Stay Tuned for Danger: Circle of Evil

by Carolyn Keene

  Carolyn Keene

  Stay Tuned For Danger

  Chapter One

  “NANCY, YOU’RE DRIVING me nuts! Would you please finish that sundae? Our plane leaves in an hour!” Bess Marvin looked longingly at her friend’s dessert. Then she pulled a pink beret over her straw blond hair and reached for the matching pink jacket that was hanging on the back of her chair.

  Nancy Drew looked at Bess, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “Take it easy, Bess. We’re five minutes from the airport. George’ll get us there in plenty of time.”

  Nancy and Bess were flying to New York City to visit Nancy’s aunt, Eloise Drew, and George was dropping them off. It was early, so they had decided to stop for ice cream near the airport.

  “Admit it, Bess,” George Fayne said with a laugh, throwing an arm around her cousin’s shoulders. “You’re just jealous because Nancy’s eating that fantastic, splendiferous, mouth-watering—”

  “Mmmm. And it’s so-o-o good,” Nancy said, licking her lips.

  “Quit teasing, you guys,” Bess muttered. “I swear I gain weight just looking at something that fattening.”

  “It does look good,” George said, wistfully agreeing. She and Bess were cousins as well as best friends, but they couldn’t have been more different. With her tall, athletic figure, her dark hair and eyes, and her levelheaded approach to life, George was her cousin’s opposite in every way.

  “When you two get back from New York, we’ve got to come here again,” George said. “You can fill me in on your trip, and by then I’ll be able to order something disgustingly rich and gooey. Just like those banana splits we had at that wonderful restaurant, Rumpelmayer’s.” George sighed. “I wish I were going with you.”

  “I’ll never understand you,” said Bess. “How can you pass up a chance to go to New York, the most glamorous city in the world, just so you can run in some stupid race? What’s the big deal?”

  “Don’t be dumb, Bess. I’ve been training for this race for months. It may only be the River Heights marathon, but it’s important to me.”

  “Yummm,” Nancy savored one last mouthful of ice cream before putting down her spoon. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said with a toss of her reddish gold hair.

  Bess eyed the remains of Nancy’s sundae hungrily. “No,” she told herself, “I refuse to blow my diet before we even get to New York. I mean, you never know who I might meet,” she said, looking at her friends. “In New York, anything’s possible.”

  Nancy and George exchanged knowing smiles. Bess was sure to find cute guys in the Big Apple, just as she did in River Heights.

  “Well, if I know Nancy,” George said, “you two will probably wind up in the middle of an adventure. Remember the last time we were in New York? We didn’t even have time to go shopping!”

  George was right. Intrigue and mystery seemed to find Nancy wherever she went. At eighteen, she was already a rising star in the world of detectives.

  “No way,” Nancy protested. “This time I’m just going to be a tourist. I’m going to spend some time with my aunt, Eloise, do some shopping, see a Broadway show—”

  “A Broadway show? Are you kidding? There are at least six that I’m dying to see!” Bess exclaimed.

  “Hey, you two,” Nancy declared, looking at her watch. “Now we had better hurry.”

  And with that, the three girls paid their bill and filed out of the ice cream shop.

  “Here we are,” Bess said, staring up at the elegant old apartment building. “This street always looks like a movie set of ‘old New York’ to me. Like it’s a hundred years old, at least.”

  It was true, Nancy thought. The street had old-world charm, from the tall gingko trees with their fanlike leaves to the old-fashioned gas lamps along the sidewalk that fronted the many brownstone buildings.

  “Did I tell you my aunt bought her apartment last year when— Oh, look, there she is!” Nancy cried, waving to her aunt, who was coming out the front door. Tall and elegant, Eloise Drew was a female version of Nancy’s father, Carson. They had the same lustrous brown hair and aristocratic features.

  “Nancy!” Eloise cried, hugging her niece warmly and planting a kiss on her cheek. “I’m so happy to see you! And Bess,” she said, taking Nancy’s friend warmly by the hand. “How good it is to see you again. How was your trip?” Eloise asked as they entered the building.

  “Kind of boring,” Bess admitted with a smile.

  “Wonderfully uneventful is more like it,” Nancy said in the elevator up to Eloise’s second-floor apartment. “I’ve been so busy lately that it was great just to sit down and leaf through a magazine.”

  “Well, here we are!” Eloise said, pushing open the door to her apartment. “I’ve redecorated a bit since you were here the last time.”

  The apartment was spacious and homey. Bright sunlight splashed across the walls, which were papered in a dainty flowery print.

  “I love what you’ve done!” Bess exclaimed enthusiastically as they were passing through the living room. She paused to look out the window. “I had forgotten there were trees in the backyard!”

  “In New York we call it a courtyard. Unfortunately, though, as you probably remember, your room faces the street.” Nancy’s aunt led them across a small hallway to a cozy bedroom. “Don’t worry, the street is usually pretty quiet.”

  Just then a fire engine came careening down the block, its siren blasting. Eloise waited for it to pass before adding, “Quiet for the city, that is.”

  The room was all ready for the two girls. Both beds were freshly made with light blue comforters, and two sets of fluffy white towels were neatly folded on top of the modern oak bureau. Eloise slid open a pair of white louvered doors, revealing a nearly empty closet.

  “Here you are, ladies,” she announced. “And after you’ve unpacked, we’ll have a snack. For dinner, I thought we could go to my favorite Chinese restaurant.”

  “Super,” Nancy said, looking over at Bess, who seemed enthusiastic. “As long as there’s no mystery involved, I’m game for anything.”

  “Well—” Nancy’s aunt said hesitantly. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘no mystery,’ Nancy. I was going to save it for later, but since you brought it up . . .”

  “Oh, no! I don’t want to hear another word. I’m here for a week’s vacation, and that’s that!” Nancy flung herself on the bed and covered her head with a pillow.

  “Okay, okay.” Eloise shrugged. “I only thought you’d be interested because it has to do with a TV show. . . .” She stared absently at the ceiling, showing no emotion.

  “What TV show?” Bess asked. Nancy’s aunt didn’t answer. “Come on, Nancy, ask her. I’ve got to know!”

  Nancy peeked out from under her pillow, looking back and forth from Bess to Eloise. “Okay, Aunt Eloise,” she muttered. “I give in. What show?”

  “Well, let me start at the beginning,” the older woman replied, sitting down next to Nancy. “Yesterday, I happened to tell my downstairs neighbor you were coming to stay with me. Her name is Mattie Jensen, and she’s an—”

  “The Mattie Jensen? Of ‘Danner’s Dream’?”

  Eloise nodded, and Bess nearly fainted with excitement.

  “I don’t believe it! Mattie Jensen is your neighbor! Is she as beautiful in real life as she is on TV? Is she anything like Serena Livingstone?”

  “Hey, wait.” Nancy propped herself up on one elbow, looking bewildered. “You guys are way ahead of me! Who’s Serena Livingstone?”

  Bess looked at Nancy as if she had just arrived from Mars. “That’s Mattie Jensen’s character on ‘Danner’s Dream.’ Gosh, Nancy, you’re really out of it. You at least know who Rory
Danner is, don’t you?”

  Nancy shook her head.

  “His real name is Rick Arlen. He and Mattie are the stars of the show,” Eloise explained. “Anyway, I told her that you’re a detective, and she got very excited.”

  “Well, is she?” Bess persisted. Nancy and Eloise looked at her, puzzled. “As beautiful in real life, I mean. And as together as Serena?”

  “Oh!” Eloise laughed. “Well, let’s see. If anything, I’d say she’s more beautiful in person. As for together—well, Mattie’s a sweet girl, but she’s very emotional. I guess you could say she has an artistic temperament.”

  Eloise turned back to her niece. “Anyway, she was really hoping you would stop by the set. It seems some strange things have been happening to Rick Arlen. She said she could get both of you guest passes for tomorrow morning. If you’re willing, that is.”

  “If we’re willing? Of course we are!” Bess declared. “I can’t believe I’m going to visit the set of ‘Danner’s Dream’! Wait till George hears about this! She’s as crazy about Rick Arlen as I am.”

  “Don’t tell me George watches ‘Danner’s Dream,’ too,” Nancy cried in surprise. George was always either training for some athletic event or lost in the pages of a book. How could she have time to watch daytime TV?

  “Her mother tapes it for her,” Bess explained. “Everybody watches Serena and Rory. They’re the hottest couple on the soaps!”

  “I think I have heard of them, actually. He was featured in Chatter magazine last month, right?” Nancy asked.

  Bess nodded. “Blond hair, dazzling blue eyes, muscles out to here,” she said, indicating large biceps. “Need I say more?”

  “I get the picture,” Nancy replied. “But I promised myself—no mysteries.”

  “Oh, come on, Nancy. How many chances do you get to meet real stars?”

  “Well, it would be kind of interesting to see how a television show is put together—”

  “Interesting?” Bess cried. “It’ll be fantastic! I’ll die if we don’t go!”

  “Then I guess I can’t say no, can I?” She turned to her aunt. “Okay, you can tell your neighbor we’re on.”

  “Great,” said Eloise. “Mattie said you could show up at the studio around ten.”

  “All right!” Bess exclaimed, her light blue eyes dancing. “Now, I’ve just got to decide what to wear tomorrow.”

  “I’d rather check out that snack you were talking about, Aunt Eloise.”

  “Wait a minute!” cried Bess. “I’m coming, I’m coming. I’ll pick out my clothes later.”

  Nancy had to laugh. Bess was so excited. She just hoped that Mattie Jensen was as prone to exaggeration as Aunt Eloise had said she was. If so, how much of a mystery could there really be?

  “Are you sure this skirt fits?” Bess asked. She and Nancy had just walked through the huge glass doors of Worldwide Broadcasting.

  “You look fabulous,” Nancy assured her friend. All morning Bess had been fussing in front of the mirror, getting ready for their visit to the set of “Banner’s Dream.” And the results were definitely worth the work. In her soft suede skirt, tights, and ankle boots, Bess looked like a star herself.

  “Okay, people,” a voice behind them shouted. “We go in here! Make sure your guest pass is visible.”

  Nancy turned and saw a group of about thirty people push through the same glass doors she and Bess had just entered.

  “It’s okay, Harry,” the tour guide in a navy blue uniform called to the security guard. “They’re with me.”

  “Where you going? ‘Danner’s Dream’?” the guard asked.

  “You guessed it,” replied the tour guide.

  “It’s going to be a zoo in there today,” the guard muttered. “But whatever— Management must know what they’re doing. Take them into studio one, Joe.”

  “Well, if I were Serena, I’d kill him,” Nancy heard a woman in the tour group say. “I mean, who does that Rory Danner think he Is?”

  “They may have to kill him,” her companion replied. “I heard he’s leaving the show at the end of the season.”

  “No!”

  “Yes! Didn’t you read the Star Sentinel last week? He wants to break his contract to make a movie.”

  “Well, if you ask me, Rick Arlen has gotten too big for his britches,” the first woman said. “We fans count, you know.“.

  At the rear of the group was a large man in an old sweatshirt. He was shifting from foot to foot and muttering, “You’ll find out, Rory. You’re not that great.”

  At last they all disappeared through a set of swinging doors. “Boy, they sure seem angry,” Nancy remarked.

  “That’s nothing,” the security guard said. “Ever since Arlen decided he was leaving the show, seems like everybody hates him. I wouldn’t want to be him right now, no siree.” He shook his head. “Can I help you girls?” he finally asked.

  “We’re here to see Mattie Jensen,” Nancy said politely. “She’s expecting us.”

  The guard checked his book. “Miss Drew and Miss Marvin?” he asked. “Let’s see—ten o’clock . . . she’s probably just going into makeup. It’s down the hall and around to your right. First left after the producer’s office.”

  Thanking him, the girls made their way through the set of swinging doors that led into a long hallway. The noisy tour group had gone directly onto the set, but Nancy and Bess continued on, looking for the makeup room.

  “This must be the hall he means,” said Nancy.

  “Maybe we’ll pass the casting director’s office,” Bess whispered, following her.

  Just then, two young secretaries stepped into the hall ahead of them. “Well, I think he has a good point!” one was saying to the other.

  “He may have a point, but that’s still no way to talk to people. Even if he is the producer!”

  Feelings seem to be running high everywhere, Nancy thought. Suddenly she grabbed Bess by the wrist and signaled for her to be quiet.

  They stopped by an open door with a sign that read William Pappas, Producer. They couldn’t see in or be seen. Inside, a man was shouting, probably into a phone since no one responded to him. “I’ve told you before, he can’t do this to me! I don’t care if he is Rick Arlen. If he leaves this show, he’ll never work again! Nobody—nobody—breaks a contract with me. I’ll kill him before I let him work for someone else!”

  Chapter Two

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE he feels that strongly about Rick Arlen,” Bess whispered angrily.

  Nancy peered into the office, taking care to remain hidden. William Pappas’s face was flushed with anger as he stared at the phone he had just slammed down. He fumbled in his pocket for a cigar.

  “Actors! They’re all alike! No class—none at all,” he muttered to himself. Then he rose and shouted to a timid-looking girl in an inner adjacent office. “Get the writers on the phone and tell them I want a Rory Danner death scene—the more realistic the better. That idiot doesn’t deserve to live after what he’s put me through! And where’s my Danish? You know I can’t think before I’ve had my second coffee.”

  “Come on!” Nancy said in Bess’s ear. “Let’s get out of here.” They hurried down the long hallway without looking back.

  “Gosh, Nancy,” Bess announced after they’d rounded a corner and were safely out of sight, “I’ll bet he’s the one who’s causing all the trouble.”

  “I don’t know, Bess. Maybe he has an artistic temperament, too. Remember what my aunt said about Mattie Jensen?”

  Bess’s attention, however, was caught by something else. “ ‘Makeup.’ Here we are.” Bess placed her hand over her heart. “I can’t believe I’m about to walk through that door and meet Mattie Jensen! How do I look? Are you sure this skirt is okay?”

  Nancy couldn’t help laughing. “You’re too much,” she said teasingly. “It still looks great, but if you’re so uncomfortable why did you wear it?”

  “Because it looks great—you just said so yourself!” Taking a deep b
reath, Bess knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” someone called out. Bess immediately recognized the voice of her favorite soap opera character.

  Inside, Mattie Jensen was sitting in a large, barber-style chair. Her famous auburn curls were wrapped in purple curlers, and her porcelain skin was scrubbed clean. Not a hint of makeup anywhere. But she still looked incredibly beautiful, and her green eyes sparkled.

  “Mattie J-Jensen,” Bess sputtered.

  “You must be Nancy Drew,” Mattie replied. She held out a manicured hand and gave Bess a warm smile.

  “No, I’m Bess Marvin. She’s Nancy.”

  “Oh, of course,” Mattie corrected herself, taking Nancy’s hand. “It’s great to meet both of you.”

  “Thanks, same here,” Nancy answered.

  “Nancy, Bess, I’d like you to meet Kay Wills. She’s our makeup artist and one of the great ones. Without her, I’d be lost.”

  “Come on, Mattie, don’t be so modest.” Kay rolled her eyes at the girls and began dotting ivory base on Mattie’s forehead. “With looks like yours, you’ll never be lost.”

  “Well, looks aren’t everything, are they?” Mattie sighed, holding her head still as Kay blended in the foundation.

  “Try telling that to your leading man,” Kay sniffed, continuing to work.

  “Poor Rick,” Mattie murmured. “He’s so misunderstood. And now all this awful stuff is happening to him. Nancy, maybe you’ll be able to help.”

  Nancy leaned against the wall. “To be honest, Ms. Jensen, I’m in New York on vacation. I really don’t want to get involved in anything complicated.”

  “Please, call me Mattie. And you’ve got to help him, Nancy! It’s a matter of life and death!”

  “You know, you’re a lot more upset than he is, Mattie,” Kay put in. “As far as I can tell, he loves the attention, no matter how negative it is.”

  Nancy was puzzled. “If you tell me what’s going on, maybe I could give you a few suggestions,” she offered. After all, she told herself, giving advice was different from actually getting involved.

  “Didn’t Eloise tell you?” Mattie asked frantically, her luminous eyes filling with tears. “Someone is trying to kill Rick!”