Free Revenge of the Chili Queens by Kylie Logan Page A

charity events because we love to dress up and mingle and do some good for the community. We work for weeks on our costumes, and Teddi’s usually so proud of how she looks. And tonight . . . ?” Once again, her gaze slid to the nearby tent. “Housedress? Really? What was she thinking? I’m afraid Teddi is about to have some sort of breakdown.”
    “You want me to talk to her?”
    “Would you?” Ginger pressed a hand to my arm. “That’s so sweet. Maybe she’ll tell you what’s going on, because when I ask, she clams right up.”
    It was the least I could do for the person who was going to make sure I had that day off in New Orleans.
    I slipped out of our tent and over to the one next doorwhere Teddi was scooping a batch of chili into the slow cooker where it would stay hot until it was served.
    “Hey, Teddi, what’s up?”
    The ladle she was using clattered to the table, and, one hand pressed to her heart, Teddi jumped back and her gaze shot to mine. “Oh, it’s you.” Her apron was polka-dotted with chili, and she reached for a rag and dabbed at it. “I didn’t see you. You startled me.”
    “Ginger tells me that’s been happening all evening.”
    “Ginger!” Teddi was not as carefully made up as she had been the night before. I swear, I could see the faint trace of a five o’clock shadow on her thin face. “What else has Ginger told you?”
    “That she’s worried about you. She says you’re not acting like yourself.”
    “Well, I’m obviously not myself, am I?” she shot back. “I’m Teddi tonight. The way I always am at these sort of events.”
    “Ginger knows that.”
    “Ginger needs to mind her own business.”
    “She cares about you.”
    Teddi chewed the lipstick off her lower lip at the same time she bit back her anger. “That’s nice. Really.” She grabbed the ladle and starting filling the pot again. “But there’s nothing wrong. I’m just a little moody, is all. Now, I’ve got work to do and I bet so do you. You’d be better off worrying about your chili than about people you don’t know anything about.”
    All rightee then.
    I backed out of the drag queens’ tent, gave Ginger ashrug when I went by that pretty much said Don’t ask me what’s the matter with her!, and would have gotten right back to work if something near the entrance to the Alamo didn’t catch my eye.
    Charcoal gray suit.
    White shirt.
    Red tie.
    Did the man never see a weather report?
    I gave Sylvia a flimsy excuse about needing to find a ladies’ room, lifted my long skirt, and took off before Nick could slip from my sight.
    “You’re not in jail!” It wasn’t what I meant to say when I finally caught up with him, but honestly, I was so relieved, I couldn’t help myself.
    Nick jerked away from the hand I automatically clamped on his arm. “Jail? Why would I be in jail?”
    All that running and I was winded. I sucked in a breath of tropical air and pressed a hand to my heart. “This is how we’re going to handle the problem?” Good thing all that barking and woofing was going on at the fund-raiser or everyone there would have heard me when my voice rose to the night sky. “You’re going to act like you don’t know what I’m talking about?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Nick stepped away.
    I stepped in front of him.
    “Let me refresh your memory,” I said. “Back in LA, you beat up Dominic Laurentius and put him in the hospital. Before that, he was your partner on the police force. After that, you were both forced to resign.”
    For a moment, he was so still and quiet, I thought maybe he didn’t hear me. Then I saw a muscle jump at the base of his jaw. “I didn’t kill him,” he said.
    “But you did beat him up really bad.”
    Nick’s gaze flickered to mine, then moved away just as quickly. “You did your homework. Yeah, I beat up Dom. Two years ago. And believe me, I paid the price. I resigned from my job, gave up my career, sacrificed my