A Script for Danger (Nancy Drew Diaries #10)(30)

“It’s not your fault,” I assured the operator. I pulled out the brown paper bag and held up my evidence: a comic book titled The Blue Ranger: Defender of the Night.

“It’s Brian,” I declared. “He’s been sabotaging this movie.”

“What?” Alex cried.

“I have proof,” I said, but Alex seemed to be in shock. He opened and shut his mouth several times, as if he had lost the ability to form words. Lali ran up to us breathlessly, just in time to hear my revelation.

“What are you talking about, Nancy?”

I opened the comic book. “It’s all in here,” I explained. “He took every single prank from the first issue of this comic book, the same one the movie is based on! And each time, Brian made sure to play the hero,” I concluded. “That’s why the pranks only took place while the camera was rolling—either the movie camera or Cora’s.”

Brian, for once, didn’t have any peppy responses or inspiring speeches.

“Brian?” Alex prodded. “Is this true?”

“This is ridiculous!” Brian sneered. “A comic book doesn’t prove anything. Do you think all these people will just take your word for it?”

“No, but they will take mine,” Ronan said, walking up behind me. Brian was now reduced to sputtering.

“Thanks for calling me, Nancy,” Ronan said.

“What is he doing here?” Alex grunted, clearly not happy to see him.

“Hold on, Alex,” I said. “Ronan is actually the reason I figured it out. I recognized the comic book in Ronan’s car as the same one I had seen tucked in Brian’s script on the first day of the shoot.”

“She’s right,” Ronan said. “I had to move back into my parents’ place and admit that my whole writing career was a complete failure. So when Brian came to me with this project, I felt like I had no choice. I thought that if I got into his good books, I might have a chance of getting back into the game.”

“He’s . . . making . . . this . . . up!” Brian seethed, but nobody was listening to him anymore.

“I don’t understand,” Alex practically whispered. “What project?”

“Brian didn’t work alone,” I explained. “He convinced Omar and Ronan to help him. Omar managed to slip the fireworks into the coffee machine when he helped Sal move the table. I’m guessing the argument he had with Brian that day had something to do with it.”

We all looked at Omar, whose eyes were glued to the ground.

“Brian promised me a small role in the Blue Ranger film if I followed along with his plan,” Omar mumbled. “After I planted the fireworks, I told Brian that I couldn’t go through with the rest of the pranks, but he convinced me that I’d be passing up a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a star if I walked away.”

“You’re lying, Omar!” Brian shouted.

I continued despite his outburst. “When the fireworks went off, Brian was sure to be seen—and photographed—protecting Zo? and Lali. Then he calmed everyone down afterward to show that he had quick instincts and could remain composed in the face of danger, just like the Blue Ranger.”

I pulled out the comic book and flipped to an image of the Blue Ranger swooping into a school and calming everyone after an explosion.

I kept going. “In the aftermath of the firecracker incident, Omar stole Spencer’s tools and cut the hole on the top of the costume trailer. The grocery bag he was carrying contained ketchup and chocolate syrup. He poured the mixture into the hole, and it dripped onto the sweater.”

“You little sneak! How come nobody caught him?” Spencer fumed.

“Because he looks exactly like you from behind,” I said, “and I’m guessing he bought one of those fleece vests. Nobody ever questioned him rummaging around in your truck, because the security guards thought it was you.”

Lali grabbed Omar’s backpack and began rifling through it. Sure enough, she produced the missing tools and the black fleece vest.

“Brian flirted with Cora to make sure she was filming him whenever your camera wasn’t rolling,” I explained to Alex. “That way he could demonstrate his fearlessness and agility. See, the Blue Ranger can scale entire buildings without assistance—just like Brian scaled the trailer.”

I showed him another page of the comic book, which pictured the Blue Ranger climbing a small apartment building in order to save an old lady trapped on the roof.

“What about the call sheet?” Lali asked. “Does the Blue Ranger write dumb notes?”

“That one threw me off,” I admitted. “But then I realized that Omar was also hanging around the production trailer during the time the note appeared. I’m guessing he hid the stapler in the cooler and wrote the note while Shea was out looking for it.”

Omar didn’t deny anything.

“How’d you figure that one out, Nancy?” George asked, scratching her head and leafing through the comic book. “Brian wasn’t even around when Shea found the threatening note on the call sheet.”

“I remembered that Zo? had asked for a call sheet early,” I said, taking the book back from her. “And Omar tried to stop her from seeing it because he knew that Brian was planning to make a speech when the whole crew collected call sheets at the end of the day.”