Junior Miss Pageant 2000 Series Vol2 Nc8.mpg ❲Extended · Method❳

The camera lingered on Megan. She was practicing her "talent" routine: a dramatic monologue from The Crucible . But halfway through, she stopped. She looked directly into the lens—directly at Leo's father—and said, "They told me to lose five pounds or I can't walk the finale. I'm 14."

He never found the manila envelope. But the next morning, he drove to Blue Ridge Valley. The high school was now a church. The pageant had folded in 2002 after a "financial discrepancy" the local paper buried on page 12. Junior Miss Pageant 2000 Series Vol2 Nc8.mpg

Now, the same girl—Number Eight—was backstage. She wasn't smiling. She was sitting on a folding chair, wiping off her lipstick with a tissue, looking at someone off-camera. Her name was stitched onto a sash: Megan Cole . The camera lingered on Megan

Megan laughed bitterly. "Not her. The bank. The town council. Half this county's economy runs on pageant money. You'll be the crazy guy with the camera." She looked directly into the lens—directly at Leo's