Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 (17 page)

I
sat down on the couch. I really didn’t
want to go to this wedding. What I wanted was to curl up in bed and hide from
the world for a while. With Griffin here I had been able to push myself into
believing I could do this. Now that I was going to have to turn up to the
wedding alone, I wasn’t too keen on the idea. I debated with myself for several
minutes as I tried to convince myself to get going. The internal argument was
interrupted by a knock on my door. I opened it to find Miss Betsy standing
there.

“Your man asked me if I could take you to
the wedding.”

I should have expected Griffin to do
something thoughtful to take care of me.

“Something bad has happened, hasn’t it?”
Miss Betsy said.

I nodded, trying really hard to control the
tears I could feel crowding into my eyes again.

“Are you going to be okay or do I need to
pull you out of this?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I smiled tremulously. “I
just got a really big scare. I never want to feel that terrified again in my
life.”

“But you survived,” Miss Betsy said. “That
is what matters, the fact that you got to come home. Everything else you can
deal with.”

She was right. I could always count on Miss
Betsy to go straight to the heart of a situation.

As I got into her car Miss Betsy grinned,
“I knew something bad had happened. That man has got access to my driving
record. No way would he normally entrust the most precious thing in his life to
my driving skills.”

I laughed just as she’d wanted.

“That’s better. Now I suggest you hang on.
I want to get to this wedding on time. After yesterday I’m curious to see whether
it is actually going to happen.”

From long experience I knew to do as I was
told. The wedding was being held in the garden of a friend of John’s with a
marquee set up for the reception. Considering the short amount of time that had
been available for planning, everything looked beautiful.

“I guess all that experience had to be good
for something,” muttered Miss Betsy.

I had to stop myself from laughing. I
spotted Edwin over in the corner, looking concerned, and tugged Miss Betsy
behind me.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“There’s going to be a bit of a delay with
the ceremony,” he said diplomatically.

“This sounds good,” Miss Betsy said
eagerly. “What happened? The daughters chained themselves to their father’s
car, didn’t they? They had the looks of the kind of people who’d do that.”

Edwin didn’t smile at what I thought was an
obvious joke. “As far as I know there haven’t been any chains. There has been
some yelling, some threats and a huge amount of emotional blackmail. Roxy’s a
mess and Crystal is trying to deal with her.”

“What are the odds of this wedding actually
happening?” asked Miss Betsy with what I considered an inappropriate look of
glee on her face.

Edwin shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn’t
be betting on it. John’s son looks like he could go either way but his
daughters are raising holy hell. Depends on how much he wants to marry Roxy I
guess.”

An hour later we discovered that John
really wanted to marry Roxy. So much so that he was willing to have his
daughters walk out of his wedding if that was the only way for the day to go
forward. A part of me had to admire that kind of determination. I just hoped
that Roxy proved to have some staying power this time to reward that kind of
faith.

Despite everyone’s fears that Megan and
Sally would abandon the wedding, they proved themselves by standing next to
their father, albeit with disapproving frowns instead of the traditional
smiles.

When the minister asked if there were any
objections, there was an audible intake of breath around the room. Realizing
the precariousness of the situation the minister rushed on, barely giving
anyone the time to think, let alone object.

I looked up as Griffin slid into the seat
next to me.

“Am I too late?” he asked.

I shook my head. We sat there quietly even
though I was dying to ask what had happened. As Roxy and John recited their
loving vows, with their respective children glaring at each other, I felt
Griffin’s hand cover mine as he entwined our fingers.

I smiled at the scene in front of me. If
you could ignore the obvious tension in the room, the day was proving to be
quite romantic.

When the ceremony was finished and the
party started there was a noticeable easing of hostilities. Of course, that was
being helped along by Miss Betsy plying Megan and Sally with a steady stream of
alcohol to improve their spirits.

When the music started I dragged Griffin up
on the dance floor. Swaying to the music I laid my head against his chest.

“Crystal and her mom look like they are
going well,” muttered Griffin.

I smiled as I saw the two women laughing.

“Goes to show, you should never write
anyone off. People constantly surprise you,” I said. “How are things at the
station?”

Griffin smiled humorlessly. “The
lieutenant’s losing it a bit. He’s having to explain how he managed to have a
homicidal stalker as one of his detectives and never saw it coming. To be
perfectly fair though, none of us saw it coming. We all knew that Fletchall was
a bit on the sleazy side but this…this was unexpected.”

“How’s Ramos doing?”

Griffin sighed. “She’s not doing well. She
wants a transfer and at this stage the department is willing to let her do
anything that she wants. For that matter, some of the legal bigwigs at the
department have been indicating that you would be able to launch a lawsuit if
you were so inclined. If there is anything you want, this is the moment to ask
for it.”

“Does she still blame me?” I whispered. Our
relationship had never been good but I had a feeling it would never recover
from this.

Griffin smiled sadly. “I don’t think she
really blames you. You just might be collateral damage. I think most of us are.
She just wants to get away from what is an ugly situation.”

“So what happens to you?” I asked.

“My unofficial suspension is over and I am
now partnered with former Internal Affairs Detective Desmond Pickett. That’s
going to be fun. The guy’s a bit uptight.”

A bark of laughter shot out of me. “You’re
complaining about someone being uptight. Do you have any idea how many people
tell me that about you?”

“Yes, well, it seems I’m now considered a
bit of a loose cannon according to Lieutenant Ellis and he’s putting the blame
for that completely on you.”

I grimaced. “I seem to be having a very bad
influence on the people in his department. I can almost understand that
attitude.”

Griffin raised his hand and stroked down
the side of my cheek. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he whispered.

I smiled up at him.

Griffin looked down at me and I could see a
tenseness to him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Marry me,” he said, and as usual with
Griffin it was more of a statement than a question.

My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” I asked.

Griffin nodded. “I’ve known that you were
the one for me from that moment when you saved Sean from the mobsters on our
first case. I remember hearing you walk into that room to save a sixteen year
old boy getting a bullet in the brain and thinking that one day I was going to
marry you.”

Not the most romantic of proposals but if
it had been, it wouldn’t have been Griffin. He wasn’t about romantic words but
then neither was I.

“Marry me,” repeated Griffin. “I swear I
will do everything in my power to make sure you are happy and loved for the
rest of your life.”

I didn’t hesitate. I loved Jake Griffin and
I couldn’t think of anything that I would rather do than spend the rest of my
life with him.

I nodded. “Yes,” I said, wrapped my arms
around his neck and kissed him.

###

Thank you for reading Not Suspicious in Hollywood. If you
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Regards,

Leonie Gant

Leonie Gant started her writing career at the age of ten
when she stuffed notes in her pencil case full of ideas for mysteries that
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys should really have been solving. After years of
watching mysteries play out in her head, in full, sometimes gory color, she
decided that writing them down was the best way to deal with them.

In her life away from writing, she is a voracious reader
with not nearly enough time to make her way through all the books that she
wants to read. She enjoys bushwalking, sewing and chocolate, possibly not in
that order. She also believes in the value of trying new things, walking in the
rain and enjoying every moment.

To find out more about Leonie Gant and her books

www.leoniegant.com

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