“No fly?” Coop said from the other side of the dressing room door.

Okay, Piper had to laugh at that.

The saleswoman, whose name was Louise, looked mystified. “It’s really fashion forward.”

Piper winced at her reflection. An eternity stretched between the bottom of the dress and her bare feet. “I think I need to go a few steps fashion backward.” Or take a fast trip to H&M, which was where she really belonged.

“Lemme see,” Coop said.

The saleswoman pushed the dressing room door open. Coop sat on one of the big square silver-and-black ottomans not far from the mirrors. Piper tried to tug down the hem. “I look like a pine tree.”

“With really good legs,” Heath Champion said from the front entrance. He wandered into the store and sprawled on the ottoman next to Coop’s. “I like it.”

“I don’t,” Coop said, his eyes on her thighs. “Too conservative.”

She gaped at him. “In what universe is this conservative?”

He shook his head sadly. “You have to remember you’re not a mortician any longer.”

Heath grinned.

She gestured toward the sports agent. “What’s he doing here, Coop? Not that it isn’t a pleasure to see you, Mr.Champion, but why here?”

“Coop told me to show up, and what could I do? I’ve made millions off the guy.”

“I needed another opinion,” Coop said. “He’s more used to buying women clothes than I am.”

Louise appeared with another armload of dresses and hustled Piper back into the dressing room. In the next half hour, Piper modeled a slinky red number missing a middle, a dark blue number missing a front, and a gold thingy that made her look like a Little League trophy. “I’m an investigator,” she hissed at both men, “not a pitcher for the Peewee Penguins.”

Heath grinned. “I like this woman.”

“No mystery why,” Coop retorted.

It was a mystery to Piper, but she had something more pressing on her mind. “This is clearly not working,” she declared as Louise went off to gather up more dresses Piper didn’t want to wear. “I’d freeze to death in every one of these. Not to mention that I can’t do my job if I’m worrying the whole time about my... my cooter hanging out!”

That cracked them both up, clearly signaling that it was time for Piper to take charge. “Louise, you and I need to talk...”

8