Killer Calories

working for any insurance company.”
    Insurance companies don’t pay investigators with a mailbox stuffed with cash, she thought. Someone does, but not an insurance company.
    He must have believed her, because he seemed to deflate before her eyes. His crimson coloring gradually subsided and his fists relaxed. He actually looked apologetic.
    “You mean... you aren’t... “ he stammered. “Oh... I’m sorry. I...”
    “It’s all right, Mr. Hanks. I’m sure you’ve been under a lot of stress lately,” she hurried to assure him. “It was a natural assumption to make under the circumstances.”
    The genuine remorse on his face made her feel a little guilty. After all, he was half-right in his suspicions. Unfortunately, she couldn’t salve her conscience by telling him so. “You’re really here to enjoy the spa? To lose weight
    or
    She cleared her throat. “Actually, I need to rid my body of its toxins,” she replied with a completely straight face. “Oh, well, we have lots of ways to do that!”
    “So I’ve heard.”
    He turned and walked to the door, where he paused. “ Ummm ... Miss Reid... I hope we can keep this conversation in the strictest confidence.”
    “No problem, Mr. Hanks. It’ll be our little secret.” She reached up and “zipped” her lips.
    He rewarded her with a nervous smile. “Thanks. Enjoy the spa. If there’s anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant, please say so.”
    A dozen suggestions flooded her mind: New York cheesecake, sleeping until noon, massages without the obligatory exercise classes, and no green gunk in little cups.
    But, instead of stating them, she simply smiled, and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Hanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
    After he had left the room and closed the door behind him, she sat on the table and contemplated her latest revelation.
    So... Louis Hanks had taken out a life insurance policy on his now-dead ex-wife. And it must have been a pretty sizable sum, considering how hot under the collar he had been at the thought of having the payment delayed.
    He was in financial trouble—she had already known that—and was probably hoping for the insurance money to bail him out.
    Yep, she thought. Very interesting. That sounded like a motive for murder if she had ever heard one.

    Mercifully, the remainder of her first day at Royal Palms went by quickly for Savannah: a morning meditation class in which she learned to sit cross-legged and hum “in harmony with the universe,” a lunch of some strange, gray, pulverized drink mixture, a salad and a soup of “purifying greens,” afternoon aerobics with Tammy, a sauna, a basket-weaving class “to teach discipline and balance,” dinner, which was another blenderized concoction, more veggies, and an evening dip in the pool. Or at least, Savannah had intended it to be a dip, until she found that Josef, the enforcer, expected them to take three laps around.
    Exhausted, she climbed the hill back to their dormitory, her body atingle with more oxygen than it had experienced in years.
    “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” she told herself as she trudged along in her swimsuit and cover-up, her wet hair wrapped in a towel. “And if this doesn’t make me stronger, I’m going to kill Tammy for getting me into it.”
    The sun had set an hour before and she had to pick her way carefully among the overgrown shrubs that lined the narrow rock walkway. Apparently, Royal Palms had been forced to cut their landscaping budget, too.
    Although lanterns had been strung along the way to provide light, they were the flickering variety that added more ambience than illumination. And nearly half of them weren’t lit.
    She stubbed her toes several times on the rocks, her beach thongs doing little to protect her feet from the uneven walkway. Next time, she vowed to return from the pool before sundown to avoid this obstacle course.
    Just as she was nearing the long, low building which served as their dorm, she thought she heard something move in the shrubbery off to her left.
    Yes, there was a distinct rustling in the oleander bushes. And it wasn’t just a rabbit or cat. Whatever it was, it was big. Big enough to cause a problem.
    She stopped, ears perked, eyes searching the dark bushes with their pink and white blossoms.
    “Who’s there?” she asked, instinctively knowing that no one was going to answer. Whoever it was, they were hiding and probably intended to stay hidden. Or was that just wishful