Model Mystery Trilogy 01: Model Crime (6 page)

“So this is reality TV, huh?” Bess whispered into my ear. “Interesting version of ‘reality,’ isn’t it?”

I grinned at her. When I turned my attention back to what was happening, I saw that Vic had just swept a lush Hawaiian lei out of a rustic-looking wooden box on the “beach” nearby. The lei was similar to the ones Akinyi and Candy were already wearing, but this one was pure white, bursting with gorgeous orchids and other tropical-looking flowers.

“Aloha nui loa,”
Vic said as he draped the lei over Sydney’s head.

Sydney blushed.
“Aloha nui loa,”
she said shyly as the flowers settled around her neck. She smiled up at Vic, looking blissfully happy.

“What’s all that aloha stuff mean?” George muttered. “I hope there are going to be subtitles with this thing.”

Vic was smiling down at his bride. He leaned closer, clearly about to go in for a kiss.

But suddenly Sydney’s expression changed. Her eyes widened, she let out a yelp of alarm, and her hands flew up toward the white lei.

“Ow!” she cried, yanking at the lei and dancing up and down. She let out a shriek of pain as she tugged at it. “They’re biting me!” she exclaimed, doing her best to rip the lei off over her head. “They’re biting me!”

I gasped. Clearly visible against Sydney’s creamy skin were hundreds of tiny black insects swarming all over her neck and shoulders!

“T
hey’re ants!” Vic shouted, grabbing the lei and ripping it off Sydney’s neck, sending white petals flying in every directions.

“Oh my gosh—somebody do something!” Donald the PA exclaimed, hurrying forward and flapping his hands helplessly in Sydney’s direction.

Meanwhile Sydney was still crying out in pain as she spun in circles, trying frantically to brush off the tiny insects. My friends and I rushed forward to help, along with Sydney’s mother, Candy and Akinyi, and most of the other people within view. But I was blocked by the bushy-browed cameraman, who stepped in front of me for a better view, filming every second of Sydney’s distress.

“Excuse us!” Bess said firmly, trying to push past him.

That did about as much good as trying to shove aside the Sears Tower. The cameraman held his ground, ignoring us. “This is great stuff,” he muttered with a barely muffled, rather mean-spirited guffaw. “Awesome.”

We managed to dodge around him just in time to see Vic brush Donald, the other models, and Aunt Ellie aside. “I’ve got this,” he said grimly, scooping Sydney into his arms like a wriggling puppy.

“They’re biting me!” she whimpered, still slapping at herself. “Vic, they’re biting me!”

“Hang on, baby.” Vic raced across the field, carrying her toward the horses I’d noticed earlier. For one crazy moment I thought he was planning to leap onto one of the beasts and ride off into the sunset like some demented cowboy. Instead, however, he headed straight over to the big water tank and dropped Sydney into it.

Water splashed out over the sides, and Sydney let out a squeak of surprise just before her head went under. “Good thinking,” George said, watching along with the rest of us. “That’s probably the quickest way to get them off her.”

She was right. Within a moment or two, Sydney was ant-free. Vic flicked a few ants off his own bare chest, then helped Sydney out of the water tank as the surprised horses looked on.

“What are you all waiting for?” he called irritably, glancing toward the rest of us. “Somebody get her a towel or something!”

“I’ll go! I think there’s a robe in the dressing room!” Deb called out.

“I’ll come help you find it,” Candy offered.

“What’s Deb doing here?” George said in surprise as the two of them hurried off in the direction of the locker rooms. “I thought all us nonceleb bridesmaids were supposed to be off the hook for today.”

I shrugged. Until that moment I hadn’t noticed that Deb was there either. But the reason for her presence seemed like one of the least important questions of the moment.

Sydney was huddled up against Vic, shivering and dripping as the rest of us hurried over. “This is a nightmare,” she moaned, staring tearfully at one of her arms. “They must’ve bitten me, like, a zillion times. And the bites are already starting to swell. Look!”

Sure enough, there were already several angry red welts standing out against her pale skin. “Whoa!” Bo said, staring at them. “What kind of psycho-freak ants were those?”

“She’s got sensitive skin,” Akinyi told him. “It doesn’t take much to make her swell up like crazy.”

“That’s right.” Ellie was already examining the ant bites. “Oh, dear. I should call your father to see if we still have some of your allergy medicine—maybe that would help.” Suddenly noticing that several camera operators were still filming, her face suddenly went stern. “Turn those cameras off right now!” she ordered.

At that moment Deb reappeared carrying a tube of something. “Look, we found some anti-itch stuff!” she said. “Candy’s still back there looking for the robes. Here, let’s put this on you before those bites get any worse.”

“Cool,” Vic said gratefully. “Hear that, baby? This stuff’ll help.”

“Thanks, Deb,” Sydney said with a sniff. “But I think it’s too late for that.” Still, she stood there and allowed her friend to dab the cream onto her arms and shoulders.

Meanwhile Ellie Marvin was marching toward the closest cameraman, Mr. Bald-and-Bushy. “I said, turn those things off!” she said, shaking one finger in the man’s face. “This isn’t part of the deal, and my daughter doesn’t need to be subjected to you people’s sick curiosity and utter lack of human decency.”

Hans Eberhart had been standing back watching the scene unfold with everyone else. Now he hurried forward. “Now, now, Mrs. Marvin,” he said. “Let’s not get upset. Remember,
Daredevils
is a reality show, eh? And so things like this will happen. After all, reality can be so incredibly…real, sometimes!”

Ellie glared at him. “Exactly what’s so real about all this?” she demanded, waving an arm at the fake pyramids and palm trees.

Eberhart turned toward Vic and Sydney. “Please, Sydney,” he said. “Can you explain to your dear mother about how reality TV works?”

Sydney sniffled. “Sorry, but this is all getting a little too
un
real for me,” she said. “I need a moment. Excuse me, everyone.”

Pulling away from Deb, who was still busily tending to her bites, she raced off toward the locker rooms. “Oh, dear,” Donald murmured.

Eberhart just shrugged. “Take five, everyone,” he called out, signaling for the cameras to stop rolling. He pointed to Mr. Bushy Eyebrows. “Butch, start setting up for the Egyptian sequence.” As the cameraman nodded and strolled off toward the pyramid, the director turned toward Vic, Bo, and Dragon. “Boys, why don’t you get dressed for that bit now? We can return to the Hawaiian business later.”

Bo clapped Vic on the back. “Come on, bro,” he said. “You heard the man. Let’s get suited up pharaoh-style.”

Vic looked vaguely mutinous for a moment as he stared after Sydney. Then he shrugged and sighed. “Fine,” he said. Shooting a worried look at Akinyi, he added, “Call me if Syd needs me, okay?”

“Whatever.” Akinyi, too, was staring anxiously after Sydney. “I’d better go check on her.”

“Tell her I’ll be right there, as soon as I give a piece of my mind to whoever was in charge of that lei,” Ellie said grimly.

Her words snapped me back to the reality of the situation. Either River Heights had just been inflicted with a freak plague of biting ants…or the saboteur had struck again.

“I’m going to try to get a look at that lei,” I whispered to Bess and George.

Bess nodded, glancing anxiously in the direction of the locker rooms. “Need our help?”

“Nope. Go check on Syd. I’ll be there in a sec.”

Bess and George hurried off. Eberhart had stepped forward to intercept Ellie, who was now ranting furiously at him. Just about everyone else was sort of drifting off, seeming uncertain what to do next.

I made a beeline for the fake beach. The wooden box was still standing open in the sand. Bending down, I saw that it was crawling with ants.

As I took a step backward, not wanting to risk getting bitten myself, I almost bumped into Donald. “Oh, man,” he exclaimed as he took a peek into the box, looking distressed. “I can’t believe this. Poor Sydney!”

“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” I said automatically, more interested in looking around for the remains of the lei than in chatting with the PA. “And I’m sure it was just an unfortunate accident.”

“It was no accident. I’m responsible!”

I blinked, glancing over at him. He’d straightened his thin shoulders, a grim look on his face.

“Huh?” I said. “Are you saying you put those ants on the lei?”

“Of course not!” Donald sounded insulted. “But I shouldn’t have just left it sitting around unattended, where
anyone
could tamper with it.” He shot a dark glance across the field.

Following his gaze, I saw Vic just disappearing into a trailer parked at the edge of the field. No one else was nearby, leading me to believe that the PA’s gaze was definitely directed at the groom-to-be. Hmm, interesting…

Before I could fully process that, I realized that Donald was already gathering up the torn pieces of the white lei. For a second I almost told Donald why I wanted to look it over. But I decided against it. It seemed pretty unlikely that examining the lei would provide any useful clues to how the ants had gotten there.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I think I’ll go check on Sydney.”

Leaving Donald muttering self-incriminations under his breath, I headed across the field to the locker room that was serving as a dressing room for Sydney and the other women on the set. I knocked and entered.

Sydney was sitting on a narrow bench in front of a mirror, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue. Akinyi, Deb, Candy, Bess, and George were all there too. Apparently Candy had found some bathrobes, because not only was Sydney now wrapped in one, but Candy was, too.

“Did they figure out where those icky things came from?” Candy demanded as soon as I entered, wrapping her arms around herself. The robe was a little big for her, so only her fingertips stuck out the ends of the sleeves. She shuddered from within the depths of the terry cloth. “I can’t believe this happened. I hate bugs! If those things had been all over me, I would have died!”

Akinyi was slumped on a bench over by the sinks, still wearing her grass skirt and lei. “Okay, we get it,” she said to Candy. “You’ve told us how much you hate bugs. This is about Syd, not you, remember?”

“Well, excuse me for having a phobia, Miss Perfect!” Candy huffed.

“Guys…” Bess began soothingly.

Deb looked up from her seat beside Sydney. She was still applying cream to Sydney’s arm, pushing back the voluminous sleeve of the robe to do so.

“Oh, now, I know everyone’s upset and all. But I’m sure it was just one of those things,” she said in her cheerful way. “Everything will be all right.”

Sydney sniffled. “I’m not so sure,” she said, staring at her own red-eyed reflection in the mirror. “It was bad enough when my wedding was turning into a circus with this TV stuff. But now it’s turning into a horror show!”

“There you go,” Deb said, not seeming to be paying much attention to Sydney’s words as she dabbed one last bit of cream on the back of her hand. “Now, let’s get your face fixed up. Luckily you only got a couple of bites there—I’m sure we can cover those with makeup.”

Just then a sharp whistle came from somewhere outside. “Sounds like they’re starting the filming again,” Candy said. “I’ll go see what’s happening. Somehow I don’t think any of us are going to be ready for our close-ups anytime soon.”

Akinyi shrugged. “I’ll come with you.”

George stared after them as they left together. “Wow,” she said. “It’s hard to tell whether those two are mad at each other or not.”

Sydney smiled weakly. “Oh, they’re always like that,” she said. Glancing at Deb, she added, “My makeup kit is out by the wardrobe trailer. Would you mind getting it?”

“You betcha,” Deb said cheerfully, hurrying out.

As soon as she was gone, Sydney spun to face me. “Nancy, you’ve got to help me before everything is ruined!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to marry Vic and spend the rest of my life with him. But if this wedding is going to be a disaster, I’d rather just elope and be done with it!”

“Hey, why not?” George put in brightly. “Eloping can be super romantic! All the excitement and I-do stuff without any of the lame speeches and bad dancing…”

“And bridesmaid dresses?” Bess put in, glaring at her. “You’re not helping, George.”

Sydney hardly seemed to hear them. She was still staring at me. “I just can’t take this,” she said. “It’s not fair. I thought I was finished being scared after—”

“Here we are!” Deb sang out, rushing back in clutching a large metal box. A young woman I didn’t know was right behind her. “And here’s your makeup girl to work on your face.”

I felt like grabbing Deb and the makeup artist and shoving them both back out the door. What had Sydney been about to say? Something in her eyes had suddenly reminded me of that weird moment at her house the other day when she’d told me about those threatening e-mails. Could there be something more to those, something she hadn’t told me?

If so, it seemed she wasn’t going to get the chance to fill me in anytime soon. Akinyi had just come back in as well, announcing that the boys were already filming the first part of the Egyptian traditions scene. Whatever that weird little moment had been, it was lost.

A little while later we were all out watching Vic, Bo, and Dragon clown around with some fake swords near the pyramid as the special effects director prepared for the next scene. Well, most of us were watching, anyway. Candy had developed a migraine and gone to lie down somewhere, and Ellie and Deb were in the dressing room helping Sydney get dressed and made up.

I found myself standing beside Akinyi, who was now dressed in her Egyptian costume. She looked stunning in it, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the worried crease in her brow.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “It’s so unfair for poor Sydney.”

I nodded, flashing back to my earlier speculation. Could Akinyi possibly be a suspect? “Yes,” I agreed. “Things aren’t going very well with her wedding so far.”

“I know, the poor thing!” Akinyi shook her head. “I only hope she still doesn’t have those hives for the big day. It’s only a week away now, and everyone knows how sensitive her skin is.”

“Really?” I said. “She’s that sensitive, huh? I had no idea.”

“Oh, yes, she’s famous for it,” Akinyi said. “She couldn’t finish this one shoot last year because the foundation she was supposed to be showing made her break out.” Just then there was a loud
whoosh
from nearby and Akinyi jumped, her eyes going wide as she clutched at her heart. “Oh, please. This is all too much!” she exclaimed. “Syd never should have agreed to get mixed up with this crazy show. Or even if she did, I should have known better than to get myself involved!”

I glanced over. The sound had been caused by a member of the special effects crew lighting a sort of blowtorch thing. They proceeded to use it to set the sword Bo was holding ablaze. He let out a cry of triumph and held the flaming sword aloft, waving it around over his head as the guy with the blowtorch headed for Dragon, who held out his own sword eagerly.