by Shari King
Sarah held a huge mug of coffee in both hands. ‘How’s Logan doing?’ she asked Mirren.
‘Great. He’s back on tour. Europe. I think he’s in Rome today.’
‘And Lauren?’ Hollie asked.
‘She’s with him. Poor girl. That’s a whole lot of baggage to deal with.’
The others fell silent until Davie turned to face Mike Feechan.
‘What’s happening with the case, Mike?’
‘That’s why Brad and I came up to see you folks today. We wanted to give you an update. Gary Bitner confessed to everything that happened to you, Davie. As you know, he was a cop, had been Lauren Finney’s boyfriend for six years before she went on American Stars.
When she left him, it triggered some kind of psychosis. He stalked both her and Davie. The house fire, the shots, the first attack outside the studio – all him. He also planted the bomb in the car, but that didn’t work out so well. He took a decommissioned device from evidence storage, got some ex-con he’d arrested on arson charges to rebuild it. It failed to detonate the way he planned. Fired backwards, ripped the metal off the trunk and the front of Lex and Cara’s car. Sorry.’
Cara dismissed it with a wave of her hand, the other hand automatically going to the dressing that was attached to the front of her neck. ‘It’s fine. I’m here. I’ll get over it.’
The others had no doubt she would.
‘Carlton Farnsworth and his bodyguard were arrested this morning. Raymo Cash rolled on him. Zander, we don’t have all the answers on that yet, but it looks like it was set up to discredit you.’
‘I think he needed Zander out of Adrianna’s life,’ Hollie offered. ‘They were a weird, messed-up couple. She’d had flings before, but I think this time he thought he could lose her to Zander. Thought he couldn’t match him.’
‘He clearly didn’t know me well,’ Zander said, injecting some self-deprecation into the mix.
‘And Marilyn?’ Mirren asked. ‘Why was she there? If she didn’t plant the bomb, what was she doing there?’
‘We searched her hotel room. She had pictures of you, hundreds of them, Logan too. She’d clearly been outside your house, your office. The bag she was carrying that night? After the blast, it ended up being confetti, all over the street. We think it was a manuscript. Impossible to tell, but she had piles of notes in her room too. In her suitcase, we found a contract and looked into it. She had a book deal. Seven figures. Me, My Daughter, Murder was the title. That’s all I can tell you.’
‘That’s it,’ Mirren said sadly. ‘She wanted us to know. She wanted to see all our faces when we found out what she was up to.’ Mirren emitted a hollow laugh. ‘She’d have loved that. Could never resist an opportunity to cause pain.’
Brad handed over a briefcase that had been sitting at his feet.
‘It’s all here. Everything. Laptop. Notes. No one else has seen it or has a copy.’
Mirren took it. Glanced at Davie, Zander, Sarah, then smiled.
The two investigators took it as their cue to leave.
‘If there’s anything else we can do, you know where we are.’
‘Thanks, gents,’ Davie said, grinning. ‘But I think we’re done.’
Epilogue
‘Yours’ – Ella Henderson
The sun was setting on the beach outside Mirren’s home as she stared out over the sands.
Zander appeared beside her and handed her a glass of wine. ‘You OK?’
‘I am,’ she smiled. And she was. She really was.
Two figures approached the back of the house from the sands, both tall, both broad, only their colouring different. Logan’s white-blond hair a complete contrast to Mark Bock’s dark hair and skin.
He hadn’t been happy that she’d moved to Lomax – came to remonstrate with her, rant, rave. They’d stayed in bed for three days. A month later, he’d just about forgiven her.
‘OK, get the party started – I’m here!’ Lou bellowed from the doorway, before battling through the room saying hello to everyone as she passed.
‘Davie Johnston, you owe me a huge favour!’ she shouted.
‘Oh crap, what’s happened?’ Davie groaned.
‘Carmella Cass. She’s eloped with some guy she met in rehab. Says he’s the love of her life. Used to be in some band – not sure which one, but apparently they’re in the rock-and-roll hall of fame. Anyway, I’ve sent a camera crew to Vegas. We’ll use the footage on our website and in the paper, but you can have it afterwards for the show.’
‘Lou Cole, I love you,’ he grinned.
‘It’s understandable, honey,’ came the reply.
‘So where’s Jack?’ Zander asked Mirren, taking the volume down a couple of notches.
‘He’s in India. Left last week. He’s gone to find himself. Apparently Mercedes Dance is there helping with the search. I can feel another show coming on.’
‘For Christ’s sake, don’t tell Davie,’ Zander joked.
‘OK, people, hate to be the organizer here, but it’s time. Can we all move outside?’
‘Ready?’ Zander asked.
‘Ready,’ Mirren replied.
They all moved out, gathered down at the water’s edge in a semicircle. Mirren in the middle, Zander and Hollie standing nearby.
Mirren took a deep breath. She could do this. She could.
‘Thank you all for coming tonight,’ she said. ‘As you know, this is the most special place in the world to me . . . and to Zander.’
Tears sprang to the eyes of several of the people around her.
Mirren smiled and lifted her chin. Now wasn’t the time for looking back. Today was about looking forward.
‘And as you also know, I’m new to this, so please bear with me.’
Mirren pulled out a sheet of paper from the pocket of her white trousers. ‘Zander, Hollie . . .’ She reached for them, gently pulled them towards her so they were facing each other.
‘Zander Leith, with the powers invested in me by an ordination website . . .’
Laughter.
‘Do you take Hollie Callan to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold her, to love her, adore her and be faithful to her always?’
‘Always,’ Hollie repeated for emphasis.
‘I do,’ Zander said, laughing.
‘And, Hollie Callan, do you take Zander Leith as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love, to cherish, to keep on the straight and narrow and out of trouble . . . always?’
‘Yes. Yes, I fricking do.’
‘Then I now pronounce you man and wife.’
And the applause thundered on.
From Ross
With all my love and thanks to . . .
Brianna, Isabel and the star in our family, Elaine.
Jim, Hollie, Euan, the King and Ross Clans and all the most wonderful friends.
From Shari
To John, Callan, Brad & Gemma – thanks, love and everything, always.
And to the family and friends who share our lives, I heart you. I do.
BREAKING HOLLYWOOD
When a budding radio DJ, and actor, met a young nightclub manager in Glasgow in the 1980s, little did they know that over twenty-five years and thousands of miles later they would still be friends.
Los Angeles-based Ross King is a four-time News Emmy Award-winning TV and radio host, actor, producer, writer and performer. King has starred in London’s West End, appeared in over ten movies and hosted TV shows in the UK, Europe, US and Australia. He has also presented countless radio shows and has his own Sunday newspaper column.
UK-based Shari Low has published fifteen novels, including those penned under her pseudonyms, Ronni Cooper and Millie Conway. She is the writer of a newspaper column renowned for its biting humour and straight-talking opinions. Shari has written for television and is a regular radio contributor.
Visit Ross’s website at www.rossking.com
Visit Shari’s website at www.sharilow.com
By Shari King
Taking Hollywood
Breaking Hollywood
First published 2015 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-5512-3
Copyright © Shari King, 2015
Cover images: © Shutterstock
The right of Shari Low and Ross King to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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