Killer Calories

on her face.
    Avoiding the front entrance, she took a circuitous path around the main building to the dormitory. The night air was cool and sea-damp, chilling her through the light silk dress. As she hugged her arms across her chest for warmth, she wished she had accepted Ryan’s offer of his evening jacket.
    She had almost taken the coat, eager for the opportunity to feel his body warmth and breathe his cologne for a few minutes. But then she had realized it might be a bit difficult to explain the presence of a man’s tuxedo jacket in her closet the next morning to the nosy, ever-vigilant Tammy.
    Just when she thought she was home free, her hand on the doorknob, her foot poised to step across the threshold… a door to one of the private cottages farther down the path opened. Out stepped Bernadette, moving with the same degree of stealth and guilt as she.
    Savannah didn’t have to do much high-level detecting to determine why Bernadette was slinking around at this late hour; she had just exited Louis Hanks’s bungalow.
    Most people wouldn’t have broadcast the fact that they were sleeping with the boss, although Savannah surmised that the secret was being kept only in Bernadette’s delusional fanta sies From the rumors and gossip flying around the place, everyone and their dog appeared to know the score.
    For a moment, both women pretended not to see the other. Savannah had decided it would be easier, less complicated this way.
    But Bernadette seemed to reconsider.
    “ Savannah , yoo-hoo,” she called softly, beckoning her. In the silent, still night, the half whisper seemed to boom along the dark passageway. Even the crickets hushed their chirping to listen.
    “I was looking for you earlier,” the young redhead said, as Savannah reluctantly approached, “but I couldn’t find you anywhere. Did you leave the grounds?”
    “Leave? Why would I want to do a thing like that ?“
    “Everyone wants to leave. That’s why it’s so depressing to work here.”
    “So, why do you...?” Savannah gave a slight nod toward Hanks’s bungalow. “Work here, that is?”
    “Lou’s going to help me get into the movies. Just like he did for Kat. He made her everything she was, you know, and He never really got enough credit for it. But, when I get to top, I won’t forget who put me there. No, sirree . I’ll owe it all to Lou.”
    “Um... I see.” Savannah shook her head, watching the stars sparkle in Bernadette’s eyes. The girl was really out there j[ she thought she was going to be the next Kat Valentina. Even if Lou had been responsible for Kat’s success, Bernadette Wasn’t a likely candidate to fill Kat’s dancing slippers. That was painfully obvious to Savannah , just by looking at the young woman. Bernadette was one of those sad people with far more blind, misguided ambition than talent or wisdom.
    “Did you get a chance to talk to Dion?” Bernadette asked a tad too eagerly.
    “About what?”
    “About the fight he had with Kat right before she died. You know, when he said he would kill her.”
    “Yes, actually, we did discuss that briefly and—”
    “And ?“
    Yes, Savannah decided, Bernadette was much too eager. The urgency on her face was more than just a mere appetite for gossip.
    “And he said he would never hurt Kat, that she was one of his dearest friends.”
    “Yeah, yeah, everybody says that. So what? It doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.”
    “That’s true. But all we had was a short conversation on the topic. I didn’t expect him to break down and confess murder to me, then and there.”
    “But I’m sure he did it.”
    “You may be sure. I might suspect. But the authorities are going to need a lot more... like some physical evidence) for instance.”
    Bernadette glanced up and down the empty passageway and lowered her voice. “I know where you could find some. “ Really? Where?”
    “In his room.”
    “What do you think I would find in his room ?“
    “Maybe some love letters or something like that .“
    “From him to Kat?”
    “More like, from Kat to him. Everybody knew she had the hots for him... ever since they made that movie together. ”
    “Did they have an affair?”
    “I don’t know. Don’t think so. But if they didn’t, it’s more because Kat wasn’t Dion’s type.”
    “I thought Kat was everybody’s type.”
    Bernadette donned an unattractive, contemptuous sneer. It occurred to Savannah that it was easy to have contempt for the “other woman.” At