Jeremiah's left eye twitched as he stared down Angelina. "We had this in the bag until she showed up."

Rowena stopped herself from putting on another layer of lipstick. "Are you saying Angelina is going to beat me?"

"Rowena, we're friends so I'm going to be honest. You're beautiful but Angelina is gorgeous. Blind men would give her a second look if she passed them on the street."

"For your information, blind men have looked at me too, Jeremiah," Rowena huffed. She tilted her head to one side. "Well, to be fair it was my fault they were blind." She lowered her voice. "It was a pepper spray experiment gone wrong. Don't ask for details. Let's just say it's never a good idea to buy pepper spray at a flea market."

Jeremiah's mouth fell open.

Rowena sighed. "Fine, it wasn't so much them looking at me as them looking for me. You'd hide too if some Italian mobsters were after you for blinding their henchmen."

"What are you talking about?" Jeremiah whisper-hissed, looking around them to make sure no one overheard. "Beauty queens don't hang out with mobsters!"

Rowena crossed her arms at her chest. "Stop getting upset with me. It's not my fault Angelina rejoined the contest. Can't we appeal to the judges to get her disqualified or something?"

"On what basis?"

Rowena shrugged. "I know a guy who can edit a video to make her look like she's kicking a puppy."

"What?" Jeremiah's brows rose.

"If not a puppy, maybe a baby pig? A cat? What about a koala? People love koalas."

"Rowena, I'm not sure that would be enough to get her disqualified. Besides, have you seen the judges? Your boss may vote in your favor but the other two are regular customers in my line of business." Jeremiah dropped his head and slightly hunched over in despair.

Rowena knew Jeremiah's job as a professional escort brought him both male and female clients. "Are you saying they prefer men?"

He scoffed. "No, but my female co-workers have told me they're lecherous. They'll vote on the contestant with the biggest chest."

Rowena looked down at her chest and pushed her chest up. "Should I add some padding?"

She grabbed a box of tissue and began stuffing her bra with tissue paper. "Do they look uneven?"

Jeremiah shook his head. He looked up with a strange glint in his eyes. "I have another idea. "I'm going to have to resort to the tricks I learned in my pageant days. It's going to take me a few minutes to prepare."

"Is it something you learned from your pageant days?" Rowena asked. "We aren't going to do anything illegal are we? I'd rather not get arrested again tonight."

He shrugged nonchalantly before reminding her to answer her question from the judges slowly. Rowena watched him scuttle out of view.

Sylvia sauntered next to Rowena. "Flores, are you sure you want to compete tonight? You're looking a little pale."

"Spare me the small talk," Rowena spat, turning her head to her assistant manager. "Angelina was fired. Why did you bring her back?"

Sylvia smirked. "Why are you asking? Worried you won't win?"

"Were you worried I would?"

Sylvia's smile faltered. "Tonight may not be safe. Karen was murdered. Gina went to jail. I'd hate for any harm to go to another employee."

Rowena's eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?"

Sylvia lowered her voice. "Just be careful tonight. I don't want any mishaps. This pageant must go exactly as I planned it."

As she walked away, Rowena wondered if Sylvia killed Karen just to run the pageant.

"Rowena!" Carmen called out before grabbing her arm. "You're up next to answer a question."

Just then, Jeremiah came rushing toward her with a rolling cart of bottled waters. Rowena smiled. "You got us all water? Thanks, Jeremiah."

She reached for a bottle. Jeremiah slapped her hand. "Not for you!"

"Rowena, you need to get in line to go onstage," Carmen urged her.

She glared at Jeremiah before stomping to the stage.

"You can do this," Carmen whispered.

Rowena shuddered. "Seriously, the nice Carmen is freaking me out," she muttered.

Wendy was on onstage next to Bubbles and Raven while Angelina waited nearby.

Bubbles smiled at the audience before turning to Wendy. "What are your views on plastic surgery?"

Wendy gasped before her hands flew over her nose. "Are you asking me this because of my nose job? I had to get it done! Everyone kept teasing me that my nostrils looked like two dinner plates!"

Her shoulders slumped forward and she ran offstage. As Wendy exited the stage in tears, Angelina sauntered into the spotlight.

Raven read Angelina her question. "What are your views on world hunger?"

Angelina's bottom lip quivered. She gave a tremulous smile and leaned into the microphone. "It's devastating. Every human deserves to eat... especially children. I donate regularly to food banks and other organizations in order to do my part. I just hope one day everyone has enough food to keep people healthy and happy. Everyone deserves to be happy."

Angelina turned her head and her smile enchanted the audience. A wave of applause filled the air. Someone shouted, "Encore!"

"Encore? This isn't a play," Rowena muttered.

Carmen nudged her forward. "It's your turn. Don't worry. Theyll just ask you your thoughts on some random topic. You've got this!"

Rowena nodded, still not used to a kind Carmen. She stopped next to Raven and smiled at the audience.

"Please ask me what my views on prison reform are," Rowena whispered to herself. "Please ask me what my views are on prison reform. Prison reform."

Raven smiled before handing Rowena the microphone and Bubbles a notecard.

Bubbles turned to Rowena and asked, "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready," Rowena said confidently, winking at the audience.

Bubbles nodded. "Rowena Flores, if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?"

Rowena's smile fell. "What?"

"If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?"

"Could you repeat the question?" Rowena mumbled, wondering what made up a peck.

Bubbles spoke faster.

"If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?"

Rowena cleared her throat. Sweat slid down her back. "Wow, that's a great question. Who thought of it?" She gave a nervous laugh. "Someone who likes pickled peckers, am I right?"

She immediately paled.

"Did I just say pickled peckers? Like I clearly didn't mean to talk about peckers. Especially not pickled ones. Who does that? Pickle their peckers, I mean. Oh my God, why am I still talking?"

"I'm not sure," Bubbles answered.

The audience roared with laughter. Rowena could hear Selig shout, You can pickle my pepper, Rowena!"

This was quickly followed by a groan of pain.

"I think she still needs to answer the question," Raven said.

Rowena groaned. "Can I tell you my thoughts on prison reform?"

Bubbles snorted. "You want to talk about pickled peppers in prison?"

"No!" Rowena screeched. "Truthfully, I don't know Peter Piper but peppers aren't pickled before they get picked so I say none. He couldn't pick any pickled peppers."

Applause filled the auditorium. Rowena lifted her chin and waved at the audience before strolling off stage.

Offstage, Sylvia straddled Jeremiah. Her arms wrapped around his neck in a chokehold.

"I did what I had to do!" Jeremiah sputtered.

"What is going on back here?" Rowena ran forward, attempting to push Sylvia off her friend. "He's turning blue, Sylvia! Let him go!"

"He poisoned all the other contestants with his bottled waters!" Sylvia yelled. "What did I tell you about this pageant going how I planned?"

Scattered around the backstage area, Rowena's co-workers were on the ground, clutching their stomachs, groaning. Only Wendy, Angelina, and Carmen seemed well.

Jeremiah's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp.

"You killed him!" Rowena screeched, pointing at Sylvia.

Sylvia pushed herself up. "I wish. He's just unconscious."

"He only wanted to help me," Rowena said, attempting to defend her friend.

"I'm very well aware you're the reason for this mess, Flores. Because of that, it gives me great pleasure to tell you I'm deducting points from your total score. You don't stand a chance of winning this pageant."

Rowena took a step back. "You're what?"

"Deducting points!" Angelina and Wendy answered in unison.

Rowena stomped her foot. "It wasn't my fault! I didn't ask Jeremiah to make the other contestants sick."

Sylvia's lip curled in derision. "I don't care. He's your friend so you have to take on the responsibility. If it was up to me, you and your stripper friend wouldn't even be part of this pageant."

Rowena's hands fisted. "Jeremiah isn't a stripper. He's an escort! Don't look down on my friends and don't knock them out!"

She jumped forward, slamming her fist against Sylvia's cheek. She gasped, staring at her hand. "What did I just do?"

Sylvia roared in anger, grasping her cheek. "That's it! You're officially disqualified, Rowena Flores!"