Wild Action (21 page)

“I wouldn’t push
that
angle. Not when poisoning animals is against the law, too.”

She shook her head, looking more and more nervous.
“Nick, if you actually found a box in my closet, somebody else put it there.”

“Maybe. But a forensic lab can tell us whose fingerprints are on it. And I expect they’ll find that the poison itself is on those bones you’ve got there.”

Barb nervously licked her lips. “Look, Nick, somebody’s trying to set me up here.”

Taking the garbage bags out of his pocket, he wondered how many hundred times he’d heard that line. “There’s only one way to prove
what’s
been going on. So back off and I’ll bag those bones as evidence.”

“Who the hell do you think you are? A cop?”

“As a matter of fact, I used to be. So just back off.”

“Like hell I will,” she snapped, putting her hands on her hips and firmly placing herself between him and the ‘prey.’ “I didn’t put this together in ten minutes, you know. And if you think I’m going to let you wreck it, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Barb,” he said quietly, “I don’t want to use force, but I will if I have to.”

“Oh? Well I don’t want to use
this,
but I will if I have to.”

For a moment, he simply stood staring at the pistol she pulled from her pocket

It was a little semiautomatic. But not little enough that it couldn’t do serious damage. And an unstable person with a gun was a dangerous combination.

When she leveled it at him, he said, “Hey, don’t make things worse than they already are. Until now, you’ve done nothing more than cause a few problems. But if that gun happened to go off and you shot me…

“I’m not going to shoot
you,”
she said, shifting the gun so it was aimed at Carly.

His heart slammed against his chest; Carly went so pale he thought she might faint

“I’m not going to shoot either of you as long as you do what I say. Now, just go ahead and do what you wanted to. Put the bones in those bags. Half in each.”

He started bagging the bones, his adrenaline pumping like crazy. He didn’t know what Barb had in mind, but the first mistake she made would be her only one.

Sticking the last bone into its bag, he turned toward her and Carly. “Now what?”

“Just leave the bags where they’re sitting and back up.”

Swearing to himself, he took a few backward steps. He couldn’t risk trying anything when she still had her gun aimed at Carly.

“Far enough?” he asked, stopping.

“A little more.”

He silently swore again. She wasn’t taking any chances.

“Okay,” she said to Carly when he’d moved back farther. “We’re going to walk over to those bags. Slowly, one step at a time. And don’t even think about getting cute.

“Either of you,” she added, waving the gun in Nick’s direction.

Still pale as ghost, Carly started forward.

“Pick up the bags,” Barb ordered when they reached them.

Carly picked them up.

“Okay,” Barb said to Nick. “Carly and I are going
to take a little walk in the woods. You get out of here and just keep your mouth shut”

Carly shot him such a terrified look it made his gut clench harder than before.

Barb looked at him icily for a moment, then said, “I’m warning you, Nick, don’t try playing cop with me. Because if you come after us, I’ll kill both of you. And when Jay discovers that the ‘prey’ isn’t ready, you don’t know a thing about it. Understand?”

His heart hammering, he reminded himself he’d talked more than one hostage taker into releasing his victim. But this time it was
Carly’s
life at stake. And that made him petrified he’d handle things the wrong way.

“Barb,” he said quietly, “like I said before, up till now you haven’t done anything really serious. But if you take Carly somewhere against her will, it’s kidnapping. So why don’t you put the gun away and—”

“No! I need time to think. Without an ex-cop watching.”

“But why not let us help you think?” He paused, forcing a smile. “After all, if two heads are better than one, then three heads…”

“I can understand how angry you must be at Goodie,” Carly murmured.

“I doubt it. You have no idea what a little bastard he is.”

“Look, Barb,” Nick tried, “how about sitting down and talking—just briefly, if that’s all you want And I’ll sit far enough away that I couldn’t possibly try to grab your gun.”

When she said nothing for a moment he took a long, slow breath. At least she was considering the suggestion. And if she sat down, there’d be less likelihood
of her getting around to that walk in the woods with Carly.

“I’ve got to get rid of those bones,” she said at last.

“Not necessarily. I’d be willing to cut you a deal about them.” He hated the thought of letting her off the hook when she’d intended to poison the Marx brothers, but he’d cut a deal with the devil if it meant keeping Carly from harm.

“What sort of deal?” Barb said slowly.

He felt a strong twinge of relief. If she was willing to explore the idea, he was halfway home.

“We’ve got some fresh bones on the way. You can redo the ‘prey’ using those. And we’ll simply dispose of these—without anyone else knowing about them.”

“Why?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “Why would you do that when it was
your
dogs they were meant for?”

“Because before Howard Langly leaves here today he’ll probably fire Jay—unless we can prove we know who’s been causing the problems. But providing proof would take more time than we’ve got We’d have to get these bones to where they could be checked for poison, have that box dusted and get you fingerprinted.

“But if you were to
admit
you’ve been the one…Well, as I said, I’d be willing to forget that you put poison on those bones.”

“Why would you care if Jay got fired? You’re not exactly palsy-walsy with him.”

“No, but if he got turfed off this picture, do you figure he’d have anything good to say about Wild Action? Or do you figure he’d tell people that we’re
the worst animal talent agency on the face of the earth?”

Barb nodded slowly. “I see your problem. But those bones…How do I know you wouldn’t change your mind and tell the cops about them the minute I admitted things?”

“All I can do is give you my word.”

“You have mine, too,” Carly put in.

Barb slowly shook her head. “I don’t think I can trust you.”

“Barb,” he said, “think about this for a minute, because you’re pretty low on options. You don’t want to get charged with kidnapping. And you sure as hell don’t want to kill one of us and face a murder rap,” he added, praying he wasn’t making Carly even more frightened.

“But if you trust us, and it turned out you shouldn’t have, what’s the worst-case scenario? Only that we’d tell the cops you
intended
to poison some dogs. And that’s hardly a hanging offense.”

“I didn’t intend to poison them. I really didn’t,” she added to Carly. “I only wanted to make them sick so Jay wouldn’t be able to get those twilight shots until tomorrow. I just wanted to delay the shooting again.”

“Why?” Nick said softly. “I remember you telling me this film could advance your career—but only if it did good box office. So why have you been trying to make it fall behind schedule? I mean, you
know
that if Jay has to start cutting corners, the movie will suffer and…

“Well, I hardly need to get into that with someone in the business. But was punishing Goodie really worth damaging your own future?”

“My future as a set director, you mean?”

He nodded.

She gave him a wry look. “I don’t
have
a future as a set director. I only got this job because I was Goodie’s wife. Telling you this movie would help my career was bull.

“I’m a competent assistant—I’ll always get work as that. But I’m not so stupid I don’t recognize my limitations. I’m not creative enough to be in charge, and everybody knows it

“So, since I’m not going to be Goodie’s wife for much longer, I decided I’d see just how sweet revenge really is, that I’d hit him where it would hurt most See, I’ve read the Get Real partnership agreement, and it’s set up so that if Goodie loses a bundle on a movie…

“Oh, there’s no need to go into the details, but the bottom line is that Langly and the other partner could force Goodie out. Plus, he’d have to personally make good on a portion of the loss, which would make him a very unhappy little bastard.”

“But…” Carly paused, then went on. “Didn’t you realize you might be hurting yourself financially? I mean, if he’s just lost a lot of money, when you get to divorce court…”

Barb shook her head. “He made me sign a prenuptial agreement. No matter how much money he has, I won’t get more than crumbs.”

C
ARLY KEPT GLANCING
uneasily around the living room while Barb confessed her sins.

Before she’d begun, Nick had emphasized that everyone was to simply listen—let her tell her story without interruptions.

Howard Langly hadn’t said a word, and neither had Royce.

Carly wasn’t at all clear on why
he
was here, but he’d been talking to Langly when Nick was rounding everyone up, and somehow or other he’d ended up tagging along.

At any rate, there hadn’t been a peep out of either Langly or Royce, but Goodie and Jay were a different story.

Thus far, Nick had managed to cut off their outbursts by telling them they’d have to leave if they couldn’t keep quiet. But she didn’t know how much longer that would be effective, with both men looking ready to explode.

“So…that’s about it,” Barb concluded at last.

“You bitch,” Goodie muttered.

“I’ll see you never work in the business again,” Jay snapped.

“Really?” she snapped back. “Well, let me tell you something. If I ever start having trouble getting work, I’ll assume you’re to blame. And I’ll go straight to the sleaziest tabloids and tell them the details of what went on during this shoot—tell them about all the things that happened right under your nose and how you were too stupid to even realize someone was trying to sabotage the film. I’d make you the laughingstock of the industry.

“As for you,” she added, focusing on Goodie, “you know the sorts of things I could tell about you. About your little
peculiarities.
Maybe I’d even start a Brian Goodfellow’s ex-wives club and we’d write a book about you.”

“Barb?” Carly said quickly. Goodie looked as if he were going to have a stroke if she went on. “Barb,
what if Jay and Goodie agreed never to say a bad word about you to anyone? Would you promise to never talk about them?

“What do you think?” she added, looking over at Jay and Goodie. “Could you two live with that?”

“I think it’s an excellent suggestion” Nick said. “Otherwise, it sounds as if you could all do each other a lot of damage.”

“But what happens to
her?”
Jay demanded, pointing at Barb. “She can’t practically ruin my picture, then walk out of here with absolutely no repercussions.”

“There’ll be at least one repercussion,” Langly said. “She won’t be getting credit as set director. But, regardless of that, I agree with Nick. The three of you can’t be running around like loose canons.”

Looking directly at Jay, he added, “Don’t you realize how embarrassing it would be if the story got around? You and Goodie would both come off looking like idiots. And it wouldn’t do much for Get Real’s reputation, either, which is
my
main concern in all this.”

“I can’t go along with just letting her walk away,” Jay snarled.

Langly eyed him coldly. “Apparently I haven’t made myself clear. If you want to continue as director on this movie, you
will
go along with it”

Goodie cleared his throat. “Ahh…Jay, if both my partners wanted you off the film, I’m afraid you’d be gone.”

Jay’s mouth tightened into a thin line. He looked over at Barb, clearly dying to see her nailed to the wall, but he finally muttered, “All right As long as she
swears
to keep quiet.”

“Deal, Barb?” Langly said.

She nodded. Then, with a brittle smile at Carly and Nick, she got up and walked out of the house.

“Anybody know where to find a good set director?” Langly asked. “Fast?”

“As a matter of fact,
I
do,” Royce said. “My fiancée’s a terrific set director, and she happens to be between jobs. She could get up here from Toronto and put the ‘prey’ together in time to shoot the scene tomorrow.”

“That would mean an extra day here,” Langly said.

“Only part of one,” Jay told him. “We can still shoot the twilight scene tonight.”

“Carly?” Nick whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What’s up?” she asked when they got outside.

He draped his arm over her shoulders and shook his head. “I just wanted to be alone with you. I’ve had enough of Jay and Goodie to last a lifetime.”

“Me, too. But how about Royce having a fiancee? Did you know that?”

Nick shook his head, then gave her a wry smile. “Actually, I spent a lot of time being annoyed with the guy because I thought he was interested in you.”

“Really? And that annoyed you, did it?”

“Immensely.”

“Well, it shouldn’t have, because there’s only one man in the world
I’m
interested in.”

“Yeah? Do I know him?”

“What do you think?” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and putting a whole lot of body language into the question.

“C
UT
! A
ND PRINT
!” Jay called.

“Good boys,” Carly told the Marx brothers, lavishing them with hugs. “You were
such
good boys.”

And they really were. The twilight shoot had gone off without a hitch, and the only way Jay could have gotten better-looking wolves would have been by using the genuine item.

She glanced over at him, hoping he’d compliment her on the take, but he was busy talking with Goodie and Howard Langly—and not looking even marginally pleased.

It made her wish for the hundredth time that Langly hadn’t dragged her and Nick into the thick of things. To Jay’s way of figuring, they’d sided
with
Langly and
against
him, which had him so angry at them that he might never cool down.

And if he didn’t…

She tried not to think about that But the way things stood, the odds that he’d ever say a good word about Wild Action were nil.

“Hey,” Nick said, coming up behind her. “The Marx brothers were great.”

“I know. I only wish Jay would say something like that.”

“Well, maybe he’ll have calmed down by tomorrow.”

“But what if he hasn’t? What if he leaves for Camp Run-a-Muck still looking as if he’d like to kill us?”

Before Nick could reply, Goodie turned away from the others and headed in their direction.

“Just wanted to talk to you for a minute,” he said. “I know things got pretty tense this afternoon, but I still should have thanked you. If you hadn’t figured out that it was Barb causing the trouble…Well, as I said, I should have thanked you long before this. And Jay should have, as well.”

“It doesn’t look like we’re two of his favorite people at the moment,” Nick said.

“No,” Goodie admitted. “But once he cools off I’m sure he’ll see things in a different light.”

“I really hope so,” Carly said. “Because what he says about us could have a major impact on our future business.”

“I guess that’s true,” Goodie said slowly. “But…let me work on him a little, huh? I’ll see if I can make him come around.”

Carly felt like hugging him. But after hugging the Marx brothers she probably smelled like a dog, so she simply thanked him—profusely enough to make Nick laugh.

“There’s not much I can add, is there,” he said. “But we really
would
appreciate it.”

When Goodie turned away, Carly and Nick started for the house, the dogs racing ahead. Darkness was falling fast, and by the time they reached the edge of the woods, the land stretching out in front of them lay silver in the moonlight.

“It’s strange to see Attila’s field without the pole lights turned on,” Nick said, glancing toward it.

She nodded. This was the first night no one had been watching out for him. But with Barb gone, there was no longer any need. And no need to keep the Marx brothers under house arrest, as Nick called it, either.

“You know, I think I’ll let the dogs stay out tonight,” she said.

“They’d be all right?”

“Oh, sure. Gus let them do it fairly often in the summer. They like to sleep on the porch when it’s this hot, and they’ve had so little exercise lately that they’d probably love to prowl around for a while first.”

They walked a few yards in silence. Then, unable to ignore her worries, she said, “Nick?”

“Uh-huh?”

“What if Goodie
can’t
reason with Jay? What if we’re in his bad books forever?”

“And he spends the rest of his life slamming us, you mean?”

“Exactly.”

Nick ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess we’ll just have to hope there are enough people who don’t listen to him. And…”

He reached for her hand, stopped walking and pulled her close. “Look, I know how much the animals mean to you, and one way or another we’ll keep Wild Action afloat.

“If we end up short on clients, I’ll get a job so there’ll be money coming in. But let’s not worry about something that might not happen. Let’s just see how the future unfolds and take it from there.”

When he kissed her, she told herself
not
to worry. But those thoughts she’d had at The Russell House came rushing back to taunt her, to warn her that she might not like the way the future unfolded.

If Nick had to scramble for a job—one that would pay enough to keep Attila in food, aside from anything else—and if all his contacts were in Edmonton…

Maybe, as he’d said, he really
didn’t
want to live the rest of his life without her. But life had an unsettling way of throwing people curves.

T
HE INSTANT
C
ARLY TURNED
off the bedroom light, Nick reached for her in the bed and hugged her tightly. It made her feel as if she could never get enough of his holding her.

“Lord, I’ve missed you,” she murmured. “Between my parents staying so long, and Langly arriving, and the trouble with Barb.”

“Mmm.” Nick nuzzled her throat, sending red-hot sizzles of desire through her. It seemed years since they’d been together like this, and her level of frustration had been growing daily.

“And didn’t you just
love
the way Langly hung around the house with us until dinnertime?” Nick whispered, his breath warm against her skin. “Then insisted we go down and eat at the camp with him.”

“I absolutely
adored
it.”

As Nick began to trail kisses across her breasts, she was about to say she adored that far more—when she heard a noise.

They both froze.

“What was that?” Nick whispered. “It sounded like the back door opening.”

“Did you lock it?” Carly whispered back.

“No. I thought you had.”

Fear made her pulse race. “I’m not sure I remembered.” By the time they’d gotten back to the house, all she’d been thinking about was being in bed with him.

“Company!” Crackers screeched from the solarium. “Company!”

For an instant, Nick tried to think of where his gun was. Then he remembered he no longer had one. He was a civilian now. He’d turned in his gun along with his badge.

“If there’s really someone down there, why aren’t the Marx brothers barking?” he whispered.

“They’re probably off in the woods. But who do you think it is? Jay? Come to murder us in our sleep?”

“No, Jay might be a total jerk, but I doubt he’s a Freddy Krueger.” On the other hand. Jay
was
mad as hell at them. And hadn’t Barb told them that all directors were crazy?

Barb.
His imagination did a ninety-degree turn. They’d been the ones to blow the whistle on her, so maybe she’d come back seeking revenge. Maybe she was far more unstable than anyone had realized.

Adrenaline pumping, he rolled out of bed and grabbed his jeans off the floor. “I need something to use as a weapon,” he said, pulling them on.

“A weapon,” Carly repeated shakily. “There’s Gus’s rifle.”

“Oh, jeez. And it’s hanging right beside the back door.” He told himself that whoever was down there might not spot it in the darkness, then said, “There must be
something
up here I could use.”

“I don’t…Wait, I have a big flashlight. For power failures.” She quickly got out of bed and produced it from the closet.

When she grabbed her robe off the chair, he said, “You stay here. And if there’s any shooting, crawl out the window onto the porch roof.”

“Shooting?” she whispered, sounding terrified.

Nick crept out into the moonlit hall and started down the stairs, the heavy flashlight in his hand, thinking that if the guys on the job could see his “weapon,” they’d laugh themselves sick.

As he reached the landing, he heard someone stealthily moving around in the kitchen—undoubtedly looking for the biggest butcher knife they could find.

He eased his way further down the stairs, then heard a tiny noise behind him. Startled, he glanced back. Carly was following him. When he waved her upstairs, she shook her head.

Giving her an angry look she probably couldn’t see in the darkness, he continued on down to the main floor. Once he got there, he pressed himself against the hallway wall and began inching his way toward the kitchen, his heart hammering.

He wasn’t used to going up against a gun or a rifle or even a butcher knife with only a flashlight for protection. And how was he going to play this? Shine his light on the perp and shout, “Freeze!"?

Hell, he couldn’t think of any other approach, but he’d be lucky if he didn’t get his head blown off.

He looked back at Carly and waved her away again, swearing to himself when it was every bit as effective as it had been the first time. The only other thing he could do was will her not to get too close to the kitchen doorway.

His gut clenching, he edged farther toward it until he was able to see that the back door was standing open. He could hear Crackers muttering under his cage cover, but there was no other sound.

Barely breathing, he waited for one. If there was even a hope of his plan working, he’d have to shine his light directly into the perp’s eyes.

Finally, he heard a scraping noise near the kitchen window. His finger on the flashlight’s switch, he wheeled into the doorway, flicking on the flashlight as he aimed it and yelling, “Freeze!”

Crackers shrieked. And from the counter by the window, Rocky Raccoon peered over at him.

Nick exhaled slowly, turned toward Carly and gestured her into the doorway. “Right this minute,” he said, as they stood looking at Rocky, “I’m
really
tempted to make myself a coonskin cap.”

She laughed, then said, “Come on, Davey Crockett Rather than playing hatmaker, let’s just put Rocky outside, lock the door, then go back to bed and pick up where we left off.”

O
NCE
C
ARLY AND
N
ICK
had finished lunch, she sat down on the living-room floor with the Marx brothers to psych them up for the “prey” scene.

Nick, she could tell from his skeptical expression, still wasn’t convinced they understood much English. But she
always
talked to them before they did a shoot, and she wasn’t messing with something that worked—especially not when this was their last chance to make Jay happy.

“It’s going to go just fine,” Nick said after she’d concluded her pep talk.

She nodded, telling herself he was right. Janet,
Royce’s fiancee, had arrived early this morning and gone straight to work decorating the set. And the word was that her “prey” was far more realistic looking than Barb’s had been—realistic enough to satisfy Howard Langly, who’d finally climbed into his limo and left.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” Nick said, gazing out the window. “Brock and Kyle—without a chaperon, so we’d better keep an eye on them.”

When the boys climbed onto the porch, the Marx brothers hurried over to the screen door, tails wagging furiously.

“Come on in,” Nick called.

“We just wanted to say goodbye to the animals before we left,” Kyle explained as the screen slammed behind him.

“Well, the dogs are obviously glad you did,” Carly said.

The boys hugged the Marx brothers and stroked Blue. The other cats decided to hide behind the couch.

“Can we go into the kitchen and see Crackers?" Brock asked.

“Sure.” Carly followed along a few feet behind them, trying not to make it
too
obvious that she was watching their every move.

“Company!” Crackers called, dancing along his perch.

“Can he jump on my shoulder again?” Kyle asked.

“Mine, too?” Brock said.

She nodded. “Just don’t take him outside this time.”

Crackers happily climbed back and forth from one boy’s shoulder to the other’s until Nick glanced at his
watch and said, “I’m afraid we’ve got to go now, guys. It’s time to take the Marx brothers to the set.”

“Can we stay in here and play with Crackers while you’re gone?” Brock asked.

“No, I think he’s had enough excitement for the moment,” Nick told him. “But have you said goodbye to Paint and Brush yet?”

When they shook their heads, Carly said, “They’re in their field. Here,” she added, reaching into the fridge. “Take a couple of apples for them. But they’re not saddled, so don’t try to ride them.”

“Our moms already said not to,” Kyle told them. “They said if we were stiff for tomorrow’s shoot, Jay would kill us.”

After ushering the boys out of the house, Carly leashed the Marx brothers—just in case the smell of the bones was too tempting. Then she and Nick walked them through the woods to the shoot site.

The cameras and klieg lights were in place, ready and waiting, and the “prey” was a lot better than Barb’s had been.

“Okay, showtime everyone,” Jay called, spotting them. “Now, you know what I want, Carly. Have them start to savage the ‘prey’ when I cue you, and let’s do this in one.”

She nodded, her heart in her throat as she told the dogs to sit, then unleashed them. If they screwed up the first take, Janet would have to construct her ‘prey’, all over again.

“Okay,” Jay said. “Bells!”

The smell of the bones had the Marx brothers’ noses twitching, but they held their sit.

“Clear the eyeline…and roll it.”

Carly didn’t take her eyes off the dogs until the
soundman called, “Speed,” and the production assistant said, “Scene ninety-eight—Take one,” and clicked her slate.

At the sound, Carly looked at Jay.

“Action!” he said.

“Volcano!”
She whispered the code command for “attack.”

The Marx brothers dashed forward and wholeheartedly attacked the ‘prey.’

She hardly breathed until, at last Jay called, “Cut! And print! Great take!” he added to everyone in general. “And that means it’s a wrap here. So let’s get everything that isn’t already packed ready to roll.”

When he turned and started talking to Goodie and Royce, without a glance in her direction, she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Dogs!” she called.
“Off!”

Reluctantly they backed away from the bones. “Good boys,” she told them. “Now you head straight back to the house, because I left special treats for Dylan to give you.”