“I got what I wanted and I’m where I want to be,” Eve said, cutting her bagel, too. “It’s not going to get me any further.”

“Maybe not in the sheriff’s department.”

Eve put some lox spread on her bagel while she eyed her mother. “What are you getting at?”

“The studios and networks watch the news, you know. So do writers and producers.” Jen picked up Eve’s knife and used it to put lox spread on her own bagel. “What happened to you before, that was a moment, but what you’re doing now, with this triple murder case, that’s a story. They are going to see that. You could be in a series or a movie.”

“I don’t think so, but even if you’re right, I’m not interested. I’m not going to cash in on this tragedy. That’s not why I’m doing this job.”

“You should talk to your father,” Jen said.

Eve dropped her bagel and stared at her mother, who’d made that outrageous statement as casually as if they were discussing the weather. “You want me to talk to Vince, a man I haven’t seen in ten years. Why would I do that?”

“He owes you years of unpaid child support,” Jen said.

“I’m an adult now. It’s not an issue anymore. What do you want me to do, arrest him?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jen said. “That can be our fallback.”

“Fallback?”

“He directed hundreds of TV shows before he retired and some of the baby writers he worked with then are big-time showrunners now. He could start paying back the child support by introducing you to some of them. If he doesn’t, you’ll put him in San Quentin, though it probably isn’t much worse than where he is living now. Have you ever been there? The whole place reeks of adult diapers and breath mints.”

Eve’s shoulders were so tight that the rigidity was spreading up her neck, too. She’d have a bad headache soon if she didn’t release some of the tension. She rolled her head and her shoulders but it didn’t help.

“I know what you really want and you can forget it,” Eve said. “You’re too old to play me anyway.”

“I know that. I’d be your captain,” Jen said. “Tough, but sexy.”

“I’m not going to sell myself as a movie or TV show and I sure as hell am not talking to Vince.”

“Hollywood will be calling, and when they do, you can be ready with a writer, maybe even a script, and get this made on your terms,” Jen said. “People wait a lifetime for an opportunity like this.”

“You mean that you have,” Eve said. “This is all about you trying to exploit me to make your own dreams come true.”

“Why not?” Jen said. “If it wasn’t for you kids, I could have become a star.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I couldn’t have a career and be a single mother. So I chose motherhood over stardom.”