Hollywood Games: A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Read online

  Edna kneaded the muscles in the back of his neck. “Unless somebody’s got a bright idea about how to prevent all this, I think it’s time we prepared for the worst. Everyone’s on call twenty-four seven until further notice.”

  Bernie and I left the station a little before seven after I spent the afternoon writing paper on our interview with Rafi Wayland. While the gang leader had told us we had forty-eight hours before a gang war would erupt, I had to agree with what Harvey had told Edna. Open war seemed likely to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were shootings before the night was over.

  As I turned off Wilcox Avenue onto Hollywood Boulevard I glanced in my rearview mirror, still paranoid from my past encounter. Maybe it was my imagination but it looked like the same car had been following me for several blocks. I moved through a couple of intersections, passing by the Pig ‘n Whistle, one of the oldest restaurants and bars in Hollywood, when I saw that the car was still behind me.

  Maybe my emotions were on overload with everything that had happened lately, but I made a sudden decision. I braked and turned Olive’s wheel sharply, blocking both lanes of the boulevard. I then came out of the car with Bernie at my side and my hand on my weapon.

  The car that had been following me had skidded to a stop. Behind it several other cars were also stopped, their horns blaring.

  “Out of the car, NOW,” I yelled. The sun was glaring off the windshield and I couldn’t see the driver.

  Seconds later the door opened and I saw Buck McCade standing in the street, smiling at me.

  “What the hell?” I said after walking over to him.

  His blue eyes found me. “I don’t like the way things have been going with us lately and decided I needed to pay you a visit. I saw you leaving the station and followed you.” The cars behind him continued to blast their horns. Several people were yelling obscenities now.

  I flashed my badge at the cars and then turned back to him. “Let’s get a drink and talk.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “There’s a restaurant called 25 Degrees, just up the street at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Meet you there in a few.”

  Twenty minutes later, after clearing the traffic jam and finding parking, Buck and I entered the Rosie, as some of the locals called the hotel. We settled into at a booth at the restaurant away from the bar with Bernie at my feet.

  I saw Buck’s eyes taking in the crystal chandeliers, the grandeur of a hotel. I decided to give him a little history after our drinks arrived.

  “The place was built in the 1920’s from what I understand. The first academy awards were held here. I’ve heard that Marilyn Monroe lived here for a couple of years when she first came to Hollywood. Rumor has it that her ghost still haunts the place.”

  “If I were a ghost, I just might hang out here, too.” His blue eyes found me again. “Nice place. Course any place with you is nice.” He reached over and took my hand. “I’ve missed you, Kate.”

  I felt my chest flutter. “It’s been difficult for me too…I’m just not sure…where we are with everything that’s happened.”

  He released my hand, exhaled. “Colleen’s been in and out of a shelter in Long Beach from what I’ve been able to find out. According to someone I talked to there, she’s off her meds and pretty out of it.”

  I took a sip of my drink and decided I had to tell him my suspicions. “I think she’s been coming around my house again, maybe following me.”

  He brushed a hand through his hair, exhaled. “Damn.”

  I again told him about the woman Natalie had mentioned and the headlights I’d recently seen in my rearview mirror. “That’s why I stopped on the street tonight. I’m pretty wrung out emotionally from everything.”

  His eyes found me. “I’m so sorry about all this. I never expected…” He rubbed his jaw. “I still can’t believe she’s doing this.”

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “Yes…of course. What I mean is that…it’s just so unlike Colleen.” He took my hand again. “It took me a long time to find you, Kate. I don’t want this to come between us.”

  I took another sip of wine, set the glass down, and released a breath. “I don’t want that either.”

  “Tell you what. Why don’t we put it all out of our minds, if only for the night.”

  I smiled, feeling something stirring inside. Despite everything that had happened, the feelings I’d had before when I was around him returned. I ran a finger around the rim of my wineglass. “What have you got in mind, cowboy?”

  “Let’s have dinner and take it from there.”

  Buck ordered a steak and I had a salad. We lingered over our meals, chatting about Catalina and his work on the island.

  He told me about his most recent animal rescue. “My ranch hand Juan and I took in a calf the other day that was abandoned after its mother died. I’ve spent the past couple of nights feeding him with a baby bottle.” He smiled. “Guess it’s good practice for becoming a daddy someday.”

  I pushed the last of my salad around my plate. “Somehow I have trouble seeing you with a baby bottle.”

  After dinner we took a walk around the plush Spanish-colonial hotel that featured an outdoor swimming pool and a trendy bar called Teddy’s that I’d been told was one of the hottest clubs for Hollywood’s night life.

  “Not sure if I’m feeling the nightclub scene tonight,” I said. I then slapped my forehead. “Oh my God, I just remembered. My friends and my new partner are appearing at the Dolby Theater tonight.”

  “I didn’t realize they were famous.”

  “They’re not. It’s part of an acting workshop.” I checked my watch. “It’s just down the street. If we hurry we can just make it. “

  Buck and I took the grand stairway into the Dolby Theater, where the Academy Awards were held every year. I saw that the hall leading from the front entrance was flanked by art deco columns displaying the films that had received the Best Picture award. While the theater wasn’t full, it looked like there were at least a couple thousand people scattered throughout the audience.

  Mo waved to us as we entered, indicating she’d saved us a couple of seats next to her near the front row. I saw that Sonny was seated next to her, along with Lindsay and a young man who I assumed was her boyfriend Eli, but I didn’t see any sign of Natalie, or Harvey for that matter.

  After introductions, Mo said, “As it turns out, me and baby sis are up third. We’re doing an improv segment with that new partner of yours.”

  “I hope he doesn’t forget his lines.”

  “Ain’t no lines to forget. It’s improv night and it’s sink or swim. He’s gotta make stuff up on the spot, and I gotta feeling Harvey’s gonna need a life preserver.”

  As we waited for the performance to begin, we chatted with Lindsay and Eli. My sister’s boyfriend was tall with dark hair. He seemed nice but also maybe a bit serious. I wondered if he felt uncomfortable because he didn’t know us.

  I then made small talk with Sonny, telling Natalie’s boyfriend that he did a good job filling the theater on short notice.

  Natalie’s boyfriend smiled. “I have to confess that I was a little bit sneaky when I handed out the tickets.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean?”

  His smile grew wider. “I worked with the director and we agreed that the acting performances would all have an X-rated theme. I think that helped bring in the crowd.”

  “Do the actors know about this?”

  He shook his head. “It’s all part of the improv. Should make for an interesting evening.”

  We watched the first couple of performances which, true to Sonny’s word, put the actors in situations that all revolved around sex. The first session had to do with a couple at a nudist colony. The second was about some unfortunate medical issues related to the side effects of drugs for erectile dysfunction. I mentioned to Buck that maybe Nana should have been used as a workshop expert for that segment. I then braced myself as the director announced the
session that my friends and Harvey would be doing.

  “This scenario involves the breakup of a relationship,” the director announced, standing between the performers. He turned to the trio. “You girls have been both dating Harvey and have just found out that he’s been cheating on each of you with the other person. The scene will involve you confronting him about his behavior.”

  “Oh no,” I said to Buck. “Knowing my friends, this could get pretty ugly.” Moments later I realized the term ugly took on a whole new meaning.

  “I thought we could all go to dinner tonight,” Harvey began, playing the role of the clueless cheating boyfriend.

  Natalie, who was wearing a skin tight low cut blouse and a miniskirt, was having none of it. “It seems to me that you’ve been taking your meals at both sides of our table for some time.”

  “Wh…what…are you talking about?”

  “We’re talking about a three-way,” Mo said, her hands on her wide hips. My large friend was wearing yellow spandex and a bad attitude. “After having your main course with me, it seems that you’ve been stopping off for a little dessert with Natalie here.”

  “That is preposterous.” Harvey’s voice was stilted, full of over the top indignation.

  “No, I’ll tell ya what preposterous is,” Natalie said. “It’s when a guy tries to make up for his shortcomings by cheating.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “We’re talking about a Dodger Dog that’s too small for the bun, honey,” Mo said. “And in your case I’m afraid it’s all bun and no meat.”

  The audience began roaring with laughter. Harvey, on the other hand, turned beet red and I don’t think it was because of his acting abilities. I had the impression that he was genuinely embarrassed.

  Harvey stammered, “I…I’ll have you know…you’re the first ones to ever complain about my…my love dog.”

  There was more laughter as Natalie said, “Your love dog is so short it should be classified as one of them miniature designer wienie dogs.”

  Mo piled on, “It should be caught, put in one of them petri dishes, and given some of that Miracle Grow.”

  Harvey started to protest but was cut off by my friends who were now on a roll.

  “Just be sure you don’t go fishing,” Mo said to Harvey, “cause they throw back the small ones.”

  The audience was loving every minute of it. Harvey, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to run out of the room and hide. He finally said, “You’re just angry because…because women seem to find what I have desirable.”

  Natalie let him have it again. “Harvey, when women see what you got they call up UPS and order a new package.”

  “I won’t stand here and listen to another word of this,” Harvey said, turning and stomping off stage.

  Mo turned to Natalie and shook her head. “The only good thing ‘bout this is now we don’t have to use that headache excuse again.”

  Natalie nodded in agreement. “I think Harvey better call his doctor, tell ‘em that he’s got a small problem.”

  The audience clapped their approval as my friends took a bow. They kept turning, looking off stage for Harvey to join them, but he didn’t appear.

  “I wonder if he ran away,” I said to Buck.

  He smiled. “Or maybe he’s on the phone with his doctor.”

  Buck and I made a decision that we didn’t want to embarrass Harvey any further and decided not to wait around. We walked back up the street to the hotel. It was a little before ten and most of the street performers who dressed up for tips and performed in front of the theater were heading home.

  When we got to the hotel, Buck yawned, smiled at me, and said, “I’m a bit tuckered, what do you say we get a room.”

  I touched his arm. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  We stayed in a cabana suite, overlooking the pool. The room was big enough to give Bernie his own space while we had a separate bedroom. After feeding and walking Bernie, we retired to the bedroom.

  Buck came over after I’d showered and put on a luxurious bathrobe provided by the hotel. He sat down on the bed next to me and we kissed. Despite the warmth and tenderness of the moment I had trouble letting go of everything that had happened.

  He pulled away, apparently sensing what I was feeling. “It’s just me and you and the night. That’s all there is, Kate. Nothing else.”

  I looked into his deep blue eyes that in the moment seemed to hold all the secrets of the world. We kissed again, I felt a release, and began letting go of the past. We fell back onto the bed exchanging more kisses, him tugging ever so gently on my bathrobe.

  Maybe it was the fact that we were in an historic hotel, steeped in the glamour of a bygone era, and down the street from where the best pictures in the world were honored, but time seemed to recede and then stop all together. Somewhere beyond the walls of our little room I imagined hearing the long ago voices of those who told stories in the nearby theaters about what it means to fall in love.

  I knew it was a hopelessly romantic thing to do, but I gave into it all, hearing the words of Noah as he spoke to Allie in the movie The Notebook, telling her the story of a forever love that transcended some of life’s most difficult challenges. I then heard Harry talking to Sally as they sat in a diner, telling her about falling in love and wanting the rest of their lives to start as soon as possible. And finally, the voice of Julia Roberts came to me out of the darkness as she said, “Don’t forget I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

  And then the voices went away and Buck and I were alone again beneath the light of a million distant suns that exploded in the night sky. My bathrobe opened further, until it came off giving me the sensation of a caterpillar shedding its cocoon. His hands and lips and heart gently nudged me to the precipice of ecstasy until my wings opened and we were together as one flying beyond the earth and the moon and the stars.

  It was a long time later, as we drifted in and out of a deep sleep, that I heard my phone ringing. It took me a while to react and I thought the caller might have hung up by the time I got over to the dresser and answered it. Then I heard my partner’s voice.

  “Kate, it’s Harvey. Sorry to call so late, or I guess you could say early since it’s almost four. There’s been some gang shootings. Edna wants everyone at the station ASAP.”

  I walked back over to bed and told Buck what was happening. I then took a quick shower and dressed. We held one another for a long moment before I went over and got my purse and car keys.

  “I’ll call you soon, I promise,” Buck said as I was leaving.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  I left the hotel, heading down Hollywood Boulevard toward the parking garage. My gaze darted around the street, wondering if Buck’s ex might be watching me. Would it always be like this, me waiting for a deranged woman to come out of the shadows?

  I refocused, pushing the thought away, and looked up the street, where Highland meets the boulevard. It was the same area where the gang shooting happened a day earlier. My eyes held on the buildings lining the street and something occurred to me. It was something that I realized just might prevent a gang war.

  CHAPTER FORTY TWO

  Bernie and I got to the station just before six. We found Harvey sitting at his desk, staring off into space. “You alright, partner?”

  He dragged a hand through his uncombed hair. “I didn’t sleep a wink all night, thanks to…your friends.”

  I took a seat and stowed my purse in my desk drawer. “They were just playing along with the scenario, having fun.”

  “At my expense. I’m thinking about quitting the acting class.”

  “I think you’re overreacting.” He seemed so depressed that I decided a lie was in order. “Actually, I thought you did a good job of playing your role. You were very convincing.”

  His eyes grew brighter. “You really think so?”

  “Yes, I was completely convinced that you really do have a sma
ll penis.” Okay, my lack of sleep was causing me to create imaginary conversations. Instead, I said, “I think you’ve got great potential.” I looked over and saw Pearl walking into the conference room, followed by Gooch and Glade, and changed the subject. “Looks like we’d better get down to business.”

  While we waited in the conference room for the lieutenant to arrive, Gooch yawned and said, “These hours are putting a serious cramp in my lifestyle. Not to mention the badge Betty I had to leave behind.”

  “Did you guys see that bright light in the sky this morning?” Eric Glade asked us. “I think it’s part of an alien invasion.”

  “It’s called a sunrise,” I said, sipping the day’s second cup of coffee. My thoughts drifted to having to leave Buck behind in the hotel room. We’d made vague plans about getting together in a few days.

  “Cut the shit,” Edna said, coming into the room and overhearing the banter. “We’ve got a war starting to erupt on the streets.” He turned to Gooch and Glade. “You two are on patrol starting at nine.”

  “I’m seriously patrol-challenged, LT,” Gooch said. “It brings back painful memories of bladder retention problems.”

  “Get a diaper,” Edna growled. “I don’t want any more complaints.”

  Since time was of the essence, I gave voice to what had occurred to me as I’d left the hotel. “Do we have any identification on the shooters that opened fire on JQ and the other gang member the other night?”

  Edna shook his head. “We’re operating under the assumption that it’s UG, but no one’s been identified.”

  “The area is across from the Chinese Theater and other tourist attractions. Did anybody think to check and see if there are any closed circuit cameras that captured the shooting?”

  “Clausen and McDaniel caught the investigation. Let me give them a call.”

  While Edna left the room Gooch and Glade took the time to complain about being on patrol while Pearl and I discussed the shooting.

  “We just might get lucky and the cameras captured the shooting” Pearl said.

  I sipped my coffee, set the cup down. “Let’s hope so. We’re running out of options.”