Read Online Death On the Dlist (2010) by Nancy Grace - Free Book Online
Authors: Nancy Grace
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Picking up his cell and land line, he started punching digits simultaneously. Once one began to ring, he put it on speaker and started typing furiously onto his BlackBerry.
This would be tough. He’d need the whole staff on board. He’d order them pizza to make it okay.
Russo was in Heaven.
Chapter 9
THE HARRY TODD SET WAS ICY COLD. GOOD THING SHE’D WORN A suit jacket and blouse to top her usual jeans and cowboy boots. Hailey noticed all the other women in the Green Room, totally decked out with intricate hairdos and over-the-top makeup and jewelry. Even though she knew she didn’t fit in to the scene, no way would she have slipped on the hideous gold lamé blouse Tony Russo tried to force on her again. Ridiculous. Plus, it smelled slightly of sweat. He’d obviously used it on other guests that didn’t meet his “eye” for TV ratings.
Whatever. She didn’t want to fit in with this phony bunch, although she was looking forward to meeting Todd; she’d watched him for years.
After sitting there for about fifteen minutes on a sofa before a live TV audience who talked among themselves, occasionally stirred up by one of the producers on a megaphone who was trying desperately to get them riled up, Todd made his entrance.
He was flanked by three staffers who were prepping him even as he walked up on the set.
“Hello, Hailey.”
Her first reaction was astonishment. His face seemed unreal and he was so tiny. His bleached-blond hair stood up in a stiff spike down the center of his head and the rest was combed thinly around it. A gold chain peeked from his open collar . . . He seemed so much more robust on camera. She’d heard rumors he stuck to some fad diet in the false belief that thinner was younger, but now she believed it.
Hailey stood and reached out to shake his hand. He conspicuously did not take her hand, so she casually let it drop by her side.
Hmm . . . Maybe he’s a germaphobe. Poor thing. The staffers laid out several thick, yellow sheets of paper before him on his anchor table. Reading them upside down from across the table, Hailey realized they were the exact questions he was being spoon-fed to ask, word for word.
Within two minutes max, the intro music to the show started. The audience producer motioned everyone to start clapping.
Did that include her? She couldn’t think of a reason to clap, so she sat completely still, trying to maintain a half-smile as the lights maxed on to bright, right into her eyes, to the point she could hardly look up.
A deep baritone voice came out of nowhere overhead, reporting the headlines of Stockton’s murder and announcing the live show that night. The voice introduced Harry Todd first, then her.
Her chest tightened as she listened.
“. . . and after being the target of a serial killer herself, she goes on the offense and murders the murderer! In cold blood! Murder weapon? A dentist’s drill! Today, her secret past life revealed . . . Why she killed a killer! Because she was a crime victim herself . . . her fiancé gunned down! Now . . . she fights back against crime!”
Hailey was mortified. She was no murderer . . . She had defended herself, brought down a twisted killer, and nearly lost her life doing it. And why did they drag Will into it? Tony had promised this wouldn’t happen. In the bright lights, she could barely see past the anchor desk. The studio audience, the aisles leading to the exit, everything was completely obscured by the harsh lights . . . She couldn’t see her way out. After the quick intro, Harry Todd lobbed the first question.
“So, Hailey Dean, before you’ve been touted as a victims’ rights champion, but you killed a man in cold blood . . . What’s your response?”
Okay. That was it. Gloves off.
“Mr. Todd, I’m not sure where you’re getting your facts, but you, sir, are woefully misinformed. I did not kill a man in cold blood . . .”
“That’s what the reports say!” he broke in. Hailey ignored him and
This would be tough. He’d need the whole staff on board. He’d order them pizza to make it okay.
Russo was in Heaven.
Chapter 9
THE HARRY TODD SET WAS ICY COLD. GOOD THING SHE’D WORN A suit jacket and blouse to top her usual jeans and cowboy boots. Hailey noticed all the other women in the Green Room, totally decked out with intricate hairdos and over-the-top makeup and jewelry. Even though she knew she didn’t fit in to the scene, no way would she have slipped on the hideous gold lamé blouse Tony Russo tried to force on her again. Ridiculous. Plus, it smelled slightly of sweat. He’d obviously used it on other guests that didn’t meet his “eye” for TV ratings.
Whatever. She didn’t want to fit in with this phony bunch, although she was looking forward to meeting Todd; she’d watched him for years.
After sitting there for about fifteen minutes on a sofa before a live TV audience who talked among themselves, occasionally stirred up by one of the producers on a megaphone who was trying desperately to get them riled up, Todd made his entrance.
He was flanked by three staffers who were prepping him even as he walked up on the set.
“Hello, Hailey.”
Her first reaction was astonishment. His face seemed unreal and he was so tiny. His bleached-blond hair stood up in a stiff spike down the center of his head and the rest was combed thinly around it. A gold chain peeked from his open collar . . . He seemed so much more robust on camera. She’d heard rumors he stuck to some fad diet in the false belief that thinner was younger, but now she believed it.
Hailey stood and reached out to shake his hand. He conspicuously did not take her hand, so she casually let it drop by her side.
Hmm . . . Maybe he’s a germaphobe. Poor thing. The staffers laid out several thick, yellow sheets of paper before him on his anchor table. Reading them upside down from across the table, Hailey realized they were the exact questions he was being spoon-fed to ask, word for word.
Within two minutes max, the intro music to the show started. The audience producer motioned everyone to start clapping.
Did that include her? She couldn’t think of a reason to clap, so she sat completely still, trying to maintain a half-smile as the lights maxed on to bright, right into her eyes, to the point she could hardly look up.
A deep baritone voice came out of nowhere overhead, reporting the headlines of Stockton’s murder and announcing the live show that night. The voice introduced Harry Todd first, then her.
Her chest tightened as she listened.
“. . . and after being the target of a serial killer herself, she goes on the offense and murders the murderer! In cold blood! Murder weapon? A dentist’s drill! Today, her secret past life revealed . . . Why she killed a killer! Because she was a crime victim herself . . . her fiancé gunned down! Now . . . she fights back against crime!”
Hailey was mortified. She was no murderer . . . She had defended herself, brought down a twisted killer, and nearly lost her life doing it. And why did they drag Will into it? Tony had promised this wouldn’t happen. In the bright lights, she could barely see past the anchor desk. The studio audience, the aisles leading to the exit, everything was completely obscured by the harsh lights . . . She couldn’t see her way out. After the quick intro, Harry Todd lobbed the first question.
“So, Hailey Dean, before you’ve been touted as a victims’ rights champion, but you killed a man in cold blood . . . What’s your response?”
Okay. That was it. Gloves off.
“Mr. Todd, I’m not sure where you’re getting your facts, but you, sir, are woefully misinformed. I did not kill a man in cold blood . . .”
“That’s what the reports say!” he broke in. Hailey ignored him and
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