true,” Estes insisted.
“If you say so.” Eric turned to Bernie and Libby. “She did say she was glad you were here in case anything happened.”
“That proves my point,” Estes said.
“She was being sarcastic,” Bernie told him.
Estes spread his arms out. “How can you say that, given the circumstances?”
“Fine,” Bernie replied. She wasn’t in the mood to argue. “Why don’t we let the police decide.”
“The police,” Estes echoed.
“That’s what I said,” Bernie replied. She watched Estes sneak a glimpse at his watch before gesturing toward the stove. The oven door was now a mass of tangled metal.
Estes sniffed. “Obviously the stove exploded.”
“Obviously it did,” Bernie agreed. That was undeniable. The question was why had it exploded? Come to think of it, what was Hortense doing in here anyway? “But even if it is an accident, you still have to call the police,” she told Estes.
Estes rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. “First of all, I know that,” he told her. “I’m not a moron. And second of all, I resent your implication.”
“What implication?”
“The implication present in your statement, ‘even if it is an accident.’ How can it be anything else?”
“Easy,” Bernie replied as she squatted down next to Hortense. “Someone could have booby-trapped the oven.”
“Perhaps you’re saying that to puff yourself up.”
“Puff myself up?”
“Make yourself important.”
“I know what you mean,” Bernie snapped.
“Good,” Estes shot back.
This is going nowhere, Bernie thought as she gingerly reached into the breast pocket of Hortense’s Santa suit.
“What are you doing?” Libby squawked.
“Seeing if anything is there,” Bernie answered.
“Like what?”
“Like the list,” Bernie said without turning her head. The pocket was empty.
“The list of ingredients isn’t here,” she told her sister.
“So what?”
Bernie heard her left knee crack as she got up. She’d better get back to the gym.
“Remember Hortense said the list was in her pocket.”
“That was the pocket of her robe. Why assume she was carrying it on her now?”
“Of course she’d have it on her now. We’re going on the air soon.”
“She might have just been saying that,” Libby pointed out.
Bernie was about to answer but before she could, Estes jumped in.
“Let me get this right,” he said. “Are you saying Hortense was deliberately killed for the list of ingredients for the cook-off?”
“It’s a possibility,” Bernie said.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of,” Consuela scoffed.
“An insult to our abilities,” Jean La Croix huffed.
“And our morals,” Pearl added.
“I never saw this list you’re talking about,” Eric Royal added. “It’s in the safe.”
Bernie rubbed her knee. “Maybe she took it out.”
“I would have known if she had,” Eric Royal insisted.
“Well, all I know is that she told me she had it,” Bernie retorted. “Right, Consuela?”
“Right,” Consuela said sullenly.
“Eric, maybe you should go check.”
“I don’t know.”
Bernie watched Estes give Eric a nod.
“Go ahead,” he told him.
Eric was back five minutes later. From the look on his face, Bernie knew he wasn’t going to be delivering good news. And he didn’t.
“It’s not there,” Eric told Estes.
“It could be somewhere else,” Libby said.
“It could be,” Bernie conceded, but she didn’t think it would be.
Suddenly everyone in the room started talking at once. Bernie felt like putting her hands over her ears to block out the noise.
“Quiet!” Estes yelled.
Everyone shut up. I need a drink, Bernie thought as she watched the sweat beading up on Estes’ forehead. It was hot in the room, but not that hot. Maybe the guy had high blood pressure.
“What do you mean the list isn’t there?” Estes asked Eric.
“I checked the safe and Hortense’s desk. I couldn’t find it,” Eric squeaked.
Estes sniffed. “Well go and look again.”
“Don’t,” Bernie said.
Estes stared at her.
“What do you mean don’t?” he demanded.
“You’re disturbing a possible crime scene. Don’t you watch Law and Order?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. For your information, my cousin helps produce that show. Furthermore, just because you were involved in a couple of cases doesn’t make you an expert. Far from. You don’t know it’s a crime scene,” Estes told her. “There are lots of explanations for the list not being there.”
“You keep saying that,” Bernie told him. “I’d like to hear what they are.”
Brittany clapped her hands together.
“People, people, we need to focus here. What are we going to do with the list gone?”
“We don’t know it’s gone,” Estes replied.
“But
