Free Death by Devil's Breath by Kylie Logan Page A

Showdown.
    Obviously, Bernadette didn’t know that. Just as obviously, I knew it was a weakness and jumped to take advantage.
    “He didn’t exactly say when he’d be here,” I told her.
    “But he was there. At the Showdown.” She stuck out her bottom lip. “I didn’t see him.”
    “Jack’s a busy guy.”
    “Yes. Of course he is. Busy.” She popped out of her chair. “Always so very busy. Even so, I know he adores hot peppers. Oh yes, I haven’t forgotten that. I thought for sure he’d be there for the Devil’s Breath judging.”
    “Which is why you decided to enter one of his old recipes.”
    Bernadette stopped mid-gush. Her dark eyebrows rose just a fraction of an inch. “You were poking around my cooking table.”
    “I’ve got a nose for tequila and Jack Daniel’s.”
    She wrapped her hands around the high back of the wooden chair. When she pushed the chair back under the dressing table, her knuckles were white. “You always did.”
    “Jack’s recipe, the one with the molasses and the tequila in it, it’s good stuff,” I told her. “But Karl Sinclair is a pro, and Brother William has God on his side. And then there’s Tyler York. I don’t know what his deal is, but he could have won big-time just for being the shiniest contestant. You think you actually had a chance to win?”
    “I won the regionals, didn’t I?” Like electricity, her question crackled in the air between us.
    “But maybe you didn’t care if you won the national title. Maybe all you cared about was being at the Showdown. About seeing Jack again.”
    The dressing area next to Bernadette’s was empty, and I leaned back against the table and crossed my arms over my chest. “Maybe you were hoping Jack would get a taste of the chili and then he’d notice you.”
    A tiny smile playing around her mouth, she slid me a look. “But now he doesn’t have to taste my chili to notice me. He’s already noticed me. Of course he noticed me! That’s why he sent you around to see me.”
    “Sure. Of course. And to find out if you saw anything as far as the murder, of course.”
    Before she had a chance to reply, a guy with a cigar hanging out of one corner of his mouth stuck his head into the room. “Two minutes, Bernie,” he said, and I knew I was going to lose her if I didn’t act fast.
    “He knows you didn’t do it, of course,” I said, stepping into her path when she pushed away from the dressing table. “Jack says he knows there’s no way you’d ever kill anyone.”
    “He knows that if my chili was poisoned, all the judges would have gotten some of it.”
    “Exactly what I . . . what Jack was saying,” I said, and I bit the inside of my mouth to keep myself from thinking how much I hated to agree with her about anything.
    “And if my chili was poisoned . . .” Bernadette laughed. “Hell, if there was poison in my chili, I would have had a great big serving of it delivered right to you.” Still chuckling, she reached into the corner and grabbed a long pole with a bent top.
    “You’re Little Bo Peep!” I said.
    Bernadette’s smile was sleek. “Oh, you always were a smart one.”
    My smile equaled hers. “I still am.”
    “And I—”
    “Come on, Bernie,” the man with the cigar called out. “Your music’s starting and the regulars are waiting.”
    When she whipped by me with that pole in her hand, she made sure it banged into my shoulder.
    I would say I didn’t take any of this personally, but of course, I did. What I didn’t do was waste any time. As soon as Bernadette was out of the room, I closed in on her dressing table.
    I’m not sure what I thought I’d find, but when I didn’t find anything, I was disappointed anyway. My arms crossed over my chest, I spun around, and leaned back against the table, considering my options.
    As far as I could see, Bernadette hadn’t left a purse for me to look through. Or a phone lying around so I could check her calls. In fact, the only other thing there