Read Online Dying to be Famous by Tanya Landman - Free Book Online Page B

Geoff that died first, wasn’t it? And then he got replaced. By Jason! What if killing Geoff was the whole point?”
    “So what you’re saying is that maybe Tiffany put the poison in her own cup to get rid of Geoff?” said Graham incredulously.
    “Yes. And I think I saw her doing it!” I was practically exploding. “She put sweeteners in her tea. Suppose they weren’t real ones? Suppose they were poison? Then all she had to do was accidentally-on-purpose spill Geoff’s tea and give him her cup.”
    “That’s why Maggie didn’t see anyone come in,” said Graham eagerly. “Tiffany was already there!”
    “Yes!” I gasped. “She could have opened the door to the fire escape when she went to make a fresh cup of tea. She almost sprinted off the stage, do you remember? She’d have just had time to do it before her bodyguards caught up with her. Jason could have made those marks on the door frame when the building was empty – in the middle of the night or something – to make the police think it was an outside job. And that’s why Cynthia didn’t notice the door was open earlier. Ohmygod! Cynthia! She said that stuff about Tiffany’s voice and Tiffany looked really angry. Maybe they thought she suspected something. Maybe they killed her too.”
    “They’d only have had to open the dressing room window to make it look like it was someone else,” Graham agreed.
    “Exactly.”
    We wafted woodenly to the left and then to the right not quite in time with the music. Tiffany set off for the Emerald City, ruby slippers skipping along the yellow brick road. We got to the end of the scene and there was a blackout when the inhabitants of Munchkinland had to leave the stage. But for a moment I couldn’t move. I grabbed Graham and in the pitch darkness I hissed at him, “The chocolates!”
    “You don’t think…?” His voice trailed away to nothing.
    “Yes. They weren’t meant for Tiffany! No wonder she took the only toffee. It was a hard centre. She knew there wasn’t any poison in it. She was trying to kill us!”
    The lights came up then, catching me and Graham in their glare. The scenery had moved all around us and we were standing in the Scarecrow’s field.
    “Get off the stage!” shrieked Peregrine.
    Graham and I fled, earning sour looks of disapproval from the Munchkins.
    After that things went from bad to worse as far as Graham and I were concerned. We couldn’t talk in the dressing room – there were too many people around. There wasn’t any point even attempting to say anything to the police: we knew from past experience that they aren’t very keen on listening to unproven crime theories from a couple of kids. So all we could do was get through the dress rehearsal in an agony of panic and anxiety. Our flying scene was dreadful: Toto wandered into the wrong place, and when we landed I ended up treading on his tail. He yelped and then sank his teeth into the Cowardly Lion, who swore very loudly. When we got hold of Dorothy and took off, Graham – in a sudden spasm of nervousness – jerked sideways and kicked the Tin Man’s head as we flew past him so he started swearing too.
    Peregrine was furious. “I have never seen such a shambles! That was appalling. Truly appalling,” he berated us at the end of the rehearsal. “I hardly need remind you that we open tomorrow night. And right now this show is just not good enough. I expect everyone back here first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll have to squeeze in another rehearsal. Two if necessary. It’s our only hope.”
    So Graham and I felt tired and forlorn as well as in fear of our lives. We waited outside the theatre for Mum to pick us up, looking over our shoulders every five seconds to check that neither Tiffany nor Jason were sneaking up on us.
    “So what do you think? Are we sure the stalker doesn’t exist?” I asked Graham. We looked at each other thoughtfully.
    “It seems to be the most likely explanation,” said Graham.
    “He’s