Model Menace Read online

  Syd shrugged. “It seems that way to you and me, but in television, this is just a drop in the bucket,” she explained. “It’s still much cheaper for them to produce than scripted television. And they’re expecting great ratings, since Vic is so popular.”

  Hmmm. I leaned back on the sofa, thinking this over. So Ellie really had no motive to stop the wedding—not like it had seemed particularly likely in the first place. That left Dragon, Akinyi, and Pandora.

  One down, three to go.

  “But what do you really think?” Syd asked us all three hours later, casting an annoyed glance at the cameraman. We were at our last bridal store, and Syd was on her last dress, a champagne-colored, mermaid-shaped gown that had a bodice dripping with heavy, sparkling beads. Hans had just verified with the shop owner that this gown could be ready by Saturday—and in Syd’s size.

  “I think…I think…it’s nice,” Ellie said nervously, glancing over at the camera. Everyone seemed uncomfortable speaking up. This dress seemed to be the total opposite of what Syd was looking for—but it was here, and it was the only passable dress we’d seen that could be ready for the wedding in two days.

  Syd sighed, looking in the mirror again. “You don’t think it makes me look too old?” she asked.

  Nobody answered.

  “Mom?” Syd prodded.

  Ellie sighed, shaking her head. “Oh, Sydney,” she said wearily, “don’t you like it? It’s your opinion that matters.”

  We were all tired at the end of the day, and it seemed to me that almost everyone was a little on edge. Personally, I thought the dress did look old on Syd, but I didn’t want to say anything in case she liked it, or her mother liked it. I figured their opinions were more important.

  Syd turned back around and looked right at Akinyi, who was examining her fingernails, looking bored.

  “Akinyi,” Syd said in a pointed tone. “Wasn’t there something you wanted to do here? Something…wacky?”

  Akinyi looked up and met Syd’s eyes. Immediately, I saw something pass between them—some kind of understanding. “Oh, um, yes!” Akinyi replied. “I, um, I…” She trailed off, looking around the room. Then suddenly she looked back at Syd. “I challenge you to a dress-off!”

  Syd broke into a grin. “A dress-off?” she asked. “And what’s that?”

  Akinyi stood, seeming to be working something out in her own head. “It means I’ll try on some dresses,” she replied, “and we’ll see who looks better!” She began walking toward the main showroom. “I just need to find some dresses that suit me!”

  On her way out, she glanced at Donald and Hans and cleared her throat loudly. Donald gave Hans a pointed look, gesturing to the cameraman. “Hans?” he asked.

  Hans thought for a minute, then sighed and nodded. “Yes, let’s get this,” he agreed. The three then followed Akinyi out into the showroom, followed by the sound man.

  Syd turned back to all of us. “Okay,” she said. “What do you really think?”

  We all looked at each other, surprised.

  “It does look kind of old, Syd,” Bess admitted.

  “Yeah,” agreed Pandora.

  Deb nodded, lips pursed. “I hate to criticize your taste, Syd,” she said, giggling nervously, “but…um…”

  Syd sighed, abruptly unzipping the dress and stepping out of it. “No, you’re absolutely right,” she agreed. “This isn’t the dress I want to get married in.” She grabbed the simple wrap dress she’d worn that day and slipped it on.

  “But Syd,” Ellie said, her eyes full of sympathy, “what will you do? What dress will you get married in? I can’t believe we didn’t find something today.”

  Syd shrugged. “I don’t know, Mom. I just have to believe something will work out. If I don’t find another bridal gown, well—” She grinned. “—I guess I’ll just marry Vic in my old bathrobe. It’s not the dress that’s important, anyway.”

  I smiled. “That was a pretty cool trick, Syd,” I said, nodding my head in the direction of the showroom. “Sending Akinyi out there to distract the camera.”

  Syd chuckled, looking a little embarrassed to be caught. “You like that, huh?” she asked. “Vic taught me that. He actually tried to use it the other night, at the—um—bachelor party.” She flashed an uncomfortable look at Pandora. “When—you know—when the photo was snapped, he tried to send Dragon out to climb the flagpole and distract the camera crew.” Her smile faded. “Of course, that didn’t work.”

  He tried to send Dragon out…I gasped. So that explained why Dragon wasn’t in the photo! He hadn’t taken it or sent it…he had simply been sent outside by Vic to distract the crew.

  I glanced at George, but she was looking at Syd, smiling encouragingly. “I guess you’ve perfected it,” she said, and Syd smiled again.

  “Yeah,” she said with a little chuckle, “if you’ve got camera crews following you around twenty-four/seven, it’s good to have an escape plan!”

  At that moment, Akinyi strode back into the dressing room, followed closely by Hans and the cameraman. “Oh, never mind,” she said breezily, winking at Syd before the cameraman could catch up. “I didn’t see anything I liked. You win this round, Syd.”

  Hans trailed into the room, and took notice of Syd wearing her street clothes again. “So that was a no?” he asked. “You decided not to go with the last dress?”

  Syd shook her head.

  “What will you wear?” Hans asked, as the cameraman trained his camera on Syd.

  Syd shrugged, looking totally unconcerned. “I’ll find something,” she promised. “Even if I have to wear sweatpants.”

  Hans nodded. “Well, I don’t think you’ll have to do that. Julie?” He raised his voice, calling back into the showroom. “Julie? Do you have something to say to our blushing bride?”

  A petite Latina stepped into the dressing room, almost dwarfed by the huge, billowing dress she carried in her hands. Immediately the cameraman focused on her.

  “Sydney,” she announced, smiling at our bride, “our store, Julie’s Ultimate Bridal, would like to donate this beautiful Hilda Reynolds dress to you for your wedding.”

  Bess gasped. “Hilda Reynolds!” she whispered to me. “Her dresses go for up to ten thousand dollars!”

  Syd looked very touched, and as she touched the dress, which she called “perfect,” she broke down and began to cry. “Oh, thank you,” she said, hugging Julie. “This is my dream dress! I never would have thought I’d find something so beautiful on such short notice!”

  Everyone crowded around to examine the dress—which really was gorgeous—congratulate Syd, and thank Julie. After a few minutes Hans announced that Syd would have to stay at the store for a last-minute fitting, but everyone else would be taking the limo back to the hotel.

  It took a few minutes to get everything together, and as we filed out, I noticed Hans talking on a cell phone just inside the front door of the store.

  “Oh, it went perfectly,” he said with a chuckle. “She even squeezed out some tears! You were right about keeping her out and busy all day—I think that frustration really got us an amazing reaction. It will look great on film.”

  My mouth dropped open and I turned to find Bess and George, but they were already climbing in to the limo. I’d realized over the course of the day that “reality TV” was a bit of a misnomer—clearly the producers manipulated peoples’ reactions a bit, and set up the action as they saw fit. But this entire day had been a setup to get the perfect shot of Syd crying over her dress? All of our time had been wasted—and all of our emotions toyed with? I felt a little sick.

  Then a crazy thought occurred to me: could Hans be the wedding saboteur? Was it possible that the producers of Daredevils were sabotaging the wedding themselves, just to get the most dramatic special possible?

  “No, no,” Hans was saying now, glancing back toward the dressing room and Syd. “She’s fine now. And no further incidents, thank goodness. We’re all safe here.”

  Immediately I f
elt a little silly. Okay, Hans and his crew had manipulated us to get good television: that was, after all, their job. But clearly they wouldn’t commit a crime for ratings. No reputable TV company would do that.

  I pulled myself together and headed for the limo.

  I had a lot to think over.

  HEART OF GLASS

  “Is anyone else nervous?” Bess asked as I pulled my Prius into the parking lot for Kelley Park, the gorgeous, sprawling nature preserve where Syd and Vic were to be married the next day. It was Friday night, the night of the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It should have been a night for eager celebration, but given everything that had happened to Vic and Syd over the last few weeks, I think we were all feeling concerned about what else the wedding saboteur had up his or her sleeve.

  “I am,” I admitted. “But I also feel like we’re getting closer to a culprit. Now that Ellie and Dragon have been pretty much cleared, we’re down to Pandora, Akinyi—and Jamal.”

  “Jamal?” George asked, looking confused. “I thought we cleared him when we realized he wasn’t here for the first few attacks.”

  I nodded, but held up my index finger as I clarified, “That was before we found out he had a fling with Akinyi.” I gave my friends a meaningful look.

  “You mean they might have been working together?” Bess asked.

  “Exactly.” I turned off the car and sat for a moment, sighing, thinking of all I had to figure out before tomorrow. “I just wish I could figure out a motivation for Akinyi and Jamal.”

  George frowned. “Yeah, that’s hard to imagine. It’s the best man and the maid of honor—why would they want to stop the wedding?”

  I shrugged. “Unless something happened between them and the happy couple that we don’t know about.”

  “Akinyi has been pretty irritable,” Bess pointed out.

  George nodded. “True,” she admitted. Then a mischievous smile appeared on her lips. “But then again, she’s a model. Maybe she’s just hungry.”

  I groaned. “George!” I chided, as Bess elbowed her cousin in the ribs. “Jokes, not helping!”

  George shrugged, still smiling. “I couldn’t resist,” she said. “And you know who else is hungry? Me, right now. Let’s get this rehearsal started so we can eat.”

  Nervous as I was, I couldn’t argue with her.

  At the small beach that allowed residents to swim in a calm part of the river, the Daredevils crew had set up a white trellis that would be covered in roses for the actual ceremony, fronted with hundreds of white wooden chairs. Set dressers were busily adorning each chair with rich satin ribbons in the deep rose color Syd had chosen for her bridesmaid gowns, and a huge lighting crew was working on rigging up a complicated system of lights. A few crew members were lounging up by the trellis: cameramen, sound men, lighting guys, and a neurotic-looking Donald, who was walking in circles, flipping through a clipboard. They were no doubt waiting for the bride-and groom-to-be to arrive. Most of the wedding party and family were there already, milling around and waiting.

  Akinyi was sitting on one of the white seats, impatiently checking her watch. “They’re ten minutes late,” she announced to anyone listening. “Why don’t we ever start filming on time?”

  Smoothly Jamal stepped over from the small cluster of crew members he’d been chatting up. “Why, are you in a hurry to get back to the hotel, Miss Thang?” he asked with a sly smile. “Do you have a hot date tonight?”

  For a moment anger flashed in Akinyi’s eyes, and I wondered if she was going to snap back at him. But then her face suddenly relaxed, and she seemed to realize how cranky she’d sounded. “Maybe I do,” she said jokingly, her cheeks reddening just a bit. “Or maybe I’m just eager to get this show on the road so my best friend can get married already.”

  Jamal smiled again, warmly, and settled close in the seat next to Akinyi. “I can identify with that,” he said. Then he moved his head close to hers and dropped his voice low, so low that I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  At that moment George walked up and pinched me.

  “Ouch!” I cried.

  “You might want to remember to blink every once in a while,” she said, following my gaze over to the best man and maid of honor. “It’s a little obvious you’re spying when your jaw is on the ground like that.”

  I smiled sheepishly. “Do you think anyone noticed?”

  George shook her head. “I think those two are in a world of their own,” she observed.

  “It is interesting,” I suggested quietly, “that Akinyi’s letting him flirt so much when she said she was so torn up over her break up with Josh.”

  George shrugged. “Or maybe she really does miss Josh, but she’s attracted to Jamal too. It can happen sometimes.”

  Trying to be less conspicuous, I chanced another glance in Akinyi’s direction. Now the two of them were giggling, heads still close. I watched as Jamal lightly touched Akinyi’s knee, then quickly pulled his hand away.

  “Or maybe,” I suggested to George, “they’ve been hiding their relationship all this time! Maybe they are working together and Akinyi staged the breakup the other day to distract us from the fact that she could have shredded the dress!”

  George watched Akinyi and Jamal for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Honestly, Nance,” she said, “if you weren’t right so often I’d think you were nuts.”

  I narrowed my eyes, watching as Jamal touched Akinyi’s shoulder before walking back to the crew. “It’s either them or Pandora.”

  Just then I heard a rumble going through the crowd, and I turned to see a limo pull up to the park entrance. After a few seconds the passenger door opened and Vic’s mom got out, followed by Syd’s dad, Ellie, and then Vic. Vic smiled when he realized everyone was watching him—even giving a quick “finger-gun” salute to the cameras, which had started filming. But as he stepped away and Syd gingerly stepped out, I was stunned to see that she was wiping away tears.

  “Oh my gosh,” whispered Bess, moving over to where George and I stood. “Maybe the wedding saboteur struck again while we weren’t around!”

  The crowd seemed to politely back away once they realized Syd was upset, and soon the low din of wedding party members talking amongst themselves rose up, and someone from the crew started playing classical music over the huge sound system they’d installed. I was about to say something to answer Bess, but then I spotted Syd moving in our direction, quickly followed by camera and sound guys.

  Vic stepped up behind her, touching her arm, but Syd angrily pulled away. “Don’t start!” she barked, moving quickly to join our small group.

  “Hey,” George said warmly, placing a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “You okay? Did something happen?”

  Syd’s eyes were rimmed with red. “Did something happen? Yeah, something happened all right. Vic told me that if we get married and something happens to him, he wants me to remarry!”

  Syd bugged out her eyes, like the ridiculousness of this request was obvious. But George, Bess, and I just looked at each other blankly, until finally recognition flashed in Bess’s eyes and she announced in a relieved voice, “Oh! You two just had a fight!”

  “Ahhh,” George and I murmured, unable to hide our own relief.

  “So you’re okay?” I asked. “No acid in your shower, no poison in your coffee this morning?”

  Syd looked at me like I was nuts. “Okay?” she asked. “No, I am not okay. I just had a huge fight with the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with! Over a hugely important issue! He doesn’t even love me enough to want me to stay true to him once he’s dead! Don’t you get it?”

  We all looked at Syd, clearly not getting it.

  “Um,” Bess began softly, taking Syd’s hand, “maybe it actually shows how much Vic does love you? You know, that he wants you to be happy?”

  Syd glared at her. “I can’t believe you’re taking his side!”

  Just then, thank goodness, Ellie approached from behind, dragging
a chastened and very nervous-looking Vic. “Sydney,” she said gently. “Why don’t you two just talk to each other and work this out? Remember, you’re both very tense right now. This is a stressful night for you both. Maybe you could be a bit easier on each other?”

  Syd looked from her mom to Vic, and slowly her face crumpled. “Oh, Vic, I’m sorry!” she cried, sniffling. “I never meant…I just wanted…”

  Ellie nodded, gesturing for them to talk alone a little ways away. “Yes, yes. You two work it out.”

  Syd and Vic hugged and walked away together, into the privacy of a few trees. The crew members that had come with Syd quickly moved away to follow them. Ellie looked at the three of us and sighed. “My husband and I had a huge fight the night before our wedding,” she explained. “All those nerves, you know? I remember throwing a vase he’d given me out our third-story window. And oddly enough, I can’t remember what we were fighting about.”

  Bess nodded seriously. “Are they nervous about another attack?”

  Ellie’s face turned more serious, and she nodded. “Of course,” she replied. “I just wish I could make it all better for them. But yes, given everything that’s happened so far…”

  We all nodded sympathetically. It seemed so unfair for Syd and Vic to have such a crazy threat hanging over their wedding day. I just hoped something would happen tonight that would be enough to lead me to the culprit!

  Even though the wedding rehearsal was only expected to take about twenty minutes, it was over an hour before we made it to Chez Philippe, the fancy French restaurant where the Daredevils producers had planned the rehearsal dinner. Inside, hundreds of candles illuminated a cozy, pink-hued private room. Four tables of six ringed a tiny two-person table for Syd and Vic. Bess, George, and I headed right to our table, which, once again, we were sharing with Akinyi, Deb, and Pandora.