“Hey, this is a first,” I said. “You never swing by and say hello. What brings you around? Are you shooting a story on the lot?”

Lauren’s face was tight. “Yes, I’m shooting a story on the lot. I’m here shooting the story everyone’s talking about.”

I could tell Lauren was mad. With her big star-reporter hair and camera-ready face, she looked harder than “my Lauren,” the girl with the wide smile and glass of wine in her hand.

“When you brush your teeth you call to give me the blow-by-blow,” she started, advancing toward me. “And now you want me to believe that Chloe Johnson was here, working on your show, and you just forgot to mention it?”

I held my hands up to stop her. “Is that why you’re so angry? Listen, it wasn’t that big a deal that she was on the show.”

“It wasn’t a big deal?” she mimicked. “I want you to be straight with me for once, Dani. Chloe was murdered here on your show and I’m supposed to think that’s just a coincidence?”

I couldn’t believe she was putting all this on me. I was standing here fighting with one of my closest friends because of Chloe Johnson. The girl was fucking with me even when she was dead.

Lauren folded her arms across her chest. “The dead actress is just the beginning. While I was waiting for you, I thought I’d talk to Steve and see how everything’s going. Since he’s your boss, I figured you might not confide everything to him, but I know how close you are with Rachel, and, guess what? Steve tells me that no one named Rachel has ever worked here. So how do you explain that? So who’s Rachel? Was she just someone you made up? Is she an imaginary friend?”

“It wasn’t like that!” I said. “It’s just that sometimes you guys give me such a tough time about going out. She was an excuse for me, someone I invented so that I wouldn’t have to hurt your feelings every time I didn’t go out with you guys.”

Lauren shook her head. “What’s wrong with you? Are you out of your mind? Dani, we call you because we want to see you. Because we have a good time when you come along. Maybe we call you because we think you need a call from someone. You’re not doing us any favors when you finally give in and agree to go out with us.”

“You are being way too sensitive about this, Lauren.”

“I’m not the sensitive one—you’re the sensitive one.”