Not Happily Married in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 2 (16 page)

“So is this my
opening night gift?” drawled Edwin from the doorway.

We both looked
over to him and our faces must have shown our confusion. He waved his hand at
us and at the same time we realized exactly how we must look. I had my arm
around Crystal’s waist as her back was plastered to my chest. As she’d been
trying to get away my taller body was slightly bent over hers and at that
moment we both blushed.

“I’m not saying
I don’t like it” said Edwin. “I mean I know that flowers are traditional but if
this is how you were planning to go, you could at least have waited until I got
here.”

I quickly let go
of Crystal and stepped back. Crystal stumbled on her heels and Edwin pushed
forward to hold her up.

“That wasn’t
what it looked like” she said as Edwin straightened her.

“Oh I prefer to
think that it was exactly what it looked like.” Edwin smiled down at her.
Crystal blushed and Edwin grinned wider. “So were you going to tell me what
that was about?” Edwin asked.

“No, I don’t
think so” Crystal said slowly.

“Well then I
will go back to my version” he said. Crystal balled up her fist and hit him in
the stomach.

“Oh” he gasped.
“I think you wounded me with your tiny, tiny fist.”

“You are such an
idiot” she said smiling, as she swept past him into the backstage area.

“After you”
Edwin said to me as he waved his hand in front of him.

The party was
small but the cast and crew seemed to be having a lot of fun, especially since
Catarina had left. Of course, the second Crystal walked into the room everyone
wanted to be her new best friend. No one is quite as popular at a community
theater event as a famous Hollywood casting agent. Throughout the night I
slowly got pushed further and further away from the center of the action.

“How are you
doing?” Edwin asked handing me a drink as we watched Crystal hold court.

“Not too bad” I
said, “Crystal seems to be having fun.

“Nothing like a
group of unemployed actors who want to make it big” Edwin said with a little
bitterness.

“You okay?” I
asked putting down the drink and really looking at him.

I had been away
for three months with my pop brat job and had only been back for a few days.
With Edwin in rehearsals I hadn’t seen him much, but there was a tension in him
that I’d never seen before. He pushed his hand through his hair.

“I don’t think
I’m going to make it Trudie” he said softly.

“Why not?”

“I’m not very
good” Edwin stared intently at his drink. “I know that. I thought I’d get
better but I just don’t feel it.”

“Maybe it isn’t
for you, maybe your heart isn’t in it” I said sympathetically.

“I notice you
didn’t say that I was getting better regardless of what I think.”

I winced. Edwin
put his hand on mine.

“No Trudie,
don’t feel bad. I value your honesty.”

I leaned into
him and put my head on his shoulder.

“I think you’re
amazing for going after it the way you have. I would never tell you to stop or
that you weren’t good enough.”

“I know Trudie,
but I think I need to get a dose of reality.”

I straightened
up. “Maybe you need to look at what you really want, what are you passionate
about?”

I followed
Edwin’s eyes as they turned towards Crystal, the longing in them almost painful
to watch. I nudged him in the side.

“Ask her out,
tell her how you feel” I urged.

“I can’t” he
said. “Not until I’ve sorted myself out.” He took another drink from his
bottle. “What I can do first is to realize I am never going to make it as an
actor.”

He stood up
suddenly.

“What are you
doing?” I asked.

“I’m going to
tell Catarina that she’s right. I’m never going to make it so I’m quitting.”

Putting down his
bottle he strode purposefully out of the room. I saw Crystal watch him as he
left. Taking another mouthful of my drink my attention was quickly taken by one
of the other actors, who finding that he couldn’t get close to Crystal had
decided her friend was an acceptable second choice. Tiring quickly of my
monosyllabic answers to his questions about Crystal, he wandered off and
Crystal left her adoring court to sit with me. I eyed her over my drink.

“So exactly how
privileged am I that you’ve decided to grace me with your presence?”

Crystal elbowed
me in the side.

“Ouch” I
groaned, “what was that for?”

“For being an
idiot” she said. “Where did Edwin go?”

“To tell
Catarina that he was quitting, as he wasn’t a good enough actor and he never
would be.”

Crystal gaped at
me. “What are we doing sitting here then?” she said grabbing my hand.

“We’re letting
him be an adult and make his own way in life” I said.

“Of all the
stupid ideas. He’s making a massive life change. He needs us with him.”

Not having any
choice in the matter I let myself get dragged off in search of Edwin. Crystal,
having virtually lived in these kinds of theaters all her life, unerringly
found the director’s office. The door was closed. She went to grab the door
handle and I grabbed hold of her wrist.

“We can’t just
go in there” I said. “What if they’re still talking?”

Crystal pressed
her ear to the door. “I don’t hear anything” she said as she grabbed the door handle
again, rolling her eyes as I reached over and knocked on the door.

“Catarina” she
called out. “We’re just looking for…”

Crystal stopped
and over her head I saw the reason why. Catarina Badal was slumped over her
desk and in the middle of her back was a knife that looked disturbingly like
the prop knife that had earlier in the night been used to kill Edwin in his
painful death scene. Crystal gaped as I raced over to check the pulse. I would
like to say that my abilities in an emergency carried me through the shocking
scene. However this wasn’t the first body that I had seen, and I think that I
had become a little desensitized. That was a disturbing thought. I couldn’t
find a pulse and I pulled out my phone to call emergency when Crystal found her
voice.

“Stop”.

I froze.

“What are you
talking about?” I asked.

“If we walk out
right now, nobody needs to know we were in here” she said. I must have looked
at her strangely. “I don’t want you involved.” she said concern all over her
face.

It may sound callous
but in the last six months I had found a total of two dead bodies. I had also
been shot once, threatened several times and almost killed in a fire. Crystal
did not have the greatest family life and for whatever reason Edwin and I were
as close to family for her as her father was. I knew she was just trying to
protect me.

“We’re already
involved” I said quietly. “We were looking for Edwin, your fingerprints are on
the door. We found the body, we have to call the cops.”

Crystal looked
as if she was going to start arguing, but then we heard a scream behind her and
a thud. One of the actresses was out cold on the floor.

“No going back
now.” I punched in the familiar number. “I really should put this on speed
dial” I muttered grimly.

Voices reached
us as people who had heard the scream came running, including Edwin. Looking in
he saw the body and grabbed Crystal and held her.

“What’s going
on?” he asked quietly.

“We came looking
for you and found Catarina like this” Crystal mumbled in his shirt.

“She was fine
ten minutes ago” he said, “I was just talking to her.”

“Great” I said,
“you were probably the last person to see her alive.”

“That’s not a
good thing is it” said Edwin.

“No” I said, with
the voice of experience, “it isn’t.”