“Look, I’m fine. I have you, remember?” I said, gesturing to his gym-honed biceps.

“Tina, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I bit my lip, telling myself that was not real emotion backing up behind his eyes. I was a client to him. A job. If I got hurt, it meant his reputation went down the toilet, that’s all.

“So, do your job,” I said, purposefully turning away and focusing on my computer screen. “And let me do mine. In case you didn’t notice back there, my butt is on the line.”

I tensed for another argument but, instead, looked up to find Cal walking away. He tucked himself behind a desk a few feet away, an unreadable expression masking his face.

Good.

Great.

This whole shadow gig he had going was cramping my style anyway.

I turned back to my screen, trying to ignore how foolish I felt for wearing this hot pink bra, and brought up the main site of the L.A. Times.

While the Informer was L.A.’s premier tabloid (And, yes, I’m not above stating the obvious. We’re not an entertainment magazine, or a media outlet, or a women’s periodical. We report on celebrity scandals. Hollywood rumors. Which movie star’s beach bod has the most cellulite. We’re a total tabloid.), when it came to getting just the facts, ma’am, the Times was your best bet.

I pulled up their archives page.

“Hey, Max,” I called over the partition.

Max’s head popped up again. “Yeah?”

“What was the date on that Mullins obit?”

“Lemme check,” he said and disappeared behind the carpeted wall. Two beats later he popped back up. “August. The twenty-sixth.”

“Thanks,” I called, turning back to my screen and typing the date in. After scanning through several unrelated articles, I finally hit pay dirt with a piece buried in the Arts and Entertainment section.

Turns out Jake Mullins was a character actor best known for his portrayal of the “stern father” in a variety of family films. He’d done a few guest shots on Law & Order and CSI, but he hadn’t rated high enough on the Hollywood food chain for his passing to be front page news. Instead, the little six-inch article stated the bare bones of his overdose, the fact that the preliminary ruling was accident, and the highlight of his short-lived career—playing supporting actor in the latest Pines film. At the end of the article, the reporter noted that Mullins was survived by his wife, Alexis, who was best known for being a child star in the seventies TV show, The Fenton Family, about a blended family of musically inclined kids.

Immediately I typed the name “Alexis Mullins” into my People Finder database and came up with an address in Echo Park near Dodger Stadium. I copied it down on a Post-it and grabbed my Strawberry Shortcake purse.