Carolyn Keene - Stay Tuned For Danger

“Well, well, well— What shall we do about that?” Dwayne pursed his lips, thinking. Then he stood up, walked to the door, and locked it. “So we won’t be disturbed,” he explained.

A sudden chill made its way down Nancy’s spine. If the electronic voice on the phone yesterday had been Dwayne’s, she was now trapped.

“What did you say your name was?” Dwayne had a pen poised over a small pink index card.

“Diane Elliot,” Nancy said, looking the agent squarely in the eye. “With two L s and one T .”

“That’s a good name for an actress. You’re lucky.” He smiled. “Now tell me, Diane, why did you come to me? There are hundreds of agents in this city.”

“Well, Mattie spoke so highly of you, Mr. Casper,” Nancy began. Dwayne’s face grew pink with pleasure. “And I know you once represented Rick Arlen—”

At the mention of Rick’s name, the agent’s face clouded over. “Ah, yes, the irrepressible Mr. A.”

“He’s not with you anymore, is he?” Nancy was being bolder than she liked to be, but she had to lead Dwayne on.

“Rick? His real name is Richard Aburtuski, by the way. No, he’s no longer one of my clients. I don’t deal with failures, Ms. Elliot.”

Nancy looked genuinely surprised. Dwayne laughed derisively. “You think I’m being ridiculous—after all, he’s at the height of success! But I can tell you with certainty that leaving this agency is the biggest mistake Arlen ever made—except for his decision to be an actor, of course. The man can’t act his way out of a paper bag. He depends on his looks to get him by, but he’ll learn. They all learn eventually that the biggest factor in success is loyalty. And he has none.”

Dwayne’s face was red with anger. He wasn’t through on the subject of Rick Arlen, but just then the buzzer rang. “Whoever it is will go away,” he said. “I have no appointments scheduled today.”

The buzzer rang through the office once again, and then again and again. Finally Dwayne couldn’t stand it anymore. He bolted from his chair and unlocked the door. “I’m going to tell this idiot to go away. Do you have an appointment?” he yelled, hurrying through the reception area. “Because if you don’t, you’d better learn to read!”

“But, Mr. Casper! You must see me!” Bess’s voice was muffled through the door, but her sense of urgency came through loud and clear. “I’m a really great actress and I need an agent! Let me read for you, Mr. Casper, and you can judge for yourself!”

Laughing bitterly, Dwayne called through the door. “Young lady, I’m a very busy man, and I don’t handle street performers. Please leave me alone.”

“But I’m an actress ! Just listen.” Bess began to recite a passage from Romeo and Juliet .

Good old Bess, Nancy thought with a smile. She really was quite an actress when she had to be. They had devised a plan: After Nancy was able to get inside Dwayne’s office, Bess would divert his attention so that Nancy could search it. As soon as Dwayne was out of sight in the reception area, Nancy began to rummage through the papers on his desk. The longer Bess was able to divert his attention from Nancy, the more Nancy would be able to find out. And from the sound of things, Nancy thought she just might have all day.

“And I sing, too! Just listen to this, Mr. Casper.” Bess launched into a well-known show tune in a loud, off-key voice.

“Please, young woman!” Dwayne begged. “Why don’t you go sing in the park or something? You’re giving me a headache!”

Aha! Nancy’s eyes opened wide as she looked at the papers in front of her. An eviction notice—and several large bills from creditors. Searching further, she found warnings from collection agencies, even threats. Dwayne Casper’s talent agency was obviously in desperate trouble.

“But, Mr. Casper, I’m the next Mattie Jensen! Everyone says I look just like her, except I’m prettier.”

“ What? ” Dwayne exploded. “ Nobody , but nobody , ever was,” is, or will be prettier than Mattie Jensen! Mattie is one of a kind—absolutely unique!”

Nancy cocked her head to listen. It was clear to her that, where Mattie was concerned, Dwayne’s interest was more than just professional.

“Well, I’m unique, too, Mr. Casper—terribly unique and incredibly talented!”

“My dear young woman”—Dwayne was practically screaming now—“if you don’t leave at once, I’ll call the police. And may I say in parting that with your nerve, you’ll probably go far in this business!”

Quickly Nancy put everything back in the desk exactly where she’d found it. When Dwayne returned, he was trying hard to calm down.

“I’m sorry. Now, where were we before that ghastly woman interrupted us?”

Nancy shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Dwayne’s eyes had a wild look in them, and having found what she’d come for, all she wanted to do was get out as quickly as she could.

“You know, Mr. Casper, I feel like such a fool, but I just remembered—I’ve got an appointment with a photographer in fifteen minutes! He’s going to take head shots of me.”

“Oh, I see,” Dwayne replied, still smiling. “Well, is he any good? Maybe I know him. What’s his name?”

“His name? Uh—” Nancy panicked for a moment. What could she say? Finally she blurted out, “Ned Nickerson. He’s new in town—just got in from L.A. But Mattie says he’s good.”

“Hmmm.” Dwayne frowned. “Never heard of him. Well, Diane, come and see me when you’ve got your pictures. I’ll see what I can do for you.” He extended his hand for her to shake. His grip was firm, like iron, and his eyes searched hers intently.

“Come to think of it, have we met before? You look a bit familiar,” Dwayne said.

“Well, we’ve never actually met,” she replied, “but as I said before, I did do extra work on ‘Danner’s Dream’.”

“That must be it, then,” he said. “You’d better get going if you don’t want to be late for your shoot. Look forward to seeing you again, Ms. Elliot.”

“Thank you so much. You’ve been a great help!” Nancy said and left the office.

Down in the lobby, Bess was munching on a candy bar and smiling broadly. “How’d I do?” she mumbled, her mouth full of chocolate.

“Bravo!” Nancy applauded, laughing. “I especially loved your rendition of ‘Tonight.’ It was—different, very different.”

“You really think so?” asked Bess, fluffing her hair and winking.

“And wait till I tell you what I found!” Nancy said, grabbing her friend by the arm. “But we’d better get over to ‘Danner’s Dream’ right away. I want Mattie to hear this, too.”

The crisp spring air whirled around them as they walked briskly up Broadway toward Columbus Avenue.

“He’s really in bad shape, huh?” Bess asked incredulously after Nancy filled her in.

“Everybody in the world is after him. And when people are that desperate, it can make them pretty crazy. I want to keep a close eye on Dwayne Casper, Bess. I think he may be our man.”

Pushing through the glass doors of Worldwide Broadcasting, Nancy and Bess beamed at the security guard.

“Hi!” Nancy called out. “We’re back again.”

“Why, hello, girls. You heard the set was closed, didn’t you?” the man asked. “They’ve been having a little trouble in there and Pappas sent down the order. I can’t let anybody in, not even you two.”

“I know,” Nancy told him. “But could you call Mattie Jensen? We just need to talk to her for a few minutes.”

The security guard ran his finger down the list of telephone extensions on his desk. “Sure thing. Mattie, let’s see— Ah! Here it is.”