Not Wanted in Hollywood (14 page)

Susan
chuckled. “He was a charmer wasn’t he? That being said, he could
turn it on and he wanted Denise. Do you know about his
mother?”

“
A little,” I
said.

“
That woman
ruled him with an iron fist. She wanted him to get married, he got
married. She wanted grandchildren, he got Denise
pregnant.”

“
Denise has a
child?” I interrupted.

Susan
shrugged her shoulders. “This is the part of the story which proves
that Hammy
had no redeeming
qualities.
His mother wanted grandchildren so he got Denise pregnant, but then
his mother died. He didn’t really want that baby so he gave Denise
an ultimatum, him or the child.”

“Which did she choose?” I asked, totally
enthralled with the story.

Susan shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. What
I do know though is that she came back to him begging for a second
chance and there didn’t seem to be a child in the picture.”

“But they didn’t end up together. I thought
that they had broken up years ago.”

“A
few months
after she came back he dumped her,” Susan said.

“
So she
didn’t end up with anything,” I said softly.

Susan nodded. “She made the wrong choice.
Unfortunately a lot of women do when it comes to men, especially in
this industry.”

I nodded and
remembering Brandi’s tears I made a rash decision. “If you’re
looking for someone who needs help I think I have a candidate,” I
said. “Just wait here.”

In the dressing room I found Brandi bravely
trying to use makeup to hide the damage from her crying jag. She
was having just as much success as I had been with my bruise. I sat
down on a chair next to her.

“Brandi, do you want to be here?” I
asked.

“
I have to,”
said Brandi. “I need to bring money in. It’s the only way for me to
get out of this life. If I can just bring in some more.”

The tears started rolling down her face
again. At this point I didn’t know whether I was going to make
things better or worse.

“
I’ve met a
lady out the front, she used to work here a long time ago and she
got out. I think that it might be a good idea for you to talk to
her,” I said gently.

Brandi shook her head. “I can’t” she said.
“I’m stuck here.”

“No you’re not. You just need to start making
your own choices. This boyfriend of yours let you be with Hammy for
money. What does that tell you about him?”

I had no problem with the dancers if they
chose to be here. I did have a problem with them having their
choices taken away. Everyone could see that Brandi was desperately
unhappy. To put it down in bald economic terms, she had the lowest
tips of any of the performers. That was simply because her whole
demeanor screamed that she really did not want to be here and the
customers could see it. In this job enthusiasm counted.

Brandi started tearing up again. “Do you
really think she can help me?” she whispered.

I tried to use my words carefully. “I think
you have a choice here. I’m just letting you know that there is
another option sitting out the front.”

Brandi wiped
her hand across her eyes. “I can’t keep doing this,” she said and I
could hear a thread of steel weaving through her voice. “I want to
meet your friend.”

When Susan
saw Brandi following me back to the booth, I could see the smile
playing on her lips.

“
Brandi, this
is Susan. She used to work here and I think she may be able to help
you with your problem,” I said.

“Would you like to grab a coffee with me at
the diner across the street?” Susan asked gently.

Brandi nodded
and Susan stood up. Susan smiled at me as they walked towards the
door. Watching them leave, I hoped Brandi found her way.

“
Where’s
Brandi going?” asked Hugh from behind me.

I jumped. ”Could you please not do that. You
need to make more noise when you walk up behind people. You gave me
a scare.”

Hugh smiled. Looking around the room I made a
hand gesture to indicate to my team of protectors that I was okay.
My jumping in fright at Hugh walking up behind me had put them all
on edge and they had started moving in my direction. Lucky for me,
Hugh didn’t notice that he had almost become the victim of a mass
attack.

“Where’s Brandi going?” Hugh repeated.

“
I think she
needs a break,” I said vaguely. “You know, Alistair.” It was easy
to blame Alistair for absolutely anything that went wrong. Stripper
upset, Alistair’s fault. Legalities a bit blurry, Alistair’s fault.
Zombie apocalypse, Alistair’s fault.

“How much longer are you staying tonight?” he
asked.

I shrugged. “As long as it takes to finish
off this work for Alistair. Why?”

“
Just
wondering when you wanted to head home,” he said.

I smiled. “Thanks Hugh. My boyfriend is
supposed to be picking me up and if he can’t I have a feeling that
I have other options.” Four other options to be exact. Five if I
included Dominic Caldwell. Of course I would have to really be
desperate to get in a car with him.

“
As long as
you’re okay,” Hugh said and I was touched that he hadn’t taken me
at my word and bolted the first chance he got.

“
All good,” I
said. “You enjoy the rest of your night.”

As he walked off I started back into my work,
determined to try to translate some of the nonsensical sounds on
Alistair’s recorder.

When Griffin walked in and found my entourage of
protectors
, I almost laughed at the
incredulous look on his face. He stopped near the doorway to speak
to Lee who bolted with a pathetically grateful look on his face.
Edwin grabbed Crystal’s hand, waved in my direction and dragged her
out with a similar expression to Lee. Jorge looked in my direction
and I nodded, using our nonverbal communication to tell him that
the boyfriend of mine that he didn’t like was taking over guard
duty, so he could leave the strip club and go home with his wife.
Travis nodded in my direction and followed Jorge out. Dominic
seemed to be in two minds, but he raised a glass in my direction,
drank it down and headed out the door. Griffin kept his eyes on
Dominic and Travis as he came over and stood in front of
me.

“
You really
know how to clear a room don’t you?” I said.

“What were all those people doing here?”
asked Griffin. “I swear the only one I set on you was Dad.”

“
I know,” I
said. “Jorge was sent by Monique on assignment, Travis was just
here because he always seems to be here and Dominic was continuing
in his campaign to freak me out in that special way he
has.”

“And Edwin and Crystal?” Griffin asked.

I shrugged my
shoulders. “I’m assuming they were here protecting me, but knowing
the way Crystal embraces new and different experiences, it could
have been just another night out for them.”

“
I sometimes
feel sorry for Edwin,” Griffin said.

I snorted. “Don’t be, he’s so in love with
Crystal he’d find a way to the moon for her if she asked.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Oh yes,
the little elephant in our relationship. I knew Griffin cared for
me very much but I just wasn’t entirely sure whether he loved me.
My cheek throbbed. I really didn’t have the energy to deal with
this at the moment.

“
Trudie,”
Griffin said and I steeled myself. I did not like the tone in his
voice at all.

“
Trudie,”
came another voice and I almost wept with relief.

I looked up
to find Susan and Brandi standing near the booth. Susan had a very
worried expression on her face and Brandi seemed terrified. They
both looked at Griffin and if it was possible, Brandi’s eyes went
wider.

“
You’re a
cop,” she said accusingly to Griffin.

Griffin nodded.

“
This is
Detective Griffin. He’s my….friend.” I finished off
weakly.

Now I had Brandi looking at me as if I was
consorting with the enemy, Griffin looked like I’d stabbed him
through the heart and Susan just looked confused. I really should
write a book on how to alienate people in the fewest number of
steps possible.

“
I don’t know
if I can do this,” Brandi muttered as she started stepping
backwards.

Susan caught
her arm. “It is your choice,” she said. “You were just saying that
you want to do the right thing. This is the start.”

Brandi stopped for a moment and looked as if
she was gathering her courage.

“
I know who
hurt you,” she said quietly.

I saw Griffin
tense
and knowing how scared Brandi must
be and how little it would take for her to bolt I smiled gently at
her.

“Do you want to sit down and talk to us about
it?” I asked.

Brandi nodded and slid into the booth next to
me. Susan took a seat beside her and continued holding the young
girl’s hand.

“
I don’t know
where to start,” said Brandi, her eyes focused on the table in
front of her.

“
Just start
at the beginning and tell them everything that you told me,” said
Susan soothingly.

Brandi took
in a calming breath. “I’ve been sleeping with Hammy for the last
few months. When I first started here he paid me a lot of special
attention. I don’t know what it was about me, but he was different
to me than he was with the other girls. My boyfriend came to the
show once and he saw how Hammy was with me. He said if I started
seeing Hammy it would help me and maybe we could use it to our
advantage. Hammy was sweet. He treated me really nice. Nobody has
ever treated me like that so it wasn’t really hard for me to get
involved with him. We were seeing each other and then one day he
said that he was in love with me. He wanted to marry
me.”

That surprised me considering the man already
had a wife who he had treated appallingly badly. Susan caught my
eye over the top of Brandi’s head. I think we both agreed that
Brandi may have had a lucky escape.

“Did you want to marry him?” I asked.

Brandi shook her head. “He was nice to me and
everything but I didn’t want to marry him.”

“Did you tell him that?” I asked.

Brandi nodded. “I told him I wasn’t ready to
get married.”

“How did he react?” I asked.

“
He
understood,” said Brandi. “He said that he knew it was sudden but
that he loved me and was willing to wait. He said that to prove how
much he loved me he was going to write up a new will and leave
everything to me.”

That caught Griffin’s attention. Changes in
wills by murder suspects always caught Griffin’s attention. “Had he
actually changed his will?” barked Griffin. Much as I knew that
Ramos did not like me, at least she had a gentle touch to her when
interrogating suspects. Griffin was like a bulldog. At least this
time I wasn’t the one on the receiving end of the
interrogation.

Brandi’s eyes widened. “He showed it to me
the day before he died. He said he was going to get it signed. I
don’t know what happened to it after that. When his wife showed up
with the old will I just figured that he never got a chance to sign
it.”

The innocence
in her eyes was
breathtaking. On the
other hand, I could see the various scenarios playing out in
Griffin’s head. Changing a will definitely brought a whole new side
to a murder case.

“My boyfriend didn’t believe that nobody
could find the new will. He said if we had this place we would be
set for life. He could run it and I would be the headline act.”

I could see
how little Brandi liked that idea.

Brandi’s eyes
cut to my cheek and I could see tears welling up in her eyes again.
“He came here today looking for the new will. He was sure that
Denise had hidden it.”

Just like that, everything fell into
place.

“Your boyfriend was the one who hit Trudie
wasn’t he?” said Griffin softly.

I wish I could say that softness was due to
him being sensitive enough to realize the precarious emotional
condition that Brandi was in. However I knew the man and I knew
that tone marked a wellspring of anger that he was holding
inside.

Brandi nodded. Thankfully she wasn’t aware of
the emotion Griffin was holding in check or else she may have been
a little less forthcoming with her information.

“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” asked Griffin
who seemed to have taken over the situation.

“
Jayden
Johnson, everyone calls him JJ,” Brandi said and I could tell it
took a lot out of her to do that. “He was just looking for the will
and then Denise came in and when Trudie walked in he panicked. I
really don’t think he meant to hurt her so badly.” Brandi pleaded
her boyfriend’s case.

I could tell that there was still a part of
Brandi that was unwilling to let the relationship with Jayden go,
regardless of how dysfunctional it looked to those of us on the
outside. Susan put an arm around Brandi’s shoulders as Griffin got
up and started barking orders into his cell. I assumed he was
talking to Ramos. I wondered if she put up with his tone as well as
I did.

Susan was comforting Brandi as Griffin came
back.

“
Brandi, is
there somewhere you can go tonight?” asked Griffin, finally working
out that a little bit of gentleness was the way to deal with this
witness.