Page 37 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Dixie returned to her desk and started shoving papers into drawers, practically jumping up and down in her seat.

“Dix, seriously. She won’t care if you have paperwork out. We’re a working office. If she was going to judge us on the appearance of the office, she wouldn’t be coming back.”

“It looked bad?” she asked in alarm.

“No. It looked the way it did a few minutes ago, minus the whiteboard.” I gestured to the board that was leaning against the hallway wall. We’d been using it to list our potential cases for the nextDarling Investigationsseason.

Dixie jumped up out of her seat. “I should move it.”

“No,” I said with a sigh. “You need to sit down and take a few deep breaths.”

“It’s just that I never met a famous person before.”

I lifted my brow and gave her a pointed look.

“Well, besides you, but you’re normal.”

“And she’s normal too,” I said. “Besides, you met Connor Blake this summer. He’s semifamous.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your formerGotcha!costar is D-list at best.”

“Magnolia likely would have considered herself D-list before the mess with her father, and I can guarantee she doesn’t like the attention she’s received since.”

Dixie frowned. “Yeah, I know…”

“Just treat her like anyone else, okay? She’s had enough weirdness in her life. Our job is to help her find information about her mother and make her feel comfortable while we do it.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Her eyes widened. “She’s here.”

I turned and saw Belinda reaching for the front door, Magnolia trailing behind her. Standing, I walked around my desk to greet them as they entered the office.

“Magnolia, Belinda… welcome back.” I gestured to Dixie’s desk. “This is my cousin Dixie. She’s my assistant and will be helping us.”

Magnolia gave her a dubious look, which I understood. With her big blond hair, Dixie didn’t look anything like a stereotypical private investigator, but then again, neither did I.

Belinda offered her hand to Dixie, who had gotten up to greet them. “I’m Belinda Steele, Magnolia’s sister-in-law. Nice to meet you, Dixie.”

Dixie shook her hand and offered her a smile. “We’re eager to help. Can I get either one of you a drink? Water? A Coke?”

“Got any wine?” Magnolia asked, glancing around the office as though searching for an already-open bottle.

“Uh…” Dixie gave me a worried look.

“She’s teasing,” Belinda said, tugging her sister-in-law to one of the client chairs. “We’ll both take water, Dixie. Thank you.”

Dixie hurried into the back while both women sat down.

“Before we get started,” I said, grabbing a file from Dixie’s desk and opening it, “Dixie and I have taken the liberty of signing NDAs.” I handed the paperwork to Magnolia. “I want that to be the least of your concerns.”

Magnolia looked it over and looked up in surprise. “Thank you.”

I pulled a chair closer and took a seat. “I promised you earlier that I want no publicity from this. I figured I’d give them to you right off the bat so we can get started with more important things.”

“Thank you,” Belinda said. “As you can imagine, we’d like to be extra cautious, so I appreciate you being proactive about this.”

Dixie walked out of the back carrying three bottles of water, handing one each to Magnolia and Belinda and the third to me. She took a seat behind her desk and picked up an ink pen to take notes.

“I also took the liberty of already doing some light research into your mother,” I said, turning my attention to Magnolia.“Just a brief Google search and an impromptu interview with a source who will keep my inquiries confidential.”

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