Not Talented in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 3 (10 page)

“I wouldn’t say I trusted her exactly but I gave her more
leeway than I would usually give my women. She was just intoxicating and she
knew the exact way to get a man’s attention. Do you know what that’s like?”

I knew what it was like, in a theoretical kind of way.
Unfortunately I missed that feminine seductive gene and the way I got Griffin’s
attention had been more along the lines of an accidental elbow to the face.
Worked for him which could be a cause for concern if I thought about it too
much.

“She was losing quite badly in one of my casinos when I met
her and she charmed me in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time.”

I really wanted Dominic to stop talking. The more he talked
the less likely it was that I was getting out of here alive.

“Can I go now?” I asked quietly. “I obviously don’t know
anything.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to know what she stole from
me?” Dominic asked.

“I really don’t” I said. “The less I know the happier I am
going to be.”

“See, that is being smart” Dominic said. “Catarina wasn’t
that smart, she was greedy. She stole a family heirloom from me. A necklace
that had belonged to my mother, and she thought she could get away with it.”

“Why don’t you just tell the police and they could get it
back for you” I said desperately.

“Men in my line of business do not go to the police, we
solve our own problems” Dominic said seriously.

I shivered when I remembered that Catarina had died from a
knife stuck in her back.

Dominic saw me shiver and smiled humorlessly. “Regardless of
what you think of me Trudie, you can believe that I wouldn’t have killed
Catarina, at least not until after I got the necklace back.”

“But you didn’t go to get the necklace yourself” I murmured.
“You sent your colleague, and you yourself told me that he has personality
issues that are not desirable in civilized society. What’s to say that he
didn’t act impulsively?”

Dominic smiled tightly. “My colleague can be impulsive,
however he does have a healthy sense of self-preservation. It’s the reason he’s
survived so long in a dangerous industry. He was very aware that his first
priority was to get my money and the necklace back. Catarina and I would settle
our differences between ourselves at a later date, after she had paid back
everything she owed me. I am a businessman first and foremost.”

I was feeling less and less safe around this businessman. I
heard some noise coming from outside the office and the door was opened
suddenly. I was surprised when three men walked in, two in police uniform and
one with a detective badge on his belt.

“Detective Bradford, to what do I owe the pleasure of your
company?” said Dominic calmly.

Detective Bradford smiled. “Caldwell, now this is a
surprise. I’ve been looking for Trudie Eyre who was kidnapped earlier today,
and I find her sitting here, at your desk.”

Dominic smiled. “Of course you do. Trudie has only been
conscious a short amount of time. I was just about to call you and let you know
I’d found a poor unfortunate girl, unconscious on my property. I’ve had a
doctor examine her and she has been declared healthy. We were just trying to
work out how she ended up here. It is interesting though that you are looking
for her so quickly. Usually missing people need to actually be missing for
forty eight hours before the police get involved. What is it about this young
lady which entitles her to special treatment?”

“Can I go now?” I asked the Detective. I didn’t know what
game that Dominic was playing but I really wanted no part of it.

“Did this man kidnap you?” asked Bradford.

“Well no” I said, “another man kidnapped me. He stuck a
needle in me with some weird cocktail of drugs and I woke up here.”

“See Detective” Dominic said. “Even your victim thinks I’m
innocent.”

“No” I said thoughtfully, “I really don’t.”

“More proof that you are a very intelligent woman” said
Dominic quietly. “I’d love to continue our chat someday.”

“Please get me out of here” I whispered to Bradford.

“Caldwell, I would suggest you not go anywhere. I think I’m
going to have some more questions for you.”

“Of course not Detective, you know my door is always open to
you” Dominic said leaning back in his chair, looking for all the world like the
businessman he tried to project. I now knew better. Whoever Dominic was, he was
a dangerous man.

Bradford pushed me forward but just as we went through the
door I stopped as Dominic called out.

“I look forward to seeing you again Trudie.”

I stiffened and started walking again. As Bradford settled
me into the car I could feel the nausea in my stomach starting up again.

“Are you okay Trudie, you don’t look too good” Bradford said.

“I was injected with a syringe. I don’t know what was in it.
I really think I need to go to a hospital.”

Bradford swore. “Hold on, I’ll get you there” he said and I
had to concentrate very hard to control my nausea as we flew through the Las
Vegas streets heading for a hospital.

I just tried desperately to hang on and not throw up in the
nice policeman’s car. At the hospital I discovered that Detective Bradford had
the superpower of being able to talk a nurse into anything. I was immediately
pushed through emergency and more needles were stuck into me to find out what
kind of a cocktail of drugs my kidnapper carried around in his pocket on a
regular basis. Bradford stayed with me for most of the time until a female
doctor came in and tactfully told him to get the hell out so she could do some
more examinations. Photos were taken of my wrist, which as expected had bruised,
and my neck with the puncture mark. After the medical and forensic staff were
finished with me I lay back on the hospital bed and closed my eyes. Everything
had happened so fast that I hadn’t had much of a chance to process the fact
that I had been kidnapped. My eyes started burning and I heard Bradford
murmuring outside. He poked his head in the door.

“You up for visitors?” he asked.

I nodded, not trusting my voice and sat up in the bed.
Crystal barreled into the room and threw herself at me.

“Oh my God” she said tearfully as she squeezed me hard. “We’ve
been so scared. Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m fine Crystal. I wasn’t hurt, I’m okay” I said patting
her on the back.

She nodded into my chest and squeezed a little harder.

Edwin came up behind her and stroked my head. “You’ve got to
stop scaring us like this” he said quietly. “We can’t lose you.”

I swallowed against the lump in my throat.

“Not that I’m complaining at all, but how did you guys know
I was gone so fast?” I asked. “I thought I wasn’t going to be missed until
tomorrow morning.”

“Crystal wanted to check on you when we found you’d moved
out of the suite” Edwin said knowingly.

“I wanted you guys to have a good wedding night and I
thought you might feel a little inhibited if I was in the suite. I just wanted
to give you some privacy” I said.

“We figured” said Edwin, “Crystal wanted to tell you that
you were an idiot, so we went to your room and found the door open and you
weren’t there.”

“We went to the cops and they told us we had to wait forty
eight hours” Edwin said.

Crystal lifted her head and I could see tears streaked down
her face.

“I called Griffin” she said quietly.

“Griffin knows?” I asked.

“Damn right Griffin knows” growled a voice from the doorway
and there he stood. His clothes were rumpled, he looked tired and stressed and
to me he was the most wonderful sight I had ever seen.

He stood by the bed and grabbed my hand. “New rule, you are
not allowed out of my sight ever again” he said gruffly and then sat on the
side of the bed and gathered me in his arms. I finally felt safe so I promptly
burst into tears. While I was sobbing on Griffin’s chest, I felt Edwin and
Crystal kiss me on the head and say they’d be back in the morning. After what
seemed like hours I finally ran out of tears and just let Griffin’s warmth melt
the cold block of fear which had been in my stomach since I’d opened the door
to my hotel room.

“Feeling a bit better” Griffin said roughly.

“I am” I said. “I don’t think your shirt is going to recover
though.”

He pulled back and cupped the side of my face. “You scare
the hell out of me” he said quietly, “you know that don’t you.”

“I’m sorry” I said feeling the tears coming back.

“Oh honey, it’s not your fault that the thought of losing
you terrifies me more than anything else possibly could.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes really” he said. “Are you ready to tell Bradford what
happened?”

I nodded. “Not really” I said.

Griffin chuckled and got off the bed.

“Where are you going?” I said hating the fear that I could
hear in my voice.

“I’ll just get Bradford, he’s waiting outside the door.
Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere” he said reassuringly.

When Griffin came back with Detective Bradford following, I
could see how exhausted both men looked. It was the middle of the night and
both looked like they were running on empty. Griffin sat again on the bed and
Bradford settled into a chair.

“So” said Bradford, “I need you to tell me what happened.”

I tried to concentrate. Already the day seemed to be a blur.

“I was in my room, ready to go to bed. I hadn’t slept the
night before because I had been working and then Crystal and Edwin wanted to
fly here to get married. I was so tired and I opened the door without checking.
The guy from Catarina’s funeral, the one who was threatening Peter was there.
He grabbed me and held me against him while he injected me in the neck. I tried
to fight him but he was too strong and I just couldn’t get away.” I could feel
Griffin’s hand tightening against mine. I looked up and could see the anger on his
face. “I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up on Dominic’s
floor.”

“You mean Dominic Caldwell” interrupted Bradford.

“He only gave me his first name. He told me I’d been out for
nine hours and that I’d ended up there because a colleague of his had made an
impulse decision.”

“That’s one way of spinning it” muttered Bradford.

“From what he said it seems Catarina Badal had stolen some
necklace which belonged to his mother from him. Seems he was one of the men she
was dating. She also owed him money from gambling debts. The guy who kidnapped
me had been sent to the funeral to get back what she owed Dominic. When he saw
me at the funeral and then in Las Vegas only a day later it seems he panicked.
He thought that I was following him and decided to kidnap me.”

“Did Caldwell hurt you?” asked Bradford.

“I lifted up my arm and pointed to the wrist. He grabbed my
wrist when I didn’t want to tell him about the notebook that Catarina had.”
Bradford looked confused.

“Catarina Badal had a notebook that listed and rated all of
her lovers” Griffin supplied.

Bradford chuckled. “Dominic Caldwell would not have liked
that one little bit” he said.

“Who is he?” I asked, the frustration evident in my voice.

Bradford leaned back in the chair. “Dominic Caldwell is a
very powerful man who does not believe that the law applies to him. Most of his
businesses seem to be legitimate but there are some areas which various law
enforcement agencies are convinced are not so legal. Caldwell is powerful
enough not to be bothered by what we believe. It is probably the reason that he
could be so mixed up in your kidnapping and still not have any concern at all.
Unfortunately that bruise on your wrist is not going to be nearly enough for a
conviction. I don’t think anyone is going to be willing to try to prosecute
him. If we take him down we want to take him down for something big.”

“So, they get away with it” I said bitterly. “He wasn’t
going to let me go until I gave him answers, doesn’t that make him part of the
kidnapping?”

“He’s saying he was concerned for your wellbeing and was
just ensuring that you were okay” Bradford said. “It’s classic your word
against his and he has deeper pockets and far better lawyers. However we do
have security footage of one Roger D’Angelo carrying you out of your hotel
which gives us a better chance against him. We’re looking for him at the moment
but he seems to have gone to ground.”

I must have looked worried because Griffin squeezed my hand.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you” he said.

“Speaking of which Griffin, you want to pop out of the room
for a bit” Bradford said casually.

Griffin’s head snapped up.

“I need to speak to her without you hanging around” Bradford
said gently. “You know I do buddy. Why don’t you go and grab something to eat.
I won’t leave her until you get back.”

Reluctantly Griffin stood up and kissed me on the head.
“Don’t upset her” he growled at Bradford and stalked out of the room.

Bradford watched him leave and then turned around and looked
at me thoughtfully.

“What?” I asked.

“Just wondering what it is about you that has Griffin tied
in knots. I know the man and until today I could have sworn that there was
nothing on this Earth that could make him lose his cool. Then today I get him
on the phone telling me that some woman has not been where she is supposed to
be and he wants me to get my ass on the case straight away while he flies from
LA. He almost lost it completely when we found that security footage of you
being carried out by D’Angelo.”

“How do you know Griffin?” I asked.

Bradford shrugged. “Met him a few years ago at one of those
interagency conferences. Kept in touch since then, helped each other out when
cases crossed over between Vegas and LA. Is there anything else Dominic
Caldwell said to you that could help me build a case against him?”

I shook my head. “He didn’t make any threats as such and he
only really got angry when he found out about the book and that Catarina had
been seeing other men.”

Bradford grinned, “I can’t see him taking that too well. He’s
not the kind of man that likes to lose to anyone.”

“So how did you find me?” I asked.

Bradford shrugged. “Lucky break more than anything else. We
managed to track D’Angelo to Caldwell’s house using traffic cams but we lost
him after that. I went to Caldwell to see if D’Angelo had been there. Wasn’t
really expecting to find you chatting with him.”

Bradford stood up. “I’ll send Griffin back in, I’m pretty
sure he’s right outside the door waiting for me to go.”

“Thanks” I said. “And thank you for finding me.”

Bradford was right and Griffin came back into the room still
looking worried. When he sat down on the bed next to me I raised a hand and
pushed back the hair from his forehead.

“I’m okay” I said hating the look in his eyes. “You should
go and get some sleep. I’ll be fine here. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’m not going anywhere” Griffin said as he settled in the
chair beside the bed. “I’ll stay right here. Not the first time I’ve sat in a
hospital chair with you.”

I shuffled over on the bed and patted the space beside me.
“Lie down here, there’s enough room for the two of us” I said.

He toed off his shoes and got on the bed gathering me in his
arms.

“This is nice” he said.

“Yes” I agreed.

As I drifted off to sleep I felt safer than I ever had before.