Wanting Sheila Dead by Jane Haddam Page A

wasn’t . . . ever first. She was popular enough, but never first. She looked a little sideways at Ivy and wondered what Ivy had been back where she was from. Somehow, she just couldn’t imagine Ivy on a cheerleading team.
    â€œYou don’t understand the real problem here,” Grace said. She was now getting very carefully to her feet. “It isn’t being thrown off the show or not. Who gives a flying damn? It’s what’s going to happen next. I wonder which one of you is going to put this up on YouTube.”
    â€œWhy would any of us put this up on YouTube?” Coraline said. “And how would we manage it?”
    â€œCell phone video,” Shari said.
    â€œAnd if one of you don’t do it,” Grace said, “then one of the crew here will. There are cameras everywhere, haven’t you noticed? They’re filming us all the time. One way or the other, this thing is going tobe on the Internet by the end of the day, and it’s going to be everywhere, and I mean everywhere, by the end of the week. Courtesy of my father.”
    â€œYour father is going to show a tape of this everywhere in the world?” Mary-Louise Verdt sounded confused.
    â€œNo, you rank idiot,” Grace said. “My father being who he is means other people are going to show this to the world. It doesn’t matter if I’m going to be sent home right this minute or not. I’m going to be made a complete and utter idiot. Which was the point.”
    â€œYou know, I’ve thought that, too, sometimes,” Coraline said. “That it’s all done on purpose. You know, to make more drama.”
    â€œOh, for God’s sake,” Grace said. “Of course it’s all done on purpose. I mean, it’s Sheila Dunham we’re talking about here. It’s not like she’s Tyra Banks. The world doesn’t worship the ground she walks on. She wouldn’t have any career at all anymore if she didn’t behave like a complete asshole in public and on unpredictable occasions. It’s what she does. No wonder that silly little blond girl tried to murder her.”
    â€œOh, do we know that’s what it was about?” Coraline asked. “Emily, I mean. Was Emily a contestant on the show? I thought I’d seen all the shows and I don’t remember her.”
    â€œBut she looked familiar, didn’t she?” Mary-Louise said. “I remember thinking that when I saw her. She looks very familiar.”
    â€œMaybe she was on the show for just a little while and then she got booted off, and she was wearing makeup, you know, or clothes, different things,” Coraline said. “I’ll admit I don’t always remember the girls who go home first. I mean, they’re not on very long and—”
    â€œOh, for God’s sake,” Grace said again. She was standing all the way now, but still leaning against the wall for support. Janice thought that that bruise on her thigh was going to be nasty. “Would you people please wake up? This is a game she plays, and you’re all getting suckered into it. All of you. I’ll bet you anything that Emily didn’t try to murder her at all. I’ll bet you it’s a setup. That’s what they’re saying on the news.”
    â€œWe’re not supposed to watch the news,” Coraline said.
    â€œOh, for God’s sake,” Grace said.
    Then she stomped off toward her own bedroom, limping but obviously furious.
    Janice watched her disappear through her bedroom door and then another girl, Suzanne Toretti, disappear after her. Suzanne looked scared to death.
    Janice turned to Ivy. Ivy was looking at her fingernails.
    â€œI didn’t realize it would be so tense,” Janice said. “I guess I didn’t really think about what it would be like at all. I just thought it would be something to do. Something that wasn’t just staying in South Dakota. If you know what I