Nancy Grace - Death on the D-List

Before he could interject, she went on.

“And, I was invited to be with you today to discuss the fight against violent crime in our country, crime that takes the lives of thousands of men, women, and especially, children. It can be stopped, I firmly believe. More people die of homicides in the U.S. each year than they do in our most current war.”

As if he’d heard nothing she said, he blurted out the next question, trying to maintain his best newslike demeanor while trying to stop her from talking.

“Is it because of Will? Will, your fiancé who was murdered just before your wedding? The murder that ruined your life, that changed you forever? He was gunned down, right?”

He tossed the last question off casually, almost as an aside. The question clearly was not the point. The buildup was.

Even though she had been warned by Tony’s whisperings in her ear, she didn’t expect this. Hailey was speechless. She never allowed anyone to bring up Will’s name. If she brought it up, which was never, she’d be mentally prepared. But to have it thrown at her like this was like having a bucket of icy water thrown in her face.

Mortified, she looked up on a screen directly to her right, behind Todd’s head. Out of nowhere, just over Todd’s slicked back hair appeared a huge head shot of Will.

He looked so young.

Will’s eyes were brilliant blue against the light tan on his face and his teeth were pearly white, shining out from a big smile. The sky was a sapphire background behind him. It was a shot she herself had taken when they had gone to the beach, not long before he was murdered.

How had they gotten it?

Her chest tightened and a pain seemed to shoot out of her heart. This was not what she had signed up for. At first, tears sprang to her eyes and a huge lump seemed lodged in the front of her throat. But then, she pried her gaze down from the full screen of Will looming above them and looked Todd in the face.

There was no mistaking it. He was thrilled… a smug, self-satisfied grin played on his lips. She noticed for the first time he’d obviously had filler… probably Restylane… along what should have been laugh lines on either side of his nose downward toward the outer tips of his lips. Extremely unattractive in doses so great. And speaking of his lips… Weren’t they a tiny bit… too plump ?

It hit her there in her seat with an entire studio watching, and no telling how many viewers would likely see from their own homes, how little TV people actually cared about what they were reporting. Todd was actually smirking now, waiting for her to say something, to break down in tears, to blurt out her life story and the pain she suffered the day her world exploded and Will’s world… ended.

So she did the opposite. Never taking her eyes away from Todd’s, Hailey stood up, jarring the little table that sat between them. As she stood, she noticed Todd shrinking back in his chair, like he was afraid of her.

Hailey squeezed open the tiny microphone attached to her left lapel, let it fall gently down the inside of her blouse, and pulled it out at the waist. Setting it on the table, in one fluid motion, she picked up her purse sitting on the studio floor behind her chair and her notes off the table and turned to leave.

“Wait! You can’t leave! Answer the question! You murdered a man because of all your pent-up rage! Isn’t that right, Hailey Dean? It was all because of Will!” He barked it out, leaning forward in his chair, into the camera for emphasis.

Hailey froze.

Turning on her heel, she looked back at Todd, sitting there, so smug, so self-satisfied, so impressed with himself.

“You are not worthy to even say his name, you plastic freak. Don’t you even whisper his name to me again.”

Todd opened his mouth for a comeback, but before he could say a word, Hailey picked up the huge glass pitcher of ice water sitting between them, along with two mugs emblazoned with Todd’s name and logo. He recoiled.

He should have.

Aiming straight for the top row of fake white dental implants, she thrust out her right arm, drenching Todd’s head with at least a gallon of clear, cold water mixed with slushy ice. He pushed back his chair; the matte-colored makeup, carefully patted onto his face and scalp so the bald spots wouldn’t shine through, streamed down in rivulets.

“They’re right… You are crazy… you’re… you’re…,” he had to stop and think since an appropriately outraged zinger wasn’t provided on his cue cards, “… a bitch! ”

Wow. That was original. If only Hailey had a dime for every time she’d been called a bitch in court, she’d be a millionaire.

She couldn’t see exactly where she was going, but she didn’t stop going. In the background, she could hear thunderous applause, wolf-calls and whistles from the audience.

They were a bloodthirsty bunch.

Hailey could make out the faint red glow of an illuminated exit sign over a door and headed toward it. Pushing it open, she could hear the applause still going in the background. She had walked into yet another stairwell, obviously the wrong one; she had no idea where it led. But before she had made it ten steps, she heard the door behind her open and there he was.

Tony Russo was lumbering after her as fast as his short little legs could take him. She braced for his anger at what she had done to his beloved Todd.

“You were marvelous ! We loved it! The whole control room was cheering!”

There he was with the “ loving it” thing again. But his words stopped her in her tracks and she turned around to look at him.

“ What? I just threw a bucket of cold water on your boss. It made his hair and makeup run down the front of his face. You should be furious !”

“Furious? Are you kidding? You’re a natural! It’ll make great TV! ” He was so excited, he was panting, gasping for breath. Or maybe it was the eight stairs he tackled.

“Great TV? So you don’t care I just chewed out your boss on national TV? I don’t get it.”

“Number one, Harry Todd is not my boss. Sookie Downs is. All she cares about is ratings and honey, this is ratings! I love it! ”

“Don’t call me honey.” She was trying to take in the depth of his disloyalty. Even from Russo, it was disturbing.

He went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “Look, he’s been in a ratings slump; no matter what we put up-politics, celebrities, angry housewives-it doesn’t rate. This will rate! My gut says so and I have the best gut in daytime talk.”

He brimmed with sheer excitement at the prospect of not only a ratings comeback for The Harry Todd Show , but more specifically, a guest and a story that he alone had masterminded and booked.

“I have to go.” She simply could not think of anything else to say.

Once again, Russo chased after her as she exited the stairwell out into a common hallway lobby and a set of elevator banks. She recognized them from before and punched the “down” button.

She could find her own way out.

Stepping onto an elevator that opened right in front of her, she heard him as the doors were shutting.

“Wait! Hailey!! Wait! I want to talk to you…”

Suddenly everything was quiet. She was alone in the elevator. Alone with the thick carpet and the wood paneling, and on the two identical TV screens on either side of the door was a replay of her drenching Todd with the icy water going out onto the live airwaves. The banner across the bottom third of the screen screamed out Violent Crime Vigilante Takes Aim At Harry Todd!

As she looked at the screen, the banner changed. Dean’s Fiancé Murdered Just Before Wedding, Transforms Her Into Vigilante Crime Fighter.