Read Killer Calories for Free Online Page B

careening through his bloodstream, he wasn’t going to be overjoyed with her news.
    Dirk loved investigating a case. But once he had filed it away, he hated nothing more than to have to resurrect it.
    He spared her the awkward gambit. “So, why did you show up here at this ungodly hour to bribe me with donuts?”
    â€œBribe you?” Her blue eyes widened, black lashes fluttered, dimples deepened. “Now why ... after all the favors I’ve done for you ... some very recently ... would I have to bribe you with donuts, just to get you to do me one small favor?”
    He choked down the mouthful of pastry he was chewing and took a loud slurp of coffee. “Oh, man ... let me get out my hip boots. It’s piling up deep in here.”
    â€œJust one itty-bitty favor?”
    â€œHow itty? How bitty?”
    â€œOkay, it’s a biggy. I want you to reopen Kat Valentina’s investigation.”
    He stared at her, glazed sugar trembling on his chin. “Now, why the hell would I do that?”
    â€œBecause last night I found this shoved under my door.”
    She handed him the note. After he had read it, she shoved the envelope full of money into his hand.
    â€œDamn,” he muttered, doing a swift count. “And you get to actually keep this?”
    â€œI guess so, if I can figure out how she was murdered and by whom.”
    He sat for a long time, fingering the bills and studying the note. Savannah could almost hear those mental cogs turning. Dirk might be a slob, but when it came to criminal investigation, the guy was no slouch.
    â€œAll right,” he said. “I’ll talk to Dr. Liu, see if there’s anything we missed. Captain Bloss ain’t gonna be happy about it, though. He thought the whole thing was wrapped up nice and neat.”
    Savannah gave him a saccharine grin. “Now, that’s too bad. Because we both know how much that dear man means to me.”
    Like a true friend, Dirk’s eyes glimmered with hatred for the man who had ousted Savannah from the force. “Yeah, I know how much love you have for him,” he said. “You’d be happy to see him with an apple in his mouth, roasting on a spit.”
    Savannah grinned at the fantasy. The apple was a nice touch; sometimes, Dirk had a real way with words. She had always thought of Bloss as a guy with porcine qualities. “Sounds good to me. But only if I can turn and baste him.”
    Â 
    Savannah looked into Tammy’s eyes, with their long, fluttering Bambi lashes, and thought sadly that the young woman seemed to have lost some of her innocence in the past thirty-six hours. And if she followed Savannah into that autopsy suite, she was going to lose even more.
    They stood outside in the morgue hallway with its calm—to the point of depressing—blue-gray walls and gray-blue carpeting. Assorted abstract paintings completed the placid surroundings, studies of blue on gray and vice versa.
    â€œYou don’t have to come in if you don’t want,” Savannah told her for the third time in the past ten minutes. “Or we could wait to talk to Dr. Jenny when she’s finished this autopsy.”
    â€œHow long would it take?” Tammy was looking a bit peaked beneath her beach-bum tan.
    â€œProbably about an hour or so. We could go grab a bite to eat and come back.”
    Tammy shook her head emphatically. “No, as upset as I am, I couldn’t possibly eat a thing.”
    Savannah stared at her, trying to fathom the concept of being too upset to eat. Some things were simply not to be understood.
    â€œLet’s just go talk to her and get it over with,” Tammy said, squaring her shoulders and hiking her chin up a notch.
    â€œOkay ...” Savannah pointed to the gleaming double doors. “... but promise me you won’t barf. Dr. Jenny hates it when people puke or pass out in her autopsy suite.”
    â€œYou sound like you know what you’re