The Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark, Alafair Burke Read Free Book Online

your show means you’ve got a good chance, every single time, of being in the room with a killer.”
    “You don’t need to remind me. But I always have Grace and Jerry with me. I have a camera crew. Someone is with me at all times. I’m probably safer at work than I am walking down the street.”
    “Oh, that’s really comforting.”
    “I’m perfectly safe, Dad. Frank Parker has a huge career now. He’s not stupid. Even if he was the one who killed Susan Dempsey, the last thing he’s going to do is expose himself by trying to hurt me.”
    “Well, I’d feel better if Alex were one of those people who was always around you at work. Is he available for this project?”
    “I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but Alex has a law practice to run, Dad. He doesn’t need a second full-time job as a television personality.”
    “That’s all a story, and you know it. The more he’s on TV, the more business he gets for his practice.”
    “Well, hopefully he’ll be on board.” Quickly she added, “And not because of your reason, but because no one could be better than he was on the show.”
    “And because you both like being together.”
    “I can’t get past those detective skills, can I?” She smiled and patted his knee, temporarily putting the issue to rest. “Frank Parker said something interesting today. He suggested that the best way to get Madison Meyer to commit to the show would be to appear at her house with a television crew.”
    “It makes sense, like waving a needle in front of a junkie. You saidher career is all but dead. When she actually sees how quickly she could be back in the spotlight, she might have a hard time saying no.”
    “And it’s Los Angeles,” she said, thinking aloud. “I can probably get a skeleton camera crew on a budget. With Madison, Parker, and Susan’s mother on board, I can’t imagine Brett not giving me the all-clear.”
    She picked up her phone from the coffee table and sent texts to Jerry and Grace: “Pack a bag for warm weather. We’re heading to L.A. first thing in the morning.”
    •  •  •
    The following afternoon in Los Angeles, Laurie pulled their rental van to the curb and double-checked the address against the one she had entered into the GPS. Jerry and the small production team they’d hired for the day—just a sound guy and two cameramen shooting handhelds—were already jumping out of the back, but Grace asked, “Everything okay? You look hesitant.”
    Sometimes it gave her the willies how well Grace could read her. Now that they were here, unannounced, at Madison Meyer’s last known address, she was wondering if this was an insane idea.
    Oh well, she told herself. This is reality television. She had to take risks. “No problem,” she said, turning off the engine. “Just making sure we’re in the right place.”
    “Not exactly Beverly Hills, is it?” Grace observed.
    The ranch house was tiny, its blue paint starting to peel. The grass looked like it hadn’t been mowed for a month. The weathered planter boxes beneath the front windows contained nothing but dirt.
    Laurie led the way to the front door, Grace and Jerry at her heels, the camera crew close behind. She rang the bell, once, then twice more, before she saw a set of red fingernails pull back curtains from the adjacent window. Two minutes later, a woman she recognized as Madison Meyer finally opened the door. Based on the fresh lipstickthat matched the fingernails, Laurie guessed that Madison had done a quick touch-up before meeting her newly arrived guests.
    “Madison, my name is Laurie Moran. I’m a producer with Fisher Blake Studios, and I want to give you airtime on a show with more than ten million viewers.”
    •  •  •
    The house was cramped and messy. Magazines were strewn randomly around the living room, on the sofa, on the coffee table, in a pile on the floor next to the television. Most of them seemed to be celebrity magazines with important features like “Who