Carolyn Keene - Stay Tuned For Danger

“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.”