The Bar BQ War

A make your own mystery by Pamala Rush

You have just gotten a job as manager in a LA restaurant called BBQ Bob’s. The owners, a cop named Steve Sloan and a doctor named Jesse Travis, are very busy and give you the full reign of running the place when they are gone. One day you are on your way to work when you see a new place down the street called California’s Best BBQ. You keep Jesse and Steve informed on it’s opening, but it does not cause much of a drop in business until the owners start playing dirty tricks to steal business; sending the health department for a phony disease scare and putting fake rats on the floor in the bathroom. Concerned about the bottom line, Steve and Jesse unofficially authorize you to play such tricks back. After you plant a cockroach in your dinner plate at the opposing restaurant, you return to BBQ Bob’s to help Jesse with the lunch rush… which never comes.

You are sitting at the counter wiping it down for the five-hundredth time when Steve comes in holding a sign. "What is this doing in the window?" he asks.

Jesse takes it and shows it to you. It says ‘Closed for remodeling.’ "No wonder we didn’t have any lunch rush," he says.

Steve looks at you. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," you say. "I just put a cockroach in someone’s dinner."

"Did they scream?" Jesse asks.

"Until I was hoarse," you reply.

"I don’t think I like the way this is going," Steve says.

"What else can we do?" you ask.

"Go have a little talk with the owner after we close," Steve replies.

The afternoon is slow with business, but it passes quickly. Finally, after close, you go with Steve and Jesse to the rival diner. When nobody answers at Steve’s knock, you get curious and push on the door to find it unlocked before Steve or Jesse can stop you.

"Hello," you call out in the restaurant’s interior over Steve’s protests.

"Didn’t you ever hear that curiosity killed the cat?" Jesse asks, but creeps in after you.

Steve throws his hands up and follows the both of you in. The dining area is lifeless, so you head into the kitchen while Steve and Jesse check the bathrooms. As soon as you go through the door, you wish you had taken the restrooms.

The restaurant’s owner, Evan Brentwood, is lying dead on the floor. You are unable for a minute to make the choice between screaming or going for Steve and Jesse.



If you choose to scream, click here.
If you choose to go for Steve and Jesse, click here.