by Leonie Gant
Chapter Nine
I hadn’t even made it through my front door when my cell started ringing. It was Eleanor’s management again, demanding to know where I was. Once again I had to explain that due to the actions of their client, I had spent most of the day as a guest of LA’s finest.
“Never mind that,” he interrupted. “We need you to go back to Bliss and find out what was in the products they used for Eleanor today.”
“Why do we need to know that?” I asked.
“Eleanor’s had a slight reaction to something that was used today. She’s still at the hospital but they don’t know what it is.”
“What kind of reaction?” I asked, hoping my voice showed an appropriate level of interest and concern.
“At this stage it just looks like a mild skin irritation, but if she’s allergic to something we need to know what it is. We can’t risk her having reactions when she’s working.”
“It’s too late to go tonight,” I said, knowing that he expected me to go back to the spa after hours to demand answers from an empty building. “I’ll go first thing in the morning.”
Dropping my bag on my couch I walked straight into the shower to wash away what had turned out to be a completely lousy day.
The next morning I found myself standing in the reception area of Bliss being eyed off by perky little Cindi, as her badge proudly proclaimed. I could now see why Jorge had not been able to get through to help me yesterday. That door which led to the inner sanctum had an electronic lock. You either needed a security code or access to the little button which was obviously underneath Cindi’s desk. Obviously Cindi had been here yesterday and had seen that I had been led out of here in handcuffs, because she did not seem keen to let me in.
“Hi, look I know things got out of hand yesterday but I am here on behalf of Eleanor Channing. She seems to have had a reaction to some part of the products she had yesterday. I’m just trying to track down what it could have been,” I said brightly in a soft non-threatening way, as opposed to a ‘we are going to sue this place for all that it is worth’ way.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you with that,” said Cindi.
I waited but she just looked at me, still with the perky grin. Okay this was obviously going to be a lead the horse to water scenario. Cindi seemed to be incapable of grasping what my problem was.
“Can I please speak to someone who can help me with the situation?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m afraid there is no one else here who can help you,” Cindi said brightly, her big smile and excessively white teeth exacerbating the tension headache which was beginning to form behind my right eye.
Either that or Detective Griffin had managed to find a voodoo doll and decided that I needed to feel a bit of his pain.
“Okay Cindi,” I said, deciding that bright and friendly was not the way that I was going to play it today. “I need you to get somebody here so I can talk about the reason why Eleanor Channing is still in hospital. A fact that can be related back to this place. If I don’t get somebody here right now, who can give me the answers that I want, then I am going to leave. The next time you hear about this situation is going to be from Eleanor Channing’s very highly priced legal firm and I will be sure that they include your name in the paperwork. That is Cindi with an ‘i’ isn’t it?”
Cindi looked at me for a second. “If you could please sit down for a minute I will get someone to talk to you,” she said.
To her credit that smile did not waver. I was onto her though. Behind that perfectly pleasant face I could tell that she was wishing me at the bottom of a very deep hole. You know what, I could live with that. Being nice and sweet to everybody had got me a job where my life was not my own, at the beck and call of a nutcase with impulse control issues and with a felony charge hanging over my head.
The door opened and a woman came out, perfectly put together and with the serene look that I would expect from someone who worked at Bliss.
“Good morning, I’m Jennifer Saunders. I believe you needed to speak to me.”
Oh hell, Saunders. This was Emily’s sister. What was the daughter of Henry Saunders doing working in a spa? Deciding to completely ignore the huge elephant in the room I held out my hand.
“Yes Ms Saunders. Thank you so much for agreeing to see me. My name is Trudie Eyre. I need to speak to you about the products used by Eleanor Channing yesterday.”
Realization finally reached Jennifer Saunders’ eyes and they clouded over. Yes, I thought, that Eleanor Channing. The one who put your sister in a head lock less than twenty-four hours ago. Keeping my face open and smiling gently, I hoped she could look past my unfortunate associations.
“Ah yes,” she recovered beautifully. People are so wrong. Sometimes money can buy class. “Please, call me Jennifer. Let’s speak in my office.”
Following Jennifer to her office, I wondered what her role at Bliss was. Jennifer Saunders’ office was beautiful. Completely impractical with the white suede chairs. I would be able to destroy them in no time at all. The office suited her though, beautiful and calm.
“I didn’t realize you worked at Bliss,” I said, taking the seat that she indicated with a delicate wave of her hand.
“My husband and I opened Bliss together. My husband is a strong advocate of the environmental movement and I love the idea of creating beautiful products that are completely natural. Here at Bliss we believe in living in harmony with the environment. As much as is possible we only use what nature provides in our products. A lot of the products we use, we actually grow ourselves on a property on the edge of the city limits,” she said, her eyes glowing with enthusiasm.
It was easy to be caught on the wave of her passion.
“I hate to say this,” I said, and I truly did. “It seems Miss Channing used a product yesterday while here and it has caused a mild skin irritation.”
“Does she have any known allergies?” asked Jennifer, her face creased with concern.
“Not that we know of at this stage,” I said, mimicking her concern. “As you can understand though we are very keen to determine if there is a new allergy or intolerance that we have not been previously aware of.”
“Of course,” she said, turning to her computer and hitting some keys. The printer came to life, spitting out pieces of paper. “I am printing out a list of the products used yesterday by Miss Channing and their ingredients. As her representative I will ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement for me. I hope you understand.”
I signed the piece of paper quite happily.
“Also,” she said, “I would like to apologize for the incident that we had here yesterday involving Miss Channing and my sister. The person who was making the bookings was new and had not been aware of the situation between them. We always try to ensure a calm and tranquil space for our clients. I can assure you that a situation like that will not happen again.”
Smiling, I took the paperwork. “Thank you very much. I understand that your sister must have been under a great deal of strain yesterday. Maybe her grief got the better of her.” I gave her my card. “If there is anything else that you can think of that may have caused the reaction, please call me.”
After getting to the hospital I gave the paperwork with the ingredients of the products used on Eleanor to the medical staff. Juggling a coffee, I settled down to wait with Jorge for the next step.
“Glad to see you out of jail,” Jorge said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“That detective yesterday looked pretty angry when I was talking to you,” he mused. I could see the curiosity sparking in his eyes.
There it was. I was going to have to bring Griffin into my world and Jorge had just provided me with an opening.
“Yes, about that,” I said. “I’ve kind of been seeing him lately and he’s a bit possessive.”
“Wait,” said Jorge, looking confused. “You were arrested yesterday by your boyfriend?”
“Doesn’
t sound good when you put it like that,” I said.
“Seemed like a bit of a dick,” Jorge said slowly.
“Yeah he did, didn’t he?” I replied, matching his tone.
“Doesn’t sound to me like he’s the kind of guy that deserves you,” said Jorge.
That was nice. Jorge and I didn’t usually have deep and meaningful conversations but it was good to know that he had my back when it came to my fake, blackmailing boyfriend.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to last,” I said, despite the fact I knew that it was going to last three months and not a second longer.
“Problems already?” he asked knowingly.
“Let’s just say he doesn’t exactly live up to the advertising,” I said sagely. Hell, if I was going to be forced to have the guy as my boyfriend, I was quite happy to trash his reputation while I was at it.
Jorge looked at me with a speculative gleam in his eye. I wasn’t really worried. Now Griffin was established as my current, if not future, boyfriend.
One of the nurses who had been working the ward came over to us.
“Miss Channing has said she wants Trudie to get her ass in there now,” she said, with that harried look on her face that I had become used to seeing on the face of anyone who dealt with the woman.
I ducked in the hospital room to find Eleanor strangely subdued.
“Miss Channing, is there anything else you need? I will organize canceling all your appointments for the rest of the day,” I said.
“That would be good,” she said. “Except the party tonight at Jessica Bailey’s house. I’ll be attending that. She is such a good friend and I wouldn’t want her to think I don’t support her.”
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
Jessica Bailey was a young actress who had managed to get a couple of parts recently that Eleanor had wanted. Going to her party was Eleanor’s way of saying that she wasn’t scared of the up and comer, that she was perfectly secure in her position. Well, that took care of the rest of the day. Eleanor was so secure in her position that even though the dress code for this party was casual, Eleanor would be spending the rest of the day with stylists, hair and makeup people to ensure that she looked entirely natural for the party tonight.
“I’ve given the list of the products that were used yesterday on you to the doctors. I believe an immunologist will be in soon to see what they can find out,” I said.
“Very well,” she replied. “As long as I am ready to leave in time to get ready for tonight.”
When the immunologist arrived I ducked out and scrolled through my contacts on my cell looking for my fake boyfriend. There it was, Jake Griffin. I hit the dial button and waited nervously for it to connect.
“I was waiting for your call, Trudie,” he answered.
“Hello, Detective Griffin,” I stammered. I was a little put off by the fact he knew I was calling. “I’m just letting you know that there is a party tonight at Jessica Bailey’s house,” I said. “I am not sure if it comes under the terms of our agreement but...”
“What time do I pick you up, Trudie?” he asked smoothly.
“About eight should be fine,” I said. “Dress code is pretty casual. The aim for us is to blend into the background.”
“I know how to blend in,” he said shortly, before disconnecting the phone.
Well that was fun. Can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to being his date tonight.
