My breathing was coming in short rasps and I fought for air a little. Rich intervened. “C’mon guys,” he said, rising to his feet. “Don’t you think this is a bit much? She’s upset. Let’s leave her alone.” He put his hand on Detective Robinov’s shoulder and gave him a squeeze to signal that this interview was over. I still wanted to get in the last word.

“I had virtually no contact with her. Last week was a crazy week and I was totally swamped—I barely left this desk. The only time I saw her was with Steve on set. They were getting lunch and invited me but, but I was too busy.”

They absorbed this information and nodded, then both passed me their business cards with the LAPD logo emblazoned on them. “Well, if you think of anything more that would help, please call us, Ms. Hale,” said Detective Steiger.

The three of them rose and made their exit.

I couldn’t help myself. “You know that Chloe was dating Steve, right?”

This halted the three of them in their matching navy jackets. They turned in unison to face me. Robinov (the good cop) shared a look with Steiger. I was so cool that I sat and busied myself with straightening my desk for no reason.

“Chloe and Steve Jacobs were dating.” Robinov’s intonation wasn’t exactly a question.

“Yeah, they were dating, for a while.” I enjoyed their quiet turmoil. I loved being the keeper of the clues. Rich just watched me quietly, in his way. Troubled, the two cops nodded, then exited and closed the door.

I went over the entire exchange in my head, line by line, seeing if I had made any mistakes. I was fine. Even though I was in my office with the door closed, I realized I wasn’t going to get much done, because I knew everyone was now buzzing about Chloe. I could actually hear people saying her name through the walls. I shrugged it all off. It was terrible what had happened to her, but she’d worked here for only five days.

Leaving the office early, I swung by the drive-through at In-N-Out Burger to get a Double Double. It sat in its perfectly folded white bag on the passenger seat for the entire ride home. In the back of the fridge, I had a bottle of what I called “fuck-me champagne” on ice, just in case. I opened it with a loud pop. I filled my glass and settled in front of the TV. From the second I’d come in the door, Lucy had been following me around. Whenever I was still, she head butted my legs for attention. Lucy was thrilled; she wasn’t used to having me home this soon.