Shafted by Mandasue Heller Page A

but at least it won’t have cost them anything.’
    Wondering how they would get away with that, given that there was no show – not of the kind that they’d be advertising, anyway – Larry said, ‘Isn’t that entrapment, or whatever you call it?’
    ‘Not if you word it right,’ Terri told him. ‘And our legal guys are the best, so I don’t anticipate any problems. No one will be out of pocket, and we won’t be promising replies, so the ones who don’t hear back will just assume they were unsuccessful, while the targets will believe that they were successful.’
    ‘And what if they never entered in the first place?’ Larry said, thinking he’d stumbled onto a pretty major flaw in her seemingly perfect plan.
    ‘Oh, you’d be surprised how gullible people can be,’ Terri said, reaching into her pocket for her mobile when it began to ring. ‘And the smarter they think they are, the easier they are to fool. Show them a golden ticket with their name on it, and they don’t tend to question how we got hold of them. Greed is a terrific tool of persuasion, in my experience.’
    Glancing down at her phone, she sighed when she saw the name on the screen. ‘My mother,’ she said, switching it off. ‘I keep telling her not to call me on the cell because it’s so expensive, but she won’t wait till I get back to the hotel. And it’ll only be something trivial, like the kettle won’t boil, or the cat won’t come down from the tree, or something.’
    ‘Right,’ Larry murmured, sure that it had actually been a man, and that she’d ignored it because she hadn’t wanted Larry to hear her talking to him. Probably that dipstick Jon, checking up on her.
    ‘What was I talking about?’Terri said now. Then, clicking her fingers, ‘Oh, yeah, the commercial . . . Right, well, we’re planning on shooting later today – if that’s okay with you? We can reschedule if you’ve got something else to do, but I’d really appreciate it if you could fit us in. You’re the bait, after all, so we need to get your face out there as soon as possible.’
    Assuring her that he had nothing to rush away for, Larry forgot all about the drink he’d been so desperate for when they’d left her office. He was ecstatic to hear that his face would be back on screen over here, after all – and at prime time, too, putting him right back where he belonged come Wednesday night: smack in the middle of Matty Kline’s inferior version of Star Struck . And what a kick in the bollocks that would be for the slimy bastard!
    Thanking Larry for jumping in at such short notice, Terri spotted Inspector Keeton arriving just then. Waving to him, she linked her arm through Larry’s as she said, ‘Come and meet Bill. He’s adorable, and he’s got a great sense of humour. But I guess you need one in his line of work, don’t you? The cops we work with back home sure do. They call it morgue mirth, or something like that.’
    Looking the inspector over as they approached him Larry thought that ‘adorable’ was the last tag he’d have ever given him, because Keeton had a face like a grumpy old bulldog’s. And he didn’t like the way the man was looking at him, with his eyes narrowed – like he was sizing him up for a prison cell.
    Bill Keeton was indeed studying Larry. He’d seen him before, of course, but only on screen or in the papers, never in the flesh. Face to face now, he knew he’d made the right choice when he’d suggested him as host, because Larry Logan was a very handsome lad. And Keeton would bet his own untainted reputation that he wasn’t a kiddie-fiddler, either – and he’d met enough of them to know.
    Extending a hand now when Terri introduced them, he said, ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Logan.’
    ‘Likewise,’ Larry said guardedly. ‘But please call me Larry.’
    ‘Will do,’ Keeton agreed, a small but seemingly genuine smile lifting one side of his thin lips as he added, ‘But only if you call me