by Leonie Gant
“Miranda, please think about what you are doing. You don’t want to kill us. You’re a doctor, you save people.”
Miranda smiled. “You’d think so wouldn’t you? I honestly thought I’d find it harder to kill, but Eric just made it so easy. I slept with him to get back at Adele. I could see that Elliot was slipping away from me. That he was falling in love with Adele, and there was nothing I could do about it. I hated her so much and I wanted to hurt her. Eric started flirting with me, like he does with everyone, and I thought why not. Why shouldn’t I take her husband the way she was taking mine? I slept with him once and thought that would be the end of it. Then he comes back to me and shows me the video. He told me that if I didn’t pay him he would make sure that both Adele and Elliot knew what we did. He said he’d show them the video. I couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t let that piece of garbage ruin my life.”
“What did you do?” I asked though by this point I was more interested in what our chances were of getting out of this alive.
“I swapped Adele’s sleeping pills. Gave her a lot stronger version of what she normally has so that she would sleep through anything. Elliot had keys to the house so that night I let myself in, shot Eric and then moved Adele from her room into his. Made it look like she had never slept in her own bed.”
“Hospital corners,” I said remembering Adele’s perfectly made bed on the morning of the murder. “You were a nurse before you became a doctor weren’t you.”
“Very smart” said Miranda. “It’s a pity you’re so smart, but I was going to use that. I heard from Adele about the other murder case you were involved in. I thought it would be perfect if you found the gun, but I didn’t get it in the safe until after you had been back to the house the first time. I kept trying to get you to go back and find the gun, but the police found it instead, which worked out so much better. Especially since I’d wiped it over her hands after killing Eric so they’d find gun residue on her. I couldn’t think of anything more perfect than her being sent to jail for his murder. Unfortunately plans need to change, and I’m nothing if not adaptable.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked not wanting the answer to that particular question.
“There is going to be an unfortunate fire in the house, in fact it has already started” she said and it was then that I could smell the smoke.
“A candle burning in Adele’s bedroom has overturned on her bedding. It will take a little bit of time but this house will burn. It is far enough away from the neighbors that it shouldn’t be reported until it’s too late.”
“You expect us to wait while we burn to death” I said incredulously.
“No” Miranda said as the gun that had been wavering between me and Adele suddenly straightened in my direction. “I will shoot you first, then Adele and leave the gun here. They’ll think it was a murder and suicide. Everyone knows you’ve been helping that investigator look into Eric’s death. You got all the evidence against Adele and she snapped and killed you. Realizing that she couldn’t get away with your murder she killed herself. The overturned candle and resultant fire blurs the evidence, but it will be enough that no more questions will be asked.
Adele started whimpering and hearing the clinical explanation regarding my impending death, almost made me want to join her.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked.
“Just letting the fire gain some momentum. I have a plan, wouldn’t want to start the ball rolling too early considering I’m going to be the one to report the fire.”
“You’re reporting the fire” I repeated trying desperately to understand what was happening.
“Of course” Miranda said brightly. “I turned up to help Adele, like I always, do only to find the place engulfed in flames. I tried to get you out but I couldn’t.”
The smoke started to fill the room and Miranda pointed the gun at me.
“Looks like it’s time to finish this” she said calmly. “Goodbye Trudie, I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of this unfortunate situation.”
I closed my eyes, not willing to see the bullet that was going to end my life, when I heard a smash and thud instead of the bang I was expecting. Opening my eyes I saw Miranda slumped on the floor with Ruby standing over her, holding a horrible wood sculpture that Adele owned in her hands.
Rushing over I kicked the gun away. Ruby looked at Miranda, at the sculpture and then at me.
“She was the one who killed Eric wasn’t she?”
“Yes” I said as I pried the sculpture out of her hands before she decided to brain Miranda again. She looked dazed.
“Ruby I need you to focus, we need to get out of here. There’s a fire and I don’t think we can put it out. Can you get Adele outside? At that moment I heard a crashing sound as the ceiling started to strain and I could see flames coming through the vents.
Heading towards Adele, Ruby turned. “What about her?” she asked indicating the unconscious body on the ground.
Cursing the part of me that couldn’t leave the woman who had tried to kill us, I grabbed hold of Miranda’s limp body. I pushed Ruby towards Adele and the door. Once outside I saw the house being engulfed in flames. Ruby, Adele and I fell to the ground. Hearing sirens heading up the driveway I looked at Ruby.
“I called the police when I got here and saw her with the gun through the window” she said.
I grabbed her hand. “Thank you” I said gratefully, completely aware that Ruby had saved our lives.
Hearing Miranda moan, my eyes narrowed as she lifted her head up.
“Don’t even think of trying to get away” I said as a squad car pulled up and two officers jumped out. As they approached us with guns drawn one yelled out.
“We got word of a gunman.”
“It was her” Adele screeched pointing at Miranda, and promptly fainted.
Chapter Twenty-Six
While the fire was brought under control Ruby and I sat at the back of an ambulance with blankets around our shoulders.
“Why did you come here?” I asked her. “I never thought I would see you anywhere around Adele.”
“I wanted to see if there was anything of Eric’s that he left me” she said. “I know it sounds silly but I just want to keep as much of him with me as possible.”
We watched as Elliot Powell pulled up in his car, jumped out, completely ignored his wife sitting in the back of a squad car, and raced over to Adele’s side as she lay on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. Seeing the devastation on Miranda’s face I could almost feel sorry for her.
“I don’t think you want any part of the Eric that lived in that house” I said slowly. “I think that you should hold onto the Eric that you had in your life, because nothing good came out of this place.”
Ruby nodded. “I know people think I’m an idiot for staying with him and I probably was. Some people don’t have the strength to walk away when a situation is not going to be good for them. I hope next time I’m stronger.”
I nodded and then smiled as I saw Crystal pull up and get out of her car. Coming towards us I could see the concern written all over her face.
“I’m fine” I said before she could open her mouth. She nodded and when I stood she wrapped her arms around my middle.
“You have to stop doing this to me” she said and I could hear the unshed tears in her husky voice.
“I’m sorry” I said and squeezed her back.
I looked over her head to see Griffin had turned up and was standing looking at us with concern in his eyes. I squeezed Crystal’s shoulder.
“Can you give me a minute and then we can go home?” I asked.
She nodded and sniffed indelicately. Taking the blanket off, I walked over to Griffin.
“Are you okay?” he asked hesitantly.
“A tiny amount of smoke inhalation and a bit of a panic attack at having a gun pointed in my general direction again, but nothing major” I said lightly.
Griffin grimaced tightly. “You really nee
d to find a safer job.”
“Says the cop in one of the toughest cities in the country” I said noting the irony. “Adele didn’t kill Eric” I said.
“Yes, we’ve got your statements and Miranda just started confessing to anyone in hearing distance.”
I looked over to see Ramos raptly listening to Miranda, who was talking as animatedly as someone who was handcuffed could.
“Look” Griffin said. “I’m sorry I used you to get information regarding the case, but you need to understand it’s my job. Being a cop is who I am. I can’t let my personal life get in the way of that.”
“I understand” I said, “and I admire your dedication to your job.”
He smiled and stepped forward only to pull up short when I stepped back.
“And I’m sorry but what was between us will not work for me. I’m not cut out to take second place to your job.”
I turned around and headed towards Crystal, fighting myself the whole way. I wanted so much to throw myself into his arms, but I could not have a relationship with him knowing that I came in second place to his job. Ruby was right. Sometimes you just needed to walk away.
###
Thank you for reading Not Happily Married in Hollywood. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review at your favorite retailer.
Regards,
Leonie Gant
About The Author
Leonie Gant started her writing career at the age of ten when she stuffed notes in her pencil case full of ideas for mysteries that Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys should really have been solving. After years of watching mysteries play out in her head, in full, sometimes gory color, she decided that writing them down was the best way to deal with them.
In her life away from writing, she is a voracious reader with not nearly enough time to make her way through all the books that she wants to read. She enjoys bushwalking, sewing and chocolate, possibly not in that order. She also believes in the value of trying new things, walking in the rain and enjoying every moment.
To find out more about Leonie Gant and her books
www.leoniegant.com
Discover other titles by Leonie Gant
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Not Talented in Hollywood
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Not Talented in Hollywood
The darkness of the theater did nothing to disguise the fact that we were sitting in a very small space. As a small community theater, it had less than one hundred seats to be filled. Unfortunately at this moment there was a grand total of nine people in the audience. I knew this because I had counted them as a distraction from the show that I was being forced to watch. Another unfortunate point was that the group I was with made up four of those nine people. I’m not really a big theater goer. My pretensions of culture kind of begin and end with a big budget science fiction or action movie. I’m really one of those people who wants to be entertained. I don’t want to have to actually think.
Spending a Saturday evening in a theater is not exactly something that I would go out of my way to do. Tonight though, I was supporting a friend. In fact we were all here to support a friend. Edwin lives in my apartment complex with my friend Crystal, our landlady Miss Betsy and our teenage project Sean. This was not the first time we had attended a play that Edwin had performed in. He was an aspiring actor, determined to work his way up into the movies. He was the hardest working person I knew. He kept taking temp jobs to earn his way and he also took any part in any production no matter how small to perfect his craft. By all rights and if the universe was fair, his big break should be just around the corner.
Unfortunately Edwin Litchfield was also one of the worst actors that I had ever seen and some of the theater groups I had been forced to sit through had contained some very ordinary acting. Edwin had started off as a model in his home country of England and that suited him. The guy was impossibly gorgeous, tall with a defined body, blonde wavy hair and deep blue eyes that a woman could drown in. Modeling bored him so he decided that the next natural step was acting. I used to believe that acting was easy and that anyone could do it. It isn’t until you see someone who is genuinely, excruciatingly bad at it that you appreciate that there may actually be some talent behind the ability to act. My friend Crystal works in her father’s casting agency. She lives in fear of the day that Edwin asks her to help him get a real acting job. I know he won’t. Edwin has a major crush on Crystal and he knows that she is hit on by unknown actors often purely for her connections. He has some noble idea in his head that he can make it without her help. Once he breaks through and becomes a star he intends to seriously pursue her. I think he’s an idiot and I have told him that it is a ridiculous plan. Male pride is a tricky thing though and sometimes you just withdraw from the argument, as you are just butting your head against a brick wall.
I felt an elbow hit me sharply in the ribs and glared at Crystal. She was small but I’d learned from previous experience that she could pack a punch when she wanted to.
“Wake up Trudie” she hissed as the curtains went down.
“I was awake” I whispered back rubbing my side.
“Are you sure? You didn’t twitch for like a full five minutes, that’s usually a sign that you’re fast asleep.”
I glared at her. I wish I could argue the fact but she was right. I cannot stay still for any length of time. I always need to be moving or unconscious. I really don’t have an in between state.
“Is it finished?” I asked.
“Yes” she groaned as the curtain came up again and we started clapping as loudly as we could to hide the fact that most of the seats were empty.
Sean leaned over. “I am not coming to another one of these. I don’t care what you threaten me with” he said, with all the whining petulance that only a teenage boy can muster.
This time I had threatened to cut off his supply of homemade cookies. I had recently taken some time off work and gone on a baking binge. Thankfully having a teenage boy around meant I had a ready customer and nothing went to waste. I frowned. I really should be getting back to work. I had taken some time off on the advice of Crystal who thought I needed to relax and find myself away from the stress of my job. I work for the very wealthy who are lacking the ability to deal with staff on any kind of level. My job is to be the personal assistant to people who alienate the dedicated employees who work for them. This kind of work takes an extraordinary patience and the ability to stop talking before you tell someone the truth. I do that well. However my last few jobs had managed to push those stress levels through the roof.
Miss Betsy leaned over from her seat on the other side of Crystal.
“So what are we telling him this time?” she asked as we all looked expectantly at Crystal.
Being a casting agent, Crystal was well versed in letting people down with as little damage to their ego as was humanly possible. In an industry where people seemed to pride themselves on how cruelly they could destroy someone’s dreams, Crystal was able to gently guide people to their full potential.
She was thoughtful for a second. “I’ve got nothing” she said grimacing.
I could understand what she was talking about. Edwin was our friend but watching him act was a truly painful experience. It would be better if we could see some improvement, any improvement. In the year we had been coming to these plays there had been no progress and it was becoming harder to watch. We would of course, if Edwin wanted to continue with this dream then we would support him. It was just difficult knowing that he was never going to achieve it.
“I’m going to take this one home” Miss Betsy interrupted, looking pointedly at Sean.
“Why did I have to sit through that torture and now I have to miss out on the party?” Sean complained.
“Because you’ve got homework and you’ve been having trouble with your algebra lately” Miss Betsy said sternly.
Sean looked at me pleadingly.
“Not going to work on me” I said airily. He pouted i
n that way that sixteen year old boys have, before following meekly behind Miss Betsy.
“He’s been getting a little bit harder to deal with lately, especially while you were gone” Crystal said.
I snorted. If Crystal thought Sean was hard to deal with she really didn’t have a clue. I had just come back from a three month placement with an eighteen year old pop star on tour. On my first day he tried to get me to carry his drugs through an airport. When I refused he threw a temper tantrum that would have made a two year old proud. When that didn’t change my mind he decided to get his father and mother to deal with me. Doing his best to disprove Darwin’s theory that only the fittest survive to propagate the species, the teenager’s father threw his own temper tantrum which worsened the calmer I was. Fortunately for me I had been hired by the record company and not the client. I was being paid very well to do my job and to try to limit the excesses of this particular pop star and his massive entourage. I had signed on for three months and I completed that three months despite the entire entourage doing their best to get rid of me. People who live their lives on the coat tails of a spoiled brat do not react well when you are trying to pull back on the gravy train. At the end of the tour the record company tried to get me to extend the contract and work permanently in that role. I would have preferred to have my eyes poked out than spend any more time with that particular client. He was just as happy as I was when that placement had come to an end. I was now taking a well-earned break before taking on another client.
“Oh, of course” said Crystal, “your runaway job.”