Dahlia got the details for the awards show in the upcoming days from Keke’s rep. After work, she managed to find a place downtown to rent an evening gown. Thinking of how she needed to blend in behind the scenes as a makeup artist, she selected a simple black and white dress with spaghetti straps. She went with low heels. Who knew how long she’d be on her feet?

On the night of the show, as she was getting ready, Cy pulled his car into her driveway. She saw it was him from the new camera installed with her updated security system. She paused from putting on earrings to watch him get out the car and come to her front door.

“Look at you,” she said, upon opening the door and gazing at him in his sleek black tux. Did he have to come here looking so good, especially since she was trying to forget about being attracted to him? “Do you keep the tux stashed in your emergency kit, too?”

“Iron Guard has high profile clients. I wear it from time to time.” He tugged at the caller. “It’s not the most comfortable thing in the world.”

Maybe not, but he made it look like a second skin. “I’ll get my coat and we can get going.”

He took note of her dress, his eyes lingering for a moment before you looked at her face again. “You look good. Then again, you always do.”

She put on her coat. She couldn’t sit there and analyze what he said for too long. He was just being nice. It did mean anything else. Dahlia felt very silly for allowing herself to get carried away into thinking this could be more to him than just a job. His mission, his job, whenever he wanted to call it, was what he always valued more than anything else.

It took another thirty minutes before they were at the theater where the awards show was to take place. Dahlia showed their invitation to one of the parking attendants to confirm they were allowed to park. Cy didn’t use a valet to park his car. Instead, he drove to one of the VIP spots himself. Then they walked into the building, taking the side entrance reserved for backstage crew and others who worked behind the scenes.

Once there, an usher directed them to the backstage area where presenters and award recipients were to wait to get called up onstage. “The ladies dressing area is two doors down to your right,” the usher informed Dahlia. “I think Miss Keke is already there.”

Cy positioned himself by the backstage and between the dressing area. “I’ll be waiting right here.”

Important-looking people walked by Dahlia, men and women dressed to the nines. She waited until after a woman swished by in a swath of tulle. “Cy, I appreciate you coming with me tonight. Before you go and say it’s just your job, I want you to know I’m not going to be needing your services anymore.”

His jaw unhinged and he blinked. “The investigation is still ongoing.”

“It is, but I can’t keep going on like this. I can expect you to follow me everywhere I go, and I can’t live in fear the rest of my life.”

“If this is about what I said before—”

She downplayed it. “I should’ve told you, anyway. Things are quieting down. I guess that means it’s time to move on.”

“You want me to quit being your bodyguard?”

“Not immediately. I want you here tonight. We were invited so we may as well enjoy it.” She took hold of her makeup bag and turned away from him before he or she had a chance to say anything else. She found the usher and nodded to him. “I’m ready, if Keke’s waiting for me.”

The usher brought her to the dressing area. She knocked on the door and Keke answered. The actress wore a stunning midnight blue evening gown with the diagonal row of sequins that went from shoulder to train.

“Hi, doll. Glad you’re here early. I need you to help me get my best face on.”

Dahlia went to work and chose colors to create a smoky eye and bold lip for her client. “I appreciate you inviting me to this awards show.”

“You’re doing me the favor, not the other way around. Where’s You-Know-Who?”

“He’s waiting by the staging area.”

“I managed to get you two seats closer to the front if he wants to go there now.”

“He’s probably not going to budge from that spot until I’m done for the night.” And when the night was over, Dahlia had no idea what she was going to say to him when it was time for them to part ways for good.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’re sad all of a sudden.”

“I’m fine. I thought I left something at home, but it’s probably in my makeup bag.”

Keke lifted a perfectly arched, filled in eyebrow. “Honey, I act for a living. It’s bad when you can’t convince your audience.”

She was beginning to get tired of the actress prodding her to spill the beans. “I had a hard talk before I came in here.”

“With him?”

“Yes, but it’s settled.” She hoped she sounded firm enough. She really wasn’t looking for unsolicited advice about how to talk to men.

“I know when to keep quiet, believe it or not.” Keke looked at the old analog clock on the wall. “We better hurry. I have to be on stage in two minutes.”

Dahlia applied the finishing touches and stepped aside so Keke could make her way out the door to present on stage. There was a tiny TV in the room that showed the live feed as it aired. Dahlia watched as the actress joked with the audience and announced the evening speaker.

About twenty minutes later, Keke reappeared in the dressing room. She kicked off her shoes and stuck on a pair of canvas sneakers.

“I did know you were into the hipster look,” Dahlia teased her.

“I’m not out to make a fashion statement. I’m going to head over to another dressing room. I want to introduce you to an actress friend of mine who’s interested in you doing her makeup soon. Let’s go before I need to get back on stage.”

“Let me tell Cy.”

“Shakespeare’ll be fine. We’re just going down the hall.”

Dahlia considered whether it really was necessary to run and tell Cy she was going down the hall for a quick second. By the time she did all that, she could have just left and been done with it. “I’m ready, then.”

She went out of room and made a left down the hall with Keke. She glanced over her shoulder. The door to the staging area was open, blocking her sight of Cy. She could just see the edge of his tuxedo jacket.

“We have to hurry.”

“These heels are low, but they’re not made for running.” Dahlia plodded along to keep up with Keke’s faster strides in her sneakers. They came to an elevator. Dahlia was confused. “I thought you said the actress’s dressing room was just down the hall.”

“Down the hall and then we have to go into an elevator. I’m so frazzle-brained tonight because I’m trying to remember my lines to present.” The actress gave her a sweet, apologetic smile.

Something about Keke seemed a little off tonight. Could she be having stage fright?  Dahlia watched the elevator lights slowly light up one by one. “Are you sure we have enough time?”

“A few more minutes. It’ll only take a few seconds we get there.”

The elevator opened. A valet dressed in uniform waved them in. Dahlia got a good look at him. The face was familiar. She’d seen him before. “Wait. You’re not a valet. You’re Mary’s—”

Keke shoved her hard from behind. She went flying arms first into the elevator. The valet caught her before she could slam her head into the wall.

Keke stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the doors to close. She hit a button to go to the parking garage. “You really can’t tell a good lie, but you can sure believe one, right, flower girl?”

Dahlia struggled to get out of the valet’s grip, but he held her firm. His hat fell off in the struggle. She looked into his cold face. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to make sure you forget that you ever saw me, and that the world will forget they ever saw you.”

She stared into the cold hard face of Emmett Jones before something slept over her head and she was covered in darkness.