“They acted like his friends. Just guys hanging out.”

“Rich guys.”

She blinked. “Yeah, I guess so, being in the private lounge. But that’s not what got Dahlia to join them, money didn’t impress her, she had her own. She told me afterward she thought he was cute and sweet and real smart. I guess he was smart, he could talk about all sorts of things.”

“Like what?”

“Nature, travel? I really wasn’t listening.”

“Dahlia reported to you afterward,” he said.

“The next morning,” said Ati Meneng, coloring. “Yeah, okay, she went home with him. But it wasn’t like she ditched me. When we were in the ladies’ room, she told me she’d decided to do it, but only if I was okay with it. He seemed like fun, she wanted some fun. She insisted on giving me cab money. I had an early audition, anyway.”

“Was that pretty typical for Dahlia? Going with guys she just met?”

Black eyes sparked. “She was not a slut.”

“Of course not,” said Milo. “I’m just asking if she made quick decisions.”

“No,” said Ati Meneng. “She’d dance with guys, kiss them on the dance floor, even … sometimes she’d go off to a private VIP room. But I never saw her leaving for a whole evening with a guy. Never.”

“She must’ve really liked Teddy.”

“Once they started dating, I hardly ever saw her. But I was cool with that, everyone has their own life.”

“Eventually, she told you who he was.”

“That was maybe… weeks after, I can’t remember. We hadn’t seen each other and all of a sudden Dahlia called to catch up. Said he was out of town, let’s go to Spago. She thought it was funny.”

“What was?”

“How we thought he was the assistant and he turned out to be from one of the richest families in the world. She said he still didn’t like to dress up. Sometimes he rented a cheap car and drove to McDonald’s and ate cheeseburgers. Next day he’d be in his Gulf-stream, that’s a jet, flying anywhere he wanted. She flew in it, too, said it was all pimped up, black wood, black everything inside.”

“Where’d he fly Dahlia?”

“Mostly Vegas, but one time Hawaii. He liked to gamble. Dahlia’s only thing was when she was with him she didn’t drink, ’cause he was Muslim.”

“He wasn’t drinking that night at the Le Beverly?”

“Diet Coke,” she said. “His thing was Diet Coke. But he wasn’t whack about it, you know? Religion, I mean. Basically, she thought he was a cool little guy. That’s what she called him. My cool little guy.”

“She ever talk about problems in the relationship?”

“He could get grumpy, had a temper, but not to worry, he was already a member of the …” Blushing, she drew hair across her face.

Milo said, “Member of what?”