Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5

by Leonie Gant

  Ash cocked his head to one side, still stroking his jaw. “I’m afraid that is not going to happen,” he said before dropping his head and rushing at Vale.

  The two of them crashed to the floor. While they were distracted with pounding each other senseless I ran to the door.

  “I need help,” I yelled out, hoping that someone, preferably Jorge, was close by.

  Instead I had Travis pounding up the stairs, followed by Detectives Fletchall and Pickett. The three of them stopped and surveyed the room. Vale and Ash were now rolling around on the floor, desperately hitting each other. While Fletchall and Pickett tried to separate the two combatants, Travis came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “Are you okay, Trudie?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes,” I said shortly.

  “What happened?”

  “Ash was being an idiot and Vale reacted by being even more of an idiot.”

  Travis looked at me strangely. I didn’t know why. To me that sounded like a succinct and accurate representation of the last ten minutes. Neither of the two men were covering themselves in glory. Vale had the opportunity to defuse the situation and he went for a punch to Ash’s face. Despite my own violent thoughts when it came to dealing with Ash, I still thought it was an overreaction.

  Fletchall and Pickett finally managed to pull the two men apart. Ash and Vale glared at each other. I had a feeling that the chances of them getting any work done today had just gone down the toilet. I really hoped that I was not going to get blamed for that.

  “I’m going to need to speak to you, Trudie,” Fletchall huffed out as he was holding Vale back from taking another swing at Ash.

  “I think I’ll be the one to interview Miss Eyre this time,” said Pickett quietly as he seemed to be expending far less effort in controlling Ash. Although that could have more to do with the fact that with Ash’s short attention span, he had already grown bored with the situation.

  Fletchall scowled at his partner but seemed to acquiesce.

  “Are we done here?” he growled at Ash and Vale.

  Vale nodded sullenly, unsuccessfully trying to shrug off Fletchall’s hand on his shoulder.

  “I think we have an understanding of where we all stand now,” Ash smiled in my direction.

  Travis stiffened next to me and put an arm protectively around my shoulder. Of course, that was the moment that Griffin and Jorge finally turned up. I could see Griffin’s eyes narrowing as he took in the scene before him.

  “Aah, Trudie,” Jorge said slowly. “What is going on here?”

  “You’re clients decided that having a brawl was a good way to start the day,” Fletchall said. “I’m going to need to speak to them.” Fletchall squinted at Griffin as if just noticing him. “Griffin, what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Working,” said Griffin, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “I thought you were on holiday.” Fletchall emphasized the word holiday and I’m sure he would have done air quotes with his fingers if he wasn’t still keeping a tight grip on Vale.

  “I am. I’m working a second job as security here.”

  The two detectives stared at Griffin incredulously. It seems I wasn’t the only one having trouble believing the current turn of events.

  “Really?” questioned Pickett.

  I could understand the look of confusion on his face.

  “Really,” answered Griffin.

  “Take these two downstairs and keep them separate.” Pickett pushed Ash towards Jorge who did not seem thrilled at the current turn of events.

  Fletchall led the group out of the room. Travis pulled his arm away and followed them out. That left Pickett, Griffin and me standing there, silently.

  “Do you want to give us a bit of space, Detective Griffin,” Pickett bit out.

  Griffin looked in my direction and raised an eyebrow. “What do you want me to do, boss?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll come down in a little bit.”

  He turned and left me alone with Detective Pickett who had a decidedly less friendly demeanor than Detective Fletchall. I had a feeling I was going back to interviews that were not enjoyable. Pickett took a seat and motioned to a couch across from him. I sat down gently and clasped my hands in my lap.

  Pickett cleared his throat. “I’m hearing a lot about you, Miss Eyre.”

  That was probably not a good thing.

  “According to my colleagues, you have a tendency to attract troublesome situations.”

  I inclined my head. It wasn’t like I could argue with that statement.

  “Your boyfriend, despite being a very good detective, is currently on suspension.”

  “That is hardly my fault,” I ground out.

  According to Griffin, his suspension had more to do with his personality than it did with anything that I may have done. I was inclined to believe that assessment.

  Pickett shrugged. “It might not have been your fault but you do seem to attract more than your fair share of drama. That was always going to have some effect on Detective Griffin’s career.”

  I decided silence seemed to be the best way to deal with that accusation.

  Pickett looked at me keenly. “So, did you want to tell me why you seemed to be in the middle of a brawl today?”

  “I came in to ask Ash whether he needed my help with anything. He was in a strange mood and started acting kind of inappropriately.”

  “How do you mean, inappropriately?”

  “Just inappropriate. He was standing too close, trying to talk me into having some fun with him. I don’t know, it all happened really fast and I was taken by surprise. Ash hasn’t acted like that around me for a while. Vale came in and saw what was happening. He and Ash exchanged words and then the punches started flying.”

  “What kind of words?” Pickett looked interested.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Something about women choosing Ash instead of Vale. I didn’t really know that they competed for women in that way.”

  “Have you ever seen them fight over women before?”

  I shook my head. “To be perfectly honest, there are always so many women around when they are partying that there really isn’t a need.”

  “Do you think this could have anything to do with Jolena Aaron?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said slowly. “As far as I know, Jolena was only here for that one night. I wouldn’t think that would be enough time for them to start a rivalry over her.”

  “You’d be surprised how quickly some women make an impression. Do you think Ash is capable of killing Jolena Aaron?”

  I was surprised at the change in topic and hesitated. Killing someone like Jolena had been killed would require passion. Ash had never, as long as I’d known him, shown any passion for anything besides his music. Despite the fact I seemed to want to find Ash responsible for Jolena’s death, I just didn’t seem to be able to convince myself.

  “I think Ash is capable of killing her,” I said slowly, trying very hard to choose my words carefully. “I’m just not sure whether he did kill her.”

  Pickett looked at me keenly and I started to feel uncomfortable. I had been right. This was in no way one of my better interviews. Even with Griffin I had been able to fall back on annoyance and anger. I couldn’t quite work out what it was Detective Pickett wanted from me.

  “How well do you know Detective Ramos?” he asked suddenly.

  I shrugged cautiously. “She’s Griffin’s partner. I’ve usually only had dealings with her on a professional basis. The barbecue the other night was the first time I’d been in a social situation with her.”

  “How do you find her, when you’ve dealt with her?”

  “She’s always been strong, capable and professional. I have always known that she was a good cop. We may not have got along personally but I knew she had Griffin’s back so that was all that I really cared about.”

  Pickett smiled in what I’m pretty sure he thought was an ingratiating way. It
wasn’t.

  “I’m new to the precinct so I don’t know her at all. I think that’s one of the reasons I was assigned this case. It just seems strange that you find out that her girlfriend is cheating on her and then the girlfriend ends up dead.”

  “Sometimes coincidences happen,” I said quietly.

  “And sometimes they are not coincidences,” Pickett said firmly.

  “If you are looking at Ramos for Jolena’s murder, then you are looking in the wrong place. Ramos and I may never have been best friends but I would stake my life on her not doing this.”

  “That’s very loyal and brave of you but I’ve been in this job long enough to know that everyone is capable of doing the wrong thing when emotions are involved. Sometimes people make a quick decision and they can’t step back from that. Good people make mistakes every day.”

  I knew good people made mistakes but I still could not believe that Ramos could do something like this.

  “Is there anything else you think would assist me in my investigation?” Pickett asked.

  I shook my head.

  Pickett pulled a card out of his jacket and handed it to me. “If you need to speak to me at any time, just give me a call.”

  I nodded quietly and stood up.

  “Trudie,” Pickett’s voice stopped me as I walked towards the door.

  I turned around.

  “You were nice to my wife at the barbecue the other day. She was very nervous about meeting all those new people and you made it a little easier for her. I’ve heard about other cases you have been involved in. I would hate to have to tell Dana that you had got hurt or worse. Be careful. Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are. You should really be more wary when deciding who to put your faith into.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  When I left the room I was not surprised to find that Griffin was waiting for me. He glared at Pickett as he walked past.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, just been a bit of a strange morning.”

  “What the hell happened? You were supposed to be safe while Jorge and I were checking the perimeter.”

  “I was, well for most of it. I just did the same thing I do every morning. I checked to make sure the guys had everything they needed but then Ash went weird on me.”

  “What did he do?” Griffin lowered his voice.

  “He thinks the same thing you do, that Vale likes me. Unfortunately he took that as a challenge. I think he was just trying to upset Vale by coming on to me.”

  “Do none of these people realize that you have a boyfriend?”

  “Oh, they know. They just don’t care.”

  I probably should have realized that telling my boyfriend some guy was trying to make another guy jealous by seducing me was not the best way to explain the situation.

  “I really wish that you would find yourself a different job,” Griffin said for what seemed like the millionth time.

  “If I did that we wouldn’t have these precious moments together.”

  Strangely enough, Griffin didn’t seem to appreciate my observation.

  “What the hell, Trudie?”

  I turned around to find that Travis had decided to return and put his opinion forward.

  “What?”

  “You get left alone for all of half an hour and two of the band end up brawling over you. They’re still at each other’s throats. What did you do?”

  “Do not for a moment try to lay the blame for this on me. Something is going on between Vale and Ash and they’re just using me as a convenient arguing point,” I said indignantly.

  “Why does it always have to be you?”

  “How about the fact that I am the only female on the premises? Put Jorge in a dress and he might have been the one they were fighting over.”

  Travis and Griffin looked at me as I realized what I had just said.

  Griffin cleared his throat. “Do you think of Jorge in a dress very often?”

  “Okay, bad example.”

  “No, no,” said Travis. “It just gave us an interesting view into what goes on in that mind of yours. We’ll be filling Jorge in on it when we see him.”

  Great, I was never going to hear the end of that one. Of course Jorge chose that moment to join our little group.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “Oh nothing,” interjected Travis before I could answer. “We’ve just discovered that Trudie has fantasies about you in a dress.”

  “Okay,” said Jorge slowly. “We will definitely be talking about that later but for now we have to clear out.”

  “Why? We haven’t been here that long,” I queried.

  “Now that the cops have calmed down the situation between Vale and Ash - nice going there, Trudie, by the way - they are executing a search warrant. All staff are requested to leave immediately.”

  “Why are they executing a search warrant?” Griffin asked.

  “I don’t know. You might want to ask your cop buddies about that one because they don’t seem to be too interested in sharing information with the rest of us.”

  Jorge sounded exasperated. I could understand why. For a person who worked in security this was beginning to be an exercise in frustration. Before Jolena’s death this job had been routine, or as routine as working security for a rock band could be. Now, we seemed to be all over the place.

  “Do we have any idea when management are going to want us back?” I asked.

  Jorge shook his head. “The cops have brought a pretty significant team with them. From the looks of it, they seem determined to tear this place apart.”

  “That’s unusual,” Griffin noted. “Budgets these days generally don’t allow for a big team for a search warrant.”

  Jorge shrugged. “I’ve spoken to Monique and she has just said we need to stand down until we’re called on again.”

  “That’s it then.” I turned to Travis. “Looks like you’re on your own.”

  “That’s nothing new,” Travis grinned at me.

  “Once again, you say the saddest things.”

  “You have got the softest heart of anyone I know,” Travis smiled at me warmly.

  Griffin put an arm around my shoulders and glared at Travis.

  “Don’t panic,” drawled Travis. “I think one brawl over Trudie is enough for today. I’m not interested in starting a second one.”

  “Seriously, cupcake,” Jorge said tiredly. “You are a trouble maker. Next time Monique calls me for a job with you, I’m going to start requesting hazard pay.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dropping onto my couch, I waited for Griffin who I knew had followed me from the mansion.

  “Want a coffee?” he asked as he walked through the door.

  “In the worst possible way.”

  After making my coffee Griffin sat down on the couch beside me and I gratefully took the cup.

  “So, you want to tell me exactly what happened this morning,” he asked.

  “Not particularly.”

  “Tell me,” he insisted.

  I sighed. “I went in to check on Ash to see if there was anything he needed. He was singing so I waited. When he finished I asked him if he wanted anything. He started going into schoolboy innuendo territory. I told him to stop it and that I wasn’t interested. It seems Vale isn’t happy about having you at the mansion. Ash then said that what Vale didn’t understand was that Ash was the competition, not you.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Vale came in and saw what Ash was doing. He told him to knock it off and then Vale punched Ash and it was on.”

  Griffin looked at me thoughtfully. “Did Ash say anything that could have set Vale off?”

  I thought back. “Ash said something about it not being the first time that a woman had preferred him to Vale.”

  “Do you know what he was talking about?”

  I shook my head. “No, I mean, there are so many women that come through. And Ash does seem to attract most of them. A lot o
f women, if given a choice, seem to go for the bad boy lead singer over the others. But it isn’t as if the other guys are hurting in that area. There are more than enough groupies to go around.”

  “And yet they seemed to have focused their attention on you.”

  “I didn’t do anything to encourage it,” I said softly.

  “I know,” Griffin said tiredly. “I’m just having trouble with the fact that no matter what I do I can’t seem to keep you safe. I honestly thought my being there would help but the first time you were out of my sight, this happens.”

  He looked so disheartened that I put down my coffee and wrapped my arms around him. “You can’t be with me every moment of the day. You just need to believe that I will not do anything stupid. I don’t think I was in any real danger this morning. It was just an uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, in my work, uncomfortable situations seem to be common.”

  “This thing with Vale and Ash, is it going to be a problem when you go back to work?” Griffin asked as he stroked his hand up and down my back.

  “It could be, I don’t know. It wasn’t an issue I was expecting to have to deal with. I’m sure Jorge has filled Monique in on what the problem is and I’m expecting a call from her at some point. We’ll discuss it and if it looks like it will get in the way of me doing my job, I’ll step aside and one of the other personal assistant’s will take my place.”

  “Is that a problem for you?” Griffin said. “Your job doesn’t seem that secure. How will you do financially? I can help you if you want.”

  It was sweet that he was worried.

  “Monique has a waiting list of placements that she can put me into. I know it seems that all my assignments are difficult but that’s only because I have a higher level of tolerance for self-important clients. As a result I generally get the worst ones. Every now and then Monique will give me a less difficult job if I request it.”

  “Good.”

  We sat there quietly for a while, just enjoying the comfort of being together. I felt protected and safe in the circle of Griffin’s arms and I couldn’t imagine myself wanting to be anywhere else. This was why Ash’s offer of being wild didn’t interest me.