Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 (14 page)

Pickett was waiting for us at the precinct.
He gave Griffin a cursory nod when he saw him behind me.

“Thank you for coming in, Trudie. If you’ll
just follow me to an interview room, we’ll get this done as quickly as
possible.”

I left Griffin and followed Pickett towards
the interrogation room that I had come to know so well.

At the doorway he turned and gestured me
inside.

“Please take a seat. I’ll be right in.”

As I stepped through the door I was shocked
to find Vale handcuffed to the table and was even more surprised when the door
was closed firmly behind me. I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

“What’s going on, Vale?” I asked nervously.

“Looks like they want you and I to have a
little chat,” Vale said humorlessly.

I had no problem with having a chat with
Vale. I did have a problem with being put in a room with a man who was
handcuffed to a table. To my limited understanding, that meant that someone
thought he was dangerous. Most likely the police officer who put me in here.

I cleared my throat. “Seriously, Vale. I
need you to tell me what’s going on?”

Preferably before I started panicking.

“They think I killed Jolena.”

I could feel my jaw drop. “They can’t be
serious.”

Of all the ways that I had assumed this
case would go, this wasn’t one of them.

“That Detective who shoved you in here with
me seems to be very serious. I wouldn’t talk until my lawyer got here. Seems he
thought you would be able to get the information out of me.”

Detective Pickett and I were going to have
some words. Serious words. Especially about the fact that he seemed to be fine
with putting me in a room with a suspected murderer.

“I didn’t do it.”

Vale’s protestation of innocence, while not
unexpected for a man shackled to a table in a police precinct, did at least
provide me with some small level of comfort.

“Why do they think you did?” I asked,
trying to portray a calm attitude while staying as close to the door as I
could.

“They found out that Jolena and I dated for
a bit in high school. It was so long ago and it wasn’t for very long but
they’re building it up as if she was the love of my life.”

“Was she?” I asked, curious in spite of
myself.

Vale shook his head emphatically.

“I had a few girlfriends in high school and
I’ve had a lot more since then. I never even thought about Jolena until we ran
into each other a couple of weeks ago at some promotional photo shoot I did.
She jumped on the fact that I was now in a band and wanted to come to one of
our parties. I wasn’t really keen on it because, you know how those parties
usually end up. I really wouldn’t want any woman that I know going to one of
them, but she insisted. I wasn’t around when she got thrown out but they think
I was jealous of Ash.”

“Were you? I asked.

Vale shook his head again. “Jolena has been
nothing more than a vague memory for a very long time. When I ran into her, I
barely recognized her. She was the one who came up to me.”

“The police must have something more on you
than just the fact that you knew her,” I said carefully.

Vale held my eyes. “When they did the
search of the mansion they found a necklace that Jolena wore all the time in my
room.”

I was beginning to understand why he was
handcuffed to a table. Something must have shown in my eyes.

“I didn’t do it, Trudie. I need you to
believe that.”

There was a part of me that did believe
him. I liked Vale. But if there was something the police I knew kept telling me,
it was that even the best of people are capable of making a bad decision in the
heat of emotion.

“Why am I here, Vale? Why do they think
that I can get information out of you?”

Vale raised his eyes to mine. “They think
that the fact that I hit Ash for putting moves on you puts you in the same
position as Jolena.”

That was a statement that was going to keep
me up nights. No way did I want to think for a moment that I was in the same
category as a murder victim.

My musings about an upcoming bout of
insomnia were interrupted when the door was flung open and Griffin stood in the
doorway, seething with anger. “We’re done here. I’m taking you home, Trudie.”

I didn’t care what other people said about
Griffin. The man had an exquisite sense of timing.

I nodded and started for the door.

“Trudie,” Vale called out. “Can I ask one
favor of you?”

I stopped and turned back.

“Could you feed Buddy in the morning? It
doesn’t look like my chances are good at getting out of here by then. I don’t
want him to suffer.”

“I’ll take care of him,” I said softly and
beat a hasty retreat. I wondered if it was possible for a murderer to care so
much about a goat.

Outside the interrogation room, Griffin
stopped in front of an equally angry looking Pickett.

“You are never to pull a stunt like that
with Trudie again,” he said quietly and calmly.

Too calmly for my tastes. I knew what that
voice meant. Griffin was already kind of suspended. The last thing we needed
was for him to get fired because he punched a fellow detective in the face.

“I am investigating a murder,” Pickett
hissed. “Considering your relationship to Ramos I would think that you would be
fine with any and all techniques I use to solve it.”

“I am,” ground out Griffin. “But throwing
Trudie into a room with your number one suspect is never going to happen again.
Try solving this case with proper detective work, not cheap stunts.”

Despite trying to hide it, I could see
Pickett wince at the insult.

With that, Griffin grabbed my hand and we
walked out. I saw Fletchall smiling as we strode by. He had seen Griffin’s
words with Pickett and I could tell whose side he was on.

Driving home, I noted the pensive look on
Griffin’s face.

“Are you okay?,” I asked him gently.

“Not really. You seem to have become the
focus of a suspected murderer and that does cause me some concern.”

I could understand why that was.

“Also, the fact that a fellow detective was
so willing to throw you into that situation makes me a little upset.”

“But to clarify, I personally haven’t done
anything to make you mad?”

Griffin smiled tightly. “No, in this
situation you haven’t done anything which has caused me to be annoyed.”

“Good,” I said. “I think we should focus on
that fact because it happens so rarely.”

Griffin chuckled.

“When did you know what Pickett had done?”
I asked.

“About twenty seconds before I opened the
door,” Griffin replied.

“This suspension could go on for a long
time, couldn’t it?”

“It could,” Griffin conceded. “If it goes
on too long I’ll ask Cooper for a job.”

I almost choked. There was no way that
Travis would ever give Griffin a job. They may have patched things up between
them but I think working together would be a step too far for everyone
involved.

Griffin gave me a sideways glance. “I was
joking.”

Oh, thank goodness. I was used to
negotiating tricky situations but I had no idea how I would have sorted that
one out.

“I had a bit of a word with Fletchall about
being around the bachelorette party,” Griffin continued.

“What did he say?”

“According to Fletchall, before Pickett
found the link with Vale, there was a theory that Jolena wasn’t the primary
target. They thought maybe Ramos was in danger.”

“He was there to protect Ramos?”

Griffin nodded. “That scenario isn’t
looking very likely now that we know about Vale’s history with Jolena but
earlier today it was a very real fear.”

“I guess that explains it,” I said, a bit
distractedly.

Griffin glanced over at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Something’s not feeling right,” I said. “I
just don’t see Vale killing Jolena. According to him, they broke up when they
were in high school. He said he wasn’t overly happy with the fact she got
involved with Ash because he knows how lousy Ash is with women, but he wasn’t
jealous.”

“Of course he’s going to say that,” Griffin
said gently. “He knew that Pickett was watching every word he said to you. It
is a strong possibility that everything he said was a lie to bolster his
defense.”

I looked out of the car window. Griffin was
probably right but there was still a part of me that was having trouble
believing in Vale’s guilt.

“Is the search finished at the mansion?” I
asked.

“Yes,” Griffin said distractedly. “From
what I heard, the band is staying in a hotel at the moment so the place is
empty, but the search has finished.”

“So I can go and feed the goat tomorrow
morning?”

“You’re really going to feed that goat for
him?”

“Nobody else is at the mansion. From what I
know about the other guys, none of them would have even thought about Buddy
when they got out of there.”

“Don’t you hate that goat?”

“It’s more a case of mutual loathing,” I
said. “But I’m not going to neglect it just because I don’t like it.”

“Fine,” said Griffin. “Tomorrow morning we
go feed the goat.”

As I juggled my coffee and purse the next
morning, Griffin came out of the bedroom frowning down at his phone.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Just got a text from Ramos. It’s a bit
garbled. Almost sounds like she’s drunk.”

“Have you tried calling her?” I asked, the
concern evident in my voice.

“Yeah, keeps going through to her
voicemail.”

“She wasn’t drinking much yesterday, but I
guess she could have started after she went home.” I chewed my bottom lip. “You
need to check on her. She made a comment yesterday about her head not being in
the right place. Maybe she did something she shouldn’t have.”

Griffin’s phone went off again and he
looked down. “I think you’re right. She sounds like she’s in trouble. She’s
asking me to meet her.”

“I think that would be a good idea.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Griffin stopped
me by putting a hand on my arm, his eyes full of concern.

I nodded. “The band isn’t at the mansion.
Vale’s in custody. The place will be quiet and Jorge will probably get there
early today. He always does. I’m going to feed Buddy and then I am going to
come home and speak to Monique about this job and maybe having a bit of a break
for a while. I’m going to see if I can get one of the easy jobs next time. Lord
knows, I think I’ve earned it.”

Griffin smiled. “I think that’s a great
idea.”

“I’ll meet you back here in a couple of
hours and we’ll get ready for the wedding,” I said.

“Yes,” Griffin said distractedly, frowning
at the messages that seemed to be coming through on his phone. “Something is
wrong here. She sounds…lost.”

I looked over the messages that were coming
through. “You need to go to her now,” I said firmly. “I had a feeling she was
coping with everything too well. You guys are so stoic all the time that the
rest of us forget that you are still human. Just take care of her. If you can’t
make it to the wedding, I’ll give your apologies.”

“I’m not standing you up for a wedding,”
Griffin said firmly.

I waved my hand around. “As of yesterday
there was only a fifty-fifty chance that the wedding was actually going to
happen. I might just end up with a day picking up the pieces with Crystal.”

Griffin grabbed his jacket and gave me a
quick kiss. “I’ll try to be back as soon as I can,” he said.

“Don’t worry if you can’t,” I said. “Ramos
needs to come first today. I’ll deal with everything else.”

As I drove to the mansion I felt tense with
worry. Ramos seemed to be copping so many hits lately. I knew Griffin wanted to
be there for her but was feeling helpless and that was never something he coped
with well. Like so many men, he was a fixer. There was a problem so there had
to be a solution. Unfortunately, regardless of what Pickett and Fletchall
discovered, there was no fix for this situation.

As I pulled up at the front entrance the
security guys at the gate waved me through.

“Everything okay?” I asked as I showed my
ID like I had every day for the last month.

“All quiet,” the security guard said. “You’re
the first one to arrive. Cops have finished and everyone left yesterday. Word
is they’ll be coming back later today or maybe tomorrow. Why are you here?”

“Did anyone by any chance take the goat
with them?” I asked.

“There’s a goat here?” chimed in the other
security guard.

That comment filled me with confidence.
Obviously the job description for security guard at the entrance literally
meant just the entrance.

“The drummer’s goat. I just need to feed
it.”

“Not a problem,” said the guard as he
opened the gate and waved me through.

With any luck I’d be able to get work done
and get out of here in no time at all, ready to tackle the disaster that I was
pretty sure Roxy’s wedding was going to be.