Luckily, the station next to Katie was vacant. I waited a three-Mississippi count, then grabbed a copy of Cosmo from a rack on the wall and sat down. Cal hovered just to my right, pretending to rearrange the brushes at the next station over. I gave him a look that clearly said, “stay out of sight!” then turned to the brunette fluffing her hair beside me.

“Hey, you’re Katie, aren’t you? Katie Briggs?” I asked.

She turned, a bored expression in her big blue eyes as if even she was tired of hearing that name.

“I’m…Jeannie,” I lied, sticking a hand her way. “I’m a huge fan. I love, love, loved your last movie! That scene with the mother, right before she died after being stabbed by the circus clown hired by the mob—so realistic!”

A smile tickled her oversized lips. “Thanks.” Then she turned back to the mirror.

Okay…so what now? I bit my lip. I couldn’t very well come right out and ask her if she was the one threatening my life. I tapped my nail on the plastic edge of my chair.

“You know, I’ve read all about you,” I said, vying with her reflection for her attention. “In the Informer.”

Her expression puckered into what would have been a frown had she not been a plastic surgery devotee. “The Informer?”

“That newspaper. Have you read it?” I asked.

She clenched her jaw, her lips drawing into a thin line. (Okay, considering she had about a gallon of collagen injected in her lower lip, maybe “thin” wasn’t an accurate description. But it was at least thinner.)

“I’ve seen it,” she spit out.

“Oh, you should totally pick up a copy. That Tina Bender, she’s a hoot!”

She glared at me. “Hoot?”

“Oh sure,” I said, forging full steam ahead. “The way she likened your love life to a string of bad Spanish soaps just yesterday. I swear, I spit out my latte at that one.”

“Tabloid trash. They’re all printing lies. Malicious lies.”

Malicious. My ears perked up. That was exactly the term Mystery Caller had used, too.

“Wow. I wonder how she gets away with printing lies. I mean, don’t you think someone should stop her?” I asked, carefully watching her reaction.

She swiveled in her seat, turning back to her own reflection. “Please. Like anyone really pays attention to what that kind of tabloid trash writes.”

Ouch.

Vehemently, I shook my head. “Oh no, a ton of people read that column. Tina Bender is very popular.”

I thought I felt Cal smirk to my right, but I ignored him.

“Ha!” Katie barked. “Someone should put that sad woman out of her misery.”

Again, ouch. But…now we were getting somewhere.

“Where were you last night?”

“Excuse me?” she said, her eyes shooting to mine in the mirror again as she clenched her jaw.