Who the hell are you, boy?  Stay out of this.”
                  Mike didn’t want to have to show his badge, yet thought it was the quickest way to end this scene.  He motioned the sheriff over toward the register so he could speak to him quietly.
                  “Mike Towner.  FBI.  I’m, um, she’s a -- she’s under surveillance.”  That should do it, Mike thought. 
                  “FBI.  CIA.  I don’t give a damn.  This here girl