Wild Action

by Dawn Stewardson

  “I intend to. With Jay Wall, as well. And I’d like you two sitting in on the discussion.”

  “I don’t think they’d appreciate that,” Carly said uneasily.

  “Frankly, Ms. Dumont, I don’t care whether they do or not. I have a great deal of money invested in a film that’s running behind schedule and over budget. But when I raise the issue with Goodie and Jay, they’ll try to snow me. So I’d like a couple of people on hand who know what’s been going on—to provide a little reality testing.”

  “I don’t think we’re the appropriate people,” Nick told him.

  “No? Well I can’t think of two more appropriate people. Since Wild Action has a percentage of the profits—assuming there might be some—you’d be wise to make sure I hear the truth. If Jay Wall can’t bring this movie in on budget, I’ll replace him with someone who can.”

  “You mean you’d fire Jay?” Carly said.

  “Can you do that?” Nick asked.

  Langly nodded. “Between the third partner and myself, we hold a majority interest in Get Real. And I have the other partner’s proxy, so to speak.”

  When Carly glanced at Nick, the naked look of concern in his eyes told her he was thinking exactly the same thing she was.

  If they sat in on this discussion, and Jay ended up getting fired, he’d lay a lot of the blame on them. Then he’d bad-mouth Wild Action all the way to kingdom come.

  “It’s in your own best interest,” Langly said.

  Nick didn’t look any happier, but he nodded. “I see your point. Would you like us to head down to Goodie’s trailer with you? See if he’s there?”

  “No. Trailers make me claustrophobic.”

  When Langly glanced pointedly at the house, Carly said, “Nick, why don’t I take Mr. Langly inside and make some coffee while you round up Goodie and Jay.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Hell Hath No Fury…

  HALF AN HOUR LATER, the five of them were sitting in the living room—Goodie glaring at Howard Langly and Jay glaring at everyone in turn. Including Goodie.

  Carly was doing her best to pretend her stomach wasn’t churning, while Nick, sitting on the couch beside her, appeared so relaxed she knew it was an act.

  “Who told you there were problems?” Goodie demanded.

  “That’s irrelevant,” Langly replied. “What I want to know is exactly where the shooting stands.”

  “It’s virtually finished,” Jay said quickly.

  Langly looked in the direction of the couch. “Is that true?”

  Carly’s stomach began churning faster. “I really only know about the animal scenes. But almost all of them have been shot.”

  “See?” Jay snapped at Langly. “We’ve only got a couple more to film here—one this afternoon and one at twilight. Both with these wolf dogs,” he added, making a sweeping gesture that encompassed all four of them.

  “Only a couple more scenes to film here,” Langly said. “That’s hardly the same as virtually finished, is it?”

  Jay looked angrily at Carly and Nick, his expression saying he wished they were a hundred miles away.

  Obviously Langly had been right. If he’d talked to Jay and Goodie on their own, they’d have tried to snow him.

  “And then?” he asked. “When you’re finished here?”

  “Then we’ll be moving on to Camp Run-a-Muck. There are a few scenes to film there.”

  Langly shot a glare of his own—straight at Jay. “I’ve read the script. I know exactly how many scenes there are at the camp. There’s the one of the busload of kids arriving, the one where they get settled into cabins and our child stars meet. Then there are the ones with the counselors, the cook, the swimming coach…All in all, a lot of scenes before the boys decide to take off into the woods.”

  “Well…none of them should be time consuming to shoot. Here, it was the animal scenes that caused the delays. The shooting’s been slow going because the animals don’t always listen to Nick and Carly,” he added, sending another black look in their direction.

  This one chilled her to the bone. If she’d had the slightest doubt that Jay would blame them if he got fired, it vanished with that look.

  “What about the problems before you got here?" Langly asked. “The ones in Toronto? I hear you’re going to have to reshoot some of what you did there.”

  “That was the lab’s fault,” Jay told him. “It had nothing to do with us.”

  “Look, Howard,” Goodie said. “We seem to have had a bit of a jinx for a while, but it’s behind us now. There hasn’t been any trouble on the set for ages.”

  Langly looked pointedly toward the couch again.

  “That’s true,” Nick told him. “Recently there’s been nothing.”

  “And we can make up the lost time,” Jay said. “In the end, I’ll bring this puppy in under budget Just.wait and see.”

  Langly was silent for a minute. Then he said, “I want you to take me down to the camp and introduce me around—so I can get a sense of how the cast and crew are feeling about things.”

  “Introduce you as whom?” Goodie asked.

  Langly gave him a withering look. “As your partner in Get Real. Then I’ll watch this afternoon’s shooting. We’ll talk again after that. Before I leave.”

  Another chill seized Carly. Langly might be saying they’d talk again, but he sounded as if he’d already decided that Jay had to go.

  CARLY CLOSED THE DOOR behind Howard Langly, Jay and Goodie, then turned to Nick. “You know what Jay will be saying about Wild Action if he gets fired, don’t you?”

  “Uh-huh. The only question is how badly he’d trash us.”

  “And after Langly’s talked to people, he’ll be even more inclined to dump Jay. I mean, someone’s bound to say they figure all the problems have been attempts to get back at Jay for something. And if Langly buys that, he’ll decide that hiring a new director will guarantee that the problems are over.”

  Nick shook his head. “Hell, can you believe we’re actually worried about Jay’s getting fired? Until we got dragged into that little discussion, I’d have broken out the champagne at the thought of someone taking him down a peg or two. But the way things stand now…”

  “I know. So what are we going to do?”

  “There’s not much we can do. Except make sure this afternoon’s shoot goes well. The Marx brothers will give a good performance, won’t they?”

  “I don’t think we have to worry about that. When you tell dogs to attack a pile of meaty bones, they’re pretty enthusiastic. You saw that when Jay shot the scene at night.”

  “Dammit, I wish that take had satisfied him. If it had, maybe they’d have been gone already and Langly would have had to find someone at Camp Run-a-Muck to sit in on their little talk.”

  Carly wrapped her arms around Nick’s waist and rested her cheek against his chest, trying to quell her fears. When they refused to go away, she said, “You know, there’s something else making me very nervous.”

  “What?”

  “Well, what if the saboteur hasn’t actually called it quits? What if he’s merely been lying low and biding his time? And now, with Langly down at the camp being introduced as Goodie’s partner…Won’t his presence tempt our troublemaker to try something?”

  When Nick didn’t reply, she drew back a little and gazed at him. He was looking very worried, which spoke volumes.

  “That chicken under the rock,” he finally said. “We never did know whether or not it was poisoned.”

  She looked over to where the Marx brothers were sleeping, her stomach churning worse than ever. If anything happened to them, she’d never forgive herself.

  “I think we’d better wander down to the camp,” Nick said. “Make sure the chef’s been taking good care of the bones they’ll be using.”

  Fresh fear began to snake around her heart. “Nick, when it came to the chicken, Raffaello was high on our list of suspects, remember? And now the bones are in his fridge?”

  �
�Yeah, it could be like having the cat looking after the canary, couldn’t it So here’s what we’ll do. Call that butcher in Port Perry and tell him you need all the big bones he can lay his hands on. And that you need them delivered right away—by taxi, if necessary.

  “Then, once they get here, we’ll keep a close eye on them. And we’ll get Barb to use them, rather than the ones Raffaello has.”

  Feeling a little less frightened, Carly made the call. As soon as she hung up, they headed for the camp’s kitchen.

  “What?” the chef called when they knocked.

  “Just need to talk to you for a minute,” Nick said, opening the door.

  Raffaello looked over from where he was in the midst of slicing salad vegetables. “Yeah?”

  “We’ve come to get those bones out of your fridge,” Nick told him.

  He shook his head. “Barb Hunt already had them picked up.”

  “So they’ve gone to the shoot site?” Carly asked.

  “I guess.”

  “Well, thanks.”

  As Nick let the door close, she said, “If Barb’s already getting the ‘prey’ ready, she’s not going to be happy about having to redo it.”

  “Her happiness is the least of our worries.” Nick, absently ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture that told Carly he was thinking about something.

  “What?” she asked.

  He looked at her for a moment, then said, “Who knew Goodie had silent partners? Before today, I mean. Before he brought Langly down here to introduce him?”

  “Well, Jay would have. And Barb did. And…I imagine Sarina and Garth. Beyond that, I don’t know. Why?”

  “I was thinking about something Langly said—that he was surprised you knew Goodie had partners, because he rarely mentions it.”

  “And?”

  “And whoever clued him in not only knew Goodie had partners, he also knew who Langly was and how to contact him. And why did he do that if not to cause trouble?”

  Carly could feel her heart thumping. “You’re saying it was the saboteur who blew the whistle.”

  “It’s certainly a possibility. So let’s wander around the camp for a few minutes and see what we can learn.”

  They walked along one row of vehicles and up the next, not seeing anyone they knew well enough to stop and talk with. Then they spotted Royce swinging down from one of the equipment trucks.

  “Perfect,” Nick said. “He always seems to be up on what’s what.”

  “Hey,” Royce greeted them. “This is it, eh? The final day of shooting here. And I guess you’ll be glad to see the last of us.”

  “Well, we’ll be glad to see the last of some of you,” Carly told him. “But present company’s excluded.”

  Royce grinned. “You meet that Langly guy?”

  “Yeah. He was at the house for a bit,” Nick said.

  “Oh? And were you as surprised as everyone else to hear that Goodie had a partner?”

  “No, we already knew,” Carly said. “Someone mentioned it to me.”

  “Really? Then you were one of the chosen few. Even Garth and Sarina were surprised.”

  “You’re sure about that?” Nick said.”

  “Uh-huh. I was talking to them when Goodie came by. And when he introduced Langly, Sarina said, she’d thought Get Real was a hundred percent his. It was pretty funny, because you could literally see Goodie deflate.”

  “So almost nobody knew?” Nick asked.

  “It sure seemed that way. But look, I’ve got some work to do before this afternoon’s shoot, so I’ve gotta run.

  The instant he turned away, Carly looked at Nick, her pulse racing. “Nobody knew except Jay, Barb and Goodie himself.”

  “That’s not necessarily true. Anybody might have known. Even Sarina and Garth.”

  “But she said—”

  “Don’t forget they’re actors. And as I’ve said before, they tell lies for a living. But we’ve got to go with the odds, which means we check out Barb first. It could be that nobody’s been trying to screw Jay after all. Maybe she’s been trying to stick it to Goodie. I mean, if she is on the unstable side…”

  “Well, maybe she is. But I think you were right when you said she isn’t stupid. So if she’s counting on this picture to give her career a boost…”

  “Yeah, but maybe she’s so totally pissed off at Goodie…Oh, hell, we’re not going to get anywhere by debating. Let’s just find her.”

  They headed for her trailer and knocked on the door.

  When there was no response, Carly said, “She must be at the shoot site.”

  “Not so fast.” Nick grabbed her hand as she turned to go. “I wouldn’t mind a look inside.”

  He pulled something from his pocket, then glanced around. The only people in sight were a couple of technicians standing a hundred feet away, facing away from the trailer.

  “What’s that?” Carly whispered as he stuck the something into the lock. His hand was concealing the rest of it, so she couldn’t even see what it looked like.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he told her, jiggling it around.

  A minute later, the door was unlocked.

  “Is that something you learned in cop school?” she whispered.

  “No, it’s something I leaned when I was a kid who fell in with bad company. Luckily, I fell out again before I got into any real trouble.”

  They both glanced toward the techs once more. The men were still facing the other way.

  “Coming in or staying out?” Nick whispered, pushing the door open.

  Images of them getting caught dancing in her head, Carly quickly followed Nick inside. He was already opening a closet door.

  “Check the bathroom,” he said.

  “What am I looking for?”

  “Something that…Hold the phone—I think I’ve already found it.”

  He crouched down, pushed apart some clothes and peered into the back of the closet

  “What is it?” Carly asked.

  “See if you can find a plastic bag.”

  When she did, Nick slipped it over his hand, then reached down into the closet and came up with a box of rat poison.

  Carly froze at the sight of it.

  “It’s empty,” he muttered, pulling the bag around the box. “And I’ll bet I know why.”

  NICK AND CARLY DRAGGED Dylan out of the aviary before he’d half finished cleaning it.

  “We need you to do something else,” Nick explained. “There’s a delivery coming from the butcher’s—bones for a scene we’ll be shooting this afternoon. I want you to wait in the house for them to get here, then put them in the fridge. After that, just stay in the house until we get back. Keep the door locked and don’t let anyone in except us. And whatever you do, don’t let the dogs out.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “We’ll fill you in later,” Carly promised.

  They stopped by the house long enough to stash the poison box and grab a couple of plastic garbage bags, then they headed into the woods.

  When they reached the clearing that was being used for the ‘prey’ scene, Barb was there alone, putting what had to be the final touches on the deerhidecovered pile of bones.

  Poisoned bones. Nick was absolutely certain of that, and it made him want to wring her neck.

  She stood up when she saw them, flashing one of her Hollywood smiles and wiping her hands on the big pockets of her shorts. “I just hope this is good enough to make Jay happy. I wasn’t as worried about the one I put together for the night shoot. There was so much shadow I knew it would hardly be visible. But that’s what he didn’t like when we saw the rushes.

  “In the daylight, though…Well, with the camera focused on the dogs, there’ll only be a few glimpses of this, so I guess it should pass for a dead deer. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re in big trouble,” Nick said.

  Barb gave him a puzzled glance, then looked at Carly.

  “We know who caused all the problems,�
� she said.

  He smiled to himself. He and Carly made damn good partners no matter what the situation.

  “Really?” Barb said. “Who?”

  “We found the rat poison box,” he told her.

  That clearly shook her, but she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “In the bottom of your closet,” he elaborated.

  “What?” She looked slowly back and forth at them again, then focused on him. “Should I ask what you were doing in my closet? Where I come from, breaking into someone’s place is against the law.”

  “I wouldn’t push that angle. Not when poisoning animals is against the law, too.”

  She shook her head, looking more and more nervous. “Nick, if you actually found a box in my closet, somebody else put it there.”

  “Maybe. But a forensic lab can tell us whose fingerprints are on it. And I expect they’ll find that the poison itself is on those bones you’ve got there.”

  Barb nervously licked her lips. “Look, Nick, somebody’s trying to set me up here.”

  Taking the garbage bags out of his pocket, he wondered how many hundred times he’d heard that line. “There’s only one way to prove what’s been going on. So back off and I’ll bag those bones as evidence.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? A cop?”

  “As a matter of fact, I used to be. So just back off.”

  “Like hell I will,” she snapped, putting her hands on her hips and firmly placing herself between him and the ‘prey.’ “I didn’t put this together in ten minutes, you know. And if you think I’m going to let you wreck it, you’ve got another think coming.”

  “Barb,” he said quietly, “I don’t want to use force, but I will if I have to.”

  “Oh? Well I don’t want to use this, but I will if I have to.”

  For a moment, he simply stood staring at the pistol she pulled from her pocket

  It was a little semiautomatic. But not little enough that it couldn’t do serious damage. And an unstable person with a gun was a dangerous combination.

  When she leveled it at him, he said, “Hey, don’t make things worse than they already are. Until now, you’ve done nothing more than cause a few problems. But if that gun happened to go off and you shot me…