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darling, so good to see you. I trust the solicitor sent you the updated documents?”
    “You know he did,” she said.
    Looking at me now, Alex said, “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
    Cordi shook her head and sighed. “Harley, meet my sleaze of an ex-husband, Alex.”
    The idiot just stood there looking at me like I was dinner. Yet I still couldn’t look away. Why Cordi gave him up, I could never know, but it must have been bad. No woman would have kicked him out of bed if they had the chance.
    “We’re leaving,” Cordi said.
    Before she could turn away, Alex grabbed the book from her and then looked at me. “Kirino… that makes three of us,” he said.
    “What?” I asked.
    “He’s a detective,” Cordi said. “I take it you’re working the Bellman case?” she said with resignation in her voice.
    And to her, he said, “Indeed, and I take it you two are as well?”
    “Don’t get in our way,” Cordi said. “Mr. Bellman himself hired us.”
    “So that outranks me, does it?”
    “You’re not a homicide detective,” Cordi said. “And this isn’t fraud either.”
    “You know that for a fact, do you?”
    Cordi’s neck and cheeks were flushed red with anger. Her hands gripped the book and pulled it from his grip. “Just leave this to the professionals,” Cordi said. Turning to me, she added, “Come on, let’s get on with it. We’ve got work to do.”
    “I’m warning you, Cordelia, don’t get too involved, but call me when you find something out.”
    “Do your own job,” Cordi said.
    On our way out I snuck a look behind me. He was standing there, his arms folded over his chest. The bastard winked at me.
    I would be lying if I said I wasn’t still attracted to him—even if he was a dirtbag.
    Don’t judge me. Those eyes!

CHAPTER 5
    On our way to Kirino’s antiques shop we stopped off at the Apple store and bought a new laptop—on company expenses. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t negotiate a discount. But it’d be worth every penny, I said to Cordi, after promising her I’d teach her how to use it.
    We also bought a 4G dongle so we could get Internet on the go while she got cable installed in her derelict old house.
    I leaned over in the passenger seat as we waited at a set of red lights. The sun shone brightly through the windscreen, warming the inside of the car, making me wish the AC worked. “About Alex,” I said.
    “He’s a scumbag,” Cordi snapped. “Broke my heart.”
    “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking?”
    The red light turned green, and Cordi hit the throttle and sped us off into traffic, where we had to slow to a crawl again as a stream of black cabs shot by us, using the bus lane.
    “Chose a younger model over me,” she said, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. As I didn’t want to die in an horrific traffic accident, I just nodded, made a sorrowful grunting noise, and patted her on the shoulder, leaving that line of questioning well alone.
    “Here,” Cordi said, passing me her cell phone. “Can you call Bellman? Ask him if he knows Kirino.”
    “Sure.” I took the ancient-looking Nokia brick. I was surprised it still worked. For a moment I felt like playing a game of snake for nostalgia, but given Cordi’s mood, I flicked through the numbers until I found Mr. Bellman.
    He answered after three rings.
    “Hello?”
    He sounded fragile compared to last time. Unsurprising, really.
    “Mr. Bellman, it’s Harley Hill with the Silvers Finders Agency.” Get me with the professional title. I even impressed myself a little.
    “Have you found anything about the doru?” he asked eagerly. I could hear the desperation in his voice, the hope. Which made it terrible to tell him that we’re just making enquiries.
    “Do you know a Mr. Ryu Kirino?” I asked.
    “Of course, he’s just up the road from here. Been a part of the community for decades.”
    “Have you had any dealings with him?”
    “None, I just know the shop as I’ve