Not Talented in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 3

by Leonie Gant

  “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.”

  Chapter Three

  As the small theater filled up with paramedics and police the three of us sat to the side, Crystal and I on either side of Edwin trying to talk him through it.

  “Who would want to kill her?” asked Edwin shaking his head.

  Crystal looked at me and I winced, her threat to kill the woman only an hour ago was still going through my head.

  “You have got to be kidding me.”

  I looked up to see what Crystal was looking at, only to see Detective Jake Griffin and his partner Detective Liza Ramos studying us from across the room.

  “This can’t be good” mumbled Edwin.

  “Seriously” said Crystal. “Are there no other cops in this city?”

  I felt an overwhelming need to escape. Seeing the two of them talking to the uniformed officers who had arrived previously, I could feel the anxiety rising in me. Crystal looked at me worriedly.

  “I’m fine” I said.

  “Honey, you are so far from fine it isn’t funny” she said.

  “No really, I’m the one who decided it wouldn’t work. My decision, I’m not second guessing myself now.”

  “Well, it looks like he’s not willing to face you yet either” Edwin said.

  I looked up to see Griffin’s back as he went into the room where Catarina’s body was still lying. Ramos headed towards us and I gave her a small smile of recognition. Stopping before us she looked directly at me.

  “You know, seeing you here is really not the best way for me to end a bad day.”

  “I’m sorry” I ventured, my voice rising in a question, not sure why but thinking that the sooner I finished with her the sooner I could go home. I really needed to work on those reasons that I had walked away from Griffin three months earlier.

  “You found the body?” said Ramos.

  “Yes we did” piped in Crystal. “We knocked on her office door. When we didn’t hear anything we walked in and found her like that.”

  “Why were you down here? Wasn’t the party upstairs?”

  Crystal and I looked worriedly at Edwin.

  “They were looking for me” he said.

  “Why down here?” Ramos asked.

  “I came to tell Catarina that I was quitting.”

  “Was this before or after she called you a no talent disaster who would never be able to get anywhere in this business unless the casting couch was still in force.”

  I winced. I hadn’t heard that part of the tirade.

  Edwin’s face flushed a deep red. “After.”

  “So it would be fair to say you were angry with Miss Badal” Ramos continued questioning in that bored voice of hers.

  “I wasn’t angry, just a little upset.”

  “Upset enough to put a knife into her back?”

  “Hey, wait a minute” said Crystal.

  “You can’t possibly be thinking that Edwin did this” I burst out.

  “That’s ridiculous, Edwin is the gentlest, kindest…” Crystal said indignantly.

  “I’m sure he is” said Ramos. “However he is also the last person to see her alive and she had just torn strips off of him in front of everyone. Makes him a viable suspect and he needs to come down to the station with us to answer some questions.”

  Holding up her hand she pointed at Crystal and me.

  “You two are just going to make things harder for him if you get in the way.”

  “It’s okay” said Edwin as he stood up.

  Crystal gripped his hand.

  “I’ll be fine, I didn’t do it. I just need to sort this out.”

  Crystal and I stood
up and gave him a hug. The uniform officer came and took him away and Crystal started organizing a lawyer on her phone for him. Ramos pulled me aside.

  “I need you to do something” she said.

  “What?” I asked unused to Ramos speaking to me without an interrogation room being involved.

  “Whatever is going on between you and Griffin, I need you to fix it.”

  “I’m pretty sure that is none of your business, and I’m absolutely sure it has nothing to do with this case, or the fact that you have just taken my friend into custody for something there is no way that he did,” I said feeling a bit annoyed.

  “Actually, it is my business. This thing the two of you have going on was fun to watch when it started. I’ll admit that I enjoyed the way you shook him up, but whatever you did is not funny anymore. It’s messing with my days.”

  “So, it’s all about you is it?” I said gritting my teeth.

  “When it makes my life difficult it is, now fix it” she said.

  “There is nothing to fix” I said, “and I would really appreciate you keeping out of it.”

  Turning around I stalked towards Crystal.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “I mean other than the fact we found a dead body and Edwin is up to his neck in it” she amended.

  “Nothing else important. Have you managed to get a lawyer for Edwin?”

  She nodded. “My dad’s criminal lawyer is going to meet Edwin at the station. He’ll make sure he doesn’t do or say anything that’s going to get him in any more trouble than he is already.”

  I could see the tension in her as she held herself stiffly. Crystal is one of the strongest people I have ever met and I know her well. In that moment I could tell she was barely hanging on. If there is anything that frustrates her, it is being unable to help someone she cares about. As much as she would deny it to anyone, I knew that she cared about Edwin very much.

  “Do you want to go down to the station and wait for him?” I asked gently.

  “No, I know that would be hard for you, what with Griffin there and everything” she said but I could see that she wanted to.

  “It doesn’t matter. This mess with Griffin is my fault, not yours and not Edwin’s. I’ll deal with it, but if you need to be there I’ll take you.”

  Crystal flung her arms around me, and I knew that it was just as much to hide the tears in her eyes as it was a gesture of gratitude.

  “Please, I need to be there. I don’t ever want him to think that he’s alone.”

  “He’s not alone” I said hugging her back. “He’s got us, he could never be alone.”

  Chapter Four

  Sitting in the police station waiting area, I was glad we had come. Crystal sat there gnawing impatiently on her lip. I had never seen her like this. Crystal was the product of a marriage between a big time Hollywood casting agent and a Las Vegas showgirl who hung around long enough to get pregnant and guarantee herself a big payday. Crystal’s mother had used her as a bargaining chip for ever increasing payments from her father in exchange for custody, all the time ignoring her daughter in favor of a fast moving line of husbands. At last count Crystal had seen her way through nine stepfathers. As a result Crystal had every right to be a bitter person twisted by the mercenary nature of her mother. Instead she had ended up a warm, loving person who adored her father and was fiercely loyal to her friends. On the flip side of that, she did not cope well when anything threatened those she cared about. Of course, in reality, not many of us do. When Crystal’s lawyer came out with an exhausted looking Edwin, Crystal jumped up and I could see that she was desperate to hug him, but she stood back and made me do it first. Just so she could fool herself and everyone else into believing that she only did it as a friend. The only person she was fooling was Edwin.

  The lawyer cleared his throat. “Mr Litchfield is free to go at this stage. The police are still treating him as a suspect.”

  I peered over Edwin’s shoulder to see Griffin leaning against a wall, studying me with an unwavering stare. For an instant I was caught in those green eyes and memories washed through me of how it had felt to be held in his strong arms and to feel his lips on mine. Wrenching my eyes away I directed my question to the lawyer.

  “Is there anything that we can do to help him?”

  “At this moment, just keep his head down. Don’t do anything stupid like let him bolt. The fact that he’s a British citizen and can go home at a moment’s notice has a tendency to make cops a bit twitchy. Do something stupid that looks like he is heading out of the country and they might arrest him, even if they don’t have enough evidence. Just keep calm and don’t do anything stupid.”

  At that both Edwin and Crystal looked in my direction. Unfairly I might add. My previous history may have suggested that I did stupid things but that was untrue. I just sometimes found myself in stupid situations.

  “Got it, no stupid” I mumbled.

  The lawyer roughly clapped Edwin on the shoulder. “Remember, keep your head down and don’t speak to the cops unless I’m there.”

  Picking up his briefcase he left the three of us standing there.

  “Ready to get out of here” I said to Edwin with a forced cheeriness.

  Edwin switched his attention between me and the detective who was still watching us intently.

  “I think that might be a really good idea” he said.

  Driving home the car was filled with a tense silence. Edwin obviously didn’t want to talk about his experience and Crystal and I weren’t going to push him. As the three of us separated into our own homes at the complex I noticed that Crystal was following me.

  “We need to talk” she whispered as she hustled me into my apartment.

  “What are you doing?” I asked pulling my arm away from her vise like grip.

  “I’m going to ask you for a favor and I want you to think about it before dismissing it out of hand” Crystal said calmly.

  Her mild tone was in direct contrast to the panic that I could see growing in her eyes.

  “You know I’d do anything for you” I said gently, hoping to head off the meltdown I could see coming.

  Crystal smiled tightly. “I need you to sleep with Griffin” she said.

  Admittedly not what I was expecting. Even for Crystal, that was a strange request. I waited for her to tell me she was joking. Unfortunately she looked deadly serious.

  “Why on earth do you want me to sleep with Griffin?” I asked incredulously.

  “Come on” Crystal said. “We all saw the way he was looking at you Trudie. He still wants you, and if you’d just give it up I think you can convince him that Edwin is innocent and he’ll leave him alone.” She looked hopeful as only someone with the most insane of plans can.

  I really couldn’t think what to say. Sure Crystal was a little nutty at times but this one easily topped any of the other schemes she had tried to talk me into. I put my hands on her shoulders, maneuvered her to the couch and sat her down.

  “Crystal, think for a moment” I said with more patience than that suggestion deserved. “I stopped seeing Griffin because I don’t believe he could ever put me before his work. He is completely dedicated to being a cop. I really don’t think that one roll in the hay with me is going to cause a complete change in his personality.”

  “You could be underestimating yourself” Crystal said desperately.

  “No, I’m not and I think you know it too.”

  Crystal put her head in her hands and quietly started crying. I put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her, letting her cry it out while murmuring all the nonsensical things you’re supposed to say at a moment like this.

  “I can’t lose him Trudie. I…I think I’m in love with him.”

  “Of course you are you idiot” I said gently.

  Crystal looked up. “What do you mean?”

  “Anyone with eyes can see you’re in love with him.”

  Crystal stiffened. “Does
Edwin know?”

  “No” I said. “I’m pretty sure that Edwin doesn’t know.”

  “I just, I love him and I would do anything to help him,” Crystal sniffed.

  “So glad that you doing anything to help him includes pimping me out” I said dryly.

  Crystal clapped a hand over her mouth and a small giggle came out.

  “I’m so sorry, but we were at the station and the way he was looking at you. I just started thinking that if his feelings for you were so strong, maybe we could use it to Edwin’s advantage.”

  “You know Crystal, there are moments when your thinking truly concerns me” I said.

  “I blame my mother” Crystal said. “Only lesson she ever taught me was when you’re backed into a corner, sex can always get you out.”

  “My mom said to go for the eyes, throat and groin” I said as I got up to get a coffee.

  “I think I prefer your mom” Crystal said.

  “Of course you do.”

  My mom had stayed with me for a while about five months ago after I had been shot in the case where I first met Griffin. With my mother’s instinct for finding and fixing broken people, she had latched onto Crystal and smothered her with all the maternal devotion that was normally reserved for her three children. Crystal had lapped up the attention and was now a fervent follower of my mother’s words of questionable wisdom.

  “What are we going to do?” Crystal said in that small voice of hers.

  “Why don’t we let the police handle it?” I said gently, handing her a cup of coffee.

  “But what if they get it wrong? What if they start to really think that Edwin did it?”

  “And what if, while you’re worrying here they find out who did it? Let them do their job Crystal. Just be here for him, talk to him. Let him know that you’re with him the whole way.”

  “You could be right” said Crystal doubtfully. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to get you to sleep with Griffin. He was pretty intense at the station. I thought he was going to come over and throw you over a shoulder and take you away.”

  I grimaced at the image Crystal presented, but couldn’t deny the flutter in the pit of my stomach at the thought.