Killer Calories

in bed. “Tammy! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? That’s important.”
    “It is? Oh, cool.”
    Suddenly energized, Savannah bounded out of bed and began to throw on jeans and a dark sweatshirt.
    “What are you doing?” Tammy asked.
    “Getting dressed.”
    “It’s after midnight.”
    “I know. That’s the best time to do a B&E.”
    “What’s that? Are you sneaking out for junk food after promising me you wouldn’t. ”
    “No, ding-a-ling, B&E stands for Breaking and Entering.’ It’s a crime.”
    “You mean, like burglary?”
    “Not exactly. I’m not going to steal anything... at least, I’m not planning on it.” She tossed Tammy some clothes.
    Shake a leg, kiddo. You’re coming with me.”
    “But I’ve never broken any laws before.”
    “Then it’s high time, Miss Pollyanna, that you lost your virginity.” She snickered. “Trust me, it’s fun. Unless, of course, we get caught.”

    “This is fun,” Tammy whispered as they crept from shadow to shadow, cutting a circuitous path between the dark, silent buildings. “It’s sorta like playing Nancy Drew.”
    “That’s why I became a cop.” Savannah pulled Tammy between a couple of cars, where they crouched and waited for a night watchman to pass by.
    “Because you got to do this sort of thing all the time?” Tammy asked when he disappeared around the corner of one of the bathhouses.
    “No, because I thought I was going to get to do this sort of thing. Mostly, I tossed a lot of drunks out of bars, broke up domestic disputes, and hauled runaway kids back to homes where they didn’t want to be. Exciting stuff like that.”
    “But now that you’re a private detective...?”
    “Now I can break the laws I once swore to uphold. Far more liberating, to be sure.”
    She grabbed Tammy by the forearm and pulled her toward the building that was their destination. Set away from the others, the small cottage was where she had received her medical examination the day before from Dr. Freeman Ross.
    “The clinic?” Tammy asked, as they ducked behind some fragrant star jasmine at the side of the building.
    “That’s right.”
    “But if we’re going to break into somebody’s place, shouldn’t it be Kat’s?”
    “I already tried earlier today. She was still living with Lou, and he’s got the place locked up tighter than a Sunday-Go-To- Meetin ’ girdle. Is there a back door to this place ?“
    “No, just the one in front.”
    “Shoot. Okay, we’ll have to do it out in the open and hope nobody walks by.”
    “Do what?”
    “Pick the lock.”
    “You know how to do that?” Tammy sounded simultaneously scandalized and impressed.
    “I most certainly do. And one of these days, I’ll teach you how, too.”
    “Cool.”
    Savannah paused and gave her a scornful look. “Cool? Is that your favorite adjective these days?”
    “It’s better than the one your generation uses. You guys say, ‘Neat.’ Now that’s lame.”
    “What do you mean my generation? We’re the same generation.”
    “No way. You’re old enough to be my mother.”
    “No way. How old are you?”
    “Twenty-four.”
    Savannah did the math. Forty-something minus twenty-four. “Not unless I got a really early start. Now, are you going to help me break into this clinic or not?”
    “Sure... Mom. Lead the way.”
    With a foot to Tammy’s diminutive rear, Savannah gave her a shove, pushing her out from behind the jasmine and onto the walkway leading to the cottage.
    A study in nonchalance, they strolled to the front door of the clinic, paused, and glanced around. The only movement on the grounds was the drifting wisps of sea fog that had made their way from the beach to the top of the hill.
    They listened intently, but all they heard were some crickets, a few frogs, and a coyote yipping in the distance.
    “Keep your eyes open,” Savannah said, before she took her lockpick from her pocket and slipped it into the keyhole.
    She jiggled it around, feeling for just the right combinations of pressure and release before she heard the pleasant sound of tumblers falling into place.
    “Open sesame,” she muttered, and gave the door a push.
    A second later, she and Tammy were inside the small office, where she had sat, shivering in her blue paper gown thirty-six hours before. It looked different in the dark.
    She promptly smacked her shin on the doctor’s stool and sent it skidding across the room.
    “ Oww ... shit. Tammy, where’s that