“You guys had dinner?” This was shocking to me. I’d never known Dave to hang with any of the actors on his shows. “Where was I? Was I still gone?”

“Yeah, you were still on your research trip to the Coroner’s Hall of Fame.”

“I wasn’t at the Coroner’s Hall of Fame,” I shot back. “I was meeting with some of the country’s top criminal profilers at Quantico. We’re really lucky the FBI is giving the show this kind of access. It’s almost unprecedented.”

“Yeah, you get access, and so does every other forensic show on television.”

“Well, that’s not true, and what exactly do you mean?” Sometimes Dave could be a total dick.

“I’m just saying, the way you talk about your ‘research,’ you act like you’re curing cancer or something. Just to set you straight, Dani, you ain’t no doctor.” He swallowed the rest of his beer.

I worked hard to keep myself from shoving one of his DVDs down his throat. “Well, just to set the record straight with you, these trips have really helped me flesh out some of the characters and given me great ideas for upcoming episodes.”

“Well, then, all the travel has been worth it,” Dave remarked.

“Yes, it has.”

I realized that, at some point, I had folded my arms across my chest in a defensive posture. I wanted to fire a few shots of my own. “So how was your dinner at Barney’s Beanery?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can feel a trap coming.”

“I’m not setting you up for any trick question. I was just curious.” I was trying hard to act like I didn’t care, but I was observing him very closely. “The two of you seemed to have had an interesting conversation.”

“Is this you putting a guilt trip on me?”

“No. I’m just a little surprised. I’ve never known you to get dinner with one of the actresses on your show.”

Dave sat back on the couch. “Okay, you’re putting me behind the eight ball here. We’re just friends—why don’t you get that?” He set his mouth. “I am allowed to have female friends.”

“I know you are. I just wouldn’t go out for dinner with some guy I worked with, while you were out of town.”

“Well, I guess that’s you then.”

“No, it’s because I can’t go out with a guy in a platonic situation without him getting the wrong idea. It just makes me uncomfortable, and I know you wouldn’t dig me telling you about it after the fact.”