A Script for Danger (Nancy Drew Diaries #10)(9)

I wanted to, but I had to find out who Lali was so heatedly speaking with; it could be a viable suspect.

I made my way back over to the trailers. As I drew closer, I recognized the person who was confronting Lali: the woman in the hat and colorful outfit whom I had seen with Mayor Scarlett before the firecrackers went off.

I hid behind the bathroom trailer and listened to their conversation.

“But Ms. Ely, the mayor has already given us permission to use the River Heights fairgrounds for our big graveyard scene,” Lali explained. “The graveyard is going to be very complicated to build and we need at least two days to get it set up. I wish I could help you out, but my hands are tied.”

Ms. Ely? I thought. I remembered overhearing the mayor speaking about a Roberta Ely earlier in the day.

“Don’t you have any respect for this town? We have the Fourth of July Carnival on those fairgrounds every year! And now we have to relocate to the high school football field because your silly little scene needs to ‘set up’ on a national holiday!” If smoke could actually come out of nostrils the way it does in cartoons, I was sure that Ms. Ely’s nose would look like a steamboat.

“With all due respect, Ms. Ely, a lot of planning goes into our shoot schedule. We just can’t change our dates.” I was impressed by how collected Lali appeared, considering the number of crises she had already dealt with—and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

Ms. Ely, however, did not take this news well. She stormed away from Lali, shouting over her shoulder, “You’ll be sorry, Lily Lollipop or whatever your name is! Your days in River Heights are numbered!”





CHAPTER FOUR





An Inside Job


“. . . AND CUT! I THINK WE’VE got it. Moving on.” Alex jumped up from his chair and started talking to the cinematographer. I had been bursting with my news about Roberta Ely for at least a half hour, but I had to wait until the camera had stopped rolling to approach Bess and George. We had quickly learned that even the quietest whisper or footstep was enough to draw a stern stare from Nysa.

“So this Roberta Ely woman actually threatened Lali?” Bess shook her head in disbelief after I updated them.

George said thoughtfully, “It looks like she has a motive for sabotage.”

“From what Mayor Scarlett said, this isn’t the first time Roberta Ely has been complaining about the film shoot,” I added.

“Maybe she got fed up and decided to take matters into her own hands,” Bess said.

“So what now?” George asked. The already familiar sound of Nysa calling out, “Quiet on set!” stopped me from answering.

Bess had shifted her focus back to Brian, while I contemplated the next step in our investigation. It definitely seemed like the saboteur wanted his or her pranks to be noticed. Even though I had heard Roberta Ely openly threaten Lali, she didn’t quite fit the profile that I was starting to build in my mind. Our suspect had managed to avoid detection while pulling off two major pranks in the midst of dozens of people, which required a certain amount of slyness. And yet from what I had seen, Roberta Ely demanded attention from everyone she met.

I decided to switch gears and try for an “interview” with Sal. He was certainly bitter about something, but was it enough to make him want to sabotage this film? As soon as Nysa yelled, “Cut!” I made my way to the craft service table. George ran after me.

“Where are you going? You can’t leave me alone with Brian Newsome’s one-person cheerleading squad!”

After I had filled her in on my plan, she fell into step beside me. After all, George wasn’t the type to let me venture to the craft service table alone.

When we got there, though, Sal was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is he?” I wondered aloud.

“Didn’t you hear them call lunch?” came a gruff voice a few moments later. We turned to see Sal, his signature scowl etched across his face, approaching from behind us. From anyone else, the question would have seemed perfectly innocent, but Sal’s tone was downright accusatory.

“Hi there. I’m Nancy,” I said confidently, “and this is my friend George. We’re writing an article about the film and we wanted to know if you’d be up for answering some questions.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why me?” he asked suspiciously.

“We’re interested in every aspect of a film set,” I riffed.

But Sal wasn’t having it. In fact, he only seemed to be getting angrier. “I don’t have time for this. Just leave me alone and let me do my job!” he snapped.

At that very moment, Nysa came scuttling toward us. “Hey, Nancy. Alex is looking for you.” She eyed Sal. “Sal! Give me back the stapler! We need to assemble tomorrow’s call sheets.”

“I returned it to the production office,” he insisted. “You kids need to stop blaming me for your lack of preparation.”

Nysa remained calm. “Cool, thanks. Have a nice day, Sal.”

Sal just grunted and wandered away.

“Was Sal being rude to you?” Nysa asked, but didn’t even wait for an answer. “Just ignore him. That’s what I try to do.”

“What’s his problem?” I asked. “He seems to really hate being here.”

“It’s weird,” Nysa began, “because I’ve heard that he accepts every film job he’s offered. Either he gets some kind of satisfaction from being mean or he really needs the money.”