Killer Calories

files. So, if you would sign another...”
    As Bernadette returned to her own chair behind her desk, Savannah studied her face. The young woman was lying through her nicely capped teeth. Unlike Dr. Freeman Ross, Bernadette was easy to read.
    “You know very well that I’ve already signed one of these forms,” Savannah told her. “Why don’t you just tell me the real reason why you asked me to come by?”
    Bernadette blushed so brilliantly that Savannah decided maybe she was a real redhead after all. Her freckles practically stood out on stems. She picked up a pencil and began to fidget with it.
    “Well... I... ”
    Savannah gave her one of her best, comforting, “ big-sister” looks. “It’s all right. You can tell me. Just spit it out.” Ah... okay... mmmm ... I... ” Nervously, she began to doodle on a notepad in front of her. Savannah glanced down to see what she was sketching. It was a simple cartoon cat-a couple of circles with ears, eyes, a tail, and whiskers. Whether this was some sort of cryptic clue or great Freudian symbolism, Savannah didn’t know. But either way, she was losing her patience.
    “Bernadette, unless you’re going to draw some sort of treasure map there, put that pencil down, look me straight in the eye, and tell me what’s on your mind.”
    “Okay.” She drew a deep breath. “Dion killed Kat.” Savannah had to do a quick facial adjustment to keep her jaw from dropping onto her chest. Talk about candor ! “Dion murdered Kat? Are you sure?”
    Bernadette nodded, red curls bobbing. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
    “When we’re talking homicide, you’ve got to do better than pretty sure. Is this something you know for a fact, or not?”
    “Yeah, kinda .”
    Savannah sighed. “Let me rephrase my question: Why do you think Dion killed Kat?”
    “I heard them arguing right before she died.”
    “They had an argument in front of you?”
    “Not exactly in front of me. They were in Dion’s cottage, and I was standing outside the window. I wasn’t, like, peeking in or anything. I was just walking by on my way to the pool when I heard them. So, I stopped and, you know, listened a little.”
    “It’s a good thing you only listened a little, otherwise someone might have accused you of eavesdropping.”
    Bernadette nodded vigorously. “That’s right. But I wasn’t. It’s just that, when he told her he was going to kill her, my ears perked up.”
    Savannah could feel her own ears standing to attention “He said he was going to kill her?”
    “Yeah. He told her that if she told what he had told her, he was gonna kill her.”
    Experiencing a bit of mental vertigo, Savannah said, “Would you mind explaining that? No, wait a minute. Can you just tell me, as best you recall, exactly what he said?” Bernadette concentrated, brow furrowed from the effort. “Okay, I’ve got it. He said, ‘You don’t have to tell anyone anything, Kat. You’re just threatening to expose me out of spite.’ And then she said, ‘Can you blame me, considering how you’ve treated me?’ And he said, ‘If you tell anyone— anybody at all—I swear, I’ll kill you’”
    “And what did Kat say to that?”
    “She laughed at him.”
    Savannah experienced a nice adrenaline jolt that was better than a hit of double Dutch chocolate. “A man tells her he’ s going to kill her, and she laughs at him?”
    “Yeah, Kat could be really irritating when she wanted to be. I’m not surprised she was killed. Kat was that way to everybody. It was just a matter of time until somebody knocked her off.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

    S avannah couldn’t locate Dion until late afternoon. On a hunch, she decided to take a run along the foothills. Sure enough, there he was, jogging through the marguerite daisies and wild sage.
    As always, he was gorgeous, tanned, and glistening with just a misting of perspiration. Not enough to run in rivulets down his forehead... the way it was streaming down hers. No, Dion was and always had been a “star.” And apparently, ‘stars” didn’t sweat. At least, not as much as your run-of-the-mill private detective.
    She wiped her forehead on her Royal Palms sweatshirt sleeve and picked up her pace so that she could catch him where their paths intersected.
    “Hi, Savannah ,” he called, seemingly pleased to see her, as she approached. “Running off a little excess energy?”
    “Excess energy?” She fell into step beside him. “I’ve been getting out of bed at dawn,