"So, have the police said anything about who they think might be involved?" Mel asked, hoping she sounded casual.

"Not to me," she said. "But I know they were looking pretty hard at one of the contestants after she had a tiff with the judge over her score."

"She's innocent," Mel said. Then she realized she sounded a bit strident and added, "Or so I heard."

Lydia gave her a long look, and Mel smiled.

"Your cupcake boy has a relationship with that girl," Lydia said.

"They're friends," Mel said. "Although they're possibly more than that now that he's noticed she's a girl. How did you know?"

"It's my job to watch people and anticipate what they need," Lydia said. "They seem like good kids. If you tell anyone I said this, I'll deny it, as the resort can't be perceived as being partial, but I'm hoping she wins."

"Me, too," Mel said.

Lydia led the way down a short hallway. She knocked gently and when a voice answered, she pushed open the door. Inside Ji was consulting with Sarah Hendricks, the unpleasant redheaded young woman Mel had tangled with before, and her mother.

"Lipstick for redheads-" Ji began but the girl interrupted her.

"Auburn, my hair is auburn. Surely, you should know the difference," the girl snapped. Her nostrils were flaring.

Ji studied her for a moment. She reached into her cosmetic case and handed the girl a tube of lipstick. "I'd try this if I were you."

The girl snatched the lipstick out of Ji's hand and hurried over to a nearby mirror. She applied the bright red lipstick, pouting at herself in the mirror.

"Well, you finally got it right," she said. She fluffed her hair and turned to face them.

"You like it?" Ji asked.

"It's fabulous!" the girl declared. "So much better than that horrible nude color you were suggesting. Come, Mother, the cupcake testing is going to start soon."

The girl sauntered past them without acknowledgment or even a thank-you for Ji. Her mother hurried behind her, sending them an apologetic smile.

Mel watched the door shut behind them, turned to Lydia and Ji, and said, "She is a horror."

Ji and Lydia exchanged a glance, and Ji said, "You have no idea."

"If you two will excuse me," Lydia said. "I'd better get back."

Mel waited until after Lydia had left before she spoke.

"Ji, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions," Mel said.

Ji glanced at the slim watch on her wrist. "Only if you can walk and talk. I have two more contestants to consult with. My redheaded princess refused to meet in the green room with the others, so I'm on my way back there now."

"I can do that," Mel said.

Ji closed up her cosmetic suitcase and put it on the ground. A handle came out of the top of it and she dragged it behind her like a small carry-on.

They made their way out into the hallway and Ji asked, "Is this about Lupe? Is she worried about her makeup? She shouldn't be. She's nailed it with the more natural look. It really suits her."

"No, it's something else," Mel said.

"Oh?" Ji glanced at her as they rounded the corner and entered another room.

"The other cupcake baker mentioned to me that Dr. Richards has offered her a free eye tuck if Destiny's cupcakes win this afternoon's competition."

Ji stopped walking. "Really?"

Mel nodded. "And it got me to thinking that maybe he had made similar offers elsewhere."

"You mean to me?" Ji asked. She frowned and Mel knew she had offended her.

"Actually, I was wondering if he had made the offer to Mariel," Mel said.

"Because that would explain why Lupe's score was so much lower than Destiny's," Ji said. She tapped her index finger against her lips as she pondered the possibility.

"Who would know for certain?" Mel asked.

"I would," Anka said as she joined them. "When Mariel was chosen to be the head judge and I was not invited, she called me to gloat about how this was just the beginning. She was launching a nail polish line with Ji and she was going to get nipped and tucked into being a contender in the pageant circuit again."

"Do you suppose that was her deal then?" Mel asked. "If she made sure Destiny won, then the good doctor would youthanize her?"

Ji and Anka both gave her startled looks.

"Sorry, I meant y-o-u-t-h-anize her, not the other, although-"

"Somebody did exactly that," Anka said.

Mel studied the two women before her. There was no question that they both had a motive to want Mariel gone. Ji because if Mariel did owe her a large sum of money, then their business venture was in jeopardy of not being launched, and Anka because she was always second to Mariel, and if there was no Mariel . . .

"Stop looking at us like that," Ji said.

"Like what?" Mel asked.

"Like we murdered Mariel," Anka said. "We didn't."

"Really? Because it seems to me like you both had solid motives. Didn't she owe you a lot of money for the nail polish line you two were working on?" Mel asked Ji.

Ji looked angry. "I don't have to answer that, but since I've already told the police all of this I will. Yes, she paid half up front and she owed me the rest upon completion of the line. When I was almost done, I asked her for it and she said she was talking to her investor."

"She had an investor?" Mel asked.

"Yes, which was why I went into business with her in the first place," Ji said. "I figured with an investor and her connections in the pageant world, we were guaranteed at least a modest success, which would give me a stepping-off place to bigger and better things. Didn't that gamble bite me on the butt?"

"Who was the investor?" Mel asked.

"I have no idea," Ji said. "She never gave me a name and no one has come forward since she died."

"How are you going to launch the line now?" Mel asked. "Won't that be a huge hit for your company?"

"I have been fortunate enough to find a new investor," Ji said.

There was something about the way they didn't look at each other that made Mel get it immediately. She looked at Anka and said, "You're the new investor."

"So?" Anka asked. She put her hands on her hips and tossed her hair in a defiant gesture.

"So you don't think it looks the least bit suspicious that Mariel's longtime rival is taking over her business venture upon her death?" Mel asked.

"It was just good business," Anka said. "Why should all of Ji's hard work go to waste? Besides, we're marketing some of the polishes as memorial items for Mariel."

Mel stared at them.

"We didn't kill her," Anka said.

"We would have been arrested by now," Ji said. "I was at work in my lab that night and have my assistant as a witness to put me there."

"And I was at a party for the Barrett Jackson car auction with my husband, who can testify that I was with him the whole time," Anka said. "We're no more to blame for Mariel's death than your little friend Lupe."

"Fine," Mel said. "Then who killed her? Another contestant who didn't like their low score?"

"Maybe. Or perhaps it was another pageant insider? Do you think Richards made the same surgery offer to Cici?" Ji asked.

"No!" Anka shook her blond head. "Like me, she's had about all the surgery her face can tolerate. Besides, it couldn't have been her. She's too tiny."

"What about your thuggish cupcake boy?" Ji asked. "He looks like he could snap a person's neck with his fingers."

"Oz?" Mel asked. "No! He could never-"

"It could have been a crime of passion to defend his girlfriend," Anka said.

Both Ji and Anka were staring at her and Mel could tell they were thinking that she was deluded.

"I'm telling you it wasn't him," Mel said.

The other two exchanged a look that said louder than words that they thought Oz was the most likely candidate to have killed Mariel. Mel felt a hot surge of temper erupt through her core like hot lava.

"If you slander him in any way . . ." Mel growled. She took a step toward Anka, who scuttled behind Ji. "I will make it my mission to bring down this pageant with my bare hands if I have to."

"Mel, uh, Mel?" A voice called her name and Mel turned around to find Angie standing there, looking alarmed. "They're going to start judging the cupcakes. We're needed out front. And they're looking for you, too, Anka."

Mel glanced down at where her hands were clenched into fists. She shook her fingers loose and glanced at Ji and Anka.

"Okay, I think I made my point," she said and turned on her heel and strode away from the room, with Angie hurrying to keep up with her.

Once in the hallway, Angie grabbed her arm, "Were you channeling me in there? What the hell was that?"

Thirty-one.

"Walk and talk," Mel said. She wanted to put distance between them and the others. When they turned a corner, she paused and lowered her voice. "Anka and Ji think Oz is the one who killed Mariel."

"What?" Angie cried. "That's mental."

"Agreed, but they think because Oz and Lupe are obviously involved-"

"But that just happened," Angie protested.

"Yeah, we know that, but from outside looking in, and with Oz staking Lupe in the competition, not to mention arranging her talent act, he seems a likely suspect," Mel said. "It doesn't help that he looks like he eats small kittens for breakfast."

"What can we do?" Angie asked.

"As soon as the cupcake tasting thing is over, I'm going to find Uncle Stan and see if Oz is on his radar," Mel said.

"Can I help?" Angie asked.

"No, I've got it."

Angie frowned and Mel wondered if she was feeling left out.

"Don't worry," Mel said. "As soon as I know what's going on, I'll clue you in."

"Promise?" Angie asked. "Cause your track record for full disclosure sucks."

Mel turned so that she and Angie were facing each other. "Look, I'm sorry that I kept what was going on with me and Joe a secret. I really am. I just wasn't ready for a lot of the emotional stuff that came with it. Can you forgive me?"

Angie met her gaze, and then she slowly nodded. "Forgiven and forgotten."

Mel hugged her pal close. "Thanks. Now come on, I do not want to miss the judges' faces when they have to eat that Red Hot monstrosity of Olivia's."

Mel hooked her arm through Angie's and pulled her into the lobby at the front of the resort. The contestants who were participating in the cupcake recipe event were all there.

A twenty-something male reporter was interviewing Lupe, and Mel noted that Oz was standing nearby. It was good that he was looking out for Lupe, but she couldn't discount what Ji and Anka had said about him looking a bit mean and scary, and that was without his usual piercings. She knew he probably didn't mean to be looming over the reporter, but still she noticed the reporter glancing nervously at him before asking his next question.

"I'll be right back," Mel said to Angie. She jerked her head in Oz's direction and Angie nodded in understanding.

"I'll keep an eye on the cupcakes," Angie said and she pointed at the display tower where Olivia was watching the goings-on.

Mel nodded, circled the crowd that was gathering, and squeezed in beside Oz.

"Hi, guys," she said with a chirpiness usually reserved for cheerleaders and soccer moms. "Isn't this exciting?"