Tony had no idea why the thought made him feel like running.

From the corner of one eye, he caught sight of another shadow moving past him, moving out toward the offices. He whirled around too fast for balance and nearly fell. The shadow was attached to a sound tech. Probably heading in to jiggle the toilet handle.

This is insane.

His fingers closed around the last piece of paper and he refused to turn as a second shadow slipped along the concrete heading for the door. A darker shadow. Its edges more defined.

Hurrying to catch up as the door whispered closed.

A quiet click as it latched.

There, and he hadn’t looked.

Clutching the file, he stood, took half a dozen steps toward the set, and realized he’d only heard one set of footsteps go by. The sound tech.

The second shadow had been moving in total silence.

Something . . .

Peter’s voice jerked him away from the thought. “That’s it for now, people. Lunch!”

Thank God. He really needed to get some more sleep.

Four

THE BODY lay crumpled against the side of the building, a smear of blood against the bricks tracing its trajectory toward the ground. Shadows hid most of the details, but an outstretched arm placed one pale hand, like a crumpled flower, out into a spill of light.

“An inch more to your left.”

The hand moved.

Tina consulted the photograph she’d taken before lunch, cocked her head to check the body from another angle, and finally straightened out of her crouch. “That’s got it.”

“Good.” Adam took the picture from her as she passed and shoved it into the continuity file on his clipboard. “Let’s freshen up the blood and I want a warm body in there to check Lee’s light levels. Mouse . . .”

The camera operator looked down from his rig. “What?”

“You’re six one, right?”

“Six two. And I’m twice his size horizontally. And I’m working.”

“Fine. Dalal, hit Lee’s marks beside the body.”

Looking like he was wishing he’d stayed at his worktable, the prop man shook his head. “I’m five eleven.”

“So think tall. You’re not doing anything, get over there. Tony! Go get Lee!”

As Dalal reluctantly crossed the set, Tony headed off the soundstage. Technically, the part of the warm body should have been played by a stand-in, and whether or not they had one on set was generally a fairly good indication of the company’s current financial standing. Given the hurry-up-and-wait nature of shooting television, there were always people standing around with nothing to do until someone else did their job. Given the people CB tended to hire, no one was likely to report him for screwing with union rules. Those who might didn’t last long.

So far, Tony had managed to stay on the move and out from under the lights. The thought of being in front of the camera, even without the camera actually being on, made him sweat.

“Lee?” He took a deep breath, reminded himself that geeky was not a good look, and rapped on the dressing room door. “They’re ready for you.”