by Leonie Gant
Chapter Ten
By the time Eleanor had been released from hospital and we had gone through the round of stylists and what she should wear, I got home twenty minutes before Griffin was supposed to arrive. I raced into the shower. Lucky for me it wasn’t a real date so I was quite happy to let all the regular primping go by the wayside. In my mind, Jake Griffin was only worth the minimum so that is what he got. When the doorbell rang and I hurriedly opened it wearing sweats, I could tell he didn’t think much of it.
“Good to see you made the effort,” he said.
“I only just got in,” I said. “I need five more minutes. Grab yourself a drink if you want.”
Hurrying back to my room, I threw on a knee length skirt and a silk top, both conservative, and was out of the room in four minutes and thirty seconds. He looked me over and I could see the word ‘boring’ flashing through his head.
“I am not going to this thing for fun,” I said, grabbing my small clutch. “This is work for me, just like it is for you.”
When we got out to the car Griffin opened my door for me. I grudgingly gave him points for effort. I’ve got to say that it isn’t often I get a door opened for me. Once we were headed to the party I wracked my brain for something to say but he started first.
“I heard Eleanor Channing was in hospital for most of the day. I didn’t think she got hurt so badly yesterday.”
“Oh she didn’t. It looks like she had an allergic reaction to one of the products they used at Bliss yesterday before the fireworks started. The products at Bliss are all natural so we needed to get her tested to see if she has developed an allergy to something she is likely to come into contact with on a regular basis.”
“Has she?”
“Doesn’t look like it. The immunologist went through every product on the list and she didn’t have an allergic reaction to any of them.”
Silence settled between us again. This felt uncomfortable.
“Should we exchange information about how we met, how we know each other, you know, in case somebody asks?” Griffin said.
“We can but we don’t need to go into too much depth. I can pretty much guarantee that no one at this party is going to care about any of that information,” I said.
“Why not?” Griffin asked. “Surely you’ve made friends with this crowd. Don’t you go to a lot of these things?”
I sighed. “I go to a lot of these parties, not because I am specifically invited, but because I come with Eleanor Channing. As far as most of the people at these things are concerned, I am part of the furniture and that is the way it should be. I am there to deal with any situation that comes up. I try to stop Eleanor doing anything stupid. I extricate her from difficult situations and I make sure that at the end of the night she is home in bed safe and hasn’t done anything to damage the brand,” I said.
“Sounds like you don’t have much chance for fun,” Griffin mused.
“My job is not about fun,” I said.
“Then why do it?” Griffin asked. “Are you one of those people who is desperate to have a job in the entertainment industry, willing to do anything until you get your big break?” Griffin’s tone was only slightly mocking.
“No,” I replied. “I am not interested in becoming an actress. I know I complain about this job but it’s what I am good at. I solve problems and I look after people. That is my skill set in life.”
The rest of the drive went pretty silently. I really had nothing in common with this man and, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t want to have anything in common with him. Once we got to the party, I was surprised to see Jorge at the door and smiled at him as we approached.
“Hi, Jorge,” I said. “What are you doing out here?”
“Got here and Eleanor didn’t want me. Seems I cramped her style. One of their security guys didn’t turn up so I got roped in. This way I’m getting paid twice to be here.”
“Smart,” I said, still smiling, until I felt an arm go around my waist.
Jorge’s face hardened.
“Did you want to introduce us, sweetheart?” Griffin said in my ear loud enough for Jorge to hear.
“This is Jorge. He works security for Eleanor. I’ve told you about him, honey,” I said, patting Griffin on his chest. “This is my boyfriend, Jake,” I said sweetly to Jorge.
“The one who arrested you,” Jorge said flatly.
“That’s the one,” I replied.
Jorge looked at Jake scornfully with a slight curl to his lips.
“Go on in. I think Eleanor and her group were upstairs near the balcony,” he said, waving us through.
Still holding me close, Griffin leaned down. “That was the guy from yesterday wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes, that was Jorge.” I wondered if you could get a cramp in your face from holding a fake smile too long.
“He didn’t seem surprised to see me. Any reason for that?” asked Griffin.
“I might have mentioned today that I had been seeing you,” I said as I peered around looking for Eleanor.
“How did you explain me arresting you?”
“I didn’t, we just went with the theory that you were a jerk and that the relationship probably wouldn’t be lasting long.”
Griffin looked surprised. “He seems to have believed that, how are you going to explain us being together the next three months?”
“Never got around to getting rid of you until there was another prospect on the horizon.” Griffin frowned but it sounded reasonable to me. People did it all the time.
Griffin lowered his voice. “He could be thinking that you’re keeping me around for sex.”
“Probably not,” I said. “During the conversation I may have intimated that you weren’t very good in that area.”
“What?” spluttered Griffin.
There really is nothing that upsets a man more than denigrating his bedroom skills.
“Why would you do that?” he said, a little angrily.
“Maybe because I’m really angry that I was having to lie to someone I thought of as a friend and I blame you for that,” I hissed.
Griffin grabbed me around the waist and stopped me from stomping away from him.
“Careful, sweetheart,” he said. “I may start to believe that you can’t wait for this arrangement to be finished.”
Looking up into his eyes I measured my words out carefully and softly. “I am counting the hours until I never have to see you again, sweetheart.”
I pulled away from him and kept walking towards Eleanor’s group. I didn’t bother introducing Griffin to anyone. No one would care who he was and I knew that he wanted to maintain a low profile. Eleanor looked him over quickly when she noted that I had arrived, but she didn’t seem to register him as the detective who had been at Bliss only the day before. She probably didn’t even remember Ramos, even though she had lifted Eleanor bodily off a screaming Emily. Some people were really that self-absorbed.
I took up my normal position on the outskirts of the group. After ordering a drink of soda, I did what I always did and blended into the background. Only this time, Detective Jake Griffin sat beside me and kept watch with me. Of course that only lasted a short amount of time. Watching people get drunk and acting up, even celebrities, gets old really fast. A couple of times, as Eleanor started to become loud and quite abusive, I had to make my way through the crowd and calm her down. Usually I accomplished this task using skills I had learned as a nanny. I found misdirection worked, getting her to focus on someone else or a shiny new toy that someone else had. Sometimes I had bits of gossip that I kept back precisely for these moments. I didn’t want to go into what this said about Eleanor or me. During one of these moments I came back and found Griffin had disappeared on me. Good thing he was only my fake boyfriend because I’ve got to say, if we were a real couple, I would not have been too happy about that. While waiting for him to come back, Crystal sat down beside me.
“What are
you doing here?” I asked.
“Networking,” she said. “Same as I always do.”
“Who’s the pretty boy for today?” I asked, straining my neck to look behind her.
Crystal never dated the same guy more than once. Thanks to her dad’s company she had a stable of very good looking men that were thrilled to come to these parties with her. Today’s selection seemed to be going for hipster trendy with a side of action hero. Not sure if it was working but he seemed to be happy.
“So are you going to tell me why you are with Detective Hottie?” she asked, smiling.
Pulling her aside, I filled her in on the last two days of my life and what they meant for the next three months. After telling her I wondered if I had made a mistake. Those warm chocolate brown eyes of hers were rock hard. Crystal is usually a fun loving person. Underestimating her is something most people do despite her position in her dad’s company. I have never made that mistake because I know she has got a temper which can stop traffic and I could see it starting to build. Of course, because that is the way my life goes, Griffin decided to turn up at that precise moment.
Putting an arm around my shoulder he grinned down at me. “Care to introduce us babe.”
Crystal’s eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to begin what I am sure was going to be a massive tirade.
“Don’t bother with the charade with her, she knows everything. There is no way I could have kept it from her, so there is nothing we can do. She won’t say anything but she does think you’re a douchebag, just like I do.”
Once again using my nanny skills I pointed behind Crystal. “Holy hell, is that Adam Hendricks?”
Crystal spun around. “It is. What would he be doing here?”
I looked behind Adam and groaned. There was Eleanor, holding his hand. She must have got away from the group. From the looks of her mussed up hair, she had decided to use Ryan’s brother to help with her grieving. I’d been so caught up with my own drama, I hadn’t seen that one coming. I should have though. Adam Hendricks had come to Hollywood with his older brother, but he had just never come close to the same heights that Ryan had. He was always at the parties and events but could never get past being Ryan’s younger, not so hot, not so special brother. Looks like that had changed for tonight. Of course the fact he was out partying only a couple of days after his brother died didn’t say much for the bond between them. Rumor had it that the Hendricks brothers hadn’t been overly fond of each other anyway.
“What the hell is she doing with him?” I asked.
“Why, what’s the matter with that?” Griffin asked. I looked at him.
“Really,” I said. “You see nothing wrong with the brother and latest lay getting it on only two days after Ryan Hendricks died.”
“Interesting way to put it,” he said, “but maybe they’re just working through their grief together.”
“More likely she’s getting an invite to the funeral tomorrow,” said Crystal.
I turned to Griffin. “The funeral’s tomorrow? I thought you guys had the body. Why would you release it so soon?”
“Coroner says heart attack. He’s taken all the samples he needs for any further testing we plan on doing. Seems there was pressure to release the body and have this whole sordid mess taken care of.”
Griffin did not sound happy. Neither was I. Eleanor at Ryan Hendricks’s funeral. With Emily Saunders. That was going to be fun.
“Babe, I want to dance,” interjected Crystal’s date.
“I’m busy, find something else to do,” she snapped. “What?” she said, catching sight of my expression.
“You know I love you,” I said, “but sometimes you’ve got this whole dominatrix thing going on that scares me.
“I’d never aim it at you,” she said, smiling.
“I know,” I replied, “but what did Sam37 do to deserve that?”
“He’s been whining the whole night. He’s needy and I don’t do needy well,” she said.
“Don’t I know it,” I replied, smiling.
“I’m sorry,” said Griffin, “but I think I missed something. Who is Sam37?”
“That’s her doing,” said Crystal, pointing at me.
“Crystal dates a lot of men from her dad’s casting agency and it just got too hard to keep up with all the names,” I said. “Our friend, Edwin, and I started calling them all Sam. We give them numbers to differentiate them. Tonight’s effort is Sam37.”
“Are you judging me, Detective?” Crystal said sweetly. “I hope not because you’re blackmailing my friend. I really don’t think you’re in a strong enough moral position to judge me.” With that, she kissed me on the cheek, whispered, “call me when you get home,” and walked off.
“She goes for the balls doesn’t she?” said Griffin, frowning as he watched Crystal walk away.
“She’s way tougher than she looks. Most people don’t really see it. I’ve seen her rip into men who were standing over her and she can back it up.”
“She’s George Bronstein’s daughter isn’t she?”
“Have you been researching us?” I asked.
“Seemed a good idea,” he shrugged.
“In answer to your question, yes, she is George Bronstein’s daughter but she had an interesting childhood which culminated at nineteen with her getting involved with a bikie. I’m not talking an accountant who rode motorcycles on the weekend either. I’m talking a hide your daughters, lock up the silverware, and why is the sheriff riding out of town, kind of bikie. She got away from that kind of life pretty soon after that, but not before she absorbed the attitude and some pretty interesting life skills."
“You sound like you admire her,” Griffin said.
“I do,” I said. “She had a pretty lousy childhood being used as a cash cow by her mother and yet she’s come through it okay. She also adores her father and is very protective of him and her friends, and that is why she hates your guts.”
“Why did you have to tell her the truth about our arrangement?”
“Lying to her was never going to happen. The people I know best in LA are Reggie, Monique, Crystal and my friend, Edwin. I could not get away with lying to them. They know me too well and would have suspected something and got in the middle of it anyway. This way they are in the know but you can be sure they won’t say anything to anyone. It’s the best I can do,” I said.
“Okay,” Griffin said. “I’ll trust your judgment on this one.”
“You are just full of the sweet talk,” I said sarcastically.
Looking as if he was desperate to change the topic, Griffin looked around. “Is it always like this?”
“What, the celebrity scene?”
“Yes I was expecting it to be more, I don’t know,” he said, waving his hand in the air.
“More exciting,” I filled in. “More interesting, less desperate alcohol and drug fueled hookups.”
“Yeah I guess so.”
“They’re people,” I said. “Just a bit amplified.
I could see that Eleanor was getting ready to leave and went over to her.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. Her eyes were overly bright and I was a little concerned that she might not have just been indulging in alcohol tonight. I lowered my voice. “Were you safe with Adam?”
“You always worry about me don’t you?” she said, patting her hand against my cheek.
“Of course I do,” I said.
“I think you’re the only person I can really depend on.”
Oh no, please don’t let her start crying on me. When Eleanor gets drunk she gets maudlin. The last time she got drunk, she cried over me about how I was her only true friend. The next morning she screamed at me for being the moron who couldn’t get her coffee right. You learn to take the good with the bad.
“I’m going to the funeral tomorrow,” she whispered. “Adam said Ryan would want me there. He said I was the one Ryan really loved.”
I wondered if
that was before or after Adam got her naked. Not my problem. I just had to get her into the car and away from here before she decided to kick on through the night and things really got out of control. I put my arm around her waist and indicated to her entourage that they were finished for the night. Grumbling ensued and I quirked my eyebrow at them. Hey look, it worked. Maybe I had learned something good from Griffin. Speaking of which, the detective was beside me.
“Is there something you need me to do?” he asked as Eleanor listed against my side.
“Just clear the way for us and try to make sure no one is taping this.” I swear the person who thought it was a good idea to put cameras on phones is an idiot and every day I hate them just that little bit more. These days everyone thinks they can be a photojournalist and are just waiting for the shot that is going to make them millions. At that moment Jorge materialized on the other side of Eleanor and took some of the weight from me. I smiled at him gratefully and he winked at me.
“I’ll get her home safe,” he said as I pushed her into the back of the limo.
“Thanks, Jorge,” I said as he got in.
“She’s going to the funeral tomorrow,” I let him know.
“That’s not good,” Jorge said, frowning.
“Tell me about it,” I said. “I’ll contact her manager and tell him what’s going on. Maybe he can talk her out of it.”
“Hope so,” said Jorge, getting into the car while throwing a scowl in Griffin’s direction.
“He really doesn’t like me does he?” said Griffin as the car drove off.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I said.
“You two dated?” Griffin asked.
“No, just worked together,” I said.
As we settled in the car I remembered to ask. “Where did you disappear to tonight?”
“Just went looking to find anything that might be interesting,” he said.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked.
“Not really,” he replied. “I saw some things that might interest the drug squad. Found a lot of people in various stages of undress, but other than that it seemed kind of tame.”
“Have you given any thought to the fact that there might not be a new drug out there, that it just may be one of those things?” I asked.
“Look, that is always a possibility,” Griffin said. “I’ve just got this gut feeling that Ryan Hendricks didn’t die from natural causes. I really think this is the best way to find out what actually killed him.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Just okay,” he said. “No ‘you’re a blackmailing jerk who is trying to ruin my life’.”
“Oh you are that, but I have to agree with you. I think there is something strange going on here. Ryan Hendricks was a health nut and he treated his body like a temple. He trained hard, didn’t do drugs or smoke. I don’t even think he drank alcohol. He was always spouting that organic was the way to go. He seemed to be determined to live forever.”
“See this is why I need you,” Griffin said. “This kind of information is something that nobody else has been telling us.”
I looked at him as he drove. He was a strong-looking man, his hands on the steering wheel controlled the truck with assuredness. He looked good tonight. I’d been so mad at him, I hadn’t even noticed but he’d made an effort. He’d also made an effort with me. I hadn’t been in the mood to appreciate that he’d been polite with me and opened doors for me.
Quietly I said, “Look I understand why we are doing this. You need to know that threatening me the way you did scared me a lot. I’m in a place here where I’m happy. I have people around me who I care about a lot. You threatened to rip me away from that. I know my job may not seem important to you but I’m proud of what I do. I’m having trouble getting past what you did.”
By this stage we’d pulled into the parking area of my apartment complex.
Griffin turned around and looked at me. “I understand and I am sorry that what I did scared you,” he said.
He got out of the truck and came around and opened the door for me. Silently he walked me to the door of my apartment.
As I unlocked the door he said, “I’ll be at the funeral tomorrow in my official capacity so I won’t be able to take you.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’ll be going with Eleanor anyway. Just remember, if there is a fight and I’m trying to pull her off, please just leave me be, or tell me before you grab me. I can’t afford another assault charge.”
He smiled as I ducked inside and closed the door. Leaning against it, I realized that I was no longer afraid of Detective Griffin, but that smile and the way it made my stomach flip. That smile was dangerous.
