“Cheer up. It’s not everyone who has their own stalker.” Cal threw an arm around my shoulders. It was a casual gesture, but it made me acutely aware of the heat coming off his skin.

“Gee. I feel much better now,” I countered, trying to decide whether I liked or disliked that heat.

Before I could come to any solid conclusions, he pulled away and hopped in the golf cart again. I joined him and held on to the white roll bar as he deftly maneuvered through the sets.

“Okay,” Cal said, “so Katie doesn’t own a computer—”

“So she says.”

“—and Jennifer was at Ashlee’s house.”

“So she says.”

“Any way to check that out?”

“I was just about to do that.” I grabbed my cell, quickly dialing Marco’s number. He picked it up on the third ring.

“Fernando’s salon, how may I help you?”

“Hey, Marco, it’s Tina. Listen, party at Ashlee Simpson’s two nights ago. Know anything about it?”

“Does Coach make handbags? Of course I do!”

“Were you there?” I asked, mentally crossing my fingers.

“Well, no,” he conceded. “But my friend Maddie’s friend Dana’s boyfriend Ricky was. He’s in Ash’s latest video.”

“Perfect! I need to know if Jennifer Wood was at the party. Think you can find out?”

“I’m on it, dahling!”

“Love ya,” I said, doing a smooch into the phone before flipping it shut. Then I turned to Cal. “Alibi checking in motion.”

“Great. Who’s next on our list?”

I looked down at my watch.

“Uh, actually, I think I need to call it a day.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Got a hot date?”

I scoffed. “Hardly. I have to get home to my aunt.”

“The lady with the tracksuits?”

“You were spying on me last night!”

“I was keeping an eye on you.”

“Through binoculars.”

“Yes.”

“Aimed at my windows.”

“Yes.”

I shook my head, indignation oozing from every pore. “That is such an invasion of privacy.”

“That’s my job,” he calmly replied, pulling the golf cart up to the lot and switching it out for the Hummer.

“Well, then your job sucks!”

“Says the girl who publicly trashes people for a living.”

“Hey, those people deserved to be trashed. You do stupid stuff, someone’s gonna point it out,” I replied, hoisting myself back into the truck.

He shot me a look. “Remind me to behave around you.”

“Yeah, well you can start by ditching the binoculars, buddy,” I shot back.