So many reviews! Thanks so much, everyone! Note to self- shamelessly begging for reviews at beginning and end of chapter, and in desperate emails WORKS!!!!!

Viv- Vexie is a great idea...but what exactly is alive? I only ask so that you can help yourself, dear...

So, what happens when DA Harrison gets one step further to the Governor's Mansion by catching the notorious murderess- ROXIE BELL?! Read on...

Actually, I've read this through, and it's over three pages, so he doesn't catch her here...oh well...

"I am a co-old blooded, co-old hearted girl, yeah yeah yeah, two, three, four, " Roxie sang, making it up as she went along.

"I just killed a work of art, leaving a trail of broken glass, from his shattered he-art."

Alright, it wasn't a good song, but she was really getting into it now, transforming into 'stage mode'. She smiled. Broken glass. A trail of very liquid, red "glass" was, indeed, leading from the body.

"Yeah yeah yeah, what should I do? I can't live rest without yo-ou, le-ea-ding me-e, through the pathways of life."

And swinging into the chorus- "I am a co-old blooded, co-old hearted girl, yeah yeah yeah."

Roxie stopped, and smiled again at the corpse. An audience would view it as a song about love, and leaving a man. Only she would know... Which reminded her. How was she going to get out of this sticky little situation? Sticky...the blood was already congealing around the knife, which was embedded in Amos' corpse.

The police were already suspicious of Roxie- she had an alibi for the death of her manager, but Fred Casely had been linked with her, too, thanks to one of the housewives who lived two floors above Roxie and had seen him entering her room. Yes, that had been a very tricky one to get out of, but Mr Shale, bless him, had got a little confused, and thought- and told the police- that he had actually been there when Roxie shot at the cat. Roxie glibly explained that she had had so much trouble with cats in the neighbourhood that she had, after many tears, decided to send the bird to her parents to look after. And the policemen, falling under her spell, hadn't even bothered to check up on it. The manager's death, with Amos there, had obviously been laughably easy to explain. But three deaths, all men connected with her? That would be tricky.

"Hmmm, what to do, what to do?" she murmured, not really taking things seriously any more. If she could find someone who would swear to being with her at the time of the murder, and claimed to have- an jinx, for example- which meant that men she was involved with died? It would appeal to a romantically inclined audience, but, she fancied, not the police. How about...a stalker! Yes, just the right touch. A religious maniac, perhaps, who disapproved of Roxie, and was killing all the men she came near, so that she would be hung as a criminal? Roxie's inventive mind was at work, and, with a sudden flash of inspiration, she pulled out a chair from under Amos' writing desk. She found paper, scissors, a well known brand of paste, and a couple of newspapers. Roxie cut the sheets of paper in half, and started cutting letters and words out of headlines. About half an hour later (it was painstaking work) she had these:

RoXiE YoU muSt diE

And:

you mUSt hanG

Roxie congratulated herself. She would tell the police that she had binned the others, but they said, roughly, that her "stalker" would kill off any men she was romantically involved with, to make the police arrest her on suspicion of murder, so that she would hang as a criminal.

"Genius!" Roxie told herself. Then she started off for a well known coffee shop. She guessed that no doctor could put the time to within half an hour about three days after the death. That was all part of Roxie's plan. She had telephoned a friend, asking if she could stay with them for three days, as "things weren't working out between her and Amos". The shop would provide an alibi until she went to Sarah's, and she could fiddle around with the times a little, just to make sure no-one did suspect her more than necessary. Then, when she returned, she would go into her own apartment, and "find" Amos. Then she would telephone the police.

"Hello, Roxie!" called one of the waitresses. This was perfect. Mary would definitely remember her.

"Hi!" she returned casually, as she sat down at the nearest table. Mary came bustling over to her.

"What'll you have?" she asked briskly.

"Ummm....just a cup of coffee. Very strong, though, please."

"Nothing to eat?"

"Gee, no, I'm watching my figure."

"Okay, then. It'll be along in a second."

It was, a hot cup of the strongest coffee they served. Roxie sipped it, all the while thinking about how lucky she had been. Not just with the murders, but with everything- the act, the club, the money, everything. And all because of having an affair. Time and time again, she had regretted not shooting Fred the first time round. But if she had, she realised, she wouldn't be where she was now. She might be in prison, or something!

Tune in next time...not continuing until 40 reviews!