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“All the more reason to go after the kids,” said the suspicious one with a horrible grin.

“No,” said Opal, after her staff had argued back and forth for a while. “We don’t go after the kids. That’s not who we are. We want emotion, we want personal appeal, but we’re not monsters, and if Miriam doesn’t want to talk about her kids we’ll respect that. But we don’t want herto simply come on the show to plug her website either…” She thought for a moment. “Let’s invite her mother. Let’s make this a double interview and focus on the bond between mother and daughter.”

“Miriam hates her mother,” Suzy said. “They haven’t spoken in years.”

“Exactly! What better way to spice up the interview than to bring them face to face?”

“Are you sure she’ll agree?”

Opal snapped her fingers.“Marcus, get Miriam on the phone. Right now. Tell her that if we can’t have her mother on the show the interview is canceled.”

“Yes, Opal,” said Marcus obediently. He was a smallish man with a wispy little mustache and beard. He removed himself from the room to get Miriam on the phone.

“So what else have we got?” said Opal.

Odelia glanced around the table. It was hard to imagine one of these people could bear such a grudge against their employer they would try to kill her. And yet someone had.

Opal had sent them the files of all of the people on her staff, but so far none of them had raised any red flags. The trouble was, she couldn’t exactly interview them and ask them straight out if they meant Opal harm. She needed to be discreet. No one was supposed to find out what was going on.

“I think they all look suspicious,” Gran grunted. “They all look like serial killers to me.”

“And how would you know what a serial killer looks like?”

“Bad hair, bad breath, bad attitude.”

“In that case we’re all serial killers.”

Gran gave her the once-over, then sniffed her breath.“Yeah, you could use a mint,” she said, “and a haircut, and you could be a hell of a lot nicer to your grandmother.” She promptly got up and grabbed her purse. “I’m getting out of here. I have a headache.”

Odelia decided to follow her grandmother out. They weren’t exactly getting any wiser sitting in on this staff meeting, and she was getting a headache, too, probably from being cooped up inside an air-conditioned space with half a dozen bad-breath people.

Following her grandmother out into the hallway, she saw that Gran was making a beeline for the coffee machine.

“Great idea,” she said gratefully as Gran handed her a cup of the brew and took a sip from her own.

“This show is quickly losing a lot of its appeal for me,” said Gran. “I mean, it’s one thing to watch it on television, but a whole nother thing to watch it being made.”

“You never want to know how the sausage is made,” Odelia agreed.

“More emotion, more emotion!” she mimicked Opal. “We’re being manipulated by these bozos, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Poor Miriam. What did she ever do to deserve this? Mother-daughter bond, my ass. If I were her I’d flatly refuse to come on the show.”

“I don’t think these Hollywood people are in a position to refuse,” said Odelia. “If they don’t come on these shows, they don’t get the kind of attention their movies need.”

“The talk show circuit. I wouldn’t want to be seen dead on one of these shows.”

Odelia laughed.“Opal’s biggest fan has fallen out of love with her idol.”

“Oh, yes, she has,” said Gran. “And it only took one meeting.” She glanced around. “Where did I leave Hank?”

“He’s probably wandering around the studio lot. Lots to see for a movie buff.”

“Who told you Hank is a movie buff?”

“No one. I just figured…”

“Well, he is buff, of course. And he isa buff, too. That kid loves movies so much he wants to be the next Matt Damon. Which is why I brought him along. He hopes to secure an agent while we’re out here, so he’s probably trolling their offices as we speak.”

“How did you two meet?”

“We didn’t. I hired him.”

Odelia stared at her grandmother.“Come again?”

“You didn’t really think a kid like Hank would fall for an old dame like me, did you? I pay him for his company. He’s a gigolo.”

Odelia almost choked on her coffee as it entered the wrong pipe.“A… gigolo?”

“Don’t look so shocked. If men can hire a girl to keep them company, why can’t I hire a guy? He’s pretty good at what he does, and cheap. Just starting out in the business.”

“But, Gran!”

“Don’t you ‘But Gran’ me. At least Hank doesn’t try to convince me he’s Beyonc?’s choreographer when he’s not. Rock and Dick and the rest of those merry marauders? All liars and cheats. At least Hank will never lie to me. And he’s very affordable, too.”

Odelia was shaking her head.“Gran, really.”

“Oh, come off your high horse, missy. Wait till you’re my age and then we’ll talk again. And don’t you dare tell the others,” she said, wagging a bony finger in Odelia’s face. “I know what they’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it. Now how are we going to figure out which one of these jerks is the bad egg?” She was pointing to the conference room they’d just left.