Cereal Killer

heavyweight bout on HBO at nine. He’ll show up at eight, hoping that I’ll feed him.”
    ‘You’ll feed him. You feed every living thing within a mile of you.”
    Savannah chuckled. It was true; Southern hospitality demanded that nobody grow faint from hunger in the presence of a Reid woman.
    “Why doesn’t Dirko watch the fight on his own TV?” Tammy wanted to know. “He mooches off you too much.”
    “It would only be mooching if I minded. I don’t mind. Usually,” she added, thinking of all the times Dirk had finagled her out of a free burger or hot dog when they’d worked the streets together. “Besides, Dirk doesn’t have HBO. He doesn’t even have cable, for heaven’s sake.”
    “Oh, yeah, I forgot. No-frills Dirk.”
    “Eh, what do you expect from a guy who thinks that the ultimate experience in fine dining is supersizing his burger and fry order?”
    Tammy glanced at her watch. “Seven-thirty... I think I’ll split.”
    “Don’t want to hang out and watch two men beat the crap out of each other?”
    Tammy shuddered. “And listen to Dirk screaming at the top of his lungs about jabs, cuts, and head butts? No, thanks.”
    Savannah watched her shut down the computer. “No luck finding work?”
    “Not unless we’re ready to become bounty hunters, chasing dirtbags who’ve jumped bail. There seem to be a few openings for those if your name’s Bubba and you’re six feet four and weigh three hundred pounds.”
    “Shows what you know about bounty hunting. Sure, there are some big, nasty hunters named Bubba, but I’ve met others who were female and looked like you, girlie-girl. And they weren’t chasing just the dirtbags. Most hard-core criminals know the drill, and they’ll show up for court. They’ve been through it all before, done their time, got out, re-offended, and landed back in the system. It’s the scared welfare mother who wrote bad checks for groceries who takes off. She’s terrified, not knowing what to expect, thinking her life’s over. Let somebody else track her down. I’m not that desperate yet.”
    She glanced down at the stack of bills in her lap, then around her modest house. The lights were on. In the kitchen and in the bathroom the water was running. The mortgage payment was only three days late, and the refrigerator was well stocked.
    Something was bound to come along soon. It always did.
    “Thanks for coming over,” Savannah said, rising and walking Tammy to the door. “Sure you don’t wanna hang around and say hi to Dirk?”
    Tammy made a face, reminding Savannah of a kindergartner who had just heard the name of her seven-year-old brother mentioned. ‘Just tell him I said, ‘Sit on a tack... or a railroad track.’ Tell him to eat an apple with a big worm in it and chew thoroughly. Tell him—”
    “Okay, okay. I gotcha. I’ll give him your warmest regards.”
    Tammy stuck up her middle finger.
    “Yes, yes...” Savannah sighed. “Without the sign language, though, if you don’t mind. I am a lady.”
    Tammy snickered. “A lady who’s not above sitting on a perp’s head if necessary to hold him down or jamming her fingers down his throat to get the drug evidence he’s trying to swallow.”
    She shrugged and grinned. “Whatever the job requires.”
    Just as she was opening the door for Tammy, she heard the phone ring behind her.
    “That’s probably Dirk now,” Tammy said, “wanting to know if you’ll make a pot of your homemade chili and cornbread for him.”
    “Hmm... good idea. Except for the beans. I do have to spend the evening with the guy.”
    She waved Tammy out the door, then hurried to the telephone. As Tammy had predicted, it was Dirk. But he didn’t sound hungry. He sounded harried.
    “I’m gonna have to take a rain check on dinner tonight,” he said.
    “I didn’t invite you for dinner yet, just the fight.”
    “Whatever. I’m gonna miss that, too.”
    “What’s up? Where are you?”
    “I’m still at the station house. I was trying to get out of here after processing those idiots from the park, and I caught a case.”
    Savannah perked up. She couldn’t help herself; it was in her blood. “What’s the case?”
    “Dead body. Some gal’s down in one of those fancy houses on the beach. Gotta go check it out. Sounds like it was a heart attack—a fat chick who was exercising too much or something. But she’s young, so I have to go down there with CSU and make sure it’s nothing kinky.”
    Savannah bristled at the