“Oh no, no problems.” We looked at each other for a few seconds. This was starting to get uncomfortable. It was those cop eyes. It was like I shouldn’t even think of a lie or he would totally see it all over my face. Fucking cop—or ex-cop, I corrected myself.

Rich sensed my change in attitude and stood to leave. “Well, if you have any more questions about the interrogation, you know how to reach me.”

“Sure. Thanks a lot, Rich.” I tried to sound breezy.

“Oh, and did you get the pictures?” he asked as he stood to leave.

“What pictures?”

“The Nicole Brown Simpson photos. I heard around the office that you’d been trying to locate some crime scene pictures, and I happened to have a few at home.”

I had no idea the pictures were from Rich.

My eyebrows shot up. “You just happened to have some grisly crime scene pictures lying around your house?”

Rich turned in the doorway and gave me an odd look. “You’re not the only one who’s into this stuff.” Thunderstruck, I was, for once, speechless.

My eyes stayed on the door after he was gone. Fucking cop.

There were no calls from anyone to make plans for the rest of the week. Heading home at the start of the weekend, I thought how Fridays were the night that Dave and I always spent together. We went to Blair’s in Silver Lake on one of our last dates. Their specialty was short ribs, and I’d have to diet all day in order to indulge. Since the breakup, I’d head straight home at the end of the workweek and collapse. I missed those short ribs and I missed having a date for dinner.

I surveyed my house and realized the place was a disaster area. I started putting things away in drawers, threw a load of laundry in, and picked up stale drinking cups in the living room. The house was such a wreck it would be embarrassing if someone stopped by unannounced. Granted, there wasn’t much chance of that happening, but you never knew.

Per Lauren’s instructions, I’d figured out where the southwest corner of my house was. It wasn’t hard; I knew the 405 freeway was west of me, and that LAX was to the south. Since having dinner with Lauren, every night I would carefully light the two candles, hoping I was activating some positive feng shui. I didn’t know what I expected, like some gorgeous guy to come bursting in the door as soon as I put down the matches, but nothing had happened yet.