The Missing Juliet

by Sam Cameron

  Liam leaned toward the stuntwoman and said something. He looked nervous. Robin thought about what a hypocrite he was. Always dating girls, always flaunting his sexy smile, and meanwhile he had a naked friend secreted away. If he was gay or bi he should just come out and say it. The world was already full of too much deception and deflection.

  “Quiet on the set!” was the next shout. Robin stilled herself in the shadow of a trailer, close enough to see Michael Lake in his director’s chair and watch Liam roll some tension out of his shoulders.

  A guy with a digital clapboard stepped in front of the camera. Michael Lake yelled, “Action!”

  Robin knew the excitement of making her own videos, but this was her first time on a multimillion-dollar project. Full-scale Hollywood magic at her fingertips, even if the script was terrible and Liam Norcott couldn’t act. She pulled out her phone and recorded the sight of a helicopter as it swept in from the west. Liam pulled the stuntwoman behind the buoy and pointed a silver ray gun at the chopper.

  Michael Lake cued a crewmember, who yelled, “Zap! Zap!”

  The chopper continued its low approach. The noise of it filled the air, and the breeze from the rotors kicked up waves on the water. Liam pretended to shoot at it some more.

  “Cue explosion!” Michael Lake ordered.

  A small puff of smoke erupted by the wrought iron fence that separated the buoy from the rocky shoreline. Later that puff would undoubtedly become some huge special effect. Liam and the stuntwoman dramatically threw up their arms to shield themselves. As they stepped backward toward the low wall, Liam’s leg seemed to catch in his harness.

  The chopper moved almost directly overhead, generating a strong wind. The stuntwoman grabbed for Liam’s shirt, but he tumbled backward and went over the wall. Robin thought it was a very convincing stunt.

  “Cut!” Michael Lake screamed. “Cut! Call the chopper off!”

  Several members of the crew rushed onto the set.

  “Medic!” someone yelled, and Robin realized that this was no stunt.

  Chapter Twelve

  For several moments, Robin was convinced she’d just witnessed Liam Norcott’s death. The drop to the sea beyond the wall wasn’t very high, but the jagged rocks would certainly have broken his neck. She wanted to go and help, but several men and women had already crowded around the wall and were busy hauling on the harness line that trailed down the other side.

  “Oh my God,” said a voice next to Robin. It was Molly, her hand over her mouth. “Did you see that? Is he dead?”

  Robin was too shocked to answer. Just because Liam was a jerk and hypocrite didn’t mean he deserved to die in a tragic Hollywood accident. And what if it wasn’t an accident? Maybe his harness had been sabotaged in some way. Maybe Juliet’s disappearance, Karen’s preoccupation, and now Liam’s accident were all in some way related by a thread Robin couldn’t see.

  The helicopter had moved off. From somewhere nearby came the wail of emergency vehicles. A shout went out from near the wall, and suddenly, Liam’s head appeared. The crew lifted and pulled him up over. He looked shaken, and his right arm was cradled awkwardly, but he was awake and alive.

  Several people applauded as he was lifted and set down on the concrete. Liam raised his good hand in a weak wave. Ellie the medic shooed people away so she could tend to her patient.

  Molly said earnestly, “Thank goodness. He’s such a nice guy.”

  “Liam is?” Robin asked doubtfully.

  “Sure.” Molly gave her a puzzled look. “You don’t believe all that stuff on the Web, do you?”

  Robin opened her mouth to say that of course she didn’t. You couldn’t rely on the Internet or media to deliver an accurate picture of a person, especially a Hollywood celebrity. Before she could finish the thought, Molly’s radio squawked.

  “That’s a wrap for today, people,” a man said tersely.

  “That’s not good,” Molly said. “We’re already behind schedule because Juliet’s been so sick.”

  The ambulance crew arrived to take care of Liam. Robin thought about his naked friend. He’d have no idea of what was going on. Technically, it was none of her concern, and certainly she didn’t want to see him again anytime soon, but if he and Liam were important to each other, it’d be terrible if no one told him.

  “I need your help with something,” she said to Molly. “Can you keep a secret?”

  “Sure.”

  “A big secret.”

  “The biggest,” Molly said. “What is it?”

  A few minutes later, Robin watched from behind some equipment crates as Molly knocked on Liam’s trailer door. No one answered. Molly glanced over her shoulder and Robin gestured for her to go on. Molly pressed four buttons on the keypad and waited. Karen hadn’t been careful, earlier, when she entered the code and Robin was pretty sure it had been 5-6-1-5.

  A moment passed before the lock beeped and clicked open. Molly hesitated before stepping inside. Robin waited impatiently to see what would happen next. Two assistants passed by, wheeling the futuristic motorcycle, and she tried not to look furtive or suspicious in any way.

  The trailer door opened. Molly poked her head out and motioned for Robin to come over.

  Robin shook her head and mouthed, “Bad idea.”

  Molly insisted. Robin forced herself forward and up the short stairs inside.

  “That’s what I thought,” said the naked man, who was no longer naked at all. He’d put on cargo shorts and a wrinkled green shirt and was sitting on the floor pulling on brown canvas shoes. “Do you have a car, Stalker Girl?”

  “What?” Robin asked, startled. Both by the request and the fact that he had a British accent that she hadn’t noticed before. He wasn’t much older than she was, but had the imperial air of someone used to getting what he wanted.

  “Mr. Austin wants to go to the hospital,” Molly said, intimidated.

  “Not Austin,” he said sternly. “Call me Greg Saunders. I’m not here; you never saw me. Got it?”

  Molly nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Robin thought he was being a jerk. “Who are you?”

  Molly’s eyes went wide, as if she couldn’t believe Robin didn’t know Austin. Or Saunders. Or whoever he was. But the man himself nodded in approval, pulled on a baseball cap, and slid on expensive sunglasses.

  “That’s right. I’m nobody. And right now, I’m nobody without a car, and I’m not risking a taxi. So you can drive me. Let’s go.”

  Which is how, ten minutes later, Robin found herself driving toward the Lower Keys Medical Center with some paranoid British celebrity in her passenger seat. She didn’t know what to say to him. He spent most of the time on his phone, talking to someone she guessed was a lawyer or studio executive.

  “I don’t care how you do it, just get me in there without the reporters seeing it,” Austin said. “You know how Liam feels about it.”

  She wasn’t eavesdropping, technically, since he was talking loud.

  “Yes, that’ll be fine,” he said.

  He hung up. Robin said, “Paparazzi in Key West aren’t like those in Los Angeles.”

  “Says the girl who was recording me while I slept,” Austin said gruffly. “You’re lucky I don’t have you arrested.”

  “I didn’t know you were there. Honest. I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Let’s keep it that way,” he snapped. “Where’s your phone?”

  Robin stopped for a traffic light. “You can’t keep it.”

  He held out his hand. “I’m going to erase what you took of me.”

  She supposed that was only fair. She kept one eye on the road and another on him as he thumbed through her phone menus. When the tiny buzz of a helicopter came from the phone speaker, she realized he was watching Liam’s accident.

  “Idiot,” he said. “I always tell him he shouldn’t do his own stunts. He thinks he’s Tom Cruise.”

  “I don’t think Tom Cruise really hung off the side of that building in Ghost Proto
col,” Robin said.

  “Neither do I.” Austin watched the video again and then shuddered. “He’s lucky he didn’t break his stupid neck.”

  He pushed more menu options. Robin heard her own voice narrating Liam’s trailer. Embarrassment flooded through her. When she glanced over, however, the mystery man looked resigned instead of angry.

  “Crazy is the reason I got out of this,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It was dumb of me. I have a friend who—well, it doesn’t matter. It was inappropriate.”

  He deleted the video and handed the phone back. The rest of the ride passed in silence as he fiddled with his own text messages. She wanted to ask him if he was the man who’d been at Angelo’s with Liam, but she guessed that would make her sound even more like a stalker. It seemed pretty likely. The busboy had mentioned something about boy bands, and he had the square good looks of someone from a manufactured musical group.

  Lunchtime traffic on North Roosevelt Island was heavy, but once she crossed onto Stock Island and College Road, the road was relatively empty. Robin turned into the parking lot for the emergency room. Already a news van was parked outside the front doors.

  “Pull around to the kitchen loading dock,” her mystery passenger said.

  “Not the E.R.?” she asked.

  “They’re probably already inside,” he said. She guessed he meant the paparazzi.

  Robin circled around the building until she found the loading dock. She expected Austin to jump out and leave her, but he told her to park.

  “I’m drafting you in case I need an assistant,” he said.

  She thought about protesting, because since when had she volunteered to wait hand and foot on some egotist? But she got out anyway and followed him up cement stairs to where a nervous hospital executive in a business suit was waiting for them.

  “How is he?” Austin asked.

  “Your friend is still being evaluated, but he looks good,” the executive said. “Right this way, sir.”

  It was embarrassing, really, how he fawned over Austin. She followed the two men down a short corridor into the Emergency Medicine Unit with its busy nurses’ station and individual treatment rooms.

  “Sit there,” Austin said to Robin, pointing to a set of red chairs.

  “I’m not a dog,” she told him.

  He sighed. “Please sit there.”

  Robin sat. Austin disappeared into one of the treatment rooms. The door was open, but a privacy curtain screened off most of Robin’s view. She could see the patient’s silvery boots and pants, so she knew it was Liam. Austin’s silhouette behind the curtain bent down into a kiss.

  “Can I get you something, sweetie?” asked one of the nurses. “Water or coffee?”

  “Me?” Robin asked, startled. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  The nurse smiled. “Okay, just let me know.”

  Loud voices from the waiting room made Robin tiptoe to a swinging door and look through the glass window. Michael Lake was out there, arguing with the admissions clerk. Behind him were at least three assistants, each of them talking on their phones. From the gestures Michael was making, Robin guessed that he was upset at not being allowed to visit his superstar actor.

  “Hey, Stalker Girl,” Austin called out from the doorway of Liam’s room.

  “My name is Robin,” she said in irritation.

  “Great to hear it,” he said, unfazed. “Find the cafeteria, will you? Large chocolate milkshake if they have it. Or vanilla.”

  “Low fat,” Liam’s voice said from inside the room.

  “Low fat chocolate milkshake,” Austin said. “Bottled water for me.”

  The friendly nurse gave Robin directions to the cafeteria. It wasn’t until she was standing in line that she realized Austin hadn’t given her any money. Robin slid her sadly abused debit card through a reader and made sure she kept the receipt. She was halfway back to the emergency room when Sean called.

  He screeched out, “What happened to the love of my life?” so loudly that she had to move the phone from her ear.

  “He’s fine,” Robin said. “Not dead, I promise.”

  “You saw it?” he asked.

  “I was there. How’d you find out?”

  “Monica Mell posted pictures! I can’t believe you were there. Was he heroic? Did he cry?”

  “I’ll tell you everything,” Robin promised. “How’s Lewis doing?”

  “He’s rearranging the bestsellers from tallest to shortest and making me work the front counter by myself,” Sean complained. “You so owe me. You better be here tomorrow.”

  Robin had been worrying about that. She didn’t want to ask Mrs. Anderson for another day off, but Juliet was still missing. The only lead Robin had was Jake Something, the crew member who’d robbed Melanie Love-Sweet and might have been the last person to see Juliet on Sunday night.

  “Did you say Monica Mell had pictures?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Where did she get them from?” Robin asked. “It hasn’t even been an hour. Someone from the set must have sent them to her.”

  “I don’t know. Her post before that was to say there’s big news coming about the casting.”

  “Casting?”

  “Yeah, someone’s being added, but it’s all hush-hush.”

  Robin turned the corner and saw Michael Lake in the waiting room. He was still arguing with the clerk. Cayleigh had arrived, too, and was tapping on her phone urgently.

  She backtracked down the hallway. “I’ll call you later, okay? Don’t kill Lewis.”

  Back in the emergency room, Austin beckoned her into Liam’s room. She hesitated, but figured there was really no escaping now. Liam looked mostly okay, if you didn’t count his right arm in a sling. His makeup was smeared, and he looked younger than she remembered. He was sitting up in the bed with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and Austin’s hand resting possessively on his leg.

  “Good grief,” Liam said when he saw her. “It’s Nancy Drew.”

  “Who?” Austin asked.

  Robin heroically resisted the urge to dump the chocolate milkshake into Liam’s lap. “I’d rather be Lara Croft.”

  Austin frowned. “Did both of you hit your heads?”

  “Karen hired her to find Juliet,” Liam explained. He winced as he reached for the milkshake. “How’s that going, Lara?”

  Austin took the cup from Robin and held it for him. “Don’t you worry about Juliet. Worry about nearly getting yourself killed. If it weren’t for Lara, I wouldn’t even know about it.”

  “My name is Robin,” she pointed out, not caring if she sounded snippy.

  Liam sipped some of his shake. “When can I get out of here, Alex?”

  Austin stroked the side of his head affectionately. “When the doctor says so. Lara—or Nancy, or Robin—will you go track him down?”

  She almost corrected his assumption that the doctor would be male. Stupid gender stereotypes. But instead she went and asked at the nurse’s station, and a male doctor emerged from a tiny office.

  “We’re waiting for one last report,” he said respectfully. “Is there anything we can get for him? For you?”

  It was both amazing and sad how special they were treating her, and all because she’d come in with Austin. Celebrity treatment was apparently contagious.

  “We’re fine,” she assured him.

  Liam wasn’t happy about the delay, but more calming touches from Alex Austin kept him quiet. Watching the obvious affection between them, Robin felt like a witness to something special and genuine. The friendly nurse kept drifting by the open door, and Robin took it upon herself to close it. It was weird and strange, to think that these two men needed protection all the time against people who wanted to breach their privacy.

  People like herself, she thought guiltily.

  A few minutes later, the harried admissions clerk came knocking. He asked Liam if he wanted to see the very loud, very demanding visitors from the waiting room. />
  “Michael’s probably worried you’re going to sue,” Austin said. “You definitely should.”

  Liam’s response was weary. “I’m not going to sue over some stupid accident.” To the clerk he added, “Send them back in about ten minutes.”

  Once the clerk was gone, Liam turned his attention back to Austin. You want to get out of here before he drags you into a cameo?”

  Tension flicked over Austin’s face. “You want me to leave?”

  “You could go back and cook some of your special spaghetti,” Liam said, using a puppy dog expression that Robin had seen in his movies. He stroked Austin’s forearm. “I’m starving.”

  Austin didn’t look convinced. Robin knew there was something unsaid passing between the two of them. An old argument, maybe. Possibly a new one.

  Liam appealed to Robin. “Go ahead, Lara, take him back. I won’t be far behind.”

  She had no confidence at all that she could convince him to go if he didn’t want to. But Austin nodded tightly, kissed Liam briefly on the mouth, and then walked out.

  Robin started to follow. Liam said, “Nancy Drew.”

  She arched her eyebrows.

  “Robin,” he amended. “You going to tell people about this?”

  Robin said, “No. I promise.”

  “And you can be trusted?”

  She pulled herself up straighter. “Yes.”

  Liam gave her a long, searching look. “People say that all the time in Hollywood.”

  “This isn’t Hollywood,” she reminded him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the drive back to the set from the hospital, Austin said, “As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not supposed to be here. I’m terribly incognito. Therefore, I want you to come to the set tomorrow and Friday. Be my eyes and ears until the wrap party on Friday night.”

  Robin was so surprised she nearly ran a red light. “You want me to be a spy?”

  “You don’t have to put it like that,” he said.

  “An hour ago you were calling me Stalker Girl,” she pointed out.