Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (13 page)

“I just need someone to talk to” she
sniffed.

Oh no, she
was crying. I can’
t handle people who
cry. I have a highly developed empathetic nature. On one hand it
means that I am as far away from a psychopath as you can possibly
get. On the other it means that when someone is upset I am just as
likely to start bawling as they are.

“I’ll come to Bliss as soon as I can” I said
knowing I was going to regret this.

“
I’m not at
Bliss today” she said with a hitch in her voice. “I’m at home, can
you come out here?”

I agreed and took down the details. Once I
was off my phone I threw off the covers. Getting dressed I cursed
the part of me that wanted to take care of everyone. Monique saw it
as a plus. All I saw was the number of times it had got me into
trouble. Pulling on my jeans and trainers I figured I wasn’t
needing to impress anyone today.

Driving up to
Jennifer’s property I was taken aback by how beautiful it was.
After six months in LA I was getting used to the crush of people in
the city and the unrelenting development, but I had grown up in
country Australia. I’d lived in a tiny town where everyone knew
everyone else. Most importantly I was used to heaps of space and
bushland. I love the frenetic pace of my life in LA but every now
and again I miss the quiet that I had in Australia. This place
reminded me of why I missed it. LA surprises you like that
sometimes.

After being
buzzed through the gate I didn’t have time to knock on the door
before Jennifer Saunders wrenched it open, threw her arms around me
and started sobbing. I awkwardly patted her on the back. Seeing her
husband nearby I tried to indicate with my head that he should be
here dealing with this. He just seemed to duck his head and scurry
away. I groaned inwardly. I know there are some men in touch with
their feelings who can deal with female emotion, but why have I
never met them?

“Why is she trying to ruin me?” she
asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t have an
answer.

“Did you want to go for a walk?” I asked.

Truth be told I badly wanted to have a look
at this place. I could not believe there was a block this large so
near to the bustle of Hollywood.

Jennifer
hooked her arm into mine. I have to say it felt a little too
familiar considering we just barely knew each other and she had
asked me here because my boss was suing her. I wasn’t sure what had
suddenly made us best friends but obviously she needed someone and
I was all that was available. That struck me as being really sad.
Meanwhile Jennifer had morphed into a tourist guide.

“We grow a lot of our own ingredients for our
products at Bliss” she said as we walked through the grounds.

I was amazed. Most celebrity houses that I
had seen in LA had the grounds filled with big houses, pools and
entertaining areas. This place had vegetables, fruit and in a back
corner I could even see a bee hive nestled against a fence which
seemed to back on to a national park.

“You have a bee hive?” I asked excitedly.

“Yes, Josh is so interested in the way the
environment works as a whole. He thinks it’s important that we
contribute to all aspects of the ecosystem” Jennifer said. “He is
very passionate about it.”

I looked at
her sharply. I hadn’
t missed the note of
sadness in her voice.

“
He spends
all his time working on our products at Bliss and with the new
organic cleansing diet line that we are promoting at the moment,
our lives are just so hectic. We live in the same house but we
hardly get to see each other.”

I nodded
silently. I’ve learned when people are talking and are highly
strung emotionally, adding your opinion does not help the
situation. The best thing to do is let them talk themselves out. I
didn’t know what had brought this on but I could guess that getting
the paperwork from Eleanor’s lawyers had pushed this woman to her
limit. She was trying to hold her life together as well as support
her sister in her time of need, and now she was being sued. A
cynical part of me had the feeling that daddy was going to be
brought in to deal with this issue or maybe that was what Eleanor
wanted. She had already put herself on the wrong side of Henry
Saunders by fooling around with his daughter’s fiancée and then
having public fights with his daughter. Usually that would be seen
as making a stupid career move. Maybe this was Eleanor’s way of
getting a bit of leverage over the studio head. I wouldn’t put it
past her. Eleanor could be ruthless when she wanted something. So
it looked like because of her power play I now had an emotionally
distraught woman to deal with. I led her to a rock wall and sat her
down.

“Why did you ask me to come here?” I asked
her.

“
I
don’
t know” Jennifer said. “You were just
nice to me. People are sometimes so rude and mean but you were
nice. You didn’t expect anything from me, you just talked to me. I
get so many people who just want to get to know me because of my
father or my sister. I’m not like them. I just want to live my
life. I just felt like I could talk to you. I know you can’t do
anything about the lawsuit. I just needed to talk to
someone.”

“That's okay” I said soothingly even though
my discomfort level was heading higher. “If you need to talk just
do it. I’ll listen.”

She seemed to
gather herself at that point. “No, I’m sorry” she said standing up
quickly. “I should never have presumed to call you here. It wasn’t
fair of me to do that. I was just taken a bit by surprise.” Quietly
she turned to me. “She’s doing it because of Emily and Ryan isn’t
she?”

“
I
don’
t know” I said honestly, although
that was my theory, and from the look of it she was pretty sure of
it too.

Saying my goodbyes to Jennifer I felt like
going to the relaxation center and kicking Eleanor Channing. Some
people in this world deserve to be kicked and Eleanor was currently
at the top of my list.

Going back to
my apartment I realized that I now had a whole week of freedom. I
hadn’t had any time off in four months, so I was going to need a
plan to deal with this unexpected turn of events. I was excited.
Maybe I could go away for a couple of days. I was still getting
paid by Eleanor which I refused to feel guilty about. I had only
taken two steps into my apartment when there was a knocking at the
door. I wrenched it open and noted that I always seemed to answer
my door in a bad mood. That couldn’t be good. Crystal and Edwin
were there and they walked past me and sat down before I even had a
chance to invite them in.

“I’ve spoken to Edwin” Crystal said
imperiously, “and we have decided that the only way to get you out
of your problem with Detective Hottie is to find out how Ryan died
ourselves.”

I was quiet
for a second. I had several issues with that statement. Starting at
the top, Edwin and Crystal didn’t decide. Crystal told Edwin what
was going to happen and Edwin just agreed. Though he tried to hide
it, Edwin was nuts about Crystal and would find his way to the moon
if she asked it of him. Of course Crystal was completely oblivious
and Edwin was not willing to risk never seeing her again by making
a move, so the three of us continued in a painful dance. Secondly I
hadn’t realized that Detective Griffin was now officially known as
Detective Hottie. Obviously my introduction the other night had not
changed her mind on that score. And lastly, Crystal’s belief that
we could solve a death, that the police were not even sure yet
whether it was a homicide, kind of beggared belief. It did however
sound good that she believed that we were capable of doing such a
thing. At this point Crystal and Edwin were looking at me,
obviously expecting my wholehearted approval of this
plan.

“
Uh, do you
really think
that is a good idea?
Considering how much trouble I am already in with the LAPD. I have
an assault on a police officer charge hanging over my head
remember. Do you think I want to go sticking my nose in this
mess?”

“You’ve got the time now” said Crystal.
Obviously she would know about Eleanor being away for a week.
Crystal always knows everything. The woman has a network of
intelligence that would put some countries to shame.

“I don’t think the fact I have a week without
work should be the deciding factor in this situation” I said.

Edwin put his
hand over mine. “It isn’t” he said. “We’re just not willing to lose
you.” I started tearing up but he continued. “This detective is
threatening to send you home. That isn’t acceptable to
us.”

Okay I was really going to cry now. In Edwin
and Crystal I had found true friends evidenced by the fact they
were willing to hunt down a possible murderer to keep me close.

“Thank you” my voice croaked. “I appreciate
the idea but do we have an actual plan?”

“Yes” said Crystal standing up, brushing down
her skirt. “We’re going back to the place where Ryan died.”

Not the plan I was thinking of. “Wouldn’t the
police still have control of that house?” I asked.

“No” she said. “They’ve finished their
investigation there.”

“Any plans on how we are going to get in or
do you have the skills to break in?” I asked.

Crystal
seemed affronted that I would even ask the question. “Oh I could
get us in if I wanted to” she said proudly

Of course she could.

“But in this case I don’t need to. Adam
Hendricks gave me the key.”

“Just as a question, why did Adam Hendricks
give you the key to his brother’s house?” I asked.

Crystal
looked at me as if I was an idiot. Of course. Adam Hendricks would
give her anything she wanted. She was the gateway to one of the
biggest casting agents in Hollywood. For an actor who hadn’t quite
made it yet, she was the key to the Promised Land. The man would
probably give her the house if she wanted it. Luckily we only
needed it for a couple of hours.

Pulling up to
Ryan Hendricks’s house felt like deja vu. There was a small part of
me that didn’t want to go inside. Edwin whistled low in his
throat.

“Nice place” he said. “Very private.”

“It needed to be” I said. “This is his second
house for when he wanted to do something that wasn’t quite right
for public consumption.”

“So what was he into?” asked Edwin as we went
up the stairs.

“
Actually” I
said, “if you didn’t take into account that he slept with anyone in
a skirt, he wasn’t too bad. He took his craft seriously, didn’t do
drugs, and didn’t drink much at all.”

“
He used to
be great on set” Crystal chimed in. “He was always at work on time,
we never had any problems with complaints from producers or
directors, unless there was a wife or girlfriend
involved.”

Looking
through the house we could see where the police had already been.
As I feared there was nothing that we could find that gave any
indication of why a healthy man in the prime of his life had
succumbed to a heart attack. In the kitchen we had a look around
and I opened the massive fridge. In it there were boxes of organic
fruit and vegetables and bottles of juice.

“How much of this stuff did he need?” I
asked.

Edwin peered over my shoulder. “Looks like he
was on that cleansing diet that a lot of celebrities are using to
detox their systems” he said.

“How long is it supposed to last?” I
asked.

“About five days” Edwin replied.

“
There is a
lot more here than five days worth here” I said.

“
Some people
are on it longer if they’re trying to lose weight” Edwin said. “Not
exactly how you’re supposed to do it, but it’s one way to
go.”

“
Ryan
Hendricks did not need to lose weight" I said. “The man was in
amazing shape.”

“Actually” Crystal interrupted, “he would
have been trying to lose weight.”

“Why?” I asked.

“
New movie is
making the rounds at the moment. Don’t have many details but the
lead role has a guy who is really thin, as in sick thin. I know
Ryan was interested. This role is Oscar material and I think he was
getting tired of playing the lead in romantic comedies and action
movies. This was his chance to show that he could really act. Word
is that Ryan had decided to try to go into the audition as thin as
possible to show he could do it.”

Shutting the refrigerator door I reflected on
how sad that was. He was working towards what he really wanted and
now he would never have that chance.

“Could losing the weight have put some strain
on his heart?” I wondered aloud.

“
From the
looks of it he had only just started a day or too earlier. There
was no way he had lost enough weight to cause that kind of issue
already” Edwin said and he would know. Being a personal trainer
Edwin knew about all the latest fad diets. He came up against them
all the time. Edwin was always going on about how people wanted a
quick fix. Nobody was interested in doing the hard work over a long
period of time.

As we were
walking away from the fridge Crystal bent down. Other than the fact
Edwin was admiring her butt I really didn’t see
anything.

“What did you find?” I asked. Crystal came up
with a flourish holding a small flash drive.

“It looks like it fell down the side of the
refrigerator” she said.

At that
moment we heard footsteps in the house and looking over we saw
Griffin and Ramos in the doorway pointing guns at us. Crystal,
proving her ability to think quickly no matter what the situation,
dropped the flash drive between her breasts and turned around with
her hands up and a smile on her face.