Killer Calories

what’s inside.”
    Savannah walked over to the chest and knelt in front of it. With her fingers around the handles, she looked back over her shoulder at Tammy.
    “I’m not going to find decomposing body parts in here, am I?”
    “No. It isn’t that gross, or I would have run out of here screaming.” Tammy thought for a moment. “You haven’t realty opened drawers and found... that... have you?”
    “I used to walk a beat in the tough part of Hollywood . You don’t even want to know what I found in drawers, Dumpsters, alleys.”
    She pulled the drawer open, but the dim, evening light coming through the open window wasn’t enough to see inside.
    “Did you remember to bring the flashlight this time?” she asked Tammy.
    Instantly, she produced it from the waistband of her shorts. “Don’t ever say I’m beyond rehabilitation,” she said, handing it to her with grand aplomb.
    Savannah took it from her, switched it on, and shined the beam into the drawer.
    “Ah, ha... Kat Valentina memorabilia,” she said as she studied the magazine clippings, newspaper articles, and hundreds of candid shots of Kat doing everything from sitting in a sauna, to taking a bath, to having sex with several individuals at once in a hot tub.
    “It doesn’t look like Kat posed for most of those,” Tammy remarked, kneeling beside Savannah .
    “No, I’m sure she didn’t know they were being taken, or she would have smiled that famous, toothy grin of hers.”
    Tammy’s silence told Savannah she didn’t fully appreciate joke.
    Savannah pulled the drawer out farther and saw something that looked like a Barbie doll. But, pulling it out, she saw that it was larger, about fourteen inches tall, blond, and wore a shimmering red disco dress.
    “They made Kat Valentina dolls?” Savannah asked.
    “Yes, a few. Kat showed me hers. It was like that one... well, without the... alterations.”
    Savannah had just noticed what Tammy meant. Beneath the full, red skirt, someone had made some rather vulgar changes to the doll’s anatomy. Black pubic hair had been drawn with ink on the otherwise generic area, and some kind of sharp instrument had been used to gouge a ragged, pseudo-vagina.
    “Cute. Josef should stick to playing with cars and trucks, like good little boys.” She rummaged deeper into the drawer. “What have we here? Does Josef like to dress up in ladies’ undies?”
    She pulled out one of several satin-and-lace thongs that were buried beneath the photos.
    “That’s what I was referring to, when I said I washed my hands right away,” Tammy told her. “I don’t think he just wears them... if you know what I mean.”
    “How nice,” Savannah said, dropping the panties as though they were crawling with vermin. “They’re... um... crusty.”
    “Gross, huh?”
    “Yes, my dear. That’s definitely gross. They’re also too small for Josef’s rear end. I’d venture a guess that they were Kat’s.”
    “You think he stole them from her?”
    “Or she left them behind, here or elsewhere. I understand Kat wasn’t averse to shedding her clothes wherever she got the urge.”
    Satisfied that she had uncovered enough of Josef’s kinky habits to suit her purposes, Savannah slid the drawer closed-
    “Ready to go wash your hands?” Tammy asked as Savannah handed her back the flashlight.
    “Maybe a long, hot shower with some antibacterial soap would be nice,” Savannah replied, heading back toward the daybed and the open window.
    But a second later, they heard a sound that made them freeze —a key in the door lock.
    “Oh, great, he’s back!” Savannah whispered. “The shit’s gonna hit the fan now!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

    S avannah knew she would have just enough time to vault through the window, but Orlet would have the door open before Tammy could make it. “Quick, under the bed!” she whispered as she yanked the window down.
    They had just disappeared into the nest of dust bunnies beneath the daybed when the door swung open. Quarters were a bit tight, but both women were well hidden beneath the chenille bedspread that spilled onto the floor.
    Tammy’s face was to the wall, her back pressed tightly against Savannah ’s. Through a gap between the bedspread and a stack of dirty laundry, Savannah watched a pair of men’s sneakers walk by on the way to the bathroom in the rear of the apartment.
    He disappeared inside, and they heard the distinctive tinkling in the toilet.
    “What are we going to do?” Tammy