Murder for the Halibut by Liz Lipperman

ten
     minutes or so.”
    Jordan turned to Victor as the waiter set a second plate with the fabulous casserole
     in front of him. “That was brilliant, my friend.”
    His fork stopped abruptly, midway to his opened mouth, and he swiveled to face her.
     “What was?”
    “Your idea to make up fancy names for Rosie’s recipes.” Jordan checked out the heaping
     fork he held. There was no way he could get that much food into his mouth at one time.
     Was there?
    Watching him shovel it in and add another forkful to the mix made her smile. The only
     person who wasn’t entertained by his antics was his partner, who was watching with
     a scowl on his face.
    She stole a quick peek at her watch. If this played out the way things normally did
     when the cute and chubby Victor ate too much, it would be only a matter of minutes
     before Michael mentioned for the umpteenth time that Victor was supposed to be watching
     his diet.
    A few seconds later, Victor would fire back an expletive along with a thinly veiled
     sarcastic remark that it was a crying shame he wasn’t perfect like Michael. Despite
     the barbs back and forth, everyone knew the two were devoted to each other.
    Victor surprised her by totally ignoring his partner and speaking only to her. “That
     was rather brilliant, if I do say so myself,” he said before wiping his face with
     the napkin. “Lord knows you would have been demoted back to writing just the personals
     if your editor knew the real story behind all those ‘gourmet’ recipes you print every
     week.”
    “Dwayne Egan didn’t get all the way up the
Globe
’s chain of command by being stupid.” Michael shook his head, apparently forgetting
     about Victor’s eating habits for the moment. “He knows exactly what Jordan’s doing,
     and he doesn’t care. He sells more newspapers than he can count when Jordan’s column
     hits the newsstands all over the—” He stopped when he noticed Victor eyeing the chocolate
     cake in the display case on the counter.
    Victor waved down the nearest waiter. “Please tell me I’m looking at Rosie’s German
     Chocolate Cake over there,” he said when the waiter approached. When the young man
     nodded, he clapped his hands. “That’s my favorite dessert.”
    “Sweetie, you might want to skip that since you’re planning to spend the afternoon
     by the pool,” Michael reminded him.
    Unfazed by the remark, Victor smacked his lips. “I’ll definitely have a piece of that,
     please.” He surveyed the table. “Anyone else? My treat.”
    “Oh, you crazy fool. Nobody’s buying that load of crap. The last time you sprang for
     anything was—actually, I don’t think you’ve ever brought out your wallet and yelled
     ‘Surprise!’” Lola teased.
    Shrugging, Victor countered, “You have a point, my dear. Good thing all this wonderful
     food is free.” He turned to the waiter patiently waiting. “Don’t get stingy on my
     piece, please,” he instructed, earning one of Michael’s evil looks.
    “Me, too,” Jordan said. “And don’t give him a bigger piece than me.” She winked at
     the cute waiter, who smiled his appreciation.
    After the waiter walked away, Victor whined, “Nofair. He’s obviously more impressed by your wild red hair than my brilliant black
     eyes.”
    “All’s fair…”
    Chocolate was worth a little flirting, she thought, especially since she’d never been
     able to resist Rosie’s German Chocolate Cake. Besides, tonight was the appetizer round
     of the cooking competition. Visions of crabmeat and oysters made her stomach turn.
     Give her a gigantic plate of Southwest egg rolls or ultimate nachos, and she was one
     happy camper, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t see either tonight. Better to play
     it smart and fill up on Rosie’s food right now, because she’d probably starve later.
    “Oh hell. Me, too,” Lola said, calling after the waiter, who turned and nodded to
     acknowledge her order. Straightening her caftan