Not Happily Married in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 2 (15 page)

Racing up the steps to Adele’s house I called out her name.

“In here” she cried out.

I found her in the kitchen with her laptop open. The look on
her face was devastated.

“How am I going to tell him?” she said tears rolling down
her face.

Making my way around to her side, I looked down at the
computer screen. I recognized the bed in the paused video, I recognized the
room and unfortunately I recognized both of the participants. There frozen on
the screen was Eric Wesson and Miranda Powell.

“Oh no” I breathed.

“Elliot will be devastated if he sees this” Adele said.

I didn’t feel that this was the appropriate time to remind
her of the rather close clinch I had seen her in with Elliot at Eric’s funeral.

“Where did you get this?” I asked.

“I wanted to come home so I left the hotel. It was in the
mail when I got here, addressed to Eric.”

Seeing the envelope on the table I picked it up.
There
, in Eric’s familiar
handwriting
,
was Eric’s name and address.

“He sent it to himself” I said. “He must have been trying to
hide it, it wasn’t with the others.”

“Others?” queried Adele.

“Yes, the investigator that Elliot hired and I have been
looking into whether there was anyone else that could have a reason to kill
Eric. We found the apartment where all of this was filmed. Miranda Powell
wasn’t the only one.”

“I never believed I was.”

My blood chilled as I looked towards the doorway to see
Miranda Powell standing there, a gun in her hand pointing directly at Adele and
me.

“Miranda” Adele said. “What are you doing? You’re my friend.
We’ve been friends since we were in high school.”

“Then maybe you should have kept your hooks out of my
husband” sneered Miranda.

I cringed, the fact she knew about Adele and Elliot did not
bode well. Looking at Adele I saw a look of shame.

“I’m sorry, I am so, so sorry” Adele said, the tears rolling
down her face.

“It was fine when Andrew was alive.” Miranda went on as if
ignoring Adele. “But then he died and you just fell apart. This whole pathetic
need to be taken care of by a man. I was always there for him for years but he
wanted the needy little girl who never stood on her own two feet.”

Terrified as I was at that moment, I could understand why
she was annoyed. Adele was no help as she sat blubbering in the chair and I
fought the temptation to sigh in frustration. Even when our lives were on the
line, Adele was incapable of stepping up and dealing with the situation. Taking
a step forward, I regretted it immediately when the gun swung in my direction.
The wound in my side started burning. My mouth went dry as I remembered the way
it felt to have a bullet slice into you.

“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.

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 need 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

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

Not Famous in Hollywood

Not Talented in Hollywood

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 in 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.”

“I did not run
away” I said, annoyed at the change in conversation.

“Please, you ran
so fast and so far because you didn’t want to face him.”

“We’re not
talking about this” I said gathering up my purse.

“He came by your
apartment” Crystal said.

“Please can we
not talk about this?” I pleaded. I really did not want to talk about what may
or may not have been the biggest mistake I have ever made.

Crystal looked
at me knowingly, but wisely held her tongue. I had been a coward. Three months
ago I had walked away from Detective Jake Griffin and grabbed the first out of
town job that I was offered. At the time I had been convinced of the rightness
of my actions. He was a dedicated officer who was single minded in his approach
to his job. Nothing came between him and being a cop, not even the tentative
thing that we had started. I had not wanted to come in second to his career, so
thought the best thing for me to do was walk away and make a clean break before
I got too involved. Three months later and I might not be happy with my
decision but I had made peace with it. That didn’t mean that I was particularly
proud of my actions and Crystal knew that.

“Thank you.” I
was relieved when she stopped talking. “Now it’s time to put on your game face
so we can get down there and tell Edwin how proud we are of him.”

“Proud of what?”
she asked skeptically, obviously remembering the hour and a half of fairly
ordinary acting we had just sat through.

“That he has the
courage to go after his dream no matter what” I said.

“Right, that”
Crystal plastered on a smile at the same time I did.

Getting
backstage wasn’t difficult. Hearing the vitriol coming from behind the door
however was. The director obviously had decided that the performance was not up
to her expected standard and was letting the cast know in quite loud and
explicit language. Hesitating to open the door I looked at Crystal.

“That’s Catarina
Badal.” Crystal must have noticed my confusion. “She’s kind of fallen pretty
far.”

That was an
understatement. Ten years ago Catarina Badal was the artistic prodigy of
directing in Hollywood. Her debut low budget movie had come from nowhere and
had been a critical and box office smash. Her second movie had won her a host
of awards including an Oscar. Since then though her movies had become more and
more bizarre. I hadn’t heard anything about her for a couple of years. I had to
say that finding her directing in a community theater was a bit of a surprise.

I felt Crystal
stiffen beside me. Catarina had just started giving a rather blistering
critique of Edwin’s performance. I put my arm out to stop Crystal from storming
in there. She looked at me fiercely. Crystal is my best friend. She is tiny.
When not walking around in her favored four inch high stilettos, she doesn’t
quite make five feet. Despite her lack of size, when it comes to the people she
cares about, she is like a vicious little Pomeranian who has no fear when it
comes to taking on a Rottweiler. I always worry that one day that Rottweiler is
going to bite back.

“Don’t” I
whispered. “If Edwin thinks you heard that he will be humiliated.”

Crystal stopped
as my words got through to her and nodded her head. We stepped back, away from
the door waiting for the tirade to be over. The door swung open and Catarina
Badal charged through with barely a look in our direction.

“What are you
doing here?” she snarled as she saw me first. I stumbled as I tried to find
something to say but it was too late. Her gaze had swung to Crystal and just
like magic her attitude changed. She held her hand out to Crystal and oozed
friendliness.

“Crystal
Bronstein, it is so good to see you. You’re working with your father now aren’t
you?”

Crystal had put
on her work face. That one that looks polite and interested, but because I know
her so well, I know that it means she is fully aware of how fake the person
talking to her really is and she’s not falling for it at all. Crystal’s father
ran the biggest casting agency in town. He is considered one of those powerful
people in Hollywood who can make or break careers. As his only child Crystal had
learned very early that most people were only nice to her based on what her
father could do for them.

Catarina Badal
grabbed Crystal’s hand as if they were the oldest of friends. “I would love to
catch up with you” she said as she started dragging Crystal along.

“Actually” said
Crystal extricating herself, “I’m here to see Edwin Litchfield.”

Catarina stopped
as if she’d been struck. “Well I guess that’s one way for him to get a job. God
knows he wouldn’t, based on his acting.” With a derisive look at Crystal she
stalked off.

Stepping up I
grabbed hold of Crystal around the waist as she went to take off after the
director.

“Don’t do it” I
warned. You’d think I’d have a lot more trouble holding on to a squirming woman
but surprisingly enough over the last year of knowing Crystal my technique had
been honed well. I just needed to remember if she started kicking, those
stilettos hurt badly.

“I’m going to
kill her” hissed Crystal.

“No you’re not”
I said.

“Okay, maybe I
won’t kill her but I’m going to destroy her career.”

I pointedly
looked around the theater we were standing in.

“You may be a
bit late for that. Looks like she did a good enough job herself.”

Crystal stopped
squirming and looked back at me, a short bark of laughter coming from her.