“You gotta be careful how many of those things you take.”

“You ever taken them?” I asked.

He shook his head, jowls wiggling with aftershocks. “Not me. Bourbon does the trick.”

I’ll bet. “Anyone look into this death?” I asked. “Was there an investigation?”

Max shrugged. “Don’t know. ME called it an accident at the time, but I doubt any official ruling has been made yet.”

“Bender!”

My head snapped around at the sound of Felix hailing me from the conference room.

“Thanks for the tip, Max,” I called over my shoulder as I jumped to the boss’s call.

The surface of the conference room table was covered with photos of Pines (publicity shots, poses at last year’s Oscars, his mug shot) and pics of the boy who’d starred in his last movie, a short kid with light hair and freckles across his nose. A regular Dennis the Menace. In the center was a candid photo taken on the set of the film last spring. Pines had a big smile pasted on his face, his arm around the boy as they posed next to a camera. Yesterday, it would have been a completely innocent photo of a boy and his mentor. Today, it took on a sickly sinister quality.

“We’re leading with this,” Felix said, pointing to the photo. “Cam’s going to try to get a couple more of the kid today. She’s staking out his school later.”

Cameron nodded in agreement, her eyes solemn as she stared down at the boy’s face.

“We need a piece to run beside it. Allie’s been working the co-stars angle, trying to get info on how much time Pines spent alone with the little guy.”

“Great, I’ll take over,” I said.

Felix gave me a hard look. “Allie’s already working this story.”

I put my hands on my hips. “But it’s my story.”

“You were sharing it. And today you were nowhere to be found, leaving the new girl to pick up all the slack. Allie’s working it.”

“You are not giving my front-page story away to a pair of tits you just hired!” I yelled.

Felix clenched his jaw, his eyes going hard beneath his brows.

Oops. Maybe too far? “Look, Felix—”

But he’d heard enough from me, cutting me off midsentence. “She’s a good reporter. You, on the other hand, made a major blunder today. You didn’t even know what was going on with your story.”

“Well, excuse me. I guess getting my condo broken into kept me a little goddamned busy!”

Two heads whipped my way.

“Oh, hell.”

“Someone broke into your condo?” Felix growled, a little vein in his forehead starting to pulse.

“Uh…well, broke is a strong word. Maybe they kinda just…”

“Did you know about this?” he asked.

I turned around to find Cal standing in the doorway behind me.

He looked from me to Felix. Then slowly nodded.