“That baggette will stick close to your body in case you have to move quickly, and you won’t have to worry about losing it because its body-hugging design will keep the baggette in place, trust me,” I added. She’d been insisting on carrying a clutch she’d just purchased in Hong Kong “since it’ll go better with your Chanel…”

I’d sighed, “Baby, I know beauty doesn’t just happen, and that you derive pleasure in putting a look together, but for once will you please just forget about your stylistic impulses and think about practical things?”

She hooted. “Practical things? You’re asking me to think about practical things? Who’s the one who outfitted me in sexy Chanel couture for the night?”

“A very sturdy Chanel, excuse me,” I fought back. “I feel powerful and sexy whenever I wear it, and makes me feel like I can take on the world. Plus it’s so well-constructed…”

She laughed lightly, breaking into my outburst. I realized that she’d only been trying to turn my attention away from my questions about “Serpico.”

“Aerin….”

“Everything’s under control, Harley,” she said softly. “Jack swears …”

I heard a man’s voice shout in the background.

“Jack says I’m surprisingly more difficult to deal with than Bette and Tina are, but he wants to tell you not to worry,” Aerin translated the shouts for me.

“Well, please tell him that I am going to hold him and Brom personally liable if you suffer so much as a scratch on your arm,” I answered. “And I am an ace litigant, so there’ll be no hole they can crawl into to hide from me.”

“Wha-a-a-att?” Aerin asked slowly, uncertain about whether I was serious.

It was my turn to laugh lightly. “I was just kidding, baby.”

“Oh. Whew!” she answered with a nervous laugh. “Had me there for a second.”

I smiled into the phone.

“So have you checked in?” Aerin asked after she gave me an audible kiss over the phone.

“Yeah. Got the place all to myself for the next few nights because the weekend guests have checked out, and they don’t have anyone else booked to come until Wednesday night,” I said as I walked to the wooden French doors of the room that opened into a private outdoor bathtub area that combined with a seating and lounging area. I opened the doors to look out at the sparse, rocky beauty of Joshua Tree National Park.