Homicide Hollywood Style

**Immediately follows "Taken Away"**

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

Lou Holtz

CHAPTER 1

"I told you to just drop it!" Devon Collins threw a glass of vodka across the den of the lavish home on Doheny Road. The impact with the wall caused it to shatter, raining down the contents as well as shards of glass. "And you wonder why I'm out all the time?!"

Doing her best to fight back tears, Kelsi went behind the bar and picked up a towel, stooping over the mess and attempting to clean it up, cutting her hand in the process. "I thought -"

"Really? Are you capable of thought?" He approached her.

Trying to keep her voice steady she replied. "She's asked us over several times. It would be rude not to go."

"Who really gives a damn what that old bitch thinks? She's a washed-up old prune who should have died years ago."

"Why do you do that?" Standing, she turned to face him as he now stood at the bar pouring yet another drink.

"What? Point out the obvious?" He gave a chuckle and took a long sip of the liquid. "She hasn't had a hit movie since…" He stumbled slightly as he turned away from her. "Let's see, I think the dinosaurs were still roaming the Earth the last time she had a hit." Raucous laughter followed as he flopped down onto the sofa. "Go over there if you want - I've got better things to do than listen to a bunch of stories about the "glory days" of Hollywood. Some of those old fools actually believe that it was better back then." He shook his head and swallowed down more of the liquid as she went back to cleaning up the mess that he had made. When finished, she left the room, hearing him as he began talking on his phone.

Slowly she climbed the sweeping marble staircase up to her room; it could no longer be considered "their" room. As she drifted into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, removing a bandage and some ointment, she thought about how happy those first few months of their relationship had been. Devon was a dashing leading man, on top of the box office charts and every bit as charming off screen as he was on screen. Or at least it had seemed that way. As she washed off the cut on her hand that the shards of glass had caused and watched the blood go down the drain, Kelsi thought back to the night they had met. She had been in town only a few months and had landed a role on a TV show. While out celebrating her first paycheck from the series, she and her roommate had gone to a nightclub and Devon was there with his entourage. The two girls had whispered and giggled as they watched him ditch a reporter who had been hounding him all night for a quote and it was then that he had seen the pair. After coming over to the bar and introducing himself, he had bought both girls a drink and invited them back to his booth where they talked the night away. He had asked for her number and although she had doubts that Devon Collins would even remember her, Kelsi had given it. To her amazement he had called the next afternoon and asked for a dinner date.

The next few months were spent in a whirlwind of work and being with Devon. And when he had whisked her away to Paris for Christmas, proposing to her at the Eiffel Tower while down on one knee, she had immediately said yes. They had been married a week later on New Year's Eve in a ceremony in Devon's home state of Idaho. Both had to be back at work on January second. It was now almost two years later and they had yet to have a honeymoon. As she put the bandage on her hand, Kelsi choked back a sob. By the time that they both were free from work, he was already cheating on her.

After splashing some water on her face, she went back into the bedroom and lay across the bed. They had attempted reconciliation four months earlier and when she became pregnant, Kelsi convinced herself that it was a sign that things would be okay. She couldn't have been more wrong. A romantic candlelit dinner for two seemed like the perfect way to tell him that he was going to be a father. By the time Devon had come home drunk to the point of staggering, the candles had long since burnt out and Kelsi had fallen asleep with her head on the table. She had awakened to the sound of him cursing as he dropped the bottle of whiskey that he had brought home with him from whatever bar he had been in that night. Against her better judgment she had told him the news anyway. For a moment he was completely silent, the next he was grabbing her by the throat screaming that she had only gotten pregnant to trap him and take all of his money. When she came to, she was lying on the kitchen floor with a terrible pain in her abdomen and Devon was gone. A trip to the ER confirmed that she had suffered a miscarriage. Instead of pressing charges against her husband, she merely went back home to the empty house and cried.

The sound of the front door slamming followed by the revving of an engine and then squealing tires brought her back to the present. Glancing at the bedside clock, she made up her mind that she wouldn't spend the entire night alone - she had somewhere that she could go and a new friend. Tomorrow she would pack up her things and move out. Devon was a chapter in her life that needed to come to an end.

An hour later after punching the button on the security gate and being buzzed in, Kelsi went towards the front door of the mansion that Ramona Landers had owned for decades.

"Good afternoon!" The smile from the movie star brought one to the younger woman's face as well. "I'm so glad you could make it. With JD away filming in Mexico it's been so lonely around here. Come on in."

"Thank you for the invitation." She stepped inside the home, her eyes widening as she saw the beautifully paneled walls and large gold chandelier that hung in the entryway. "It's…" Stopping, she immediately blushed.

"It's what, dear?"

"Well…" Following the woman she couldn't help but giggle. "When I was a little girl I watched an interview that you did with Chelsea McGovern. Truthfully, I recorded it and watched it over and over." She took a seat on the sofa. "I wanted to be just like you, and to live in a house like this. Somehow that sounds like a stalker now." Both women laughed.

"I'm honored that you thought that much of me." Beaming, she offered the younger woman a cup of tea and they settled into a comfortable conversation. When both had finished, they took a stroll through the grounds of the mansion and then dined on the patio.

As darkness began to close in, the pair moved back inside and Ramona showed her some of the awards that she had won over the years, as well as pictures of her family. "And what about you, dear? Have you given any thought to a family?" She noticed the immediate change on Kelsi's face and then sat in shock as the the girl began to cry. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong…"

"No…" Accepting the offered tissue, she tried to calm down. "I, uh…I had a miscarriage about four months ago."

"I'm so sorry." Not knowing what else to do she wrapped an arm around the girl. "What about that handsome husband of yours? You haven't said a thing about him." The tears increased and the older woman continued to pat her back until the crying stopped.

"I…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here tonight." Getting hastily to her feet, Kelsi began to turn toward the door.

"Please don't go. Come on and sit down. Tell me what's bothering you." Patting on the sofa, she was relieved when after a moment's hesitation, Kelsi finally nodded and sat back down. "I'm going to be a nosy old woman and guess that things aren't going well with you two - am I right?"

Nodding, Kelsi blew her nose on another tissue. "He's just…It was so wonderful at the beginning." Over the next several minutes she told the older woman everything that had happened up until the miscarriage.

"No…" Ramona was shocked beyond belief. "He-...that's just awful!"

"I made up my mind this afternoon - I'm leaving him. Filing for divorce."

"As well you should." Both were quiet for a minute. "Where will you go?"

"I don't know. A hotel, I guess?" She couldn't believe that she had just sat on Ramona Landers' couch and told her everything.

"Nonsense. You can just move in here with me until you get things settled."

"Oh, no. I couldn't. I mean, what about your husband?"

"JD will be gone at least another month or so. I'm sure if he knew what had happened he would be more than happy to go knock some sense into Devon."

"Please don't tell anyone. I'm embarrassed enough by all of it."

"I've half a mind to call up Tattle Tale and…"

"No! I don't want anyone to know."

"Well it would serve him right." Ramona looked at the fear on the girl's face. "I won't, but only because of you. He needs to be raked across the coals."

"I just want the whole thing to be over."

"Let's just not worry about him tonight. We'll have a couple of glasses of wine, talk about more pleasant things, and forget about the useless clod."

It was nearly midnight when Kelsi walked back to her house, the still-hot air outside making her feel even more tipsy. Pushing open the gate, she went on up to the front door and after inserting her key, went in to find the light on in the den. "I didn't leave that on." Since Devon had taken to staying out until all hours she hadn't even bothered to look and see if his car was parked in the garage. Quietly she tiptoed to the doorway of the room, peeking around the door frame and then let out with a scream. Devon was lying partially on the couch and on the floor in a puddle of blood.