“Not now,” she said with an air of resignation. “I promised.”
“I suppose you also promised you’d stick your nose into it and try to find out who’s behind the threats.”
Callie shrugged. “Just a question here and there.”
“Don’t do it,” he advised. “On the off chance that you are dealing with a real loony toon here, talk your friend into letting you fill me in on the whole story. Then maybe I could give you some advice that makes sense.”
“I’ve tried.”
“Keep trying. And whatever you do, don’t go getting the idea that the fake badge in your pocket and that unloaded gun you strap on before you go in front of the cameras gives you any actual police skills. Got it?”
Since it was more or less exactly what she’d told Terry weeks ago, she nodded dutifully. “Got it.”
He stood up and tucked a beefy hand under her chin. “I mean it, sugar. I’d hate to get a call one day and find you dead in an alley.”
“How pleasantly graphic of you to say so.”
“Remember the image,” he advised. “And call me before you go and do something stupid.”
She thought of her plans to have dinner with Lisa that night and to pry for information on the rest of the cast. Hank would probably think that qualified as stupid. She couldn’t risk telling him about it and having him invite himself along, either to protect her or for his own nefarious, libidinous purposes.
Maybe if she spent part of the evening convincing Lisa to go on a date with the detective, he wouldn’t be too furious with her. He’d probably be too besotted to even care if Callie managed to get herself killed for poking her nose in where it didn’t belong.
* * *
“This is really fun,” Lisa said, settling gingerly into the booth opposite Callie and reaching for the menu. “I don’t have all that many women friends. I think they’re afraid I’ll steal their boyfriends or something.”
Given Lisa’s reputation and her skintight wardrobe, it was not an idle consideration, Callie thought, but kept the unkind thought to herself. If she wanted this woman to open up to her, she couldn’t start out by insulting her.
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Callie said instead. “I’m sure it’s just because your social life is too busy to fit in many evenings out with the girls.”
Lisa gave her a provocative little smile that would no doubt have been more effective on the males she was used to dealing with. “Actually, I had to rearrange my evening to fit you in.”
Before Callie could offer the thanks that Lisa clearly expected, the actress waved her off. “Oh, I was glad to do it. My date will wait,” she said confidently. “Besides, I’ve been dying to get the real scoop on you and Jason Kane.”
Oh, goody, Callie thought. Lisa wanted to exchange confidences.
“There’s really not much to say. He saw me on the show when I did that walk-on, decided I had some quality that would benefit the show and he hired me.”
“Oh, please, nobody believes that PR crap,” Lisa said. “Are you sleeping with him?”
“Are you?” Callie retorted pleasantly.
Lisa blinked hard, looking vaguely uncertain. Apparently she wasn’t nearly as used to being on the receiving end of blunt talk as she was to dishing it out. Callie plastered her most fascinated expression on her face, took a slow sip of her iced tea and repeated, “Well, are you?”
Lisa finally settled on giggling. “Me? Never. Not that I would mind if he looked at me twice, but he hasn’t.”
“Glad to hear it,” Callie muttered under her breath.
Lisa leaned forward. “What?”
Callie beamed at her. “Nothing. As a matter of fact, I do know of a certain man who’s crazy to go out with you, if you’re interested.”
Lisa immediately looked fascinated. Callie supposed a woman could never have too many men panting after her.
“Who? It’s not Paul Locklear, is it? He’s a sweetie, but he’s way too old for me.”
Paul was all of forty-five, but it was nice to know that Lisa had some limits. “No,” Callie said. “Actually, it’s Hank Parker.”
Lisa looked blank for a second before recognition of the name dawned. “That cop who consults on the show?”
“That’s the one.”
Lisa seemed to consider the proposition thoughtfully. Or maybe she was just calling up an image of Hank’s physique.
“I never thought about going out with a cop before,” she said eventually. “I mean, I’ve only dated guys in the business.”
Probably because of what she thought they could do for her, Callie imagined. She kept the thought to herself. A whole evening of this and her head was likely to burst from all the unspoken thoughts crammed into it.
“Maybe it would be fun to date someone who lives in the real world,” she suggested instead.
Her expression still uncertain, Lisa eventually nodded. “Sure, why not? Tell him to give me a call sometime.”
“He’ll be ecstatic,” Callie told her with absolute sincerity. She wondered to herself how long it would last, though. Lisa’s relationships didn’t seem to have a lot of staying power. Still, that wasn’t her problem.
Her promised matchmaking out of the way, she propped her chin on her hands and said, “Why don’t you fill me in on everybody. It’s funny how you can work with people all day long and not be able to get a fix on them. Maybe it’s because we’re all pretending to be somebody else most of the time.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Lisa gushed. “I mean, who would have guessed that sweet Dr. Thornton would turn out to be hotter than a Texas barbecue at high noon.”
Lisa waved her napkin in front of her face to emphasize exactly how steamy Randall Trent, the actor who played the good doctor, was. That came as no news to Callie since she’d
