Death by Sudoku by Kaye Morgan

front desk for Michelle’s fax in the morning. Now it was definitely time for bed.
     
The next morning, Liza was up with the dawn again, showering, rooting around in her extremely limited wardrobe, and brewing a cup of coffee in her room’s coffeemaker. Considerably better than what Cal Burke handed me at Ma’s , she thought with a longing look at the little basket of baked goods that had magically appeared outside her door. The croissants looked especially appealing.
    No. Derrick had promised her breakfast when she arrived at his place. Regretfully, Liza put the tempting little basket aside uneaten, then turned back on impulse to grab a handful of tiny corn muffins. She wrapped up her stash in a couple of paper napkins and stowed the package in her already loaded carry-on. That should be enough to make an in-flight snack for both Derrick and me later on , she thought.
    After one last check to make sure she hadn’t left anything behind, she headed out the door. She’d already talked to the desk clerk, arranging for a cab to take her up to Derrick’s.
    Downstairs at the reception desk, Liza picked up the fax from Michelle and checked out. She was riffling through the flimsy sheets of the contract when the cabdriver came into the lobby looking for her. All present and correct , she thought as she followed the man out.
    The night before, the trip down the mountain roads had been accomplished in pitch darkness. All Liza had gotten from the ride was a sense of numerous twists and turns. Now, seated in the backseat of this cab, she put on her sunglasses to cut the glare of the early-morning sunshine, and let herself stare at the incredible scenery.
    It wasn’t so obvious at first how scenic the drive was.
    The driver’s route took them around the outskirts of town, but then they started climbing a narrow road into the mountains. There were indeed plenty of twists and turns as the road wound its way up a series of increasingly rugged slopes.
    Soon they’d left the land of manicured lawns behind. Greenery on the cliffsides came from low brush forcing its way between cracks in the rocky walls and trees rooted on ledges above them.
    Even in daylight, the driver had to keep both eyes on a road that consisted mostly of hairpin and switchback curves as it kept climbing. Liza, however, was free to enjoy the view. She opened her window, breathing in a slightly rank, piney odor from the trees and bushes. Closing her eyes, she fantasized for a moment that she was back home in Oregon—on a pretty, warm day, she had to admit.
    Smiling at her silliness, she opened her eyes, which immediately went very wide. “Stop the car!” she almost screamed.
    With a stomp on the brakes, the driver sent them swerving down the road, bringing them to a standstill before he reached the next curve.
    Liza was already struggling with the door handle until the driver hit the automatic locks. “You gonna be sick or something?” he asked, anxious about his car’s interior.
    Liza stumbled out, staring back the way they had come—and upward. Any answer she might have given dried up in her throat as her empty stomach began to roil.
    It hadn’t been a trick of the shadows. She really had seen a human figure dangling head-down and motionless from the branches of one of the pines. And now she could see the garish pattern on the sweater hanging from the still figure’s torso.
    It was Derrick Robbins, wearing his not-so-lucky sweater, from the looks of it. Because he was very obviously dead.

5
    “Hey, lady—” the cabdriver said as he came out of the car. Then he spotted Derrick’s body. He froze in his tracks, his jaw sagging open, and almost fell to the pavement. “Holy jumping Judas!”
    Liza whipped around. “You’ve got a radio in your cab, right?”
    The driver nodded.
    “Then get on it to your base, and have them send the police.”
    After that, the driver wanted to get out of there. Liza had to use some of the more drastic techniques she’d