Lillian was sitting oh a chair on the set of the Danner kitchen, holding her head in her hands. As Nancy approached, she turned around.
“Our fair rescuer,” she said, under her breath. “How kind of you to come.” The words were full of, bravado, but the old self-assured Lillian was gone. The mocking look had disappeared, and Lillian’s face was now fearful.
“Why did you ask me to come here?” Nancy demanded. “What’s all this about?”
“Oh, I’m not the maniac, if that’s what you’re worried about. In fact, I asked you here because—” Lillian’s voice wavered. “Because he’s after me now.”
Nancy crossed the room and sat down next to Lillian. Then she listened intently to every word of her story.
“When things started turning weird around here, I got curious. Actually, I was kind of hoping Rick would get what he deserved, if you get my meaning. But then I found something. It was that day I ran into you in the hall. I had just found it in a closet. I didn’t want to tell anyone about it, so I hid it where no one would come across it.”
“The prop room, of course!” Nancy’s eyes lit up. So that was why Lillian had acted so secretively that day!
“Right. And this little item I found made me want to find out more. So I did. I kept on finding more and more, until—” Lillian’s voice was barely a whisper. “Until I got this yesterday.” She handed Nancy a typewritten note. “Were you thinking of blackmail, my pet?” it read. “Not if I kill you first.”
“So you see,” Lillian went on, “that’s why I called you here. In case anything happens to me. I mean, I knew you were on the case, and, well, you understand.” She picked up a shopping bag that lay at her feet and, taking something out of it, she held it up for Nancy to look at.
“A long-haired wig, glasses, a T-shirt—” Nancy sifted through the contents, her suspicions confirmed. “It looks like a disguise. Whoever it was used it to get around the set unnoticed.”
“Exactly,” Lillian agreed. “And what better disguise than as a stagehand? One of those anonymous people walking around during every shoot. Everyone else is so busy doing their work, no one notices. It’s perfect!”
“What else did you find?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, more of the same. Different every day. I knew immediately that it was an actor. Or an ex-actor—”
Then I was right! Nancy said to herself.
“You see,” Lillian went on, “I finally put two and two together. Which, I hate to say, is more than you’ve done.”
“I take it you have proof of the maniac’s identity, then,” Nancy said.
“Of course I do,” she said with a wicked smile. “It is—”
Lillian didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence. All of a sudden, every light in the entire studio flashed on. Shading her eyes, Nancy glanced up to the director’s booth, where the lighting controls were.
There, looking down at them from behind the thick Plexiglas, was Dwayne Casper! His expression was furious, and in his hand was a gun—pointed straight at Nancy!
Chapter Sixteen
“Well, hello, you two!” Dwayne’s voice boomed at them, seeming to come from every imaginable direction. He let out a monstrous laugh. “I only followed Lillian, but I’ve trapped both of you. How lucky! Congratulations, your death scenes will look so lovely on videotape. A videotape for my personal viewing pleasure only!”
For an instant, Dwayne relaxed his grip on the gun a bit. Nancy, seeing her chance, made a dash for the door. Just as she reached it, she heard it go whooossshh, and the red light above it flashed on. The door was locked—vacuum sealed.
“Are we locked up down there?” Dwayne screamed in a grotesque parody of Luther Parks. He laughed again. “A little stage fright, Ms. Elliot? Actually, I didn’t know until yesterday that you and Ms. Elliot were one and the same. Very good bit of acting. Very realistic. You see, we strive for realism here—real bullets, real blood, real death.” He waved his gun playfully at them.
“You two are only the first act. Rick Arlen’s death will be the climax of my little soap opera. He’s gotten away from me so far, thanks to you, Nancy Drew. But with you two little nuisances out of the way, I don’t think he has much of a chance. Do you?”