It was worth it for the irritated look Saffi shot her. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you in the middle of something, your highness?”
“A meeting with my manager.” Dimple held up her brace. “Not much work I can accomplish while I have this on.”
Dimple used to act in community plays for free when she first moved to LA, and she’d met her manager, Julie, after one of those shows. It was apparently her charm and relentless effort that attracted Julie, who’d always claimed that Dimple treated life itself as a performance. It wasn’t until recently that Dimple began to understand what she’d meant.
They were long overdue for a meeting to discuss the future of Dimple’s career. She was also supposed to pick up a couple of scripts to start working on for upcoming auditions.
Saffi’s brows furrowed. She did that when she was thinking, Dimple realized. “Surely you’re not strapped for cash with the feature film you just shot.”
“The starving artist is a trope for good reason.”
“Oh yeah, I could tell by the squalor you live in,” Saffi deadpanned. “What else ails you? Was the red carpet the wrong shade for your complexion?”
Dimple didn’t know why she felt such an intrinsic urge to defend herself, but the words burned deeply in her chest as she forced them down. The issue with invisible scars was that nobody ever noticed them. But once you tasted true, carnal hunger, it burned itself into your mind for an eternity. Dimple couldn’t keep a stocked pantry for fear of bingeing it all to the point of sickness. When she first moved to LA, most of her meals had been expired overstock from the café next to her old apartment; she’d since had the pleasure of eating at a Michelin star restaurant downtown. One of those had been the best food she’d ever tasted in her life.
She’d had a full scholarship to a reputable university, and still she chose to drop out and leave it all behind. Dimple could stillremember the day she realized watching movies in her spare time would only worsen her fear of what she knew then to be inevitable: a meaningless, forgettable existence. Just like that of her aunt and uncle. It was an insult to her mother, who’d died so Dimple could live.
That day, standing atop the grassy hill on campus, a few film students had set up a tripod to capture the sunset. Dimple had never felt a stronger compulsion to do something than she did to walk past that camera. To leave some record of her having been here. There was no academic prestige, no desk job, no amount of money in the world that would make her feel as real as when a camera was pointed at her.
Dimple laughed, a manufactured thing. “I’m not quite what you think I am. But perhaps one day I’ll live up to your expectations.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
A flash of white as Saffi bared her teeth in a grin. “That’s only if you’re not behind bars before then.”
And the door slammed shut behind her.
Chapter Nineteen
April 15, 2026
Saffi didn’t extendanother invitation to Kapoor regarding the case until mid-April.
Andino and Taylor were treading on her very last nerve, so Saffi welcomed any distraction at that point. The two of them were under the impression that it was a good idea to go straight to Olsen. They hadn’t been able to get a clear answer as to whether he’d been at the second party, so they wanted to get his statement.
Saffi, of course, didn’t agree. When they found no evidence that he was guilty, like Saffi suspected they would, she doubted he would keep his mouth shut about it. A prideful man hated nothing more than to be accused of something he didn’t do. Olsen’s notorious temper and large following would make it infinitely more difficult to continue investigating, especially since Kapoor would then be given a heads-up about who else they were investigating.
It wasn’t entirely their fault, however. Saffi still hadn’t told them that Kapoor was the one she really suspected. She planned on having Andino and Taylor spend the most time with the actress, as Kapoor would likely see the men as easy targets to siphon information from. This way Saffi could keep a solid grasp on what, exactly, was being revealed to Kapoor. More than that, Saffi had the option of doctoring the flow of information, completely unbeknownst to all parties involved.
The most dangerous killers in the world were the ones who had something to lose. They tended to go to extremes to both hold on to and rationalize their wrongdoings. Considering what Kapoor had done the last time she’d been cornered, Saffi needed to play this very carefully.
Her career in film could only explain so much, though, and Dimple Kapoor’s in particular was superficial in every conceivable way. Saffi found herself more interested in the woman’s past, which was riddled with questions. Specifically, the year-and-a-half-long college stint. A full ride, including room and board, was many people’s dream. And yet it didn’t take long for Kapoor to drop out and throw herself at an uncertain future instead. It made little sense for someone so intelligent and calculating.
Saffi had been in the middle of deciphering Kapoor’s college transcript when she heard an office door slam shut and a pair of footsteps darting out. That would be the Andino half of Andino and Taylor Private Eye. The man had been jittery ever since Saffi mentioned that Kapoor would be coming in. Clearly, the actress had arrived.
It was worrying what the man might do in this state, so Saffi snatched her jacket and hurried to intercept them. A concerned-looking Taylor was waiting for her when she stepped into the hallway. Together, they watched Andino attempt to balance an armful of bottled water and snacks. Dimple Kapoor stood in front of him, her heels as red as her lips, politely accepting a little bit of everything. If Saffi hadn’t been looking so closely, she wouldn’t have noticed the actress slipping most of it into her purse.
“Oh god,” Saffi said.
“Yeah,” Taylor agreed with a sigh.
Even the interns, who were usually unobtrusive, came out of their office to gawk at the local celebrity. Living in LA, Saffi had assumed most of its residents would be used to this kind of thing by now. It took her a moment to realize that they were gawking just as much at her as they were at Dimple.
“Didn’t take you for a fanboy, Andino,” Saffi muttered under her breath as they crossed paths.
“Fuck off,” he said, ears red.
“Thanks for coming in,” Taylor said to Dimple politely.
