Killer Sudoku Read Online Free

might be a better description. I expect Will knows what he’s getting into. He’s a big boy, after all.
    Babs gave her a well-practiced smile. “You’ve got that sudoku column the Chronicle picked up.” Liza had nothing to complain about in the words, but Babs’s tone made the venture sound like the quaintest, most amateur thing imaginable.
    “Yes,” Liza said. She didn’t add anything to the statement. Why give Babs a handle to belittle her?
    “I’m staking out a presence in new media,” Babs went on. The implication that Liza’s column was hopelessly old media dropped with all the subtlety of a meteor impact. “The website is set up, and we’re looking to cement a network connection.” Babs’s eyes strayed to Charley Ormond and her camera crew. “I certainly wish you every success—”
    “LIES!” a deep voice thundered out.
    For a second, Babs lost her façade of hauteur.
    But no, it wasn’t someone calling Babs on her flow of insincere good wishes. It was just that Scottie Terhune tended to shorten everyone’s name to just one syllable. Beefy arms surrounded Liza in a bear hug. “How ya doin’, Lize?” he said, still holding on to her like a cute prize he’d won at a circus sideshow.
    Scottie finally let her loose with an irrepressible grin. “I see you hooked up with IQ and BB,” he said, again displaying his reductive genius with names.
    Babs Basset recoiled as if she were afraid Scottie would soil the hem of her dress. Ian was already striding away.
    Scottie’s grin just got bigger. “Sweethearts, the two of them.” He barely bothered to moderate his booming voice. “Sorry I missed you last year, but I had a conflict—a Trek convention down in San Diego.”
    Liza laughed out loud, fingering the woefully inadequate Trek uniform top stretched across Scottie’s chunky torso. “Aren’t you tempting fate, wearing this? I thought Trek guys in red shirts were the first to get eliminated.”
    “That’s Classic Trek , and this is a New Generation costume. Besides, it’s my lucky shirt. I won my first sudoku tournament wearing this.”
    Liza didn’t suggest that Scottie’s victory must have been some years and several sizes ago.
    Scottie must have seen something in her eyes, though, because he said, “I wouldn’t go talking trash about eliminations, Lize. This time around, you’ve got some serious competition. Believe it or not, there’s a Vegas betting line on this hoedown. The favorite is Ian Quirk.”
    “Sentiment for the local boy?” Liza asked.
    Scottie shook his head. “Those guys would run down their own mothers rather than give them even odds. Your new best friend Babs is rated to come in fourth.”
    His grin returned. “They’ve got me for second.”
    Liza laughed and shrugged. “Does that make me number three?”
    “Try again!” Scottie held up one hand with all fingers outstretched. “You’re number five. Looks like the boys in Vegas don’t like your touchy-feely articles. They don’t think you have the killer instinct to come out on top.”
    He turned, snagging the arm of a passing figure. “Here’s number three.”
    Even with the kidding and horseplay, Liza couldn’t repress a spurt of annoyance. The Vegas mavens thought that Roy Conklin was more of a competitor than she was?
    Liza watched Roy trying to shake Scottie loose. “Leggo, Terhune.” The guy was just a tad younger than Liza, but an adolescent whine crept into his voice.
    Admittedly, he looked much younger, with a round face and a snub nose—and an expression that looked as if he’d just had his hair ruffled and been given a wedgie.
    He might be teaching high-order math up in Seattle, Liza thought, but Roy still has flashbacks to the days when he was a nerd.
    “Maybe we’d better get this show on the road before you start a riot,” Liza told Scottie.
    He backed off, looking abashed. “Sorry, man.”
    Liza spotted Will off in a corner, listening on his cell phone. He was just about glowing