He was a nice guy, and she needed to be honest. “I can’t date you, Eric.”

“Whoa…”

“I’m an idiot, okay? Instead of being attracted to a solid, gorgeous guy like you, I got myself involved with a-a-” A solid, gorgeous guy like Cooper Graham… “… with someone else. It’s over, but I need some space. As I said, I’m an idiot.”

He squinted against the morning sun. “Cooper Graham. I knew it.”

She swallowed. “Do you seriously think he’d be interested in me?”

“Why not?”

This didn’t seem the time to talk about men being attracted to her merely because she was one of the guys. “I’ll fix you up with someone.”

That was one too many blows to his ego. “I don’t need anybody fixing me up.”

“Not even with Jennifer MacLeish? Chicago’s favorite meteorologist?”

“You know her?”

“Yep.” She’d have to persuade Jen, but they just might hit it off. “We can still help each other out now and then, though. Don’t you agree?”

“How do you mean?”

She hoped she’d read his ambitious nature correctly. “I’m an ordinary citizen. I can legally go places a police officer can’t, and that might be useful to you someday.”

He was listening. “Maybe.”

“And I’d like to be able to call on you occasionally. This accident, for example… I’m concerned about Coop.”

Eric wasn’t all good looks. He also had a brain. “You think whoever did this was after Coop?”

“I’m keeping an open mind.” Not so very open.

“Intriguing.” He stuck his thumb in his belt. “About this date with Jennifer MacLeish…”


***

The former air duct cleaning employee she was supposed to be investigating lived with his girlfriend and baby in her parents’ home. Piper followed the family to Brown’s Chicken, but as they went inside, she started worrying about Coop. He should be at the gym now, right on schedule. A schedule anyone with half a brain could figure out. Her anxiety got the best of her, and she hurried back to her car.

His Tesla was in the gym lot. She took a broken-down baby stroller somebody had put out at the curb from her trunk and pushed it, wobbly wheel and all, across the street. When Coop finally came out, she watched his reflection in a music store window. The stroller had done the trick, and he didn’t spare her a look.

She trailed him to Heath’s house, not caring if he spotted her. Once he was safely inside, she returned to her South Side stakeout and found the family in a hardscrabble neighborhood park.

She settled on a bench and watched them. Only the mother picked up their toddler, but that might only prove Piper’s target was a tuned-out father. Still, her gut told her the guy’s injury was real, and sure enough, when the toddler took a tumble, he swooped up the baby, then clutched his back.

The owner of the air duct cleaning company was as much of a jerk as she’d originally suspected, and he wasn’t happy with either her report or the single photo she’d managed to take. She could easily have stretched out the job by playing on his suspicions, but instead, like the great businesswoman she wasn’t, she convinced him he’d be wasting his money.


***

A few hours later, she picked up Karah from the hospital and drove her home where she fixed them all dinner. A couple of Band-Aids had replaced the bandage around her head, and her arm was sprained, but not broken. She could have been hurt so much worse.

As they ate, Jada talked about a report she was doing on child sex trafficking. Karah wasn’t happy to learn that the curriculum at her daughter’s parochial school included the seamiest side of street life, but Jada kept going. “Do you know there are, like, girls younger than me right here in the United States that are-”

Karah reached out to brush a lock of hair from Jada’s cheek. “Let’s talk about this when we’re not eating dinner.”

“But, Mom…” Jada’s amber eyes flashed with outrage. “Some of these girls are, like, being raped a bunch of times every day by these old guys, but when the police show up, they arrest the girls for prostitution. Girls my age!”

Piper had done some reading about child sex trafficking and found the subject so disturbing that she’d pushed it into her mental back closet. But witnessing a fifteen-year-old’s outrage made her ashamed of her apathy.

Jada stopped eating. “They’re victims of this horrible sex abuse, and it’s so not right for them to get arrested. We’re going to write letters to Congress.”

“Good for you,” Piper said.

Karah squeezed her daughter’s hand. “I’ll write a letter, too.”

After dinner, Piper changed for work. She dreaded going back to Spiral, dreaded anything that would put her near Coop and closer to getting permanently fired. As she deserved…

The house was packed. Coop and Tony had pulled out all the stops to overcome the bad publicity from the cockroach invasion-specials on top-shelf drinks and lots of celebrities scheduled to show up all week: football players, actors, and a beautiful country singer.

Jonah greeted Piper with a grunt and a rough slap on the back, his simian version of an olive branch. She gave him an elbow to the gut but was glad she didn’t put any force behind it because at least one of the bouncers stayed close to Coop all evening, something Coop didn’t look pleased about.

Deidre Joss showed up again, this time alone. She and Coop disappeared. When half an hour passed and he hadn’t returned, Piper started to worry.

She checked the alley first. New security cameras had been installed as she’d recommended, and Coop’s Tesla sat there unharmed. He must be in his office. But what if Deidre were still with him? Piper couldn’t imagine anything worse than walking in on the two of them doing whatever they might be doing, and she knocked loudly on the door. When it swung open, Coop looked irritated. “You need something?”

“Security check. I wanted to make sure no one was in here who shouldn’t be.”

“Is that Piper?” Deidre said from inside the room.

Coop opened the door wider. Behind him, Piper could see Deidre standing near the couch, her hair a perfect waterfall, her dancer’s carriage upright, her stilettos arranged in third position. She even wore a softly draped ballerina-pink dress.

Deidre was exactly the kind of high-achieving woman Coop was most attracted to, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the two of them married. In between board meetings, Deidre would bear him three beautiful children, and on weekends, she’d prepare gourmet meals. Piper wondered if Coop would someday look back on his fling with her and wonder how he could have been so crazy.

“I’ve been looking for a chance to talk to you,” Deidre said. “Come in.”

Piper reluctantly did as she was told.

“According to Noah, I owe you an apology,” Deidre said. “He told me in no uncertain terms that I made life difficult for you by not letting you tell Cooper I was the one who’d hired you.”

His name is Coop, Piper thought, even as she plastered on a smile. “No harm done.”

“Other than my threatening to sue her,” Coop said.

“Oh, no! You didn’t.” Deidre looked horrified. “I am sorry, Piper. I didn’t know that.”

She was so damned nice. And smart. And successful.

Piper hated her.

Deidre directed her attention back to Coop. “I have to be up early, so I need to get home. Good talk.” She extended her arm to shake his hand, when what she really wanted to do was give him a long, deep good-bye kiss. Or maybe Piper was projecting. One thing she did know: Coop genuinely liked Deidre. And why wouldn’t he?

“See that Deidre gets to her car safely, will you, Piper?” He squeezed Deidre’s hand. “Apologies, Deidre, but I have to get back on the floor.”

Deidre smiled. “One of the things I most admire about you.”

Along with his abs, his smile, that incredible mouth… Which I’ve sampled, and you haven’t.

Piper’s self-disgust hit a new high… or low, depending on how she looked at it.

She escorted Deidre from the club to the lot across the street where she’d left her BMW. “You really didn’t need to walk me to my car,” Deidre said.

“It’s nice to get some fresh air.”

“Did you know that Noah’s become a big fan of yours?”

“Really?”

Deidre stopped and smiled. “You’re the first woman he’s shown any interest in since his divorce.”

Piper made a noncommittal murmur.

“Girlfriend to girlfriend… He’s solid. Ambitious. I don’t know what I’d have done without him after Sam’s death. He can be a little intense, I’ll give you that, but maybe you should let him take you out to dinner and you can see if you hit it off.”

“I don’t really have any time to date now.”

She tilted her head. “Because of Cooper? I heard a rumor that the two of you have more than a professional relationship.”

Piper hadn’t seen this coming. “Fascinating what people will say.”

“Is it true?”

“You don’t believe in subtlety, do you?”

“Not since I lost my husband. Hell of a way to learn how short life can be.” She shifted her clutch to her other hand and waited, regarding Piper in an open, patient manner. “Well?”

Piper began walking toward the BMW. “I think you probably know by now that I never comment on my clients.”

“I respect that.” The locks on her car clicked. She opened the driver’s door, then turned back to Piper. “But if it is true… I like him a lot, and I’m going to give you a run for your money.” She didn’t say it in a bitchy way, more as a straight-up point of information. “And if it’s not true, tell him I’m low maintenance and fabulous.”

Piper laughed. Whether from surprise or amusement, she didn’t know. What she did know was that Deidre Joss was a force of nature.

Deidre pulled out of the parking lot. Piper crossed the street back to the club, barely avoiding a Lexus whose driver thought he owned the right-of-way. It felt good to have a target for her frustration, and she flipped him the bird.


***

The next night was a Friday, and the club was even busier. She helped Ernie toss out some men who were making themselves obnoxious, ordered the servers to cut off a couple of overzealous dancers, and broke up a fight heading for the alley. She was proving to be an excellent bouncer. If only she were as good an investigator.

By the time she entered her apartment, she was dead on her feet. She peeled off her dress, tugged on her Bears T-shirt, and brushed her teeth. As she came out of the bathroom, she heard her door open. She peeked into the living room.

Coop had makeup smears on his sweater sleeve and lipstick on the side of his neck. He looked tired, disheveled, and irritable. “I’m too tired to drive home.”

He’d been everywhere tonight, and she knew how tired he was, but she hardened her heart. “You can’t stay here.”

“Sure I can. It’s my apartment.”

He began emptying his pockets on the counter between the kitchen and living room, and she was temporarily distracted by what emerged: his cell, key fob, and a tampon wrapper with something written on it, probably a phone number.

Somebody had spilled a drink on him, and he smelled like liquor. “Coop, I’m serious. We’re… over.” She faltered on the word, but it had to be said. Their relationship was a train wreck. “Lovers need to be on equal footing, and we’re not.”

He took in her sleepwear. “Do you ever wash that T-shirt?”

“Frequently. I have more than one.”

“Of course you do.” He jerked his sweater over his head, filling the room with the scent of a dozen different perfumes. She spotted another lipstick mark on the opposite side of his neck. It was hard being Cooper Graham.

He would have already fired her if Karah hadn’t been run off the road. He probably still would. “Did you hear me?”

“I’m taking a shower, then I’m going to bed.” He headed for the bathroom. “Try your best not to jump me.”

18

Piper settled into bed, turned out the light, and tucked the sheet around her. Her life was a mess. She was sleeping with her boss, or maybe her ex-boss, who might or might not also be her ex-lover, but then why was he here, and why was she letting him decide this anyway? She was too miserable about her life to have a good answer to anything. She had no financial security. She was virtually homeless. And, in the only case she had that mattered, she was proving to be a shitty investigator.

The shower stopped running, the door squeaked open, and the mattress sagged. She moved as far away from him as she could, but he made no attempt to touch her. She was both offended and comforted.

She awoke in the middle of a blazingly erotic dream to find him inside her. She was wet and yielding, her body thrumming. His weight pressed down heavy, as if he were still half-asleep, both of them more animal than human. By the end, they were awake, not speaking, moving apart and finally falling back to sleep in the mess of what had happened.