Dying to be Famous by Tanya Landman Read Free Book Online

much. Aren’t they gorgeous?” Peering into the middle of the bunch she pulled a card out and opened it. “
From your biggest fan
,” she read aloud. “I wonder who that could be?”
    “A secret admirer?” I suggested.
    “I suppose so. I’ve certainly got plenty of those.” She put the lilies in the sink, filled it with water and then beckoned me over. “Chocolates, too! Must be an early Christmas present. I wonder if they’re from the same person?”
    She opened the card that was stuck on the box. “
Sweets to the sweet
. How lovely!” Sitting down, she started to pull off the lid. “My favourites!” she said with a dazzling smile at us both. “I usually go for the soft centres but I fancy a toffee for a change.” Popping it into her mouth she held the box out towards us. “I’ll eat them all if you don’t help me, and that would be terrible for my figure. You’d better save me. Go on, take one.”
    Graham reached into the box and lifted out a strawberry-shaped one. I picked one in the shape of an orange segment. I was watching Graham, and for some reason the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood bolt upright. He lifted the chocolate to his lips and opened his mouth, but just before he put it in I lashed out at him, smacking his hand away so hard that he yelped and both our sweets fell to the floor.
    “What did you do that for?” he asked, startled.
    “I don’t know,” I replied. I’d reacted instinctively and it was taking my brain a few minutes to catch up with my body. “Something’s not right.”
    Tiffany’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, not right?” She’d already swallowed her toffee. There was a tremble of fear in her voice.
    “You don’t think there’s anything wrong with them, do you?” Graham asked, turning the box over. “Are they past their sell-by date? Even if they are, the risk of contamination is very low. Hardly anyone gets food poisoning from chocolates.”
    “Food poisoning?” echoed Tiffany. “I don’t understand…”
    “Poisoning.” I turned the word over thoughtfully. Tea… Geoff… A crazed stalker… Lilies… Funeral flowers… It all seemed to fit.
    “You don’t think…?” gasped Tiffany. “No, it’s impossible! You can’t really believe they’ve been tampered with?”
    “I don’t know. But there’s no name on those cards, is there? How do you know they’re from a fan? They might be from whoever’s been stalking you.”
    I thought Tiffany was going to pass out. She shut her eyes and leaned back in her chair. Graham firmly replaced the lid on the box. I opened the dressing room door and her minders came bounding into the room ready to repel attackers.
    They called the police and the chocolates were taken away for tests. To be honest, it seemed a bit overcautious because Tiffany had eaten hers and she was fine. Even so, when Inspector Humphries came in to talk to us we carefully avoided telling him how close Graham and I had come to eating any. If there
was
something wrong with them he’d tell our mums, they’d freak out and we’d have to stop doing the show. We were far too interested in what was going on for that to happen, so we kept quiet and Tiffany did the same.
    After we’d all talked to the inspector, Tiffany was so upset that she had to lie down. Graham and I walked up to the stage and joined the rest of the cast, who were standing in small groups muttering. Word had quickly got around about the suspicious chocolates and the whole place was buzzing with rumours. I sidled nonchalantly up to where Rex and Timothy were talking to Brad.
    “Will Tiffany pull out, do you think?” Timothy asked Rex.
    “No idea, darling. But I hope Peregrine’s got her properly covered.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Brad.
    “Look at it this way,” explained Rex. “If he’s got her insured and she cops it at least the company won’t go under.”
    At that point Rex noticed me listening and they fell silent. But it gave me something