“Uh, Samantha. Stevens. You know, from the Bochco drama.”

Jennifer blinked, trying to place me. Then finally shrugged as if it didn’t really matter that much to her anyway. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Uh, I was wondering if you had a few minutes?”

“I’m actually kinda busy right now,” she said, taking a long, noisy sip from her drink.

“It’ll just take a minute.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatev.”

I took a seat on the sofa next to her, trying not to covet her caffeine fix too deeply. “A little trouble with your co-star?” I asked.

She cocked her head at me.

“I watched that last scene you shot,” I explained. “The brunette seemed to be giving you some trouble.”

Jennifer nodded. “Lani. She thinks she’s so hot just because she’s taken a few acting lessons. She doesn’t understand that some of us are just naturals, ya know?”

“I thought I read in the Informer that you and Lani were friends?”

“Well, sure,” she said, slurping away. “But she’s, like, totally the Nicole Richie of the friendship, you know? She’s just riding my coattails.”

“Right.” Ah, Hollywood loyalty.

“So, I heard that you worked on that last Pines movie?” I said, getting down to business.

She nodded, licking coffee off her lips. “Yeah. What of it?”

“Well…” I leaned in close. “Someone told me a rumor about Jake Mullins, and I was wondering if you could confirm if it’s true.”

She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. “What kinda rumor?”

I took a deep breath, mentally crossing my fingers. “That he tried to blackmail Pines.”

The other eyebrow shot up. “Seriously?”

I nodded.

“Wow, that’s so not cool.”

“You didn’t know anything about it?”

Jennifer shook her head, her blonde locks brushing her shoulders.

“Nope. Man, you think you know someone.”

“Any idea if he approached any of your other costars?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“Who did Mullins talk to? Pal around with on the set?”

“You’re awfully nosey,” Jennifer said, narrowing her eyes as she bit down on her straw.

I suddenly had a bad feeling that the blonde might not be as dumb as she played on TV. So I decided to level with her. Hey, at this point, what did I have to lose?

“Okay, here’s the deal,” I said. “I’m not really an actress.”

“I know,” Jennifer said.

Which took me off guard. “You know?”

“Duh.” Jennifer rolled her eyes. “That hair. Who would hire an actress with purple hair like that?”

I bit my tongue, promising myself I could crucify her in tomorrow’s column. “Right. Well, I’m actually a reporter,” I confessed.

Jennifer froze, straw dangling from her lips. “A reporter?”

“With the L.A. Informer. Tina Bender.”

She slammed the latte down on the side table. “You! What, trying to dig up more fake dirt on me? Those marijuana lies weren’t enough?”