Wild Action

by Dawn Stewardson

  Whatever the reason, it didn’t really matter that Royce knew. By this point, even Jay would have to admit that sabotage was the only explanation—as soon as he actually started thinking about it.

  “But you were off base suspecting Garth and Sarina, eh?” Royce said.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Carly told him. “Just yesterday, Jonathan mentioned to them that raw chicken is Attila’s favorite treat.”

  “But they weren’t on the set this morning, so they couldn’t have planted it.”

  “They weren’t there at all?” Nick asked.

  “Uh-uh. They aren’t in any of the scenes Jay was planning to shoot today.”

  Carly glanced at Nick again. “They could have gotten someone else to stash the chicken, couldn’t they?”

  “They could have, but it’s not likely. It would have meant letting someone else know they’d been causing the problems.”

  “But…You mean you’re thinking our prime suspects aren’t guilty after all?”

  “I’m not entirely ruling them out. I’m just saying they’re not looking nearly as prime as they have been.”

  That obviously didn’t make Carly happy, so he said to Royce, “You were on the set all morning? Sarina or Garth couldn’t have come by without your knowing?”

  Royce shook his head. “I was there from the crack of dawn. Jay and I .were working out exactly what part of the clearing we wanted the running sequences in, then we had to supervise the lighting. Besides, the rock didn’t get there much before you did. They didn’t bring it onto the set until eight-thirty or nine.”

  “Who brought it?”

  “Barb and a couple of technicians. They had it on a big dolly.”

  “And the three of them put it in place?”

  “Well, the techs did the muscle work. And Jay did the supervising—made sure they got it at the angle he wanted and everything. Barb mostly just stood around reminding them to be careful. Telling them fake rocks are really hard to make. But you’re figuring one of them put the chicken under it?”

  “They’d be the obvious ones. You know any reason one of the techs might be into sabotage?”

  Royce shrugged. “I haven’t heard about anything. They’re local guys. Toronto, I mean. So they’re probably thrilled to be working on a Jay Wall movie. And with Barb hoping this film will lead to other set director jobs, I can’t see it being her.”

  “No, Carly and I pretty well ruled her out long ago.”

  “Oh?”

  “Uh-huh. Aside from the job thing, if Goodie looses his shirt on this movie and walks into divorce court crying poor…”

  “Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.”

  “Okay, so if we eliminate those three, who else could have done it?”

  “Hell, I guess it could have been almost anybody. Somebody’s just wandering by, stops to have a look at the rock…”

  Thinking back, Nick recalled how many people had been in that clearing. There’d been dozens of them.

  “Let’s try a different angle,” he said. “We’re assuming the point of all this is to screw Jay. So is there anyone aside from Sarina and Garth who’d have an obvious reason? Anyone who was on the set this morning?”

  “Well, I guess there’s…No, that would really be reaching.”

  “What would?”

  “Oh, I was thinking about the chef, but that’s crazy.”

  “Then what made you think of him? Did you notice him near the rock?”

  “No, it’s just that…Well, Jay and Raffaello have been at each other’s throats since day one. Actually, according to the rumor mill, the problem started before Jay even laid eyes on Raffaello.

  “See, Jay wanted to bring a chef with him from L.A. The one he usually uses when he’s on location. But Goodie wouldn’t go for it—said why should they fly this guy up, then pay him the princely wages he demands, when they could get somebody here a lot cheaper?

  “In any event, Jay pulled one of his famous screaming routines at the very first meal Raffaello served in Toronto.”

  “Isn’t that kind of unusual?” Carly asked. “Having a chef when you’re shooting in a city with a zillion restaurants?”

  “Well, you can play it either way. But having everyone eat together is the way Goodie likes it. I think he figures that if he lets people escape to restaurants, it wastes a lot more time. And Goodie’s a real time-is-money guy.”

  “Yeah, we’ve noticed,” Nick said.

  They’d reached the edge of the woods, and since the camp and Attila’s field lay in different directions, they paused where they were.

  “Sit,” Carly told Attila. “You have a little rest while we finish talking.”

  The bear obediently flopped down onto his haunches and Carly began stroking his neck.

  “Let’s get back to that screaming performance Jay put on,” Nick said.

  “Oh, it was a real scene,” Royce told them. “He made it plain that he didn’t like the cooking. And he told Raffaello it had better improve—fast. Then he said something about Italians not knowing how to cook anything but pasta and that they should have hired a French chef.

  “Raffaello went ballistic at that, so Jay fired him on the spot. But Goodie intervened—I think mostly because he’d hired Raffaello personally, so he took Jay’s criticism as an insult to him, too.”

  “What do you think?” Carly asked Nick. “Would public humiliation be enough to make Raffaello try to ruin the movie?”

  “I guess it would depend on how hard he took being humiliated.”

  “He does have a hot Latin temperament,” Royce put in.

  “You know,” Carly said slowly, “when Raffaello arrived on the porch the other night, when he thought there was a bear in his kitchen…Well, he didn’t exactly scare me, but he certainly made me think he was a man I wouldn’t want to cross.”

  Nick rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. The idea of a revenge-crazed chef struck him as decidedly off the wall, but you could never rule out anyone with motive, means and opportunity.

  “Let’s think this through,” he said at last. “Raffaello certainly could have brought some raw chicken along this morning. Then all he’d have had to do was hide it.”

  “He’d have known about the rock scene,” Royce said. “Once the rock was in place, Jay started going on about wanting the bear to dig under it.”

  “But you said you didn’t actually notice Raffaello near it,” Nick said.

  “No. I wasn’t paying much attention to what people were doing, though. When I wasn’t behind my camera, framing shots, I was getting the grips to adjust the lighting.

  “I mean, I’d have noticed if Garth or Sarina had shown up, because it would have been unusual. They’re never around the set unless they’re in a scene. But I wouldn’t have noticed anything like a guy checking out the rock.”

  “Nick?” Carly said so anxiously that Attila gave a little snort

  “It’s all right, boy.” She patted him reassuringly, then looked at Nick again. “I was just thinking, Garth got the roast he was going to feed Attila from Raffaello. So if it was poisoned, Raffaello could have done it as easily as Garth.”

  “Probably more easily,” Nick muttered. “Hell, I’ve had some pretty strange suspects in my time, but a chef with an attitude…?”

  “You’ve had some pretty strange suspects in your time?” Royce said.

  Nick swore under his breath. It wasn’t like him to think out loud.

  “It’s okay,” Carly told him. “Royce can keep a secret.”

  “Yeah…well…”

  “In real life, Nick’s a police detective,” she explained to Royce. “In Edmonton. He’s only helping me here for a few weeks because Wild Action was suddenly half his and we had this movie lined up. And with Gus gone, I desperately needed help.”

  “You’re serious.” A grin spread across Royce’» face. “But if you’re not really a bear trainer,” he said to Nick, “how did you get him to work for you?”

  “You call the wa
y he behaved this morning working for me? But listen, keep the detective bit quiet, okay? I don’t want Jay thinking we’ve been trying to pass me off as a bear expert when I’m not.” Even though that was exactly what they’d been doing.

  “Sure, no problem. I won’t say a word.” Royce glanced in the direction of the camp. “Well, I guess I’ll head back to base. After spending the morning in the sun, I could do with about a gallon of ice water. See you later,” he added, turning to go.

  “And Royce?” Nick called after him. “If you hear about anyone else having a serious grudge against Jay, let me know, eh?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Nick, Carly and Attila started in the direction of his field, Nick’s conscience nagging him loud and clear. It had been easy, at first, to simply avoid mentioning that he was no longer a detective. But with each passing day, he was feeling more uncomfortable about lying to Carly.

  What could he do, though? Tell her the truth at this late date? By now, he knew her well enough to be certain she wouldn’t take it well. She’d somehow twist things around in her mind and decide he’d been playing her for a fool. But if he didn’t tell her…

  He mentally shook his head. For the last little while, the thought that he’d probably never see her again once this movie was made had been bothering the devil out of him. But he just couldn’t see any hope of working out something permanent between them. There were too many obstacles.

  Still, given the way he felt, he shouldn’t be lying to her.

  Before he could decide whether he should just bite the bullet and come clean, they’d reached Attila’s field, and she said, “You think he’ll be safe enough with only the boys watching him? This last episode has me wondering if I shouldn’t bring a sleeping bag down here and stay with him twenty-four hours a day.”

  “I think he’ll be just fine with the boys. They’ve been doing a good job so far.”

  “I guess,” she said slowly.

  They got the bear into his field, and after she’d reminded Jonathan no one was to get anywhere near the fence, they started for the house.

  By that point, Nick had put the idea of coming clean onto the back burner, because a growing suspicion had begun worming its way into his mind. He told himself he was way off base, but once he smelled a rat he always wanted to pursue it right away.

  At last he said, “How well do you know Royce?”

  Carly gave him a curious glance. “I thought I told you. He worked on a couple of documentaries that Gus and I were involved with.”

  “No, I mean do you know him really well or do you just run into him on jobs now and then.”

  “Why are you asking?”

  “Carly, just give me an answer, okay?”

  She shrugged. “If you’re asking has there ever been anything between us, the answer is no.”

  Nick smiled to himself. That wasn’t what he’d been asking, but he sure liked the answer. “Well, regardless of that, you obviously trust him, but…”

  “But what?”

  “Something’s bothering me. It was Royce who told you about Sarina having an affair with Jay.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Has anyone else said anything about it?”

  “No. But I haven’t talked to many of the movie people.”

  “And what about the blowup between Jay and Raffaello? Everybody must know about that, but nobody except Royce has referred to it.”

  “Well, as I said, we haven’t really been talking to that many people, so—”

  “I have. Last night, when I had dinner in the camp, I was talking to a whole lot of people.”

  “Nick, what are you getting at?”

  “The possibility that Royce has been feeding us red herrings. That Sarina and Jay never had an affair and that there was never any big scene between Jay and Raffaello. That maybe Royce has just been blowing smoke so we wouldn’t realize he’s our saboteur.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Everybody’s Talkin’ ‘Bout It

  CARLY STOPPED DEAD and stood staring at Nick. He had to be joking, but his expression said he wasn’t.

  “Royce?” she said at last. “You think it’s Royce?”

  “I’m saying it could be.”

  “Why? Just because he happened to mention both the affair and Jay’s scene with Raffaello?”

  “No. That’s only part of it. I’ve been thinking back over all the incidents we’ve heard about.

  “Jay fired someone because a couple of reels of film went missing. And the lab claimed they didn’t screw up that processing, remember? They said the film must have been exposed before it was shot.

  “Both those problems were related to film, and Royce is the number one cameraman. And then there were those camera filters that mysteriously got left behind in Toronto.”

  “Nick, it was Royce who had to drive all the way back and find them.”

  “Sure. But maybe he wasn’t the one who noticed they weren’t here. And maybe he was hoping nobody would notice until they needed them. And, today, he could have slipped that chicken under the rock as easily as anyone else.”

  “But what about the roast? I don’t see how he could have had anything to do with that.”

  “No, so maybe the story there was exactly what you were told. Maybe Garth just asked Raffaello for something to feed Attila, and the roast was what Raffaello gave him.”

  Carly had to admit that everything Nick was saying added up to Royce being a suspect, but she just couldn’t buy the idea that he was their man. “What about motive?” she asked.

  “Good. You’ve been paying attention in detective class,” Nick said.

  Then he smiled. And even though sex had been the last thing on her mind, his smile suddenly made her hot all over.

  Lord, everything about the man was sexy, from the tips of his toes to his gorgeous eyes. Even his hair, which she’d initially thought was far too short, was starting to look so good that she’d been running her fingers through it in her dreams last night.

  Forcing her brain back into gear, she said, “Why on earth would Royce want to cause trouble? If this movie’s a hit, it’ll be great for his reputation.”

  Nick shrugged. “Maybe there’s something more important to him.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, this isn’t the first time he’s worked for Jay, so somewhere along the way he could have developed a major grudge against the guy. Or maybe somebody’s paying him to cause trouble. Money’s a great motivator.”

  “I just don’t think it could be him.”

  “Well, we can easily find out whether those stories of his are true. And he drops way down on the suspect list if they are.”

  “If they are, I don’t see why you’d leave him on the list at all.”

  “Because so many of those incidents were film related. At any rate, I’m going to wander down to the camp and check out the stories—catch someone to talk to before dinner.”

  “Just you?”

  He nodded. “I think I should handle this on my own.”

  “Why?”

  “Oh…people talk more freely to one person than to two. And it’ll just seem less obvious.”

  She felt a stab of annoyance. “You mean you think I might be too obvious.”

  “Well, you aren’t quite detective, first grade material yet.”

  That line would have annoyed her, as well, except that Nick delivered it with another smile. If he could bottle the effect of his smile, he could retire and stay here with her forever.

  The thought lingered in her mind, making her ask herself how she’d feel about his doing exactly that. Then she forced the question away unanswered, because it didn’t matter how she’d feel. He’d be leaving in no time at all.

  She took a couple of backward steps toward the house, not quite able to force her eyes from his. “I guess it’s just as well if you go on your own. The Marx brothers will be wanting their dinner.”

  “Crackers, too.” Nick held her gaze, sending another rush of
heat through her.

  “Crackers, too,” she agreed.

  “And the cats.”

  “Of course. I wasn’t forgetting about them.” But she had been. And about Crackers.

  That made her feel awfully uneasy. If just gazing into Nick Montgomery’s eyes could make her forget about the animals, she was in even deeper than she’d realized.

  “I’ll see you in a little while, then,” he said, turning to leave.

  “Oh, wait a sec. With everything that’s been going on, I forgot to mention I’ll be out tonight.”

  “Out?”

  “I have a painting class. And I’m meeting a friend for dinner before we go.”

  “I didn’t know you painted.”

  “I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about each other. We’ve never had time to talk about anything except Attila and the movie.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

  He simply gazed at her for a minute, and the look in his eyes tempted her to cancel her plans for the evening. But she knew she needed time alone—to think. Because she’d developed the terrible sense that no matter what she did, it might be a mistake.

  If she got further involved with him, she’d only feel worse when he left. On the other hand, now that she’d kissed him, now that she knew how wonderful it had made her feel, she suspected that if she didn’t make love with him, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.

  So what was she going to do?

  Telling herself she wasn’t going to do anything until she could make a decision that felt right, she checked her watch. “Actually, I’ve got to get going pretty soon. So if you’re not there when I’m ready to leave, you’ve got your key?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Well, there’s lots of food in the fridge. Or maybe you could have dinner at the camp again." With that, she forced herself to turn away.

  NICK MIGHT HAVE BEEN dying to be alone with Carly tonight, but as he headed for the camp he did his best to convince himself it was a good thing she was going out.

  If she wasn’t, he was pretty certain they’d have ended up in bed. When you added the way she made him feel to the way she’d kissed him earlier, there was little doubt where a few hours alone would have led. And he’d have wanted things to lead there so badly that he’d have had no trouble ignoring his conscience.