“Er,” Jude responds. “I don’t know. There isn’t much to go on.”

“Exactly,” I say. “Remember what I said about being efficient? Now, if there’s something really striking you about her, some chemistry thing that’s jumping out at you, then we can keep this going. But, if not . . . I say we give her one more chance to wow us in this chat, or we cut bait. What do you say?”

I see Jude click around on her profile. “The second one,” he finally says.

Thank God. I mean, I’ve dealt with having to steer the conversation with reticent matches on more than one occasion, but this feels like we’re parked in neutral.

“Let’s give her a real shot though,” I say. “Talk about something she’s supposed to be interested in, okay?”

“All right,” Jude agrees.

“Have you seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose?”

“Um . . . yeah. I think I have,” Jude says.

Okay. Good enough.

GreatSc0t: Hey, you’ve seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, right? Did you know they were originally going to use a dummy to get the character’s contortions, but then the actress was so flexible, it’s actually just her with very minimal special effects. Isn’t that wild?

Jude hits send. We wait.

We wait awhile. This could be a good sign. Maybe Raya finally has something to say.

“Is that true?” Jude asks me.

“Yeah,” I respond. “I think it’s one of the reasons she got the part.”

“That’s brilliant,” he says.

“We’ll follow the little trivia up with a more open-ended question,” I assure him. “This is just so that she knows you have some knowledge about something she’s into.”

We finally hear a ping.

RayaJack5: Never seen it.

Er . . . . okay, I have to ask.

GreatSc0t: Really? When you said you liked Christian horror, I figured that was a perfect example of the genre?

Apparently, Jude is as curious as I am, because he hits send immediately.

I click on the link and my eyes are immediately assaulted by a black website with neon pink writing. I squint trying to read it.

I stop reading. Dear God, is this fanfic of fanfic? And is it turning the whole thing back to being about vampires? Also, what the hell is it with this week and Fifty Shades of Grey?!

“So . . . seen enough to make a decision about Raya, you think?” I turn back to the task at hand, trying to keep any judgment out of my voice. After all, I’m not here to comment on our clients’ tastes, just to help them find what they’re looking for.

“I might have seen too much, mate,” Jude says, his face one of confusion. “I don’t think this is a match.”

Good man. “All right. Let’s do this properly, okay? No ghosting.”