Excerpt: Babylon Somewhere

“Right, so this Personal Assistant of Rocky’s gave us the licence plate and it’s to a rental car that came from Torrence.” He put the half eaten box of Chinese down on the table again and grabbed his half drunk beer. “So this lead was checked out, it’s not my case, but imagine my utter shock and surprise, when I casually go to ask the two officers working on the case, how this lead panned out at the end of the day. When they tell me it was a rental car, from Torrence, rented out by one Hollie Hepburn.” He said looking directly at her and downing his beer quickly.
“Well how many Hollie Hepburn’s can there be in Torrence or the greater Los Angeles area?” Hollie bitched, sipping her beer again. He held up his beer as he pointed at her from the other end of the large table.
“That’s what I ask myself. First question. I mean It’s got to be coincidence right? My girlfriend, My Hollie Hepburn wouldn’t do such a thing. And even if it was an accident, My Hollie Hepburn is a good girl, she’s a good citizen. She’d do the right thing. She’d call it in, make sure the person, well I guess you’d call her, cause it was a woman, a victim. She’d make sure the victim got help. My Hollie has a heart. She’s a good girl.”
Hollie’s jaw muscle twitched. She took a long sip of her beer, watching him sharply.
“So without telling the two investigative officers on the case, which is completely against the rules, I run a search on the name Hollie Hepburn. In the greater Los Angeles area. Do you know how many hits I got on that name?” He asked frowning and sipping his beer again.
“Shock me.” Hollie bitched, sipping her beer back at him.
“Just the one. So I bring up the info based on this Hollie Hepburn’s DMV record. Turns out, it’s my girlfriend!” He said loudly, clearly angry, raising his hands as he spoke. “My beautiful, sexy girlfriend. My Hollie!” He yelled back at her, his face going red as spittle flew from his mouth.
Hollie flinched at the rise in his voice. She held her beer tightly in her hand.
“So I’m thinking bad things. But wait, it’s my Hollie we’re talking about, and I just refuse to believe she would, could do something like this. Not my Hollie.” He says tapping the side of his head. “So I ask to listen to the nine one one call that got called in for the….hit and run.” He said barely getting the words out. “And they play me the call and what do I hear on the playback?” He asked rhetorically, downing a large mouthful of beer. “But My Hollie’s voice on the tape. I recognise her voice instantly. Why? Because I talk to my Hollie on the phone all the time. It’s her alright, my girlfriend, my Hollie calling nine one one. No chance in hell it’s not her. It’s without a doubt, one hundred percent, Hollie Hepburn who is my girlfriend. And she’s crying. I can hear her crying. And I stop the tape, because I can’t hear anymore because I want to cry, because she’s crying. I want to cry because it’s my Hollie on that fucking tape. I want to throw up, because the whole fucking bottom has just dropped out of my world as I fucking know it! My girlfriend is on that tape! My Hollie! The woman I’ve been dating, falling deeper and deeper in love with. The woman who made me disregard all my emotional barriers. The woman who I see myself with for the rest of my life! My Hollie! And she’s clearly on that tape, talking about the same hit and run that happened outside Rocky Rhodes house! And I think back to the day this accident is called in, it’s got to be an accident right? I think back, and think, hang on, I saw My Hollie, at least twice within forty eight hours, well just hours really, of all this happening. And my Hollie never said anything to me! She didn’t make a sound. My Hollie, the good girl, the woman of my fucking dreams, didn’t come to me. She didn’t talk to me, ask for help. She didn’t say anything! Nothing at all! You know what she did do? She seduced me, made me get even closer to her than I thought I could get. Made me fall the fuck in love with her. Over some stary night, balmy beach resort hotel. She got under my skin, like no other woman on this planet has ever, got under my skin. And all I can think is, I let her. I wanted her to and she wanted to. She got my ex partner a wedding gift because she knew I would forget that kind of wedding ettiquete! She did that, not because I asked her to, but because she wanted to. Because it was the right thing to do! Because she’s sweet and nice and smart – she thinks of these things, My Hollie!”
Tears ran down Hollie’s face as he kept ranting at her and she tensed further. Clutching the beer bottle like it was all she had left that could save her from his anger and distrust of her.