A Script for Danger (Nancy Drew Diaries #10)(11)

“Old,” George finished.

Bess shot her a glare.

“What?” George exclaimed defensively. “It’s true!”

“Can you think of any reason that Sal might want to sabotage the film?” I continued.

Alex shook his head. “Not really. I’ve never even worked with him before, though. Lali has, but she’s one of the few people he’s not mean to. I can’t imagine why he’d want to hurt her.”

“What about Roberta Ely?” Bess asked. “That cranky woman who runs the River Heights Fourth of July Carnival? She doesn’t seem too happy about you guys shooting on the fairgrounds.”

“Would she have gotten a call sheet, Alex?” I asked.

Alex looked momentarily impressed at my use of the proper terminology. “We only give them to crew members, but people leave them lying around all the time, so it’s possible.” He paused. “But even if Roberta Ely managed to pick up a call sheet, she wouldn’t have gotten it till this morning; we sent them out late last night.”

“Whoever dumped the fake blood on Brian’s shirt would have had to know what he would be wearing in the first scene. That means it’s someone who had access to inside information about the film beforehand,” I explained.

“Interesting,” Alex replied. “So the prankster is probably a member of our crew! Kind of a creepy thought.”

I was trying to figure out the most delicate way to ask Alex about Cora when Nysa shouted, “We’re back in!” and, with her army of production assistants, hustled everyone back to work.

“Let’s continue this later,” Alex said, grabbing his folders and rushing off. Seeing his worried face made me more determined than ever to solve this mystery, but I knew how disappointed Alex would be if Cora was indeed our culprit. I had no concrete evidence against her at this point, so I decided to keep my suspicions to myself.

George insisted on grabbing one more brownie before we followed the crowd to the set, which had now moved inside the train station. Just as we were about to enter, Nysa appeared, apparently escorting Omar out. “Closed set,” she announced. “Only cast and vital crew can be inside. Sorry, guys.”

Omar glared at Nysa and stormed off, but George, Bess, and I remained standing at the doorway.

George nudged me. “Should we watch through the windows?”

“You can’t,” Nysa said. “You’ll be in frame.” With that, she went back inside.

“If only there was a way for us to observe without being in the way,” I pondered.

“You know, you can watch everything at video village.” I looked up to see Raina walking toward us. She was wearing a tool belt filled with double-sided tape, a lint roller, safety pins, and stain remover. “Follow me.”

She led us to a small tent set up on a nearby lawn. Several director-style chairs faced a monitor that showed everything the camera was seeing. I could hear Alex’s voice coming through a set of headphones next to the monitor. A number of crew members—including Lali—had gathered around as well.

“This is video village. We can watch and hear what’s going on without actually being on set.” As she spoke, I could tell that Raina was making an effort to seem confident and poised after the incident in the costume trailer.

“Last looks!” Nysa barked over the walkie-talkie. The makeup artists collected their bags.

“That’s my last chance to adjust the costumes before they start shooting!” Raina exclaimed anxiously, hurrying away. “I’ll be right back!”

“So what’s so intense that we can’t be inside?” George asked.

I thumbed through my sides. In this scene, Dylan confessed to his sister that he had amassed a large amount of debt and if they didn’t make a quick profit from the Hamilton Inn, loan sharks would come after him.

“That’s it?” George grumbled. “I thought it was going to be a zombie apocalypse kind of thing.”

“Gross, George!” Bess exclaimed.

“Shhhh!” came a stern voice from across the tent. We zipped our lips and watched Brian in action.

After the first take, I realized that one of our suspects was missing.

“Where’s Cora?” I whispered to George. “I haven’t seen her since lunch.”

“Me neither,” she replied, and Bess shook her head too.

“I’m going to take a quick stroll around,” I told them.

I set off, walking from the train station to the other end of the parking lot. I noticed Omar pacing outside Brian’s and Zo?’s trailers, hands deep in his pockets. He definitely looked frustrated, I assumed because Nysa had kicked him off the set.

Nearby, I could hear Sal grumbling to himself about Nysa’s stolen stapler accusation. I was about to try speaking with him again when I noticed Cora coming out of the production trailer with her camera.

“Hey there,” I greeted her.

Cora had never been particularly friendly, but the expression on her face made her look downright nervous.

“I was looking for Lali, but nobody’s in there,” she explained, even though I hadn’t asked.

“Everything okay?” I pressed, keeping my tone pleasant.

She avoided eye contact. “I just think I should be allowed on set. How am I supposed to film a behind-the-scenes documentary if my brother won’t let me go behind the scenes?”