“Nope. I’ve never done this before and probably won’t do it again.”
The woman, presumably the very rumpled Lila Crum, stumbled to the door. She pushed her scraggly brown hair off her face and blinked a couple of times as if to clear her vision. “Sorry, Kevin. What did you say about last night?”
“I said you’re welcome.”
“For taking me home, or…”
“Or, what?”
“Did anything else happen?”
He looked exasperated. “You don’t remember anything, do you? If you meandid I take advantage of you,the answer is no. I helped you to your bedroom and tucked you in. Look. You’re still wearing your clothes.”
She looked down at her wrinkled brown shirt and black jeans and nodded. “So, where did you sleep?”
“On your couch.”
“Oh. Well, uh—thanks.”
“Yeah, like I said, you’re welcome.” Then he charged down the stairs and halted on the walkway. “Shit,” he muttered. “Lila, will you unlock this damn gate?”
“Oh, sure.” She disappeared into the house and returned with a set of keys. As she handed the key ring to Kevin, she finally turned her attention to Merry. “How the hell did you get in?”
“I had to climb over the gate. You might want to leave it unlocked. A person could get hurt that way.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re trespassing. That means I can shoot you.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you. See that woman there?” She pointed to Roz. “She’s a very talented lawyer and my best friend. I doubt you’d want her to witness my murder.”
Kevin had unlocked the gate, but Roz wisely stayed on the other side.
“Well, maybe I’ll just shoot you both.”
He rushed back up the stairs and wedged himself between Merry and the homicidal reporter. “You’re not shooting anybody, Lila.”
Lila peered around him. “Who are you, anyway?”
“You don’t recognize me? You took my picture… and you printed it in the newspaper.”
Kevin stepped away and Lila eyed her curiously. “Oh! You’re Allison,” she finally said, smiling as if they were long lost friends.
“That’s debatable.” Merry crossed her arms. “First of all, how did you come up with that name?”
“What do you mean, ‘come up with’ it? I do my research. I don’t invent the facts. I just report them.”
Merry laughed, then quickly cleared her throat. “Let me say this differently. How did you research my name?”
“I talked to some guy hanging around outside your building. Long, black hair… black eyes… black clothes… kind of pale.”
Merry recognized the description of Sly, but that only confused her more. Lila continued, so she must not have felt the need to protect her source.
“I figured you two were related since he had the same last name. Flores, isn’t it?”
Merry took a step back. “Is it?”
Lila nodded. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure he said his name was Sylvestro Flores. I have it written down somewhere.”
Merry was so stunned she almost forgot what she had originally wanted to confront her about.Almost.“So, where do you get off trying to ruin other peoples’ love lives? Are you so miserable that you want everyone else to be miserable too? Jason Falco is a decent honorable man, and you had no business—”
