“Don’t like to be tied down to anything long-term?”

“Temps are what I could get while I auditioned.”

“You’re an actress?”

“I thought I was.”

“No luck, huh?”

Black hair swung. “I did some commercials for Asian cable. I thought I could model downtown for petites, but they said I was too small for even that.”

“Tough gig, the audition circuit,” said Milo.

“Every stupid girl thinks she can do it.”

“That include Dahlia?”

Pouty lips separated on white teeth slick with saliva. Brown hands the size of a ten-year-old’s met each other and clenched hard.

Ati Meneng said, “You found her?”

“Would that surprise you?”

“I just didn’t think it would ever happen.”

“Why’s that?”

“People like that,” said Ati Meneng. “They get away with things.”

“People like who?”

Silence.

Milo said, “People like Prince Teddy?”

Long, slow nod. “I didn’t know who he was. Later, I found out.”

“How did Dahlia meet him?”

“I don’t know.”

Milo said, “Dahlia was your friend but you don’t know?”

“I don’t know exactly. That’s why I talked to you—to him—in the first place. Because I do care, she was my friend.”

“Tell me what you do know, Ati.”

“My parents can’t find out,” she said. “They think all my temp jobs were secretarial.”

“They won’t, I promise.” Silence.

Milo said, “You did some other things besides secretarial.”

“I wasn’t getting any secretarial jobs so I registered at a website, okay? Asian Dolls. It’s not what it sounds, they just linked visiting businessmen with presentable young ladies suitable to be taken to social events.”

That sounded like a direct quote.

Milo said, “Helping them feel at home.”

“Mostly it was Japanese guys,” said Ati Meneng. “When Japanese girls were available, they got first dibs, but when they weren’t it opened up to all the girls. They were mostly nice. The guys, I mean. Older.”

“Mostly.”

“I never had problems, it was totally a positive experience for me. It was an honest business, the woman who ran it, Mae Fukuda, died a few years ago, her kids didn’t want to keep it going. Some of those other businesses are sleazy. That’s why I’m at the consulate, totally bored.”

“Asian Dolls,” said Milo. “That wouldn’t seem to include Dahlia.”

“Dahlia didn’t need to work, she had tons of money.” Gazing at the floor. “Okay, I know how I met her. A party. After that, we started to hang out. She got me into some cool places.”

“What kind of cool places?”

“VIP rooms at clubs, private parties—like at the Playboy Mansion, we went to three separate parties at the Playboy Mansion, it was incredible. Hef wasn’t there, he let them use his house to raise money for charity. We got to swim in the Grotto.”

“Where’d you meet Dahlia?”

“A club in Chinatown.”

“Which one?”

“Madame Chiang’s.”