Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (16 page)

“Why?” I asked.

“
You’ve got
this whole maternal, take care of everyone vibe and yet you don’t
have any of your own children or anything close to a
relationship.”

“You’re forgetting my fake boyfriend.”

“Ah yes, Detective Hottie. Have you heard
from him lately?”

“
Not since
yesterday at Ryan’s house. I don’t think he was too happy with me.
Because he’s only my fake boyfriend, I’m not even sure if he’s
giving me his version of the silent treatment.”

Crystal giggled. “You get yourself into the
strangest situations” she said as we pulled into the driveway at
Adam’s house.

As we got out of the car we heard a crash
coming from inside the house. The front door of the house smashed
open. Crystal and I dove back in the car as two men came out
dragging a struggling Adam Hendricks between them. Seeing us, one
of the men raised a gun and started shooting at the car. Crystal
threw the car in reverse and started driving away from the scene.
Both of us ducked below the dashboard as shots were fired in our
direction. I grabbed my cell and called 911. When someone answered
I started yelling into the phone.

“Some guy is shooting at us.”

“Ma’am where are you?”

I looked at Crystal. I didn’t know where we
were. I’d just been the passenger, I hadn’t actually been paying
attention to the address or anything. Crystal yelled out an address
as I held the phone to her.

“Did you get that?” I asked.

The gunshots
stopped and Crystal and I looked over the dashboard. Adam was being
pushed into the car. As he struggled he was hit by a meaty fist to
the jaw and he slumped.

“Ma’am are you still there?” the calm voice
from the 911 operator came through and I realized that in the midst
of all this drama Crystal and I had gone silent.

“I’m here” I said.

The other car
drove past us, wheels squealing and shots again rang out. Crystal
pushed her foot hard on the accelerator and sent the car forward
out of the range of the gunfire. She wrenched the car around and
started chasing after them.

“What the hell?” I yelled out.

“They’ve taken Adam, tell the cops, maybe
they can intercept them.”

I took a deep breath. “My name is Trudie
Eyre. I’ve been working with Detective Jake Griffin. Adam Hendricks
was just kidnapped from his house at the address we gave you. The
men who took him were the ones shooting at us. We are chasing the
kidnapper’s car going south now.”

“
Ma’am I
don’
t think that is a good idea. If they
have already been shooting at you they are dangerous. You should
stop now and find somewhere safe.”

I was
inclined to agree with the nice man on the phone. Unfortunately I
was not the one in charge of the wheel. Crystal was getting us
close to the kidnapper’s vehicle. I felt a huge crunch as the
kidnapper’s car swerved into us and we were pushed into a car
parked on the side of the road. Airbags went off and I’ve got to
tell you, they aren’t gentle. They may look like pillows but those
things hurt. My chest felt like it had taken a hit from a baseball
bat. We weren’t going anywhere. In the distance I heard police
sirens coming close and the kidnapper’s car reversed away from us.
In a cloud of smoke and squealing wheels it took off in the
opposite direction. Looking over at Crystal I saw blood dripping
down her forehead.

“Oh no, Crystal” I said as I put my hand to
her cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah” she said, although she sounded a
little groggy. “Not sure what I hit my head on though.” She winced
as she raised her hand to her hairline.

A police officer came up to the window on my
side. “Are you okay?”

“
I think so”
I said, “but my friend’s hurt. Did you get the guys that hit
us?”

“
No, we have
another car that has gone after them. Can you hold on there for a
few minutes? Paramedics should be here soon.”

Before too long we were out of the car and
heading to hospital. I was sitting on the bed in a hospital room
after having my statement taken by the nice young policeman when
Crystal came in.

“I’m sorry” she said as she sat on the edge
of my bed. “I should never have done that.”

“You’re more hurt than me.” I pointedly
looked at the bandage on her forehead.

“Yes, but I know how you feel about cars. I
probably made things worse.”

“
On the plus
side” I said, trying very hard to put an end to the guilt she was
obviously feeling, “my constant nagging about wearing seat belts
was totally worth it.”

Crystal giggled and winced as it pulled on
the edges of the bandage. “I guess it was.”

We looked up
at a knock on the door. Standing there with a concerned look on his
face was Griffin.

“Finally” I said, “it’s about time my fake
boyfriend turned up.”

“
Yeah,” said
Griffin. “I figured I’d better put in an appearance. Could we have
a moment please Crystal. Ramos is out there. She wants to have a
chat with you.”

“No problem” said Crystal and left the room.
Griffin was looking at me strangely.

“I’m fine” I said.

“No you’re not” he said. “You could have been
killed today. What the hell were you thinking?”

“
We were
returning the key to Ryan’s house. Trust me there was no way I
could have known we were walking into that.” I said indignantly.
“Did you have some information that indicated he was going to get
kidnapped?”

“No” he said. “I had no idea.”

“See” I said triumphantly. “Neither of us are
fortune tellers. I could have just as easily walked into an armed
holdup or a drive by shooting.”

“
Are you
trying to make me feel better or worse?” he said. Leaning over he
tucked my hair behind my ear. “Do you have any idea how hard it was
to get that message from dispatch and know there was nothing I
could do to help? Knowing the danger you were in.”

I knew he was saying something important but
at that moment I was losing myself in those beautiful green
eyes.

“I feel like this is somehow my fault” he
murmured.

“That’s because it is your fault” came an
officious voice from behind.

Griffin straightened to face the wrath of
Monique.

“She shouldn’t be anywhere near this
situation but you forced her into it.”

Oh boy, was Monique mad. In heels she stood
eye to eye with Griffin and she was letting him have it. Strangely
enough Griffin was just taking it. Unlike when he was talking to me
his face had tightened up and that cold mask of his had come over
it.

“Monique” I said trying to break into the
tirade, because once Monique got started she could go for days.

Monique looked over at me.

“Let it go” I said, “please.” I may have also
put a hand to my head intimating that I had a headache to elicit a
bit of sympathy. Sometimes you had to use everything you had.

“
For you ma
petite
I will do that” she said as she
moved towards me on the bed gripping hold of my hand.

“I’ll see you later Trudie” Griffin said as
he made his exit.

“You had to scare him off didn’t you?” I said
to Monique shaking my head.

“He is no good for you” announced Monique
imperiously.

Reggie who
had followed her in sat on the other side of the bed. “How are you
feeling sweetheart?” he asked solicitously.

“
I’m fine” I
said. “The only reason I’m here is we’re waiting for the x-rays on
my ribs. I felt a little bit of pain earlier and they’re just being
careful about it.”

“Crystal’s pretty upset that she put you
through that” Monique said quietly.

“Please tell me you didn’t have a go at her
as well” I implored Monique.

“Of course not” she said, as if offended I
would say such a thing. “I like Crystal.”

Pulling up to
the apartment complex I noted that Sean was still in the garden
working with Miss Betsy. I groaned. The poor kid. I had not meant
for him to be working all day. After saying goodbye to Monique and
Reggie and making sure Crystal got dropped off with Edwin I went
back to the garden.

“Hey Miss Betsy” I said as I came to her
side. “Is it time to let him go for the day?”

“
He’
s a good boy, worked hard” she
said. “You did the right thing bringing him here. We’ll take care
of him.”

Obviously Miss Betsy had managed to get
Sean’s story out of him. I wondered if he realized that he may
never be able to leave now.

“Want something to eat Sean?” I asked.

He looked at me gratefully. “I’ll just finish
this and be right in” he said.

“See” Miss Betsy said quietly, “a good
boy.”

Back in my
apartment I started getting things ready for my house guest.
Despite the number of times I seemed to eat takeaway, I can cook
and I decided that tonight Sean needed something homemade. I had
the sauce for a pasta dish bubbling away on the stove when he
walked in. I caught a whiff of pungent sweaty teenage boy and
wrinkled my nose.

“Do you have any clean clothes?” I asked.

“Not really” he said, lifting up his arm to
sniff.

I went into my room and grabbed some sweats
and a t-shirt of mine that looked like it would kind of fit.

“Take a shower and throw your clothes out.
Give me everything you have and I’ll get them washed.”

While Sean was in the shower I ran downstairs
into the laundry room and threw his clothes in the machine. Back
upstairs I had to laugh at how discomfited Sean looked in my
clothes. They didn’t look obviously feminine but you could tell
that they offended his sense of masculinity.

“Don’t be such a guy” I said as I dished up
some dinner for him.

After settling Sean on the couch I went to
bed. Despite the dramas of the day I was grateful when I fell into
a deep dreamless sleep.

I woke up in the morning a bit disoriented.
Noises coming from outside my bedroom filled me with alarm until I
remembered my house guest. Stumbling out of my bedroom I was a bit
concerned when I found Sean at the kitchen bench on my laptop.

“I hope you don’t mind me using your
computer” he said.

Crossing my arms I fixed him with a cold
stare.

“Actually I do” I said. “I’ve got a bit of a
thing for privacy.”

“
Probably
shouldn’
t tell you about going through
your medicine cabinet should I” he said with a cheeky grin on his
face.

“
You’
ve got the self-preservation
instincts of a lemming” I said sarcastically as I went to grab my
laptop.

“Yeah, I know” he said. “Where are the rest
of the photos?” Sean asked.

“What do you mean the rest of the
photos?”

“
After I met
with Ryan he paid me a few bucks to keep an eye on his brother. I
got a few other photos but they weren’t with the chick. They were
with some guy. I gave those to Ryan as well.”

“
We only
found one flash drive with the photos of Adam and Emily. Do you
still have copies of the other images? I asked.

“Sure” said Sean. “I already downloaded them
to your laptop.”

I opened up
the laptop and started to go through the photos and my heart sank.
There in irrefutable color was Adam Hendricks buying drugs, doing
drugs and partying with guys that scared me just looking at their
photos. This was not good and all of a sudden I started to see that
this situation had got worse, and this sixteen year old kid was now
in the middle of it.

“Sean, does anyone else know you took these
photos?” I asked as the ramifications of this situation swirled
through my head.

“I didn’t tell anyone, but Ryan might have
said something to someone” Sean said seemingly oblivious to the
sudden tension emanating from me.

“
Sean, I need
you to listen to me. This is a bad situation.” I pointed to Adam.
“Yesterday I saw this guy being kidnapped by this guy here.” I
pointed to one of the men in the photo. “He and another guy shot at
Crystal and me. They then ran us off the road.”

Sean looked horrified.

“We need to take this to the police” I
said.

Sean started to argue.

“No Sean” I said in as firm a voice as I
could. “These are bad people and if they find out that you took
these photos it is going to put you in a lot of danger.”

“I could just leave” Sean said grabbing his
backpack, “you’ll be safe then.”

I grabbed one
of the straps on his backpack.

“
This isn’t
about me you idiot” I said. “I don’t want you hurt. We need to come
up with a way to keep you safe.”

Sean looked stunned. “You’re trying to take
care of me” he said softly.

“
Somebody has
to” I said pointing a finger at his chest. “Self-preservation
instincts of a lemming remember. I have a friend, kind of, who’s a
cop. He’ll be able to help us. I can call him now and we can get
him to have a look at these. He’ll know the next step to
take.”

Sean nodded and sat down heavily. Dialing
Griffin’s number I hoped I had made the right decision.

“Griffin” he answered and I had to admit that
just hearing his voice was enough to make me feel better.

“Griffin, it’s Trudie.”

“Hey Trudie.” His voice softened and I tried
really hard not to read anything into that.

“
I have a
problem” I said hurriedly. “I want to tell you about this problem
but I need to know that you are going to think carefully before
bulldozing forward with the whole cop thing.”