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Prunella, who’d been following the interaction between granddaughter and grandmother with amusement, pursed her lips. “Um, now let me think. Jeb did have his fair share of enemies, of course, especially after letting down a whole lot of people. In fact you might say that the studio hates his guts right now,as they were left scrambling and then went down in a ball of flame. And then there’s the actors who played inChronicles of Zeus, whose careers are now in limbo as a consequence of having featured in the biggest turkey of the decade.” She displayed a fine smile. “All in all there must be hundreds of people out there who won’t shed a tear for Jeb right now. Worse, they’re probably very happy that he’s in jail for murder, and might feel he got exactly what he deserved.”

“You believe he’s guilty, don’t you?” asked Odelia.

Prunella wavered.“No, actually I don’t. Jeb never struck me as a man with a violent temper. He is volatile, of course. A man-child who never grew up. I mean, people talk about the Peter Pan complex as if it’s a good thing, but I can assure you it’s very hard to have to deal with a movie star who refuses to grow up and acts like a petulant child at every turn.”

“Diva behavior,” Gran said, nodding.

“Exactly,” said Prunella. “And we all tolerated his behavior, hoping he’d put our movie at the top of the box office. But when he failed, that’s when the gloves came off.”

Odelia nodded.“Do you think someone hates him enough to frame him for murder?”

“Hated him so bad they’d murder Camilla? I guess so.” Prunella lobbed another petit four into her mouth. “I don’t envy you, though, Miss Poole. To figure out who amongst all of those haters could be behind this? It seems to me you have your work cut out for you.”

That, she had, Odelia conceded. She got up and shook the writer’s hand. “Thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Lemon—Prunella. And I hope you’ll get to make the rest of your movies. I enjoyed the first one tremendously.”

Prunella gave her a sad smile.“There won’t be any more movies, but thanks for the compliment.”

As Odelia and Gran turned away, suddenly Gran gasped,“Oh, no, you don’t!” then stalked off. And when Odelia looked up, she saw she was making a beeline for Scarlett Canyon, who sat holding court on the other side of the terrace.

Oh, no. Exactly what they needed right now. Not!

Chapter 23

As usual, Scarlett was surrounded by a huddle of male admirers. Odelia had to hand it to her: even though she was Gran’s age, she still looked stunning. Even though she owed a lot to her plastic surgeon: her lips were ridiculously plump and her chest outrageously pumped up. As usual, she’d squeezed herself into a skimpy dress a few sizes too small.

“What do you think you’re doing?” asked Gran as she approached.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Scarlett, tilting her chin.

Gran took out her phone.“This is what I’m talking about. You’ve started a flog.”

“So? People start vlogs all the time. Why not me?”

“Only you called your flog the Sly Sleuth!”

“Pretty clever, don’t you think? I’m very proud of it.”

“You copied my name!My flog is called the Sly Sleuth!”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, Vesta, dear.”

“And you’re covering the exact same topics I am!”

Scarlett studied her talon-like pink nails.“Well, some things are simply eternal bestsellers. Or did you really think you had the monopoly on crime vlogging?”

“You’re a liar and a cheat and a fraud,” Gran snapped. “And you’re going to take down that flog right this second!”

Scarlett threw her head back, a mass of copper-colored curls dangling as she let rip a hearty laugh. Her small group of male admirers all laughed along pleasantly. They probably had no idea what was going on but they seemed to enjoy themselves tremendously.

“Gran, you’re making a scene,” Odelia told her grandmother. All eyes on the terrace had swiveled in their direction, and even Prunella Lemon sat drinking in the tawdry scene with relish. She was probably taking notes to use in one of her bestselling novels later on.

“Oh, Vesta dear, you’re so funny when you’re angry,” said Scarlett, fixing her cat-like eyes on Gran. “There is no copyright in the vlogging sphere. None whatsoever. If I want to name my vlog exactly like yours, there’s not a thing you can do about it. Not one thing.”

“We’ll see about that,” grunted Gran. “I’ll write to Mr. Google right now, and ask him to—”

“Mr. Google!” Scarlett laughed. “That’s so precious!”

“We’ll see who’s laughing after Mr. Google removes your flog and upholds mine as the one and only true original Sly Sleuth.”

“Well, you do what you have to, my darling,” said Scarlett. “And when you write to your Mr. Google, don’t forget to tell him you’re his number one flogger.” She giggled at that.

“Let’s go, Gran,” said Odelia, taking her grandmother’s arm. “She’s not worth your time.”

“No, she’s not,” Gran agreed.

“Still writing your silly little articles, Odelia, dear?” asked Scarlett.

“Still sponging off rich bachelors, Scarlett, dear?” Odelia returned.