Sinister Sudoku Read Online Free PDF Page A

pot not only boil empty, but actually melt on our stove.”
    Michael harrumphed, but he couldn’t deny his own sudoku fanaticism. “I just wanted to make sure you’d be okay, safe at home tonight.”
    “I’ll be fine.” Liza didn’t want to tell Michael about her dinner date with Kevin, so she resorted to a little verbal sidestep. “I suppose I should get moving to the store now. Tell you what, I’ll call you in the morning and tell you how much snow I have to shovel.”
    “Fine.” Michael lowered his voice. “The way things are going, I could still be sitting around here.”
    They exchanged good-byes and Liza hung up, sending a guilty look toward Rusty. “Well, come on. We might as well go to the store and make some part of what I said true.”
    She got the leash. Rusty enjoyed the walk to Castelli’s Market, sniffing the air appreciatively. Liza was less cheerful. The air was still cold, but she could feel the trace of dampness in it that predicted—or was that threatened?— future snow.
    Liza left Rusty outside and braved quite a crowd at Castelli’s to pick up her snow supplies. Arriving back home, she had to drop her shopping sacks and run to the phone without even opening her coat. Rusty ran around, trailing his leash and barking as the phone continued to bleat.
    Shushing the dog, Liza picked up the receiver while fighting pangs of conscience. Michael had a writer’s ear— not to mention a mystery writer’s suspicious mind. Had he detected some trace of ambivalence in her voice—and rung back to call her on it?
    “Hey, Liza,” Kevin’s voice came over the line. “I don’t know if you’ve been catching the weather report—”
    “I got some warning,” Liza replied, diplomatically avoiding any mention of her source. “In fact, I just got back from carting in the emergency provisions.”
    “Speaking of which,” Kevin began.
    Liza sighed, wondering if he was going to call the evening off.
    “My chef is in the middle of creating some special lamb thing for tonight, just for you,” Kevin said. “But I think we ought to get together a little earlier than we planned.”
    “Sounds like a good idea,” Liza admitted.
    “Fine. I’ll pick you up in say . . . three hours?” Kevin said. “You make jokes about my SUV, but I think it’s better in case of rough weather.”
    Liza checked the wall clock—five minutes before Kevin was supposed to arrive. Then she took a last-minute look in her mirror. She was wearing the Armani suit she’d picked up on Rodeo Drive during that last wild visit to L.A. solving Derrick Robbins’s murder. The suit had knocked a pretty good dent into her credit balance, but had been necessary— business camouflage.
    Now it was the newest, nicest suit in her wardrobe. The charcoal gray wool complemented the wine-colored sweater she was wearing underneath. As for the rest, she had the regulation number of eyes, nostrils . . .
    Liza parted her lips—nothing stuck in her teeth. Her shoulder-length hair, dark brown with hints of chestnut, fell naturally. Liza hadn’t fooled with it. Frankly, she needed a trim. That brought up an unwelcome image of Michael, whose untidy curls always seemed to need cutting. Liza repressed that thought and pulled on her good dress coat.
    “Probably smarter to bring my Eddie Bauer special,” she muttered, flicking a bit of dog hair off the cashmere. The clouds had gathered threateningly, and from the sound of things, the wind was picking up.
    It wasn’t howling quite yet, but Rusty had already taken what Liza considered his storm station, squirming in behind the sofa.
    “I left you some extra dry food,” Liza told her dog. “Don’t make a pig of yourself. With this weather, it may have to last you till morning.”
    She’d also taken the precaution of spreading newspapers across the kitchen’s linoleum floor.
    Well, I’ve said it out loud, she thought, turning to the door as she heard Kevin’s big behemoth pulling up in her