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said, and steeled myself for the verbal throw-down that was about to happen.
    â€œI’m Detective Walker. This is my partner, Detective Teague,” he said, and nodded to the man beside him. “You walked in on a bad scene, Miss Randolph. Are you all right?”
    â€œWould you like to go inside?” Detective Teague asked. “Would you like to sit down?”
    â€œCan we get you something to drink?” Detective Walker asked.
    Okay, these two looked and acted like two sweet old grandpas, but no way was I falling for their tricks.
    â€œNo, thank you,” I said.
    â€œI understand you found the victim?” Detective Walker asked.
    â€œYes,” I said.
    He shook his head. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
    Detective Teague pulled a little notebook from his pocket. “If you don’t mind, could I get your contact information?”
    I gave it to him and he wrote it down.
    â€œNow, can you tell us what happened?” he asked. “Do you feel up to it?”
    Wow, these two were good. Attempting to lull me into a false sense of security, no doubt. But they weren’t fooling me. I saw through their charade.
    â€œWhen I arrived, Derrick’s office door was ajar,” I said. “I knocked, pushed it open, stepped inside, and saw him lying on the floor beside his desk. There was no one else in the room, no one climbing out the window. I backed out of the room and alerted the receptionist.”
    Detective Teague jotted down the info, then said, “Well, I guess that’s it.”
    That’s—what?
    â€œWe appreciate your help, Miss Randolph,” Detective Walker said.
    Wait. What was going on?
    â€œThank you for your cooperation,” Detective Teague said.
    That’s all they were going to ask me? What the heck kind of detectives were they?
    â€œI doubt we’ll need anything more, Miss Randolph,” he said, “but you never know.”
    â€œWe’ll contact you if we need to,” Detective Walker said.
    I mean, jeez, come on. I found the body. I was their prime witness. There were a zillion other things they could have asked me. But they were just going to let me leave? What kind of investigation were they running?
    â€œHave a nice day,” Detective Teague said.
    Detective Walker nodded politely and they walked away.
    I stood there feeling slightly miffed. Didn’t these two realize how important I was? How could they have thrown me a few softball questions, then let the whole thing drop?
    Of course, I’d held my own and not given them much of a chance to ask anything, but still. Maybe I was finally getting the hang of this whole cop-interview thing.
    Since there was no use in going inside Hollywood Haven again, I decided to leave. My steps felt quicker and lighter as I headed for my car. Obviously, I’d have to make contact with someone else at Hollywood Haven regarding their anniversary gala, but for now there was nothing I could do.
    Except, I realized, stop by Macy’s—one of my all-time favorite stores—and see if they had a Sassy satchel in stock.
    Oh, yeah, my day just got a lot better.
    As I crossed the parking lot toward my car, my cell phone chimed. I pulled it from my handbag and saw that I had a text message from Shuman, an LAPD detective I’d known for a while now.
    We’d been through a lot of stuff together—strictly professional, of course. Well, it was mostly professional. Nothing romantic, though we’d seemed to share a come-hither attraction in the past that neither of us had acted on, except for that one time—long story.
    I hadn’t seen Shuman in a while, so I wondered why he was texting me. I accessed his message and read, If you are contacted by homicide detectives DO NOT talk to them.
    Oh, crap.

C HAPTER 3
    â€œT his is b.s.,” Bella said. “Serious b.s.”
    â€œSeriously?” I mumbled.
    We were standing in line for the time clock