Free Not Wanted in Hollywood by Leonie Gant

least
they let me know that he thought of me.
    The club was
quiet when I got there. It was early morning and when I took the
time to think about it and not just react to Alistair’s orders , I realized that maybe I should have
contacted Denise before turning up. I went around the back to the
staff entrance and was surprised to see it open.
    “Hello ,” I
called out as I walked through the back rooms. Considering my
discussion with Griffin I was beginning to seriously think about walking out. If I was the trouble magnet
that everybody seemed to assume I was, then a deserted strip bar
was the perfect place for something to go terribly wrong. I heard
noises and followed them to the dressing room. There I found Amber
with her arm around the shoulders of one of the other girls. I
wracked my brain to remember her name. She was a quiet one who
stayed in the background and miraculously Alistair hadn’t yet
managed to turn her homicidal, so I hadn’t really had anything to
do with her.
    “ Sorry,” I
said as they looked up. “I didn’t mean to intrude.
    Amber waved me in. “It’s not a problem.
Brandi’s a little upset.”
    I sat down next to them. “Is there anything I
can do to help?” I asked.
    “ He
promised,” wailed Brandi as she took in gulps of air between
heaving sobs.
    Great. I really didn’t want to know if
Alistair made promises to other girls that he had no intention of
fulfilling.
    Amber caught my eye and I could see she saw
where my assumption had gone.
    “ No,” she
murmured. “It wasn’t Alistair this time. It was Hammy.”
    I raised an eyebrow.
    “He said he would leave the bar to me. He
said he loved me.” Brandi continued sobbing.
    Amber had the
same disbelieving look on her face that I did. I didn’t want to
point out to the distraught young woman how gullible she had been,
but I don’t think anyone would seriously believe that he would
leave the place to one of the dancers. Denise had given me a
firsthand account of how much sensitivity Hammy showed towards
women.
    Brandi was a pretty little thing and I could
see how she appealed to Hammy. From what I recalled she was
friendly enough but not as out there as some of the other girls. It
was the reason she hadn’t caught Alistair’s eye.
    “ Sometimes
men say things they don’t mean,” I said gently.
    “ But he
showed me the new will. He just needed to get it signed,” Brandi
said.
    “Has anyone else seen the will?” I asked.
    Amber shook
her head. “I spoke to Denise yesterday. The only will that was with
the lawyer was the one that leaves the place to her. According to
the lawyer there was never an updated will.”
    Brandi continued sobbing. I could understand
that she was disappointed but she was beginning to give me a
headache.
    “ Maybe you
should go clean yourself up ,” I said,
slightly concerned that I had seemed to lose my sense of
empathy.
    Brandi tottered off to the bathroom on her
ankle twisting platform shoes.
    “ Thanks for
that,” mumbled Amber. “I didn’t think she was ever going to stop
crying.”
    “ She might
want to stop with the whole changing of the will talk or else
people are going to start looking at her as a viable suspect,” I
said.
    “ Wouldn’t
want that,” said Amber. “Although it might take the heat off me for
a while.”
    “Have you been having problems?” I asked.
    “ Unfortunately the murder weapon comes from my act,” said
Amber. The cops have spoken to me several times about it. Luckily
it looks like I was on stage at the same time as Hammy was getting
killed.”
    I looked at her strangely.
    “ I know it
sounds bad when I say it,” said Amber, “but when you’re searching
for an alibi, dancing naked in front of a bunch of men is a pretty
good one. Seems my act that night was considered pretty
memorable.”
    “ I guess that
leaves the wife,” I said. “Denise must be having a lot of questions
to answer.”
    Amber shook her head. “Not her either. Seems
she was at a church