“Interesting use of a head butt,” said Sam, sitting on the couch opposite me with a cup of coffee in one hand and his cell in the other. God knows how many times he’d watched the footage.

Adelaide had remained downstairs in the lobby keeping an eye on the paparazzi out by the front door.

“Best get this to our lawyer in case the idiot tries for excessive force,” he muttered, more to himself than me.

“Does that happen often?”

He gave me a small smile. “No, not often. And not when there’s so much clear footage of the incident. He clearly came at you with a knife. There’s no way a judge would fall for it.”

“I don’t want Ziggy getting into trouble because of me.” I cradled my bottle of beer in two hands, huddled in the corner of the couch. “He’s already been hurt.”

“Miss Cooper, you didn’t bring any of this on yourself. Ziggy did his job and did it well,” said Sam. “Once the threat was dealt with, he waited calmly for the police to arrive and take charge of the scene. Nothing more.”

I nodded.

“It’ll be fine.”

“Sure,” I said, but I didn’t really believe it.

No idea when I fell asleep exactly. I’d told Sam I’d be fine if he wanted to head home, but he’d stayed. Turned out he was into old black and white movies. Or maybe that was just his sneaky bodyguard trick to distract shocked clients with something safe and familiar. If so, it worked. Half way through Casablanca or so was about the last thing I remembered. Now there were voices, neither of which belonged to Bogart or Bergman.

“…injured, but also you’re off the clock. Sure you should be here?” asked Sam.

“I’m fine,” answered Ziggy.

“Not talking about your arm. I saw how you were looking at her last night and today.”

Nothing from Ziggy.

“Figured you’d be coming by. That’s why I waited around, to have a word with you.”

“Regarding what?” asked Ziggy.

“You know it never works out, getting involved with a client. You’ve seen that before. We both have.”

Oh, boy.

For a moment, no one said anything. Then Ziggy cleared his throat. “You should go. Martha will be wondering where you are.”

“She knows where I am. That’s the thing about relationships…making them work is complicated. Takes a lot of effort,” said Sam. “And if you’re not committed to putting in serious effort, don’t go there at all. Especially for someone you’ve known for what…a couple of days? Easy enough for a guy like you to find some company for the night without doing potential damage to my business and your reputation.”

Ziggy sighed.

“She seems like a good woman.”

“She is and I hear what you’re saying, all right?”

“Right then,” said Sam. “Good work today.”