Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 Page 5

  “I knew Griffin was gone. I watched him leave,” Crystal said airily.

  “Because that doesn’t sound creepy at all,” I said. “Now that we’ve established that we really need to discuss our relationship boundaries, what are you doing here?”

  “My mom came to dinner last night.”

  Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that.

  “Let me get up and I’ll make you a cup of coffee.”

  “And pancakes?” Crystal asked hopefully.

  “And pancakes,” I agreed, wondering how a break-in had ended up with me catering for the perpetrator. “Just let me get dressed first.”

  I struggled to get out from underneath the covers and landed awkwardly on the floor. Crystal looked at me appraisingly.

  “That’s what you wear to bed?” she queried.

  I looked down at myself. My pajamas looked fine to me and, more importantly, they were comfortable.

  “Yes, what’s wrong with them?”

  “Nothing,” Crystal said hurriedly. “I’m just now beginning to appreciate that love is truly blind and how much Griffin must really love you.”

  “I’d be a lot nicer to me if you want those pancakes,” I grumbled.

  “If you add some ice cream to them I’ll say whatever you want,” Crystal called out after me.

  In no time at all I was scooping ice cream onto Crystal’s pancakes.

  “So,” I said with some trepidation, “how did last night go?”

  “She didn’t even try to come on to Edwin,” Crystal said morosely.

  I paused with the spoon going to my mouth. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “Yes, but it isn’t the way we do things. My mom comes into town, tries to seduce any guy I’m with, destroys my life, gets her money, and then leaves. She does not try to be nice and then announce she is marrying her soul mate who is a plumber.”

  “What’s wrong with a plumber?” I asked, curious to see her answer.

  “There is nothing wrong with a plumber but my mother does not marry plumbers. She marries investment bankers, mob guys, rich men. She does not marry a plumber. She does not ask me to be her bridesmaid at the wedding and she does not tell me that she loves me.”

  “So, you’re upset because your mother is acting like a mother,” I said slowly.

  I understood where she was coming from. After all I had heard about Crystal’s mother, these actions were not what I was expecting.

  “Exactly,” said Crystal.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “She said she loved you?”

  Crystal nodded. “Well, it was more of a ‘love ya, babe,’ at the end of the night so I’m not entirely sure about the feeling behind it but the words were definitely there.”

  “Is she dying?”

  “That was my first thought as well,” Crystal exclaimed. “Edwin said I was just being morbid.”

  “Religious conversion?”

  “My mom getting religion?” Crystal chewed her pancakes thoughtfully. “I don’t really see that happening.”

  “Then what do you think it is?”

  Crystal shrugged. “I don’t know and it’s that not knowing that is freaking me out. I keep thinking that the other shoe is going to drop and I’m worried that I’ll be taken by surprise. I don’t deal well with being taken by surprise, Trudie.”

  “So, what are you going to do?” I asked.

  “I want you to come with me when we go dress shopping.”

  Not what I was expecting but I could be flexible.

  “When did you want to go?”

  Crystal looked at her watch. “Pretty much now.”

  “Now?” I asked.

  “The wedding is in two days,” Crystal said as she shoveled the last of the pancakes into her mouth.

  “Two days?”

  “Why do you keep repeating everything I’m saying? The wedding is in two days. I’m a bridesmaid and I need a dress. My mom is waiting for me to go shopping with her this morning. I figured that since you haven’t left for work already that you’ve probably got the day off.”

  I was impressed with her deductive reasoning.

  “I need you to act as a human shield if this gets too weird with my mom.”

  “Exactly how am I supposed to act as a human shield?”

  “I don’t know. Do whatever it is you do at work. For goodness sake, you work with high maintenance people all the time. Do what you do there. Distract, deflect, stop me from killing her.”

  It was good to know my skills had practical applications that could be used in my personal life as well as my professional one.

  Chapter Nine

  Despite the many stories that Crystal had told me about her mother, I had never had the pleasure of meeting the woman. Due to my loyalty to Crystal though, I had already prejudged her and my opinion wasn’t pretty. As we waited outside the dress store I noticed that Crystal was moving constantly.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m nervous about the fact that I’m looking for a dress with my mother. How messed up is that?”

  It was messed up, made even more so by the fact that Crystal is one of the most confident people that I know. I disliked Crystal’s mother a little bit more in that moment, knowing that her presence was causing my friend’s anxiety.

  I put my hand over hers. “You need me to do anything, just tell me. If you need to get out of here I can fake a medical emergency in a heartbeat.”

  Crystal laughed. “No you can’t. You’re a worse actor than Edwin.”

  That was harsh. Accurate, but harsh.

  “How much acting does it take to fall down in a faint? I could do that. You could tell your mom that I’ve got some weird tropical Australian disease. She’ll believe it.”

  “Thank you,” Crystal said as she gave me a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  I hugged her back. “So am I.”

  “Liar.”

  Okay, fine. I was lying. I couldn’t think of many things worse than shopping for a bridesmaid dress for a wedding for Crystal’s mom. If there was a potential for a bridezilla moment, this was it.

  “There she is.”

  I turned around to look in the direction that Crystal was indicating.

  Crystal’s mom didn’t exactly look like I had pictured her. Admittedly, any time I had imagined Crystal’s mother, the words Las Vegas showgirl had featured prominently, so I had always pictured her in costume. That may have been a little inappropriate for the streets of Los Angeles. She was dressed pretty conservatively in a simple skirt and top, something you would expect with any bride-to-be. Her blonde hair was perfectly styled and she walked in that confident way that some women have. Those women that know that eyes are turning in their direction wherever they are going. She was taller than I expected. Crystal was tiny. Without high heels she barely reached five feet. Crystal’s coloring was in marked contrast to her mother. I’d never really thought before about how much more Crystal looked like her father than her mother. She stopped in front of us and awkwardly went to kiss Crystal on the cheek.

  “Roxy, this is my friend, Trudie, the one I told you about. Trudie, this is my mother, Roxy.”

  I put my hand out, for no other reason than to avoid the whole awkward social kissing scene.

  Roxy grasped my hand. “It’s so good to meet you, Trudie. Crystal has told me so much about you. I feel like I know you already.”

  I smiled hesitantly. No way was I going to bring up how well I knew her based on what Crystal had told me. That was never going to be a conversation that ended well.

  Crystal glanced between the two of us. “Should we go inside and get started?” she queried.

  Roxy smiled. “That would be a great idea.”

  I was surprised to find that the shop we had come to wasn’t as exclusive as I would have expected Crystal’s mother to have chosen. Maybe things were different this time round.

  Crystal turned to her mother. “What did you want me to w
ear?”

  Roxy smiled. “Just pick something out that you think you would like. We’re not really going with a theme for the wedding. We just want everyone to be happy and comfortable.”

  Crystal turned around but not before I noticed her raised eyebrows. I had a feeling that this new version of her mother was causing her to question everything she knew about the woman. After browsing through the racks Crystal entered the fitting rooms with her arms filled with dresses. I kept wandering through the store, not purposely avoiding Roxy, but just keeping my distance. I was admiring a deep blue dress in a soft fabric when Roxy came up behind me.

  “You don’t like me very much, do you?”

  In this moment, I had a choice. I could go with the socially acceptable fantasy version of my opinion, or I could go with the truth.

  “Not really.”

  You would think that after all the time I worked in Hollywood I would have made a different choice.

  Roxy looked surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

  I hadn’t been expecting it either. “Crystal is a good friend and I adore her. You being here causes problems and I’m naturally wired to solve problems. I’m not sure how to fix this for her.”

  Roxy nodded. “I understand. I haven’t been the best of mothers. I know that.”

  I stayed silent. There was no way I was going to contradict her self-assessment now.

  “The way John is with his family has made me have a good hard look at myself. I haven’t been too impressed with what I’ve seen.”

  I quietly listened to her as I put the dress back on the rack.

  “I want to do better with Crystal. I have made so many wrong decisions in my life and most of them centered around her. I want a way to fix what I’ve done.”

  “Maybe telling her that, rather than me, would be a good start,” I said.

  Roxy smiled ruefully. “You’d think so but I seem to have trouble saying those words to Crystal. You seem to be easier to talk to.”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s just that you don’t care whether I like you or not. It seems that despite the way you’ve treated Crystal all her life, you’ve started to care.”

  “I don’t know how to reach her. Maybe too much has happened for us to ever work things out between us.”

  Roxy looked distressed by that thought. That more than anything else gave me hope that she really meant what she was saying.

  “How about laying it out there for her. After everything that’s happened between you I don’t think that anything less than complete honesty is going to work.”

  Roxy nodded. “I want her to meet John. Maybe when she sees him, sees the kind of man he is, maybe then she’ll realize that I’m not the same person I was.”

  “That could be a good idea,” I said.

  “Trudie, I want to say something to you but I don’t want to hurt your feelings.” Roxy looked nervous.

  That was sweet. I could have told her that, considering the industry I worked in, she was going to need to come up with something pretty spectacular to actually manage to hurt my feelings.

  “I want you to go away.”

  I stopped and stared. Although not particularly insulting to me, it was actually something I’d heard many times before, I was a little perplexed.

  “I think I need to spend some time alone with Crystal and I think you being here is going to stop it being as honest as it needs to be.”

  That was pretty blunt.

  “I’ll just check with Crystal and see if she’s okay with that,” I said.

  I poked my head into the fitting room. “You decent?”

  “Rarely,” Crystal called out. “Come in anyway, I could do with some help with this dress.”

  I squeezed into the fitting room with her. “What’s the problem?”

  “I can’t quite get this zip to come all the way up.”

  I looked down at the dress. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to fit well. Crystal has curves and some of the clothes that were in these stores were not forgiving of even the smallest hint of an hourglass figure.

  “Never mind, I can see from the look on your face that this one isn’t going to work. Can you just get the zip down for me?”

  I started pulling it down. “As long as you never mention a word of this to Edwin.”

  Crystal smiled. “I promise.” She turned around and faced me.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  Crystal’s face fell. “Work call you in?”

  I shook my head. “No, your mom wants me to leave.”

  “Excuse me.”

  I could see Crystal wasn’t reacting well to that statement.

  “Your mom wants to spend a day with you. She’s trying to connect with you, Crystal. I know you brought me here to act as interference but I really think you should at least hear the woman out. If I’m here it kind of wrecks the mood.”

  “And what if this is simply more of the same garbage that she’s been peddling to me my entire life. People don’t change.”

  “Sometimes they do, Crystal, if they are motivated enough. I’m not saying you have to believe her. I’m not even saying that you have to have anything more to do with her after today. All I’m suggesting is that you listen to what she has to say. Give her today, and tomorrow morning make a decision as to whether you still want her in your life. Even if today is a massive disaster and you end up never wanting to see her again, how is that any different from the way you felt yesterday morning? You are not going to lose anything. You’ll still have your dad, you’ll still have Edwin and you’ll still have me. Hell, I’ll even throw in Griffin if it’ll make you happy.”

  “Oh, because that’s just a dream come true,” Crystal said sarcastically.

  “We’re in a highly emotional moment so I’m going to ignore that comment about the love of my life,” I said wryly.

  Crystal giggled. “Okay, you’re right. You should go. It was probably a bit of a coward move to bring you along.”

  “I would never say that.” I pulled her close to give her a hug.

  “You realize we’re hugging and I’m half naked,” Crystal said.

  “We’re not telling Edwin about that either.”

  Chapter Ten

  I was surprised to find Ramos waiting at my apartment.

  “Liza, are you okay?”

  I immediately cursed myself for the stupid question. Of course she wasn’t okay.

  “I need to talk to you, Trudie.”

  “Uh, sure, whatever you want.” I clumsily unlocked my door. “Come on in.” I motioned her into my apartment. “Can I get you a coffee, something to eat?”

  “How long did you know?” Ramos asked suddenly.

  “Know what?”

  “How long did you know that Jolena was cheating on me?”

  I clasped my hands together. “I didn’t know who she was until we met at the barbecue.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “What was I going to say?” I hoped she would understand. “I didn’t know how to approach the situation and it wasn’t the place to say it.”

  Ramos turned away from me. “I knew there was something wrong with you at the barbecue. You were acting strange, even by your standards.” She turned back to me. “I want you to tell me everything that happened.”

  I really didn’t want to do that.

  “Are you sure? Maybe you should just leave this to Fletchall and Pickett. I gave them the information. They are the ones who are following it up.”

  “Everything, Trudie.”

  I swallowed nervously. “The guys in the band are currently working on a new album so they are pretty much cloistered away during the day. There are a minimal number of staff on site, mostly just to keep things ticking along smoothly. We make sure the guys get what they want so nothing interrupts the creative process. At nights they sometimes have parties. Most of the attendees at these parties are female, a lot of them are models. The stereotype of rock stars hooking up with models is prett
y accurate.” I grimaced as I belatedly remembered that Jolena had been a model.

  “Go on,” Ramos waved her hand.

  “On those nights when the band is partying, the women compete with each other to spend some time with the guys. There’s a hierarchy. As you would expect, the lead singer is at the top of that hierarchy. Ash’s tastes sometimes run a little wild. My role at these parties is to make sure things don’t get too out of hand. That night Ash had two women with him. I heard some screaming and I followed Jorge into the room. We found Ash sitting back while these two women were fighting each other. Jolena was doing some damage to the other girl. Jorge tried to separate them and found it really tough. Some of the other guys came in to find out what was happening and eventually we got everything calmed down. The other girl was a bit messed up. She had definitely come off second best in the fight. Jolena was told to leave and that she would never be welcomed back. It was the only time I had ever seen her there. When I saw her at the barbecue I didn’t know how to react. I am so sorry for what has happened.”

  We both stood silently and the seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace.

  “This is your fault,” Ramos accused. “If it hadn’t been for you, this would never have happened.”

  A part of me wanted to defend myself, but the look in Ramos’s eyes were those of someone who was not going to listen to reason. Anything that I had to say in my defense was just going to add fuel to the fire.

  “You are surrounded by death. It was only a matter of time before we got caught up in it.”