Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5

by Leonie Gant

  Griffin smiled at me gratefully. “Are you sure? Because if you need me…”

  I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll make sure she gets home,” interrupted Vale as he stood closely behind me.

  I could see the surprise on Jorge’s face. It was a measure of how worried Griffin was about Ramos that he didn’t even notice how far into my personal space Vale was standing.

  “They’re going to want to interview you all. I won’t be involved.”

  “I understand,” I said. “Take care of Ramos, she’s the one who needs help right now.”

  Griffin nodded sharply, turned around and walked away. He passed two men coming towards our group. I remembered Griffin introducing me to them the day before. The younger of the two was Detective Desmond Pickett. I had spent some of the barbecue yesterday talking to his wife. Dana Pickett had been new, just like me and had seemed as overwhelmed as I had by all the other cop partners who already knew each other. Most of the time she had talked about her new baby girl that she had left for the first time with her mother so she could attend the barbecue. Proving her mother was the best of babysitters for a nervous first time mom, we had been interrupted with a constant stream of photos and messages coming through on her phone. All designed to reassure the nervous mother that her baby was fine. I had liked her.

  Her husband had seemed very different. He had not interacted well with the other cops and he had seemed ill at ease. He stood in stark contrast to his partner, Marty Fletchall. Detective Fletchall was an older cop. From what I understood he had just got divorced from his third marriage. He had that older silver fox vibe and had got drunk at the party. He had also seemed to act a little overly friendly with some of his coworker’s partners. Nothing that could be deemed inappropriate but it still gave me that uncomfortable feeling. Of course that could be because the industry I worked in was well known for the uncomfortable factor at times. There was always the possibility that I was hypersensitive to that kind of thing.

  Fletchall smiled at me as he and Pickett came closer.

  “Miss Trudie Eyre,” he boomed, a little louder than I thought appropriate at a crime scene. “Your reputation precedes you. I wondered when I would be graced with one of your cases.”

  I wondered if there was a way to make the man shut up. The band members of Crispy Spider were currently looking at me as if I had contracted the plague.

  Pickett looked as if he was used to having to apologize for his partner. “What Detective Fletchall means, Miss Eyre, is that we need to speak to you, and everyone here back at the station.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t going to argue today.

  Chapter Five

  I shivered in the cold interrogation room. At no point during the proceedings had anyone suggested that I have a shower and change my clothes. Now I was desperately trying to stay warm, my hair poking out in every direction and my damp clothes sticking to me in many uncomfortable ways. At least someone had thought to provide me with a new blanket as my last one had become soaked.

  The door opened and Detective Fletchall came through. Grabbing a chair, he sat down. I was surprised that Detective Pickett was not with him.

  Fletchall raked me up and down. I fought the urge to sneeze to really finish off the drowned rat look that I was obviously now imitating.

  He handed me a coffee. “Here,” he said gruffly. “This might help.”

  And just like that he became my new best friend. I really am a simple creature. I wrapped my hands around the mug and let the warmth seep into me.

  “Sorry we have to do this. We’ll wrap it up quick and get you home.”

  I was taken aback. My interviews with Griffin and Ramos had never been this pleasant. They were mostly filled with sarcasm and accusations. I had thought that was normal. At no time had I imagined there was a gentler, kinder way to do an interrogation. I should tell Griffin that, because I had to say, at this moment, I was feeling much more cooperative than I had ever felt before in an interrogation.

  “So, are you up to telling me what happened?”

  I kept the mug clutched in my hand. “I was looking for Buddy.”

  “Who is Buddy?” Fletchall interrupted.

  “Oh, Buddy is the goat. He belongs to Vale, the drummer. He got out of his pen and I was hunting him down.”

  Fletchall smiled. “Never a dull moment.”

  “No. Well, I found Buddy by the lake. I was trying to get him to come back to the pen with me and I saw fabric in the water. I swam out to see what it was and I found Jolena. I dragged her back to the shore and tried to do CPR on her.” I blinked back the tears that were welling in my eyes again.

  “Why did you start CPR? Was there any indication that she could be saved?”

  I shook my head. “It was probably a stupid waste of time. I just…I didn’t want her to be dead so I just started and hoped for the best.”

  Fletchall nodded sympathetically. “Was there anyone else around that you could see?”

  I shook my head again. “There wasn’t anyone. I screamed for help and Jorge, the security guy, came running. He was the one who called 911.”

  “You know you did all you could. From what we’ve been told so far, she had been dead for a while. Nothing you did would have saved her.”

  I appreciated what he was trying to do. “Thank you for saying that but it doesn’t really make me feel that much better.”

  “It usually doesn’t,” said Fletchall. “But you need to hold onto that or for the next few days you are going to constantly be wondering what else you could have done. That isn’t going to help you or anyone else.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Fletchall cleared his throat. “You knew it was Jolena Aaron when you pulled her ashore?”

  “Yes. I didn’t know her surname, but I met her yesterday at the barbecue,” I said.

  “How did you meet her?” Fletchall asked, his tone becoming a little less sympathetic as if he was trying to strive for a bit of distance.

  “Ramos introduced her to me,” I said.

  “How were they acting towards each other?” Fletchall asked.

  “They seemed happy.” I could say that honestly. If I had never seen Jolena Aaron at the mansion I would have never guessed they were anything other than a loving couple.

  “Was there any reason why she would be at that property last night?” Fletchall asked, a frown on his face.

  I could understand. From an outsider’s point of view, this whole situation did not add up at all.

  “I don’t know why she would have been there last night,” I said carefully. “I do know she has been at the mansion previously though.”

  Fletchall looked up, not quite showing the level of interest that I would have assumed that statement merited.

  “What was she doing there?”

  I grimaced. I had no loyalty to Jolena but I knew that what I was going to say was going to hurt Ramos. Despite the fact our relationship could best be described as barely civil, I really did not want to hurt her this way.

  “Jolena had visited the mansion a few nights ago as a fan.”

  “Go on.”

  “She was involved in a threesome with one of the band members which became violent and she was removed from the property.”

  Fletchall didn’t look surprised. “We are aware that there was a previous casual encounter between her and Ash Weston. Is there anything else you can add?”

  I shook my head, a little shocked. I had not expected Ash to admit to knowing Jolena. I was used to working in an industry where the first and only reaction was always to lie.

  “Is there anything else that you can think of that may help with the investigation?”

  I shook my head again. As far as I was concerned, that was pretty much it.

  “Anything,” Fletchall repeated.

  Before I could answer, the door to the interrogation room opened, and Detective Pickett and another man walked in.

  “What are you doing?” growl
ed Fletchall, throwing an irritated look at his partner.

  “This is Miss Eyre’s attorney,” Pickett said patiently.

  He must have seen my look of confusion. The only attorney I had ever used was Reggie Goodman, Monique’s husband. I had never seen this man before in my life.

  “The record company has organized representation for yourself as well as the band,” Pickett explained.

  I was stunned. Never before in my life of dealing with celebrities had one of them made the effort to provide me with a lawyer. It almost made me feel like a valued member of a team. I still wasn’t sure which team this lawyer was from. But still, I was part of a team which didn’t make sure the important people were okay and then forgot about me. That made me feel special.

  “Miss Eyre, my name is Harold O’Brien. I need your consent to act as your attorney.”

  I waited a second before nodding. Despite the fact that as far as interrogations went, this one had been better than any of my previous ones, I was tired, cold and wet. The sooner I was out of here the happier I was going to be.

  Fletchall’s features tightened.

  “I really don’t know anything else,” I said, hoping to lighten the blow.

  I could see I was wasting my breath. Fortunately for me, it seemed Fletchall was saving his ire for his partner.

  “Miss Eyre,” my new lawyer said, indicating that I should follow him.

  I walked past Fletchall and Pickett as they glared at each other.

  “I think there’s trouble in paradise,” said O’Brien when we were safely out of earshot.

  I giggled, releasing some of the pent up emotion that I had been holding onto through the day. “I think you’re right.”

  Following my lawyer, I had another shock. The band was waiting for me. It seemed that the day was full of surprises. Ash, of course, looked completely bored with the entire situation. Personally I thought that was a brave move considering I was sure that he was the one who had known Jolena the best, even if it had been for only a short time. Vale smiled at me encouragingly. The other three members of the band had also waited for me. Dion, Sewell and Tim played guitar, bass and keyboard respectively. I don’t think I was emphasizing enough how truly touched I was that the guys had waited for me. I had never had any clients do that for me before and I was at this point willing to forgive every chauvinistic, stupid statement any of these guys had made.

  “She’s here now, can we go?”

  Except for Ash. Obviously the other guys had used peer pressure, or whatever leverage required, to keep him here. Still, I was going to look on the positive side and, for me, support from four out of the five was an amazing result.

  I smiled at them. “Thanks for waiting for me.”

  “Didn’t really have a choice.”

  Once again, I was going to ignore Ash.

  “You okay?” Vale asked quietly.

  “She’s fine,” said Ash impatiently as he pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against. “I don’t know why you need to baby her. She’s more capable than the entire lot of us put together.” With that he stalked out towards the front of the station, leaving the rest of us looking on in shock. It wasn’t often that Ash complimented anyone and regardless of how it was delivered, that was a compliment.

  The lawyer, obviously used to dealing with people in the music industry, was the first to recover and cleared his throat. “I am sure I don’t need to remind any of you to contact me if there are any further issues with the police. And can you gentlemen just tone it down for a bit. I’ve got a full schedule for the next few days and the last thing I need is you guys getting involved in a media circus. At the moment we have managed to keep this quiet but you know better than anyone that this is going to blow up in no time at all. When that happens do not be tempted to leave the grounds of the mansion without a security detail, or without letting people know where you are going. Do not comment to anyone and do not do anything stupid.”

  The guys gave him their best innocent looks but, as I had thought, Harold O’Brien had obviously been working in this industry for a while.

  “Just keep your heads down,” he warned.

  Chapter Six

  When we got to the front of the station I was not surprised when I found Lee, Griffin’s father, laughing with some of the older cops.

  “So strange to see you here, Lee,” I said.

  Lee smiled, walked over and put an arm around me.

  “This is my girl,” he stated proudly, and a part of me melted.

  I adored Lee. He had been a single father who raised Griffin after his mother had deserted them when Griffin was a baby. He had been a cop who was suddenly thrust into a role he wasn’t prepared for. He’d muddled through and Griffin had grown up into the man he was today. Not perfect by any measure but he was a good and strong man and, in my opinion, that meant that Lee had done an amazing job.

  “I’m here to take you home,” he said, giving Vale a back off look.

  I had wondered how long it was going to take Griffin before he realized that he had left me in the care of a man that he didn’t know. Jorge looked relieved by this turn of events as well. I loved the men in my life but I had a feeling that I was going to need to have a little talk to them about backing off at times. That kind of protectiveness has a tendency to become smothering. At this moment though, I was cold, wet and wanted to find my way to the nearest shower so I wasn’t really in the mood to start an argument.

  “Is this your father?” asked Vale, looking nervously at Lee.

  Lee beamed.

  “Acts like it, doesn’t he?” I said. “He’s my boyfriend’s father.”

  “The cop,” Vale said.

  I nodded.

  “Ready to go?” asked Lee.

  I sneezed in reply and pulled the blanket around me again.

  “I think that means yes,” Lee smiled at me.

  We’ll see you tomorrow?” Vale queried.

  I nodded as Lee hustled me out of the station.

  Once bundled up in the car I could feel Lee’s eyes on me.

  “You know I would feel much safer if you were watching where you were going,” I said tightly.

  “You need a new job,” Lee said, thankfully returning his eyes to the road.

  “I don’t need a new job,” I said tiredly.

  “You definitely need a new job. The odds of you not getting hurt are very quickly running out. Do you have any idea what it would do to Jake if anything happened to you?”

  I did know what it would do to Griffin. I also knew that, in his own way, Lee was trying to protect not just his son, but me too. I put a hand on his arm.

  “I’m okay,” I said softly.”

  “Today you’re okay,” Lee said calmly. “I am just a bit concerned about what will happen tomorrow. You’re a disaster magnet, Trudie. One of these days your luck is going to run out.”

  I sat there silently. There wasn’t really much I could say. I never went looking for these situations. They just seemed to find me.

  Once Lee had dropped me off I stood in my shower and let the hot water wash away the chill that had entered me. It wasn’t so much the sight of Jolena’s body that bothered me. I’d grown up on a farm so I had been introduced to the concept of death and the cycle of life when I had been young. What bothered me was knowing the devastation that Ramos would be going through. Not only would she be dealing with the death of her girlfriend but she would also be facing the truth about Jolena’s infidelity and that was going to hurt her badly.

  After my shower I started writing an email to Monique, trying to explain the situation that I had found myself in, but I just kept staring at a blank screen. Throwing random words on the screen didn’t help me either. I was becoming so frustrated with my inability to craft even the most basic of messages that I was grateful to hear a knock on my door.

  I opened it to find Crystal standing there.

  “I need you and Griffin to come to dinner tonight,” she said as she
walked past me.

  “Why?” I closed the door and followed her as she walked into my kitchen and started making herself a coffee.

  “My mother is coming over for dinner. I need you there to keep me from doing anything drastic and I need Griffin there to provide some distracting eye candy to keep her attention divided so she doesn’t come on to Edwin.”

  “I don’t think we can make it tonight,” I said slowly, interested to see how upset Crystal was and the way she was taking it out on my coffee machine. I nudged her aside and took over the coffee making duties while I still had a working coffee maker.

  “Why not?” Crystal demanded.

  “There has been an incident at work,” I said, refusing to look at her.

  “Please tell me you didn’t find a body.”

  I smiled at her weakly. “I really wish I could.”

  Crystal threw her hands in the air. “I spoke to you only a few hours ago and you were looking for a goat. How do we get from looking for a goat to finding a dead body?”

  I passed her a coffee. “I found the goat at the lake and the body was in the lake.”

  “Drowned?” Crystal asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I saw the body, went to pull it out and she was dead.”

  “Could it have been an accident?” Crystal asked.

  “It could have been, I guess.”

  “So, Griffin’s working the case?”

  I shook my head. “No, not this time. There are some new detectives working this one. The woman was Ramos’s girlfriend. Griffin is with her, trying to help.”

  “Oh no,” Crystal gasped. “What was Ramos’s girlfriend doing at that place?”

  “She’d been there before.”

  I busied myself with my own coffee. Crystal worked for her father who was one of the biggest casting agents in Hollywood. She knew the excesses of the industry intimately and it didn’t take her long to mentally sift through all the possible reasons that Ramos’s girlfriend would be at the headquarters for Crispy Spider.

  “Groupie?” she queried.

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Did Ramos know she was there?” asked Crystal, quickly recovering from what I had thought was a traumatic revelation.