by M. Z. Kelly
“How...how did you get here?” I asked.
She turned away, facing the fire again, the flames illuminating her pretty face.
“It’s a funny thing about fire,” she said. “It takes things away when it burns, but it also shines a light in the darkness.” She looked back to me. “What do you see when you look into the flames?”
My gaze went over to the fire, watching the flames rising up and disappearing into the night air. I felt something shift inside of me and realized that somehow I was changed. Maybe it was the dream I was having, but I saw myself as a little girl, no more than four years old.
“I see myself,” I said to her, now almost sure this was just a dream, “when I was little.”
Lilliana nodded. “What else?”
I continued to stare into the flames, watching intently as images began to form. I saw myself as a child again, but now I was moving through my mother’s house.
“I’m home,” I told Lilliana, in the voice of my four-year-old self. “I’m at mommy’s house.”
“And?”
“I’m in my bedroom. There’s a place here...it’s where the boards are loose near the window, and there’s a space behind the wall.”
“And what do you have in your hand?”
I saw myself walking over to the window. “Some papers.”
“Where did they come from?”
My little girl voice became choked with emotion, and I saw there were tears on my face. “From the park...they fell out of his pocket.”
“Whose pocket?”
“Daddy’s...they...they fell on the ground when...”
“When he went away,” Lilliana said.
“Yes,” I cried. “When Daddy died.”
“What are you going to do with the papers?”
“I’m going to hide them. I’m not sure why, but I think they might help Daddy. I’m going to place them behind the boards in my bedroom and not tell anyone.”
I watched myself concealing the papers behind the wall in my mother’s old house, before pushing the boards around the window back into place. The images I’d been seeing then faded away.
I looked over at Lilliana, realizing the little girl I once was had gone away. “Why are you here?”
“Because I’m free now and because I needed to show you the light. It will help you understand.”
“Understand what?”
Lilliana’s smile returned. “Who you are.”
I was so shocked by what I heard that I was rendered speechless. Her voice...it was suddenly clear to me. It was the same voice that I’d heard during my near-death experience, asking me who I was. I was now sure of it.
My phone was on the table next to me. When it rang, I grabbed for the phone, but fumbled and dropped it. After I picked it up I looked over, realizing Lilliana was gone. It was as though she’d suddenly vanished into the air. I again had a thought that the entire experience had been a dream and that I was now awake as I answered the call.
I heard Leo’s deep, familiar voice on the line. I tried to focus my attention on what he was saying, but I was still trying to understand what I’d just experienced. Had I really found some papers when my father had been shot? Were they hidden away in my mother’s house?
My mind finally cleared. A sense of anticipation overwhelmed me as I began to process what I thought Leo had said.
“Can you repeat what you just said?” I asked him.
“It’s Pearl,” Leo said. “He’s been found.”
THE END
CONTESTS:
This book, like all the Hollywood Alphabet Series novels, contains an interesting Hollywood fact or quote from a famous movie star that may be used in my monthly trivia contest. Contests may be related to information in this book or Hollywood in general. There’s a new contest running every month, it’s easy to enter, and the prizes are great.
Click Here to go to the contests page on my website for details on my current contest.
STREET TEAM:
Click Here to become a member of my Street Team and receive my newsletter with information about the upcoming release of HOLLYWOOD QUEST, contests to win prizes, and the release of other new books.
***
THANKS FOR READING
HOLLYWOOD PRISONER…
If you enjoyed this book . . .
Review it. Please tell readers why you liked this book by reviewing it at Amazon or Goodreads.
Tweet/share that you finished this book.
Lend this book. This e-book is lending enabled, so please, share it with a friend.
Recommend it. Please help other readers find this book by recommending it to friends, reader’s groups, and discussion boards.
***
More by This Author:
The Hollywood Alphabet Series, with Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner, Bernie:
•Hollywood Assassin
•Hollywood Blood
•Hollywood Crazy
•Hollywood Dirty
•Hollywood Enemy
•Hollywood Forbidden
•Hollywood Games
•Hollywood Homicide
•Hollywood Intrigue
•Hollywood Jury
•Hollywood Killer
•Hollywood Lust
•Hollywood Murder
•Hollywood Notorious
•Hollywood Outlaw
COMING SOON : Hollywood Quest
Copyright © 2016 by MZ Kelly
Published by Kingston Roads Press, L.L.C.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, businesses, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.
Please Note
The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.