A Script for Danger (Nancy Drew Diaries #10)(31)

I flipped to another page where the Blue Ranger makes a speech to the mayor and his wife, urging them to remain calm after receiving a ransom note threatening their kidnapped daughter.

“But he took the opportunity to give that speech right after the light almost fell on my head instead.”

“Did he do that, too?” Bess gasped.

“Yes,” I replied dryly, “but I’ll get to that. Next was the pendant. Omar stole it and handed it off to Brian, who slipped it into his own cider. He waited for the camera to start rolling before his little stunt,” I added. “By the way, Brian, for a television doctor, you should know that if you were actually choking, you wouldn’t be able to cough.”

Brian grumbled something under his breath. I flipped to another page of the comic book that showed the Blue Ranger proclaiming that he works alone. In the comic book, the Blue Ranger even gives himself stitches after a knife fight.

“But Brian selected a less bloody option,” I explained, “and gave himself the Heimlich. The next day he discreetly unscrewed the light fixture and moved the sandbags off its stand while he was showing off his ‘frightened’ act to Bess, George, and me. Then he made a joke about using his martial arts skills on a serpent coming out of a sewer. That was an important clue. There’s a scene in the comic book in which the Blue Ranger fights off a sewer serpent with his bare hands. Then, when he saved me from the falling light, it mimicked a scene in which the Blue Ranger saves someone from being crushed by a falling boulder.”

“But how did you know about the Ferris wheel?” Lali choked out the words.

“In the last scene of the comic book,” I pointed out, “the Blue Ranger has to save someone else after the sewer serpent pushes her out of a hot air balloon. Once I realized that Brian wasn’t even supposed to be here today and saw him doing all those exercises, I assumed that he’d loosened the bucket’s nuts and bolts while he was pretending to hang out with Zo?. It’s exactly what he did to the light yesterday.”

Zo? shrieked, “Brian, I could have died just now!”

“But you wouldn’t have! I would have saved you!” he cried. “I just wanted to prove to the Blue Ranger producers that they shouldn’t have rejected me. It’s been so hard!” Brian wailed, falling apart. “I had to show them that I have what it takes!”

In the minutes that followed, Brian finally admitted that he had done some research and found out that Ronan lived nearby. He then used Ronan’s not-so-secret rivalry with Alex (and the promise of a healthy fee) to pressure Ronan into helping him. Ronan agreed and rented a suite at Lightning Post. After Krish left his editing room each night, Ronan would swipe the key and sneak the drives out of the Hamilton Inn editing room, copying the footage of Brian’s heroics, and then returning the drives by the time Krish returned the following night. The reason the drives were gone that afternoon was because of the schedule change due to the carnival scene; Ronan didn’t know that Krish and Alex would be coming in so early. This also explained why Brian kept begging Cora for her documentary footage; he wanted a visual record of the pranks that the film’s camera didn’t capture.

“Brian, how could you?” Alex said. “Couldn’t you just film yourself doing those things without putting this movie in danger?”

“I know how it looks, Alex,” Brian pleaded. “But the schedule was too tight for me to organize anything in L.A. I figured I could send this footage to the director and they would realize their mistake by the time we finished shooting. Plus, I would have had the benefit of professional equipment and cinematography. I just wanted to show them—”

“That you’re completely insane?” Lali exploded. “This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen!”

“I didn’t think it would affect your film, Lali, I swear!” Brian insisted. “I wanted to show the Blue Ranger team that I’m creative and resourceful. I wanted to stand out!”

Lali shook her head in disgust and started frantically typing an e-mail on her smartphone.

“You can still make a great film, Alex,” Brian said, falling to his knees. “You have all the footage you need, and I did my absolute best in the role. I mean that.”

“I can’t believe that you orchestrated every single prank,” Alex said. “I don’t understand why you would think . . .” He trailed off. “Wow, casting you was such a mistake.”

“It wasn’t, I swear. No more pranks, I promise!” Brian begged. “Omar, explain to them why I had to do it. You know how brutal this business is!”

Omar heaved all of Brian’s belongings on the ground in front of the desperate star: the green juice, the blankets, the scripts, everything.

“I quit,” Omar proclaimed defiantly. “I wanted to get a break so badly that I let you convince me to lie, steal, and try to ruin this film. But I’m ashamed of myself now.”

“You should be!” Alex shouted. Suddenly his anxiety overshadowed his temporary relief upon learning the truth. “Oh my gosh . . . how am I going to finish this movie now?”

He had barely finished his sentence when Lali started rattling off a list of solutions. “Well, first of all, I can get Eldridge Carter on a plane tonight. He was your second choice to play Dylan, but I know he’s still available, so I just texted his agent. We can use some of Brian’s fee to pay for reshoots. I’ll just spend some time tweaking the budget right now. Don’t worry, Alex, it’ll be fine.” Lali didn’t even look up; she just kept furiously typing on her phone screen.