Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 (15 page)

I
cursed roundly as I looked down at an
empty pen.

“I hate you, you stupid goat. You know
that, don’t you?” I called out in frustration.

I had just wanted to feed the damn goat.
All my hopes of this being an easy morning went flying out of the window.

I took in a deep breath. I had dealt with
the antics of Hollywood divas, lecherous husbands, spoiled pop brats and
directors with no self-awareness without coming unglued. I was not going to be
beaten by a goat. I just needed to go looking for him again. I went around to
all of the doors on the mansion only to find that they had all been locked.
That was going to be a problem when I needed to start working but for now I was
going to count my blessings. The thought of what Buddy could have done to the
interior of that house overnight with nobody to stop him didn’t bear thinking
about. That meant he must still be outside. That limited the damage he could
possibly do. At least I hoped it did.

I gave a cursory look of the grounds. I
needed to be smart about this. The last time he had gone missing overnight I
had found him by the lake. I figured that was a logical place to start looking
for him. If he had been frolicking all night long, it was safe to assume that
he would be thirsty. The early morning chill brought to mind the last time I
had gone looking for Buddy by the lake and I shivered involuntarily. In that
moment I wished Griffin hadn’t got that message from Ramos because I think I
would have felt a lot better with him by my side.

As I got closer to the lake I noticed what
looked like a lump lying next to the shore. Feeling my heart rush into my
throat, I raced over. I dropped to my knees and turned what I could see was a
body over. I reared back when I saw who it was.

“Oh my God, Vale,” I said as I shook his
shoulders. “Wake up.”

I put my ear to his chest and was reassured
when I heard the steady thump of his heart. I could also see his chest rising
with every breath. I shook him harder. “Vale, wake up. You need to wake up
now.”

I reached blindly for my purse and was
stopped when a hand clamped around my wrist. I looked up in shock to see
Detective Fletchall holding onto my arm.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” I said.
“Something is wrong with Vale. We need to get an ambulance for him straight
away.”

Fletchall let go of my arm, kicked my bag
into the water and pulled out his gun and pointed it at me.

“I don’t think so. I put in a great deal of
effort to put this little scene together. I really don’t want anyone walking in
here until I’ve finished it.”

I stood up slowly, struggling to comprehend
what was actually happening here.

“What’s going on?” I asked, hearing the
fear in my voice.

“I need you to help me finalize this case,”
Fletchall said with a small smile on his face.

“We need to get an ambulance for Vale.”

“He’s fine,” Fletchall said dismissively.
“He’ll wake up in a few hours with absolutely no memory of what happened here.
Rohypnol is a very useful drug sometimes.”

“You gave him Rohypnol?” I gasped.

Fletchall chuckled. “You know all those
warnings we give people about not accepting drinks from strangers. Seems people
forget it when a cop offers them an open bottle of water during an
interrogation.”

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach when
I remembered my pathetic gratitude for a coffee the day of my own interview.

“I thought Vale was still supposed to be in
custody,” I said slowly, hoping to distract him from the undeniable fact that
we were alone, he was holding a gun on me and he had roofied the prime suspect
in a murder case.

“Technically he was released from custody
after his interview,” Fletchall said. “He had a little trouble leaving the
station as the drug hit his system a bit quicker than I was planning, so I
helped him out. I know where all the cameras in the precinct are so I was able
to bring him here without anyone being any the wiser. Getting in here was even
easier. I have to say that the security on this property is really not what I
would have expected.”

“You came in through the back gate, didn’t
you?” I murmured, remembering Griffin telling me how easy it was to enter the
premises. I suddenly felt sick as things started falling into place.

Fletchall nodded.

“It wasn’t the first time you came in here,
was it?” I asked.

“You know, people talk about you around the
precinct. You have quite the reputation. Most of it is that you fall into these
cases out of dumb luck. I think it may be a bit more than that.”

“How did you find it the first time?” I
asked, hoping that my fears weren’t about to be realized.

“Why, I followed Jolena through it,” he
said.

In that moment I looked into his eyes and
saw a hint of something that I had missed previously. It wasn’t any comfort to
me that it seemed everybody else had missed it too.

“It was you who killed Jolena, wasn’t it?”

“Smart, I can see why Griffin is so taken
with you. Took you a while to put it together though.”

He was right. I wished I’d put it together
an hour ago when I was safely in the arms of my boyfriend who carried a gun and
had the will to use it to protect me.

“Griffin is right behind me, you know,” I
said, trying to bluff my way to safety.

Fletchall chuckled. “Nice try, Trudie.
Griffin isn’t anywhere near here. The message I sent to him took care of that.”

“But it was Ramos…” my voice trailed off as
I remembered that the last time I saw Ramos she had been looking for her
missing phone.

“You girls weren’t really paying that much
attention to your surroundings last night, were you? You probably should be
more alert when you’re out in public. All manner of things can happen when
you’re not paying attention. For example, a phone can go missing and be used
the next morning to distract the one person I don’t want to be involved in this
scenario.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Do you know what it’s like to truly love
someone and know that they will never love you back?”

I shook my head.

“The day Liza Ramos walked into the
precinct I knew that I was never going to love another woman. She didn’t even
look in my direction. The only time she would speak to me was when I did
something or said something to annoy her so we ended up with this strange,
combative relationship. It wasn’t what I wanted but as long as I could be
around her I was satisfied. I tried to get involved with other women but they
could never compare to her.”

I waited as he seemed lost in his memories,
my eyes casting around as I desperately tried to work out what my options were.

“I’ve been following Liza’s partners around
for months. All I’ve been doing is making sure they were good enough for her.”

Fletchall looked at me expectantly as if
hoping that I would recognize the sacrifices he had been making for the love of
his life. He was definitely looking in the wrong direction. I was firmly of the
opinion that if someone didn’t love you, then it wasn’t worth fighting for
them. Life was too short to hold out for the impossible.

“I knew about the incident with Jolena,
here with Ash. She had the woman that I loved and she was throwing it away. She
was going to break Liza’s heart and I couldn’t allow that to happen. It made me
sick the way she was acting at the barbecue, as if the two of them had this
wonderful relationship. I knew Jolena would cheat on Liza again at the first
chance she had. I was right, wasn’t I?” he said triumphantly. “She came here
that night, looking to meet up with Ash again.”

I didn’t move or say a word. There was no
way that I wanted to aggravate what was already a seriously messed up
situation.

“I followed Jolena here and saw her sneak
in through the gate in the back wall. I knew she was going to meet up with Ash
again. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I couldn’t let her keep making a fool
out of Liza. Not when I had the power to prevent it.”

Fletchall looked out over the lake. “You
should have seen her face when she saw me.” He chuckled. “She tried to bluff
her way out of it at first. She thought I was an idiot who couldn’t possibly
know what she had been doing. I knew though and I had to stop her. She wasn’t
good enough for Liza and she was never going to be.”

Fletchall took in a deep breath. “Maybe I
shouldn’t have done it.”

That surprised me. A moment of sanity from
the man who was clearly not operating on all cylinders. Maybe I could work with
that.

He shook his head. “But it’s done now and I
need to make sure they never work out that it was me that did it. That’s why I
need your help.”

Obviously, if he was thinking I would be
helping him, the moment of sanity was well and truly over.

“How do you want me to help?” I asked
quietly, hoping to delay him. It wouldn’t take Griffin long to work out that
something wasn’t right. All I had to do was keep him talking long enough for
that to happen. Maybe I would be able to talk Fletchall out of making a huge
mistake. That was Plan A. Rescue by Griffin was Plan B. At least my brain had
unfrozen enough to start making plans.

“I had originally intended for Ash to take
the fall for Jolena’s death but he was just too obvious.”

That was true. Ash had been my number one
pick and I’m pretty sure he had been on top of everyone’s list. Some people just
live a life that screams that, yes, they could be a potential murderer. Ash
fitted into that thinking very nicely.

“That’s the trick when trying to find
someone to take the fall for a crime. Most people who try to frame somebody
leave too much evidence, like they are trying to create a huge neon sign
telling the police to look here. Too much evidence is just as much of a problem
as too little evidence. It just doesn’t feel right. But then I found out how
Vale had been Jolena’s boyfriend in high school. That was an obscure enough
connection that it seemed much more believable as a killer. Especially as Ash
so obviously didn’t seem to care one way or the other about Jolena. Jealousy is
always a prime motivator. I just needed to make sure Pickett found Jolena’s
necklace in Vale’s room as a trophy. His fight with Ash over you was like a
gift. Everything he did just seemed to point towards him.”

That was all very interesting but I still
didn’t know why I was standing next to the lake in the early morning with a
psychopathic stalker and an unconscious drummer.

“Why am I here?” I asked in a subdued
voice.

Fletchall grimaced. “See, the thing is that
even though we have circumstantial evidence against Vale, it really isn’t
enough for a conviction. Maybe if he was poor and only had access to a really
bad lawyer, then maybe, we could get a conviction. But he isn’t. He has the
money and the means to get this case tossed out of court in a heartbeat. What
we need to really make this case stick is if we had a second murder case
against him. One which even the best of defense lawyers wouldn’t be able to
dispute.”

My stomach dropped as I had a very bad
feeling where this was going.

Fletchall’s expression was almost
sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Trudie. I really am. If there was a way for me to do
this without you being involved I would have taken it. But Vale has taken a
liking to you. This wouldn’t work with anyone else. You are the perfect victim
for him. He’s got feelings for you but you’re involved with Griffin. You reject
him and he can’t handle it. Everyone knows about the fight earlier. This won’t
come as a true surprise when looking at it in that context. And once we have
your death to link it too, the police won’t look anywhere else for Jolena’s
killer. Especially as I will be leading up the investigation. Don’t worry,
Trudie. Justice will be done and your murder will be solved.”

“Your partner may not look at it that way,”
I said desperately. “You are not taking into account that he’s going to look
into this further.”

“Pickett is useless,” Fletchall snorted
derisively. “He couldn’t find a murderer in a prison yard.”

I really hoped that wasn’t true because at
this moment I was thinking that Pickett being on the case was my best chance at
justice.

“Griffin won’t let this go,” I warned. “If
anything happens to me, he will not leave any stone unturned to make sure that
the real murderer is caught. You will never be able to rest. You will never be
safe.”

“Normally I would agree with you. But I
have a feeling that losing you will put Griffin off his game for a very long
time. He already has reason to suspect Vale. Anger and grief will take care of
the rest.”

Fletchall holstered his weapon and I had a
sudden burst of hope.

“I’m truly sorry, Trudie,” he said
regretfully and that small flame of hope died.

In a blinding flash of insight I knew what
he was going to do. He couldn’t afford to shoot me. Despite the fact we were
right at the back of the property, too far for people at the front of the
property to hear my scream, a gunshot would alert security. Whatever way
Fletchall was planning to stage this scene was going to take time, time he
wouldn’t have if security came running. Also, a bullet could be linked back to
him. That didn’t fit in with his master plan. No, Detective Marty Fletchall was
going to strangle me to death, just like he did Jolena. He was then going to
toss my lifeless body into the lake. I could see the whole thing running
through my head like a macabre thriller movie.