I double-locked the doors when we left, to prove how careful I was. We made our way up the hill to my car.

“I like to drive because I love my car so much,” I told Rich. “Even though I’ve had it a while, it still has that new car smell.”

I was leading the way on the narrow sidewalk when he said, “You drive a convertible cherry red Mercedes, right?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned around. Rich was looking at me with those detective eyes of his. “Oh, no . . .” he said, dramatically hitting his head. “Chloe Johnson drove that car.”

I wasn’t going to let him trick me. “Beemers are more my speed.”

“Beemers?” he echoed. “That makes sense.”“Are you implying that I don’t make sense?”Rich’s face spread into a smile. “Oh, you make sense. You’re just

totally whacked.” “Whacked?” “Totally.”

EPILOGUE

The Next Day

I was working on revising the Assistant Number Two Doheny show when my business manager, Alec, phoned me.

“Hey, Dani, I’ve got some interesting news.”

“Interesting good, or interesting bad?” I asked, more cautious than usual.

“Oh, no, it’s good, it’s good,” he assured me. “I don’t know if you’ve had time to check your portfolio recently. I know from watching the news that there’s been a lot going on at work for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, things have been a little crazy here, but we’re dealing with it. The answer to your question is yes, I mean, no. I haven’t been able to go online and follow my stocks and investment accounts.”

“Well, that Anagen ended up being a big winner. You were right on that one. It’s split again. I think you’re going to clear almost two hundred thousand when we cash out.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe this. Me, worth two hundred thousand dollars? All from reading Grant’s e-mail?

Late that afternoon, Steve called me into his office and told me they were giving me a bump in pay and making me supervising producer of the show. So I had job security for the first time. Not bad for thirty-four, I thought to myself. This was the best week ever.

One Month Later

“Hey, Dani, how are you?” asked a familiar voice over the phone.

I sat up straighter. Catching myself, I softened my posture and took a deep breath. “I’m good, Dave . . . how are you?”

“I’m okay. I just got back from New Zealand, shooting this TV movie thing.”

“Still getting married?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah . . . Valentine’s Day.”

“Wow,” was all I could think to say. This call wasn’t a complete surprise. I knew he was going to phone me at some point.

“So I was calling you to see if you had time soon to get together and talk?”

“Why?” I scowled into the phone.