Killer Calories

after she closed the door behind her, Savannah could hear her apologizing on her way down the hall.
    Savannah giggled and snuggled deeper between the sheets. A h, I’m good, she thought. If there was anything Tammy was more proud of than her slender, fit body, it was her reputation as a bleeding-heart humanitarian.
    The kid didn’t have a prejudiced bone in her body. But, if making her think she did, bought Savannah some extra time in bed, it was all worthwhile.
    Yes... she could luxuriate between the sheets for another hour, and she had made a morning person feel bad about crawling out of bed to exercise!
    A skinny morning person... and that was the worst kind. Yes, she was good. Very good, indeed.

    An hour and a half later, a rare pang of conscience propelled Savannah out of bed and onto the hiking trails in the hills above the spa. It was still early morning, and she had plenty of time before her noon appointment to watch Dirk roas t Josef Orlet’s tri-tips on the station grill.
    She figured if she took a little jaunt around the property, she could kill two birds with one jog: First, she could proudly announce to Tammy that she had gotten her exercise for the day. So there! And second, she might get another look at the neighboring estate. Anybody as nosy as Phoebe Chesterfield might have a few stories to tell.
    As she neared the crest of the hill, Savannah saw a figure in a brightly colored , flowered dress moving along the wisteria- covered arbor . Although a large straw bonnet concealed the wearer’s face, Savannah had a feeling she had found Miss Phoebe the Snoop.
    Rather than alerting the old lady to her presence, Savannah waited until she was only a few yards away to hail her. No point in giving her getaway time.
    “Hello, neighbor ,” she called, jogging across the lawn to the arbor . “I just dropped in to get acquainted.”
    Phoebe Chesterfield turned and stared at her, the look of shock as clear as the lines on her face. Apparently, she wasn’t accustomed to being greeted in such an open, friendly manner.
    “My name is Savannah Reid,” she told her. “I’m a guest at the spa for a week or so. I suppose that makes us neighbors . I was just admiring your lovely garden. Do you do much of it yourself?”
    There. She had delivered that with just the right amount of casual flippancy. At least, she hoped so.
    But Phoebe just continued to stare at her with pale blue eyes the color of the bachelor’s buttons that bloomed in profusion on the hill nearby. She had a delicate beauty about her, suggesting that she had been a handsome woman in her day Clouds of silver hair cascaded freely down her back and around her shoulders. Her straw bonnet was tied with blue ribbons the same shade as her eyes, and she had stuck a fresh daisy its band. Like a lady from the Victorian era, she wore white gloves, and a wicker basket hung from one arm.
    But the moment she opened her mouth, the fragile picture of gentility and charm disappeared. Her voice was as harsh as her appearance was refined.
    “What are you doing on our property?” she demanded. “Didn’t you see the No Trespassing signs?”
    “Well, yes... I saw a couple. But I thought the spa had posted them. I thought I was still on Royal Palms property.”
    “You aren’t! You’re on Chesterfield land, and I’ll thank you to leave right away, before I have my servants shoot you .“
    “That would be a bit drastic, don’t you think? Isn’t it enough that we’ve had one mysterious, violent death in the neighborhood this week?”
    The pale blue eyes sparkled and her peaches-and-cream coloring heightened. One finely plucked eyebrow lifted a notch.
    “Mysterious? Violent?”
    Savannah laughed inwardly, congratulating herself on knowing how to bait a busybody.
    “You mean you haven’t heard what happened?”
    Phoebe sniffed and tossed her head. “I heard that that good-for-nothing harlot, Kat Valentina, drowned herself in a tub of mud. A fitting end for the likes of her, I’d say, considering the filthy life she’s led. But I didn’t know there was anything mysterious about it... or violent....”
    She paused, and Savannah knew she was expected to fill in the blank. She didn’t. Let the old biddy stew in her own curiosity for a while.
    “Oh, well...” Savannah said, turning as though to leave. “I don’t want to bother you. I can see that you’re busy and—”
    “I’m not all that busy. I was just going to pick some roses for this