Free Danger in High Heels by Gemma Halliday Page A

eyes.
    "Speaking of Ricky," Allie said, completely ignoring the steam about to burst from Dana's ears. "How is he taking all of this? I assume he's maintaining his innocence? Rumor has it he's holed up in his Malibu estate. That true?"
    I shook my head at her. "Uh-uh. No way. You're not getting a story out of us."
    She shrugged. "Can't blame a girl for trying, right?"
    That was debatable.
    "What were you doing in Lana's store?" I asked, gesturing to the boutique behind her.
    "Oh, you know. Just following up on a story."
    "About the thefts on the DWC set?" I asked.
    Allie paused. "Wow, you seem to know all about my stories already."
    "Felix told me you were on it."
    "He did, did he?" she asked, her face a blank.
    "Coincidence that the thefts occurred just before Irina died?" I asked, feeling out what she might know.
    But her freshly spray-tanned face remained a blank. "You know, it's been great seeing you again," she said, sidestepping the question as she looked down at her cell phone. "But I've gotta run. Felix is taking me to this new restaurant, Tapas Mexicana, tonight, so I can fill him in on all my gory details." She emphasized the word for my benefit. "So I'm off to get a fresh pedi. Wouldn't do to arrive looking shlumpy, would it? See you ladies later!" she called, holding her phone up as she practically skipped past us toward the parking garage we'd just come from.
    "You don't think that shlumpy comment was directed at me, was it?" Dana asked, looking down at her sweats.
    I was such a good friend that I didn't answer that question. "Come on, let's go see Lana," I said, instead, pushing through the boutique's front doors.
    A girl with pink hair in tall spikes and three earrings in her nose stood behind the counter, folding colorful silk scarves. A blue one caught my eye, and I wondered if it would be wrong to do just a little shopping while we were there.
    "Welcome to The Sunshine State," she said. "Anything in particular I can help you find today?"
    "Actually, we were wondering if Lana was in?" I asked. "I'm a friend of hers from college," I explained.
    The girl nodded, her hair, I noticed, not moving an inch. Impressive. "Sure. She's in the back. Let me just go see if she's free."
    I thanked her and watched her disappear through a storeroom door, then snuck a glance at the price tag on the blue scarf. It was in the 'painful' range, though not totally into Top-Ramen-for-a-month territory. I momentarily weighed the necessity of two college funds. I mean, wasn't one doctor in the family enough?
    "Maddie, is that you?"
    I turned and saw Lana standing in the storeroom doorway. She was wearing a long, flowing maxi-skirt, a skin-tight T-shirt, and a red version of the scarf I'd seen her assistant folding. To cap it off, she wore a pair of white clogs on her feet that were big, clunky, and looked to be carved from actual wood. Honestly? Not shoes I would ever be caught dead in, but somehow on Lana's tall, lean frame the eclectic outfit worked. While her cheeks had lost their twenty-something baby fat, her hair was the same mass of shiny black curls I remembered from college, and her green eyes sparkled with genuine pleasure as she came in for a big hug.
    "Ohmigod, Maddie, it's been too long," she said, enveloping me in an embrace that smelled like peaches.
    "Agreed," I said, returning the hug. "You look great."
    Lana grinned. "Thanks. This whole outfit is from a new collection I'm designing. Even the shoes," she said, modeling the clogs.
    "They are certainly one-of-a-kind," I said truthfully.
    Lana ushered us into her private office in the back of the store, offering us seats on a comfortable velvet sofa and cups of herbal tea. After we caught each other up with the cliff-notes versions of what we'd been doing since college, I got down to the point of our visit.
    "We wanted to ask you about the Dancing with Celebrities set," I said.
    Lana nodded solemnly. "What a tragedy, right? Poor Irina."
    "I don't suppose you noticed