Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 (12 page)

“Have you by any chance asked her what she
has organized?” he asked.

Crystal turned to him. “After I thought
about it, I called her up to give her some rules, but she was so excited that I
didn’t have the heart to rain on her parade.”

“That’s going to be interesting,” Griffin murmured.

I took a deep breath. “Maybe we’re
overreacting. Miss Betsy would realize how important this is to you. I’m sure
she hasn’t planned anything too outrageous.”

Neither Griffin nor Crystal seemed to be
too convinced by my argument. To be perfectly honest, neither was I. Thanks to
Miss Betsy, I now had a working knowledge of how to pick most locks and break
into a car. These were skills that I had never realized that I might need until
Miss Betsy got bored one day and convinced me that every modern woman should
have them. I still hadn’t been game enough to tell Griffin about that day.
Seems life in Hollywood as a stunt woman had provided Miss Betsy with a set of
life skills which couldn’t be matched. She also seemed to be determined to
share those life skills with the tenants at the apartment building that she
owned.

“When are we going?” I asked.

“Pretty much now,” Crystal smiled
apologetically.

“Give me five minutes so I can get myself
sorted out and I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”

Crystal nodded and walked out.

I almost ran to the bedroom and started
looking for something appropriate to wear.

“Do I need to be worried?”

Griffin had followed me and leaned against
the door frame as I started throwing clothes off.

“Probably,” I said. “I have no idea what
I’m doing or how long I’m going to be. All I know is that the rest of my day is
now resting in the slightly unhinged hands of Miss Betsy.”

“How bad could it be?”

I contemplated for a moment telling Griffin
about the fact that I could now break into a car or one of the apartments with
very little effort thanks to Miss Betsy. At the end of that moment I realized
what a stupid idea that was. Did he really need to be even more worried about
me than he already was? I consoled myself thinking that I was only protecting
him.

“Maybe not too bad,” I said.

I kept reminding myself of that as I drove
my car with Crystal sitting beside me and Miss Betsy giving directions.

Standing outside the building Miss Betsy
had directed us to, I didn’t know whether to be concerned or relieved. When
Crystal had told me that Miss Betsy was organizing our activities for the day,
I had to admit, there was a small part of me which had been worried that I
might not get through the day without jumping out of a plane. I would not have
put it past Miss Betsy to use this opportunity to convince Crystal and I that
skydiving was another skill that every modern woman should have. So, from that
point of view, I was relieved that it seemed that my feet would be staying on
firm ground. The concerned part of this situation came in when I realized that
we would be spending our afternoon at a gun range.

“This is awesome.”

Obviously Crystal did not seem to have the
same concerns that I did regarding the suitability of going to a gun range for
a bachelorette party.

Miss Betsy bumped me with her shoulder. “I
told you that I was going to teach you how to shoot at some point.”

I had forgotten about that, possibly on
purpose.

I smiled weakly. “Should be fun.”

“Here comes Roxy,” Crystal said quietly.

I looked up and watched the way Roxy walked
down the street. Even from this distance I could see she looked nervous. She
was followed by two very tall, younger women who didn’t look any happier to be here
than she did.

I lowered my head and spoke to Crystal.
“Aren’t John’s daughters happy about this marriage?”

“Doesn’t look like it, does it?” said
Crystal.

“Maybe choosing a gun range wasn’t such a
good idea,” interjected Miss Betsy. “Those girls look like they would quite
happily pitch your mother out into the middle of traffic.”

“To be perfectly honest,” said Crystal, “if
someone with Roxy’s past was involved with my dad, I’d be losing it completely.
It isn’t as if she is prime wife material.”

If you looked at it objectively, she
wasn’t. Roxy had the staying power of a wet paper towel. She might be claiming
true love now but her past gave a very different picture. This was a woman who
fell in and out of love very easily. I didn’t blame John’s daughters for
looking the way they did. The strained smile on Roxy’s face as she walked up to
us showed that she was also very much aware that John’s daughters didn’t
approve of her.

“Crystal, Trudie. It’s so good to see you
both here. These are John’s daughters. Megan and Sally, this is my daughter
Crystal and her friend Trudie.”

Megan and Sally nodded at us.

“This is Miss Betsy,” Crystal indicated to
the older woman while smiling brightly. “She organized our day today so I’m
sure we’re all going to have heaps of fun.”

I thought that was very nicely done. In one
swift move Crystal had passed all responsibility for the day onto Miss Betsy.
Miss Betsy didn’t seem to have any problem with that. She clapped her hands
together.

“Now we are going to have some fun today.
Our first step is learning how to shoot a gun, the correct way. Every woman
should know how to protect herself, No point in waiting for Prince Charming to
rescue you because he doesn’t exist.”

Crystal and I exchanged glances. That was
an interesting theme to take into a bachelorette party. We shouldn’t have been
surprised though. Miss Betsy was very much a supporter of the theory that a
woman could only depend on herself. Megan and Sally were exchanging worried glances.
Roxy seemed to have a perpetual frown marring her perfectly smooth face. I
could see there was a part of her that regretted suggesting that a bachelorette
party was a good idea. I could also see that Megan and Sally had already
decided that they were not going to enjoy today.

Upon entering the gun range I was not
surprised when Miss Betsy greeted the man behind the counter as if they were
old friends.

“Miss Betsy,” he smiled as he held out his
hands and gripped hers.

“Billy,” Miss Betsy said warmly.

She looked over her shoulder at the rest of
the group.

“This is Billy. He owns this place and he
is going to help us today.”

Billy grinned widely at us. “Good to see
you here today, ladies. Do any of you have any experience with guns?”

I was not surprised when Crystal put up her
hand. I knew she’d had a bit of a wild past when she was younger. Megan and
Sally exchanged glances and shook their heads. I already knew about Miss
Betsy’s experience. Roxy had been watching Megan and Sally closely and she
shook her head as well. I wasn’t really sure how confident I was that she was
telling the truth. I had a feeling that she was very much aware that John’s
daughters were not too keen on this marriage. I wouldn’t put it past her to
downplay things just to fit in with them. I reluctantly put up my hand and watched
Crystal’s eyes widen in shock.

“You’ve shot a gun?”

“Yes.”

“But you hate guns.”

“I will admit I’m not overly fond of them.”

“How do I not know this about you? You’re
my best friend. I’m supposed to know everything about you.”

Crystal seemed to be a little upset. I
tried to head her off before she worked herself into a real state.

“My dad taught me how to shoot a rifle.
Once, when I was twelve. I grew up on a farm where there was a possibility that
I would have to deal with injured animals. Dad thought it was important that I
learned how to use a weapon properly. I never did but I roughly know my way
around a rifle, enough to use it in an emergency situation.”

“Ever use a handgun?” Billy asked.

I shook my head. “No, and to be perfectly
honest my one and only lesson with the rifle was over ten years ago, so I’m
pretty much a novice.”

“That’s fine,” said Billy. “I’ll take you
through the basics. You’ll do great.”

I could see he was trying to project a
confident demeanor but I could also see that he was noticing the less than
pleasant looks that Megan and Sally were shooting in Roxy’s direction. Crystal
had moved closer to her mother in a defensive stance. Billy glanced at Miss
Betsy who smiled encouragingly. I had a feeling Billy was beginning to regret taking
this booking, regardless of how fond he was of Miss Betsy. He hesitated for a
moment before shepherding us into the range.

“Well, Ladies,” Billy clapped his hands
together, speaking loudly as if trying to inject some enthusiasm into the
group. “There are four rules in my gun range.” He pointed to a line on the
floor. “Number one rule is that you never cross that line without my direct say
so. Number two rule is that you never, ever point a weapon in the direction of
another person. Number three rule is that you do not point the muzzle of a
loaded weapon lower than that target over there.”

“Why not?” interrupted Megan.

“Ladies, could you please look up.”

We all looked up at the ceiling to see
holes with pen marks around them.

“See those holes up there. That is what
happens when rule number three is not obeyed. You point the muzzle of the gun
too low and accidentally shoot the floor. I am now going to introduce you to a
concept called ricochet. A bullet hits the ground and it can bounce anywhere.
The best case in this situation is that you add to my collection of holes in
the ceiling. Worst case scenario is that you hit one of your group or, more
importantly, me. That is not going to happen so I want you to remember rule
number three like it was printed on your brain.” Billy glared at us all
meaningfully. “Rule number four is that you never have your finger on the
trigger until the moment you mean to shoot the gun. You are not in a war zone
where reflexes are important and every second counts. You can take your sweet
time with aiming and squeezing off each shot. I do not want to see fingers on
triggers until the moment you take your shot.”

After a cursory look over our group Billy
chose me to begin the demonstration. I doubted it was because he could see my
inherent sharp shooting abilities. I think it was more to do with the fact that
I looked to be the calmest person in this part of the range. He placed the
handgun on the counter in front of me and I gently picked it up. I wrapped my
hand around the grip. It felt surprisingly more comfortable than I had thought
it was going to.

“Now, I need you to point the gun at the
target and line it up,” he said from behind me.

I brought the gun up and did my best to aim
it. I could feel my arm shaking a little. Whether it was from the unfamiliar
weight of the gun or from nerves, I wasn’t sure.

“When you feel that you’ve got it aimed,
squeeze the trigger.”

I took in a quick breath, held it and fired
the gun. I felt the recoil up my arm and took a small step back.

“Not bad,” said Billy as he retrieved the
target.

It wasn’t great either. At least I hadn’t
missed the target completely but you could tell that there was very little
chance of me winning any sharp shooting competitions in the near future.

“It was a fine first effort,” Miss Betsy
praised, her enthusiasm a little over the top considering the actual placement
of the bullet.

“Absolutely,” said Crystal.

“Sure it was,” Billy said, slightly less
enthusiastically.

Before long Billy had us all lined up and
was yelling encouragement. Megan and Sally seemed to be even more unsure about
using the guns than I was. At least I was hitting the target on a reasonably regular
basis.

Crystal and Miss Betsy were putting us all
to shame and I could see Billy nodding appreciatively. I looked over at Roxy’s
target. For a woman claiming never to have used a gun, she seemed to be doing
pretty well.

After a while I stepped back and grabbed a
drink of water. I had to admit that when we had first arrived, I had doubted
the wisdom of this exercise. Putting Roxy and her seemingly reluctant future
stepdaughters in a gun range seemed to be what I would call a recipe for
disaster but I could now see the wisdom behind it. Crystal and Miss Betsy had
placed themselves between Megan and Sally, and Roxy, minimizing their contact
and the potential for conflict. I swallowed some water as Billy collected my
target.

“Not bad,” he said grudgingly in what I’m
assuming was him trying to be generous to a paying customer.

He passed over the target and I had a chance
to look at it myself. ‘Not bad’ seemed to be the most accurate description. It
wasn’t particularly good either but it wasn’t as if I was looking at taking it
up competitively.

The door to the range opened and I looked
over. I was surprised to see that Ramos had entered the gun range. Her features
tightened when she spotted me, before deliberately turning and taking her place
at one of the lanes.

Miss Betsy came up and stood beside me.
“Isn’t that your boyfriend’s partner?”

I nodded.

“She doesn’t look like she is too happy
with you.”

That was a bit of an understatement.

“Her girlfriend was murdered a couple of
days ago at the place where I’m currently working.”

“And she is blaming you for it somehow,
isn’t she?” Miss Betsy asked shrewdly.

“Yeah.”

Miss Betsy looked over at Ramos again.
“Whatever happened, you have to know that it wasn’t your fault.”

I hugged Miss Betsy impulsively. I loved
her sense of loyalty. She had no knowledge of any of the facts regarding
Jolena’s death but she was still completely sure that I was not involved in any
way at all.

“It doesn’t matter what I know or what I
think. She’s grieving and I understand that. Griffin’s helping her as much as
possible and he’s told me that she has a lot of good people around her. The
best thing is for me to stay out of her way.”

Miss Betsy looked thoughtful. “Maybe she
just needs something to distract her for a little while.”

I had a bad feeling that I knew where this
was heading. Miss Betsy straightened her shoulders and walked over to Ramos.

Crystal came up behind me. “What’s going
on?”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly, “but I have
a feeling that our little party is about to expand.”

“God, I hope so,” muttered Crystal. “This
has got to be one of the most uncomfortable bachelorette parties I have ever
been to. It looks like John’s daughters hate Roxy.”

That was patently obvious although
considering how Ramos felt about me, I didn’t know whether her addition to the
group was going to help the dynamics.

Crystal lowered her voice. “I think they’re
going to try to stop the wedding.”

I wasn’t surprised. Those two women had
that determined look in their eyes. They were ready to protect their father
from whatever supposedly stupid move he was about to make. I wasn’t saying that
they were wrong. Roxy would definitely not be my first choice of life partner
for my father. But the man was an adult, fully capable of making his own
decisions. That’s the thing about family though. They sometimes get so caught
up in protecting those they love that they forget they can’t bulldoze their way
over other people’s decisions without some fallout happening.