Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (22 page)

I usually
work with celebrities, actors, actresses, musicians or, as in
Adele’s case, authors. One of my strength’s as a PA is that I blend
into the background. I am completely average. I tie my slightly
longer than shoulder length brown hair back into a pony tail and
wear sensible shoes, pants and a simple top. My gray eyes are even
unremarkable and they seem to change color depending on the clothes
I’m wearing, making me a bit of a chameleon. I enjoy my food too
much to have the perfect figure, so I’ll go swimming but I’m a bit
too self-conscious to wear that bikini, especially in
LA.

Usually the men around my clients are far
more interested in the bounty they have around them to even look
twice at me. It doesn’t bother me, it is simply a reality. As this
assignment with Adele Wesson was proving, sometimes attention can
be a bad thing. I wasn’t fooling myself believing Eric Wesson was
actually interested in me. The man was playing some kind of sick
game with his wife and I was caught in the middle. That being said
I had noticed that he had upped the campaign in the last couple of
days. My holding out must be becoming frustrating for him. Maybe I
would need to speak to Monique about it.

The next
morning I let myself into Adele’s house. Usually I would find Adele
outside with her muse as she would call it. Adele credited the
nature around her as the inspiration for her work. She had been hit
by a stream of inspiration in her latest project. Almost every
morning for the last two weeks I had found her outside. Looking
through the house I could not find any sign of her or Eric. The
cars were in the garage
so I knew they
had to be home. Heading towards Adele’s bedroom I knocked quietly
on the door.

“
Ms Wesson” I
called out as I tried the doorknob. I slowly opened the door
calling out again in case she didn’t hear me. The room was empty,
but the bed looked as if it hadn’t been slept in which was very
unusual. Dropping my head I contemplated my next move. The only
room I hadn’t checked was Eric Wesson’s bedroom. The couple slept
in separate bedrooms, something I found incomprehensible, but hey,
it wasn’t my marriage. I tried calling her cell only to hear it
ringing on the bedside table. Adele never went anywhere without her
cell. Reluctantly walking to Eric’s room I knocked quietly on the
door.

“
Ms Wesson,
are you in there?”

When there
was no answer I knocked again, a little louder. I put my ear up
against the door, trying desperately to hear something to indicate
that I did not need to open it. There was complete
silence.

“
Ms Wesson,”
I called out loudly. “I am coming in now, I am concerned for you.”
I cringed. That didn’t sound strange at all, but I really did not
want to enter this room.

When the door
was opened I saw the bed and strangled back the scream that rose in
my throat. There, lying on the white sheets was Eric Wesson, blood
covering the pillow underneath his head. Next to him lay Adele
Wesson. I couldn’t see any blood around her. If it wasn’t for the
blood, the two of them would look like they were just sleeping
peacefully together. I crept towards the bed. I could see Adele’s
chest rising and I put my hand on her shoulder.

“
Adele, wake
up.” I shook her gently but she didn’t open her eyes. Raising my
voice I yelled louder and shook harder. “Adele, wake up.” No
response.

I grabbed my cell out of my pocket and called
emergency. When it answered I rushed ahead giving the address.

“
Please, I
need someone here right now. I just got to work and my boss and her
husband are in bed. There is blood everywhere. I think she may be
alive but I don’t know about him. There is so much
blood.”

“Are you in any danger?” the dispatcher
asked.

“I have no idea” I said, belatedly looking
around realizing that I could have walked in on anything.

“Can you find a place that’s safe?” she
said.

“I don’t want to leave her” I said softly. “I
think she’s still alive.”

“I’ve got police and paramedics coming.
Everything is going to be okay.” The dispatcher’s calm voice grated
over my jangled nerves.

I heard a crashing noise from the front
door.

“I think they’re here” I said.

“
That’s good”
she said. “Now whatever you do, follow the police officer’s
directions. If they don’t have to worry about you, then they can
concentrate on your friend.”

“Okay” I said and gulped as a cop stepped in
the room and pointed a gun at me.

“Hands up” he yelled.

“
I’m the one
who called” I said as I put my hands above my head, holding up the
cell phone. “I’ve got emergency on the line.”

The cop took my phone and spoke to the
dispatcher. Paramedics raced into the room and started working on
Adele and Eric. The cop led me out of the house and sat me down on
the front porch.

“What happened?” the cop asked.

“
I
don’
t know. I work here for Adele Wesson.
I got to work about half an hour ago, same time as I always do and
I found them like that. I left about seven last night and they were
fine.”

The cop nodded and started taking notes. A
paramedic came over and put a blanket around my shoulders.

“Thank you” I said.

“Not a problem, not a pretty sight in there.
I figured you’re probably feeling a little shocky.”

I looked up at him. “Is that a medical
term?”

He grinned and I noticed he had a nice smile,
kind and gentle with a small dimple in his chin.

“
No, not
really. It’s before you actually go into shock, when you’ve seen
something that you keep replaying in your mind.”

I shivered.
“Yes, well I think that qualifies. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting
that scene in a hurry.”

He put his hand into a pocket and pulled out
a small chocolate bar. “Here have this, you’ll feel better with a
bit of sugar in you.”

I looked at him carefully. “My mom’s advice
about strangers and candy is going through my head right about
now.”

He smiled
again and his brown eyes lit up. He put out his hand. “Then we
shouldn’t be strangers anymore, my name is Ben.”

I looked at him for a second and then grasped
his hand. “I’m Trudie and now that you’re no longer a stranger I’ll
take that candy bar.”

Ben handed it over and I unwrapped it and
popped it in my mouth.

“
Feeling any
better?” he asked.

“Yeah I guess so.”

I turned to the cop behind me.

“
Any chance I
can go to the hospital with Adele so she’s not alone?”

“Afraid not. Homicide are going to need to
speak to you.”

“Eric didn’t make it?” I asked softly.

“No he didn’t” the cop said distractedly.

I bent my
head fighting back the tears. I didn’t know why I was upset. I
hadn’t particularly liked the man. He had made my two weeks working
for Adele difficult, but yesterday he had been alive and vital, and
today he was dead. I felt an arm go around my shoulders and looked
up at Ben’s sympathetic face. I leaned my head against his chest
and just let someone else be strong for a while. After a few
minutes of leaning against Ben’s warm chest and feeling his hand
stroke my arm in sympathy I heard a throat being cleared. I pulled
away from Ben and looked up, right into the face of the one man I
had hoped I would not see.

The last time
I had seen Detective Jake Griffin, his face had been worn and
unshaven after sitting by my bedside for three days while I was
unconscious after being shot. In the morning sunlight he looked
great. His black hair was a bit longer than when I had seen him
last. Those rebellious curls that grew at the ends were making a
concerted effort to be more pronounced. His height and broad
shoulders seemed to block everything else out of my line of sight.
His green eyes though looked angry. In fact he looked really angry.
His eyes were locked on the arm around my shoulder. He flicked out
his badge.

“Detective Griffin, Homicide” he said to Ben.
“We need to speak to the witness alone please.”

Ben nodded
but was slow to remove his arm and I could tell that it annoyed
Griffin.

“You going to be okay?” he asked softly.

I shrugged as I pulled off the blanket and
handed it to him.

“Probably” I said. “Thanks for the
chocolate.”

He smiled.
“Anytime, I’ll just remember to stock up again for next time we
meet.”

I smiled back
at him and watched him as he walked off. Knowing there was no way
that I was going to put off the inevitable, I looked up into
Ramos’s impassive face and Griffin’s scowling one.

“So are we doing this here or down at the
station?” I asked.

“Station” Griffin growled, spinning around
and walking off.

Getting up I
directed my next question to Ramos. “What about my car? Can I drive
it to the station so I have a way of getting home?”

Ramos didn’t even have the grace to look
apologetic. “You know the drill, crime scene techs need to look at
it before we can release it.”

“Great” I muttered.

Ramos touched me on the arm. “Sorry Trudie, I
really am.”

Yeah, weren't
we all.