Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (3 page)

“
Sorry I didn’
t
catch that.” I hoped I sounded cooperative. After Eleanor’s
continuous tirade I could only imagine the level of patience the
police would have with me.

“Which part?” asked the female cop.

“Pretty much all of it” I replied. “I kind of
zoned out a bit there.”

“Really” the male cop said and a part of me
melted. He had a voice that was deep and just sort of caressed its
way over me. “Not really smart considering you’re at a murder
scene.”

And just like that he became a lot less
attractive to me. My eyes narrowed.

“
I’m sorry, it has been a
trying morning and I was just doing my best to deal
with a traumatic experience. How can I help you?” I asked with just
that extra dollop of sickening sweetness, all the while picturing
his admittedly gorgeous head as a bowling ball. I could tell that
they weren’t sure how to deal with my change in attitude. I have
discovered in LA that people are always prepared for abuse. They
have a plan for it. Sometimes that plan includes a well-placed put
down, sometimes it is to be profane and at other times it is
pulling the finger. In those situations being polite can completely
throw them. They don’t know how to respond and especially adding it
to the blank facial expression where they can’t read any cues,
drives people nuts. My job requires that I be this way, and I excel
at it. The female cop, obviously reading the cues that I was not
impressed with her partner, took the lead.

“I am Detective Ramos of the LAPD, Homicide
and this is Detective Griffin. We just want to know what
happened.”

“
Well” I s
aid,
“I arrived here almost an hour ago. Miss Channing had called me to
come and pick her up. I found the place locked but managed to get
inside. I went upstairs looking for her. I found Miss Channing in
the bedroom and Mr Hendricks in the shower. I turned off the shower
and checked for signs of life. I then called 911.”

All this was said very correctly and with no
emotion at all.

Detective Griffin’
s
eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “We found signs of a break in
downstairs” he said.

“
If you’re talking about the doggie door, that was me. A
little accident whi
le
I was trying to get in.”

“What did you do, try to fit through it?”
Detective Ramos said.

I could feel myself tense up. Of course
Detective Perfect Figure would have got through that door without a
problem.

“Where was Miss Channing when this happened?”
Griffin interrupted.

I stopped myself from swallowing nervously.
This was the part that I knew was coming. I knew how the rest of
this statement was going to look. I had no loyalty to Eleanor
Channing and if she murdered Ryan Hendricks I would be the first to
say she should get what was coming to her. The problem was that
despite my personal feelings for the woman, I can't picture her as
a murderer. That being said, I wasn't going to cover for her
either. My mother didn't raise an idiot.

“
Miss Channing was sitting on the bed when I arrived” I said
softly. “She
seemed to
be in shock and didn’t respond to anything I said. I checked to see
if she had been hurt as well but I couldn’t see anything.” I spoke
calmly and clearly.

“We will need to take your statement down at
the station” Ramos said briskly. “Once Miss Channing has been
checked out we’ll be talking to her as well.” She indicated that I
should follow and I fell into step behind the two of them.

I
had to stop myself from laughing. They had no chance of speaking
with Eleanor. By the time she got to the
hospital
, the fortress of
lawyers, managers and entourage would be back in place and these
cops wouldn’t get anywhere near her. Unfortunately I didn’t merit
the same protection so I would be left hanging in the wind until
somebody worked out that I had some value in protecting Eleanor.
Until that crucial moment I was on my own.

With that demoralizing thought
, I pulled my hair out of the ponytail and let it hang
forward as we drove through the property gates. Flashes went off
around the car. The media had no idea who I was and I preferred to
keep it that way. If I could keep my face hidden maybe I could get
through this without my family seeing my photo in a newspaper, with
a headline proclaiming that I was a murderer.

Once at the station I followed Ramos and
Griffin and I swear I did not look at the way Detective Griffin
filled out that pair of jeans once.

Hearin
g a yell I
heard Griffin mutter, “what the hell this time?”

“
The
lieutenant
wants to see the three of you,” the young uniformed officer
said.

T
raipsing back to the
lieutenant’s office I was happy to see who was also there. My boss,
Monique Petit. Monique, many years ago was a model. She had come
over to America from France when she was young to act but due to
not being the right look had not been able to find the roles that
she wanted. Monique is a couple of inches over six feet tall and
after all these years is still gorgeous. Her skin is a rich
chocolate color and even though she is heading towards fifty she
seems much younger. One look at the lieutenant’s adoring face and I
knew that he was going to be putty in Monique’s hands. I had seen
men on road crews move equipment so she could have a parking space,
just for a smile from her. That kind of thing never worked for
me.

Standing next to Monique was her husband, Reggie Goodman.
Reggie adores Monique and he is the only person in the world who
can manage her. Reggie is like me, completely ordinary. He is
shorter than Monique, sto
cky
and had started losing his hair at a young age. People never assume
that the two of them are together and when they finally work it
out, there is always that look as if they can’t understand why she
is with him. I know why. Reggie is one of the most wonderful and
supportive men I had ever met in my life. Monique is very much
aware of how lucky she is to have him.

The lieutenant obviously didn’
t realize that he was leering at Reggie’s wife. Reggie
may not look like he could do damage, but I have seen big tough
guys cry once Reggie had got a hold of them. At this moment thought
the important thing to me about Reggie is that he is an attorney,
and not just any attorney. Reggie is brilliant, I’ve seen him in
action and when he is passionate about something he can wipe the
floor with anyone else. Usually he would be way out of my price
range, but as a favor to Monique I was sure I would be getting the
special rate. He also likes the fact that I can cook. When I am
stressed I bake and so that I don’t eat everything I make, I share
the baked goods around. Reggie loves my chocolate and pecan
cookies. I could see some big baking days in my future. Never
underestimate the baking barter system. If you can make someone’s
favorite treat from when they were a kid, you have a friend for
life.

Detective Griffin cleared his throat. “What
can we do for you Lieutenant?” he asked.

I
looked at the man with newfound respect. Any man who can speak
coherently when in the presence of Monique
, obviously has a level of self-control that
approached legendary. I saw a flash of irritation cross Monique’s
face. Although she is happily married to Reggie and wouldn’t think
of straying, there is still a small part of her that is proud of
her effect on men. To find a man that doesn’t immediately fall
under her spell pushes that competitive spirit button in
her.

“
Oh, uh, this is Miss Eyre
’s counsel” the lieutenant said, waving a hand at
Reggie without actually taking his eyes off Monique.

“
I assume that means we are not getting a statement” Griffin
said looking at me
,
eyes narrowed.

The
vindictive part
of me that wasn’t interested in making his life any easier was kind
of on board with that. I was not looking forward to sitting in an
interrogation room for hours while being good cop, bad copped by
the beautiful twosome. There are better ways to spend my day. I had
already told them what I’d seen.

I
looked at Monique and Reggie. There is a reason I work for Monique.
In a world where values and ideals are constantly
compromised
, she manages to
follow the right path. She is devoted to a husband who may not be
everyone’s ideal in the way he looks, even though temptation is
thrown her way all the time. She makes it clear to all her staff
that despite the world they work in, where drugs and sex are freely
traded, she expects us to conduct ourselves according to our moral
compass. She was also a strong advocate of taking individual
responsibility. Even though she was letting me make the choice I
knew she expected me to do the right thing. Regardless of what
happened, Ryan Hendricks was dead. Though I didn’t like the guy
personally, if someone else was responsible for his death, he
deserved justice.

“I’ll make a statement” I said looking
Griffin directly in the eyes.

I
could see he was surprised
,
and maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I saw a flash
of respect go through them.

“I will be going in with her” stated
Reggie.

I smiled at him gratefully and mentally
promised him a double batch of chocolate and pecan cookies. As the
four of us headed to the interrogation room Monique stopped me and
pulled me into a quick hug.

“
Be smart, listen to Reggie, and I
’ll see you when you are finished” she murmured
before striding through the room with every man watching her
leave.

“I need to speak to my client alone before we
do this” said Reggie.

Detective Ramos pointed him to an empty room and Reggie
grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. I noticed the way the two
detectives took no
te of the
familiar move. I didn’t care. Reggie was like that with me all the
time. He liked to call me the younger sister he never wanted and
our relationship reflected that.

Once in the privacy of the room
, Reggie turned to me. “Did you do anything that I
should know about?”

“
Of course not Reggie” I said indignantly. “I got there
after a phone call from Eleanor and found him dead. I have no idea
what happened before then. I called 911 and then I called
Monique
, after
checking to see if Ryan was still alive.”

“
Please tell me you didn’
t touch the body” Reggie said.

“
I checked his pulse, that
’s it” I said.

“
Alright then” said
Reggie, “let’s get this done. When we are in there I want you to
think before you speak. Don’t run off at the mouth. Don’t feel
intimidated. I will be with you through this entire thing.” He
squeezed my hand and I felt tears prick the back of my
eyes.

“
For the love of God, don’
t cry” he said hurriedly.

“
I’m not” I said sniffing loudly. “You’re just being nice to
me, I’ve had four months with Eleanor Channing. I’m
just not used to nice. It’s throwing
me off my game.”

“
Very well” Reggie said. “I’ll be a
basta
rd for the rest
of the day. Don’t worry, if someone being nice to you is what makes
you cry you should be fine for the rest of this meeting. I don’t
think Griffin and Ramos are going to be particularly pleasant with
you.”

“
I think you
could be right” I agreed.

Sitting in
the interrogation room I started once again questioning why I was
doing this. Ramos
started the interview
and I could feel myself sweating as Reggie droned on about my
rights and how I was doing them a favor. Ramos kept looking at him
while Griffin kept his implacable stare on me. I couldn’t help
wondering what he was thinking and tried to meet his expression
with my own tough glare as if this whole situation didn’t terrify
me. I don’t think it worked too well as the irritating man quirked
his eyebrow at me and looked like he was having to stop himself
from laughing.

“Thank you Mr Goodman.” Detective Ramos
finally broke in when it looked like Reggie was about to recite the
Constitution to them. “I think we can get started, a few details
first. Can the witness please give us her name.”

“Trudie Eyre.” I was quite proud that there
was only a small waver in my voice.

“Is that your full correct name?” she asked
with a small smile.

Great, she
knew. I could tell from the look on her face that she knew that my
mother had given me a name no modern mother should give their
child.

“
My full name
is Gertrude Mary Eyre” I said glaring at her.

I know,
Gertrude. I was named after my dad’s grandmother. To this day I
don’t understand what my mom was thinking. She says my great
grandmother was sick when I was born and they didn’t know if she
would live. Between that, the really long labor, the drugs and the
pressure from my grandmother, she signed the paperwork without
really thinking. Once the situation had calmed down enough that she
realized what she had done to her firstborn child, it was too late.
The best she could do was shorten it to Trudie. That and tell me at
least it wasn’t a stripper name. No, I had a name as far from a
stripper name as it was possible to get. A name that was pretty
much guaranteed to be accompanied by the sentence, ‘why would your
mother do that’ by everyone who heard it. I could tell that was the
next question Detective Ramos wanted to ask, but she was a
professional. She only looked like she wanted to burst out laughing
at my stupid name. She didn’t actually do it. I wasn’t even game to
look at Griffin. That quirking eyebrow of his made me want to slap
him. Despite my limited knowledge of the American justice system,
I’m pretty sure slapping a detective quirking an eyebrow at you
because of the stupid name your mother gave you, would be
considered a bad thing.