Wild Action (20 page)

“It’ll be exciting, won’t it? To start up his own business, I mean.”

“Yes. Very.” Carly glanced at him again, finding it more than a little unsettling that her parents knew more about his plans for the future than she did.

“Oh?” Lisa said. “Carly didn’t tell me you were starting a business, Nick. What sort?” she added, giving Carly a sidelong look.

“Well, I’d like to start my own private investigation agency.”

“I guess a lot of ex-police detectives end up in that line of work,” her father said.

Nick nodded. “It’s what we know.”

Carly uneasily sipped her wine. It might be what he knew, but she couldn’t imagine there’d be much call for a private investigation agency around Port Perry. So where did that leave
them?

She could hardly ask. In fact, she could hardly ask anything at the moment. Her parents would think it was awfully strange if they realized Nick had never told her about this. But if they’d just magically vanish for a couple of minutes…

Telling herself that wasn’t going to happen, she caught Lisa’s eye and silently asked for more help.

They hadn’t played this game in years, but Lisa hadn’t lost her touch. “Where are you thinking about starting up?” she asked.

Nick looked at Carly, his expression so uncomfortable she felt a chill around her heart

“In Toronto?” her mother asked.

Nick’s gaze lingered on Carly for another second, then he looked at her mother. “No, it would have to be in Edmonton. That’s were all my contacts are.”

The chill turned to ice. Even though they’d never talked about a future together, the way Carly felt about him…The way she’d been certain he felt about her…

“Yes, I guess contacts are essential in that sort of game,” her father said.

“Especially when you’re just getting going,” Nick agreed.

There was a taste like burnt toast in Carly’s mouth, and she found herself wishing
she
could magically vanish.

“Carly?” her mother said. “Is something wrong? You look awfully pale.”

“I just feel a little…I think maybe I should get a breath of fresh air. I’ll only be a minute.” She pushed back her chair and fled to the front door.

It was still raining, but there was a sheltering overhang above the front steps and a wooden railing that she rested her hands on for support. She couldn’t recall ever feeling weak-kneed before, but she’d been on such an emotional roller coaster for the past while that it had to be physically catching up with her.

For a moment, she simply stood in the pale glow from the light over the entrance, staring out through the rain. Then, behind her, the door opened and Nick said, “Let’s talk, okay?”

Turning, she gazed at him, thinking that if hearts could cry, that’s what hers was doing right now. He was the only man she’d ever really loved, and she couldn’t have him.

He reached out and took her hands in his. “Carly, nothing I said last night was a lie. Especially not that I love you.”

She swallowed hard and bit her lower lip. The man she loved, loved her. That should make her incredibly happy. Instead, she was filled with a feeling so bittersweet it was making her ache.

If he was going back to Edmonton, it didn’t matter whether he loved her or not. Because even if he asked her to go with him, she couldn’t Trying to set up
what she had here, halfway across the country, would take a million dollars and a million years. And she had neither.

“Last night,” he went on, “I intended to finally make myself tell you the truth. That’s why I made a nice dinner—because I wanted all the help I could get. But then Jay interrupted, and…

“At any rate, when we got back to the house I was still determined to explain things to you. Then Ben phoned and beat me to the punch.

“But the point is, I knew I
had
to tell you, because I wanted us to talk about the future, and you had to know the truth before we could do that”

“Word is,” she murmured,
“your
future is a private investigation agency in Edmonton.”

“I…look, I’m really sorry that came as a surprise. I’d assumed I’d have a chance to fill you in, and I didn’t But your mother started asking questions while you were gone, so I told her my plans. I mean, the plans I’ve had for a long time. But now…with you…”

“Yes?” she whispered, almost afraid to hope that falling in love with her had changed those plans.

“Carly, I love you. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without you.”

“Oh, Nick.” She moved into the warm circle of his arms, resting her cheek against his chest But simply standing there, listening to the reassuring beat of his heart and breathing in his scent brought tears to her eyes.

He was saying all the right things, yet there were no certainties.
Two for Trouble
had the potential either to make or break Wild Action. And if it was the latter, if the agency didn’t get much work in the near future, she’d be scrambling simply to keep it going,
while Nick would have to search for a job. And if all his contacts were in Edmonton…

“I can’t pack up and move Wild Action out west,” she finally said.

“I know. I haven’t forgotten. We’re mortgaged to the hilt. And if things don’t work out with this movie…”

“Don’t even say it”

“You’re right We shouldn’t be talking at all.”

With that, he tilted her face toward his and kissed her, a long, loving kiss that promised her the world.

But she’d happily settle for only a tiny corner of it as long as she could share it with him.

C
ARLY STOOD ON THE
front porch with her mother, watching her father, Lisa and Nick load the car and absently thinking back over the past week.

Once it had started raining, it hadn’t stopped for days—which had given Jay the opportunity to shoot all the wet-and-miserable-type scenes he’d wanted. And he’d shot so many takes of the search party slogging through the rain that she just
knew
he’d done it to get back at the film’s stars for their little escape to Toronto.

Surprisingly, he hadn’t thrown one of his screaming fits when they’d shown up the next day. But given Sarina and Garth’s grumbling, the water torture had been far more effective punishment. At any rate, the sun had finally reappeared, everyone had breathed a collective sigh of relief and they’d gotten down to shooting the remaining scenes.

Best of all, from Carly’s point of view, there hadn’t been a single incident since the chicken under the
rock. And with the shooting here virtually finished, she’d almost stopped worrying.

There were only a couple of scenes left. Jay wanted some shots of the Marx brothers traveling through the woods at twilight. And he wanted to reshoot the one of them tearing apart prey. He hadn’t liked the rushes of the nighttime version, so they’d reshoot the scene this afternoon. Then, in the morning, the cast and crew would be moving on to Camp Run-a-Muck.

“Carly, you look lost in thought,” her mother said.

She smiled. “Yes, I guess I was. Just thinking that everyone will be gone tomorrow.”

“Well, we’ll be gone far sooner.” Her mother glanced toward the car, then looked back at her. “We didn’t overstay our welcome, did we?”

“No, of course not.” They
had
stayed longer, than they’d originally intended, though, so fascinated by the magic of making movies that they hadn’t wanted to leave.

“That’s everything,” her father said, closing the trunk.

Lisa headed over to Carly and her mother, while her father shook hands with Nick. “Good luck with the last day of shooting,” he said.

“And good luck with Nick,” Lisa whispered to Carly. “Although, from the looks of things, you don’t need it. The man’s positively mad about you.”

Carly couldn’t help smiling, because she knew Lisa was right. Of course, she was positively mad about him, too, which made things ideal.

Her mother gave Nick a hug and invited him—for about the hundredth time—to come and visit them in Kingston.

Then Lisa hugged him, saying, “Thanks again for helping us out on the highway.”

Finally, the three of them climbed into the car and headed down the drive.

“Alone at last,” Nick said.

“Except for that camp full of cast and crew” she teased, but she knew exactly how he felt For the past little while, they might as well have been living in a goldfish bowl.

Things had been so hectic that they’d had no time alone together to talk. And making love had been out of the question.

Her parents had adored Nick, but she’d known they wouldn’t have adored the idea of her sleeping with him right under their noses. She might be an independent woman of thirty, but to them she was still their baby. So she’d been sleeping alone in her bed, with only dreams of Nick for company. And she was aching to get back to reality—which meant it was a good thing that Jay didn’t need the Marx brothers for a couple of hours.

As her father’s car rounded the curve in the drive and disappeared, Nick wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “I know Lisa was on to us, but what about your parents? You think
they
figured there was something going on between us?”

She smiled. “You think they’re blind?”

“I really liked them,” he said. “But I could hardly wait for them to leave.”

“Oh? Why?”

“When we get inside, I’ll show you.”

“Promise?”

“Hey, I’m never going to lie to you again, remember?”

“Never, ever?”

“Never, ever.”

Carly smiled once more, then took a final glance down the drive—just to make sure her family hadn’t forgotten something and turned back.

They hadn’t, but a black stretch limo was pulling into view.

“Looks like someone has company,” she said.

“Won’t be anyone coming to see me,” Nick told her.

“Me, neither.”

“Good,” he said, drawing her even closer.

But as they watched, the limo drove past the camp and on up to the house.

It stopped, its dark windows offering no clue as to who was inside.

The driver got out and opened the limo’s back door.

A moment later, a man of about sixty emerged. He was tall, tanned and fit. His suit said “money” with quiet understatement. His expression said “displeasure,” with no understatement at all.

Not uttering a word, he walked up onto the porch, eyeing them cooly.

It made Carly anxious. He looked like a man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted, and she had no idea what that might be.

Turning his gaze to Nick, he said, “Augustus Montgomery?”

“No, I’m Nick Montgomery. Gus was my uncle, but I’m afraid he died a while back.”

“Then who owns Wild Action now?”

“Carly Dumont and me.” He nodded in her direction, then looked at the stranger once more. “And you are…?”

“Howard Langly. I’m a business associate of Brian Goodfellow’s.”

For a second, Carly drew a blank. Then she realized that was Goodie. “By business associate, do you mean you’re one of his partners?”

Langly gave her another cool look. “I’m surprised you know he
has
partners. He rarely mentions that Get Real isn’t entirely his.”

She simply shrugged. Telling Langly it was Barb Hunt who’d done the mentioning might get Barb in trouble.

“What can we do for you?” Nick asked.

“I understand Jay’s been having problems with your bear—among other things.”

“There’s been the odd problem,” Nick admitted slowly. “But if you heard the bear was to blame for any of them, it’s not true.”

“And the problems seem to have stopped,” Carly put in.

“Well, things aren’t always the way they seem, are they? And I’d like to be clear on exactly
why
so many things have gone wrong. Without knowing that, I can’t be convinced there’ll be smooth sailing for the rest of the shoot.”

“I think this is something you should be discussing with Goodie,” Nick said.

“I intend to. With Jay Wall, as well. And I’d like you two sitting in on the discussion.”

“I don’t think they’d appreciate that,” Carly said uneasily.

“Frankly, Ms. Dumont, I don’t care whether they do or not. I have a great deal of money invested in a film that’s running behind schedule and over budget. But when I raise the issue with Goodie and Jay, they’ll try to snow me. So I’d like a couple of people on hand who know what’s been going on—to provide a little reality testing.”

“I don’t think we’re the appropriate people,” Nick told him.

“No? Well I can’t think of two
more
appropriate people. Since Wild Action has a percentage of the profits—assuming there might be some—you’d be wise to make sure I hear the truth. If Jay Wall can’t bring this movie in on budget, I’ll replace him with someone who can.”

“You mean you’d fire Jay?” Carly said.

“Can you do that?” Nick asked.

Langly nodded. “Between the third partner and myself, we hold a majority interest in Get Real. And I have the other partner’s proxy, so to speak.”

When Carly glanced at Nick, the naked look of concern in his eyes told her he was thinking exactly the same thing she was.

If they sat in on this discussion, and Jay ended up getting fired, he’d lay a lot of the blame on them. Then he’d bad-mouth Wild Action all the way to kingdom come.

“It’s in your own best interest,” Langly said.

Nick didn’t look any happier, but he nodded. “I see your point. Would you like us to head down to Goodie’s trailer with you? See if he’s there?”

“No. Trailers make me claustrophobic.”

When Langly glanced pointedly at the house, Carly said, “Nick, why don’t I take Mr. Langly inside and make some coffee while you round up Goodie and Jay.”

H
ALF AN HOUR LATER
, the five of them were sitting in the living room—Goodie glaring at Howard Langly and Jay glaring at everyone in turn. Including Goodie.

Carly was doing her best to pretend her stomach wasn’t churning, while Nick, sitting on the couch beside her, appeared so relaxed she
knew
it was an act.

“Who told you there were problems?” Goodie demanded.

“That’s irrelevant,” Langly replied. “What I want to know is exactly where the shooting stands.”

“It’s virtually finished,” Jay said quickly.

Langly looked in the direction of the couch. “Is that true?”

Carly’s stomach began churning faster. “I really only know about the animal scenes. But almost all of them have been shot.”

“See?” Jay snapped at Langly. “We’ve only got a couple more to film here—one this afternoon and one at twilight. Both with these wolf dogs,” he added, making a sweeping gesture that encompassed all four of them.

“Only a couple more scenes to film
here,”
Langly said. “That’s hardly the same as virtually finished, is it?”

Jay looked angrily at Carly and Nick, his expression saying he wished they were a hundred miles away.

Obviously Langly had been right. If he’d talked to Jay and Goodie on their own, they’d have tried to snow him.

“And then?” he asked. “When you’re finished
here?”

“Then we’ll be moving on to Camp Run-a-Muck. There are a few scenes to film there.”

Langly shot a glare of his own—straight at Jay. “I’ve read the script. I know exactly how many scenes there are at the camp. There’s the one of the busload of kids arriving, the one where they get settled into cabins and our child stars meet. Then there are the ones with the counselors, the cook, the swimming coach…All in all, a
lot
of scenes before the boys decide to take off into the woods.”

“Well…none of them should be time consuming to shoot. Here, it was the animal scenes that caused the delays. The shooting’s been slow going because the animals don’t always listen to Nick and Carly,” he added, sending another black look in their direction.

This one chilled her to the bone. If she’d had the slightest doubt that Jay would blame them if he got fired, it vanished with that look.

“What about the problems before you got here?" Langly asked. “The ones in Toronto? I hear you’re going to have to reshoot some of what you did there.”

“That was the lab’s fault,” Jay told him. “It had nothing to do with us.”

“Look, Howard,” Goodie said. “We seem to have
had a bit of a jinx for a while, but it’s behind us now. There hasn’t been any trouble on the set for ages.”

Langly looked pointedly toward the couch again.

“That’s true,” Nick told him. “Recently there’s been nothing.”

“And we can make up the lost time,” Jay said. “In the end, I’ll bring this puppy in
under
budget Just.wait and see.”

Langly was silent for a minute. Then he said, “I want you to take me down to the camp and introduce me around—so I can get a sense of how the cast and crew are feeling about things.”

“Introduce you as whom?” Goodie asked.

Langly gave him a withering look. “As your partner in Get Real. Then I’ll watch this afternoon’s shooting. We’ll talk again after that. Before I leave.”

Another chill seized Carly. Langly might be saying they’d talk again, but he sounded as if he’d already decided that Jay had to go.

C
ARLY CLOSED THE DOOR
behind Howard Langly, Jay and Goodie, then turned to Nick. “You know what Jay will be saying about Wild Action if he gets fired, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh. The only question is how badly he’d trash us.”

“And after Langly’s talked to people, he’ll be even more inclined to dump Jay. I mean, someone’s bound to say they figure all the problems have been attempts to get back at Jay for something. And if Langly buys that, he’ll decide that hiring a new director will guarantee that the problems are over.”

Nick shook his head. “Hell, can you believe we’re actually worried about Jay’s getting fired? Until we
got dragged into that little discussion, I’d have broken out the champagne at the thought of someone taking him down a peg or two. But the way things stand now…”

“I know. So what are we going to do?”

“There’s not much we
can
do. Except make sure this afternoon’s shoot goes well. The Marx brothers
will
give a good performance, won’t they?”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that. When you tell dogs to attack a pile of meaty bones, they’re pretty enthusiastic. You saw that when Jay shot the scene at night.”

“Dammit, I wish that take had satisfied him. If it had, maybe they’d have been gone already and Langly would have had to find someone at Camp Run-a-Muck to sit in on their little talk.”

Carly wrapped her arms around Nick’s waist and rested her cheek against his chest, trying to quell her fears. When they refused to go away, she said, “You know, there’s something else making me very nervous.”

“What?”

“Well, what if the saboteur hasn’t actually called it quits? What if he’s merely been lying low and biding his time? And now, with Langly down at the camp being introduced as Goodie’s partner…Won’t his presence tempt our troublemaker to try something?”

When Nick didn’t reply, she drew back a little and gazed at him. He was looking very worried, which spoke volumes.

“That chicken under the rock,” he finally said. “We never did know whether or not it was poisoned.”

She looked over to where the Marx brothers were sleeping, her stomach churning worse than ever. If anything happened to them, she’d never forgive herself.

“I think we’d better wander down to the camp,” Nick said. “Make sure the chef’s been taking good care of the bones they’ll be using.”

Fresh fear began to snake around her heart. “Nick, when it came to the chicken, Raffaello was high on our list of suspects, remember? And now the bones are in
his
fridge?”

“Yeah, it could be like having the cat looking after the canary, couldn’t it So here’s what we’ll do. Call that butcher in Port Perry and tell him you need all the big bones he can lay his hands on. And that you need them delivered right away—by taxi, if necessary.

“Then, once they get here, we’ll keep a close eye on them. And we’ll get Barb to use them, rather than the ones Raffaello has.”

Feeling a little less frightened, Carly made the call. As soon as she hung up, they headed for the camp’s kitchen.

“What?” the chef called when they knocked.

“Just need to talk to you for a minute,” Nick said, opening the door.

Raffaello looked over from where he was in the midst of slicing salad vegetables. “Yeah?”

“We’ve come to get those bones out of your fridge,” Nick told him.

He shook his head. “Barb Hunt already had them picked up.”

“So they’ve gone to the shoot site?” Carly asked.

“I guess.”

“Well, thanks.”

As Nick let the door close, she said, “If Barb’s already getting the ‘prey’ ready, she’s not going to be happy about having to redo it.”

“Her happiness is the least of our worries.” Nick, absently ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture that told Carly he was thinking about something.

“What?” she asked.

He looked at her for a moment, then said, “Who knew Goodie had silent partners? Before today, I mean. Before he brought Langly down here to introduce him?”

“Well, Jay would have. And Barb did. And…I imagine Sarina and Garth. Beyond that, I don’t know. Why?”

“I was thinking about something Langly said—that he was surprised you knew Goodie had partners, because he rarely mentions it.”

“And?”

“And whoever clued him in not only knew Goodie had partners, he also knew who Langly was and how to contact him. And why did he do that if not to cause trouble?”

Carly could feel her heart thumping. “You’re saying it was the saboteur who blew the whistle.”

“It’s certainly a possibility. So let’s wander around the camp for a few minutes and see what we can learn.”

They walked along one row of vehicles and up the next, not seeing anyone they knew well enough to stop and talk with. Then they spotted Royce swinging down from one of the equipment trucks.

“Perfect,” Nick said. “He always seems to be up on what’s what.”

“Hey,” Royce greeted them. “This is it, eh? The final day of shooting here. And I guess you’ll be glad to see the last of us.”

“Well, we’ll be glad to see the last of
some
of you,” Carly told him. “But present company’s excluded.”

Royce grinned. “You meet that Langly guy?”

“Yeah. He was at the house for a bit,” Nick said.

“Oh? And were you as surprised as everyone else to hear that Goodie had a partner?”

“No, we already knew,” Carly said. “Someone mentioned it to me.”

“Really? Then you were one of the chosen few. Even Garth and Sarina were surprised.”

“You’re sure about that?” Nick said.”

“Uh-huh. I was talking to them when Goodie came by. And when he introduced Langly, Sarina said, she’d thought Get Real was a hundred percent his. It was pretty funny, because you could literally see Goodie deflate.”

“So almost
nobody
knew?” Nick asked.

“It sure seemed that way. But look, I’ve got some work to do before this afternoon’s shoot, so I’ve gotta run.

The instant he turned away, Carly looked at Nick, her pulse racing. “Nobody knew except Jay, Barb and Goodie himself.”

“That’s not necessarily true. Anybody
might
have known. Even Sarina and Garth.”

“But she said—”

“Don’t forget they’re actors. And as I’ve said before, they tell lies for a living. But we’ve got to go with the odds, which means we check out Barb first. It could be that nobody’s been trying to screw Jay
after all. Maybe she’s been trying to stick it to Goodie. I mean, if she
is
on the unstable side…”

“Well, maybe she is. But I think you were right when you said she isn’t stupid. So if she’s counting on this picture to give her career a boost…”

“Yeah, but maybe she’s so totally pissed off at Goodie…Oh, hell, we’re not going to get anywhere by debating. Let’s just find her.”

They headed for her trailer and knocked on the door.

When there was no response, Carly said, “She must be at the shoot site.”

“Not so fast.” Nick grabbed her hand as she turned to go. “I wouldn’t mind a look inside.”

He pulled something from his pocket, then glanced around. The only people in sight were a couple of technicians standing a hundred feet away, facing away from the trailer.

“What’s that?” Carly whispered as he stuck the
something
into the lock. His hand was concealing the rest of it, so she couldn’t even see what it looked like.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, jiggling it around.

A minute later, the door was unlocked.

“Is that something you learned in cop school?” she whispered.

“No, it’s something I leaned when I was a kid who fell in with bad company. Luckily, I fell out again before I got into any real trouble.”

They both glanced toward the techs once more. The men were still facing the other way.

“Coming in or staying out?” Nick whispered, pushing the door open.

Images of them getting caught dancing in her head,
Carly quickly followed Nick inside. He was already opening a closet door.

“Check the bathroom,” he said.

“What am I looking for?”

“Something that…Hold the phone—I think I’ve already found it.”

He crouched down, pushed apart some clothes and peered into the back of the closet

“What is it?” Carly asked.

“See if you can find a plastic bag.”

When she did, Nick slipped it over his hand, then reached down into the closet and came up with a box of rat poison.

Carly froze at the sight of it.

“It’s empty,” he muttered, pulling the bag around the box. “And I’ll bet I know why.”

N
ICK AND
C
ARLY DRAGGED
Dylan out of the aviary before he’d half finished cleaning it.

“We need you to do something else,” Nick explained. “There’s a delivery coming from the butcher’s—bones for a scene we’ll be shooting this afternoon. I want you to wait in the house for them to get here, then put them in the fridge. After that, just stay in the house until we get back. Keep the door locked and don’t let anyone in except us. And whatever you do, don’t let the dogs out.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“We’ll fill you in later,” Carly promised.

They stopped by the house long enough to stash the poison box and grab a couple of plastic garbage bags, then they headed into the woods.

When they reached the clearing that was being used for the ‘prey’ scene, Barb was there alone, putting
what had to be the final touches on the deerhidecovered pile of bones.

Poisoned bones.
Nick was absolutely certain of that, and it made him want to wring her neck.

She stood up when she saw them, flashing one of her Hollywood smiles and wiping her hands on the big pockets of her shorts. “I just hope this is good enough to make Jay happy. I wasn’t as worried about the one I put together for the night shoot. There was so much shadow I knew it would hardly be visible. But that’s what he didn’t like when we saw the rushes.

“In the daylight, though…Well, with the camera focused on the dogs, there’ll only be a few glimpses of this, so I guess it should pass for a dead deer. What do you think?”

“I think you’re in big trouble,” Nick said.

Barb gave him a puzzled glance, then looked at Carly.

“We know who caused all the problems,” she said.

He smiled to himself. He and Carly made damn good partners no matter what the situation.

“Really?” Barb said. “Who?”

“We found the rat poison box,” he told her.

That clearly shook her, but she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“In the bottom of your closet,” he elaborated.

“What?” She looked slowly back and forth at them again, then focused on him. “Should I ask what you were doing in my closet? Where I come from, breaking into someone’s place is against the law.”