Free Cooking Up Murder by Miranda Bliss

away from anything that even resembled cooking.
    And the note?
    It had simply fallen out of somebody's purse or pocket. You are next in line at a doctor's office. You are next because whoever "you" was had a birthday coming up. You are next for a haircut or a nail appointment or for a tire rotation down at the garage.
    Delusional? Sure. But it beat thinking that Beyla was out to get me.
    While I was busy pondering all this, Jim told us to start stripping romaine leaves off the bunch, and I did, setting them in a colander so that I could rinse them.
    "Maybe the note wasn't meant for me at all," I suggested to Eve. "Maybe it has nothing to do with any of us. Or maybe someone left it there for Beyla."
    "Yeah." Eve sniffed. "That's why you saw her putting a pen back in her purse."
    "I didn't say anything about a pen. I said I saw her with her purse."
    "I'll bet there's a pen in it."
    "I'll bet there's one in yours."
    "OK. Fine. If that's how you want to be." Eve tossed the last of her romaine into the colander and turned on the water. "Maybe she didn't write it. But if that's true, why--"
    Eve's words stopped as if they'd been snipped in half by scissors. Her colander was still under the spigot, and water was still running over her romaine. But Eve was frozen in place. All it took was one look at the doorway to know why.
    A man had just stepped into the room.
    Tyler Cooper.
    "My hair looks like hell." Still staring toward where her ex-fiance was introducing himself to Jim, Eve ran one shaking hand over her ponytail. She blinked rapidly, her eyes moist with emotion. "Kaitlin must have mentioned to him that she saw me. That's got to be why he's here. He didn't know where to find me before now."
    It didn't seem likely, at least not to me, but there was no use pointing it out. As her theories about Beyla proved all too clearly, once Eve got something into her head, it was nearly impossible to dislodge it.
    That's why I didn't bother to mention that Tyler was a cop, and that cops can find anyone anytime they want. And that Eve hadn't moved since the days when she and Tyler were a couple, that her phone number hadn't changed, and that he'd bought her cell phone at the same time he bought his own. Her number was only one digit different from his.
    "Ladies and gentlemen . . ." Jim tapped a spoon on the side of his metal colander to get our attention. He wore a serious expression, and a thread of uneasiness knotted in my stomach.
    Why was Tyler Cooper at Tres Bonne Cuisine?
    "We've got a visitor, and I'm going to let him explain what he's doing here." Jim turned to Tyler. "This is Lieutenant Tyler Cooper of the Arlington Police Department. He's--"
    "Here to see me," Eve said under her breath, standing a little straighter.
    "Here to tell us some rather disturbing news," Jim finished.
    Eve's shoulders drooped. She looked at me, confusion clouding an expression that only moments before was wavering between hope and disbelief. Before she could say a word, Tyler cleared his throat and stepped to the center of the room.
    I have to admit, I was never quite sure what Eve saw in Tyler. Just like I couldn't quite remember what it was about him that I didn't like.
    Oh, he was good-looking enough. He was a smidgen under six feet tall, with broad shoulders, sandy hair, and eyes that, in the right light, looked like they were lit with blue neon. But with Tyler . . . well, his physical appearance wasn't nearly as important as his attitude. And Tyler had attitude to spare. I suppose it was one of the things that made him a good cop. Tyler was tough, and every move he made was designed to make sure no one would ever forget it.
    We knew it now, just by the way he stood there with his shoulders squared and pulled back slightly, his chin raised, his jaw tensed. He sized up each of us in turn, and I swear, he didn't even flinch when his gaze landed on Eve.
    Now I remembered what I didn't like about Tyler.
    He had a cold, cold heart.
    "Most of you have probably