She certainly is blunt, Nancy thought. Well, I might as well be blunt right back. Whoever was trying to kill Rick already knew that she was on the case. “Still trying,” she admitted.
“You really shouldn’t bother,” Lillian said. She looked down at her feet, so Nancy couldn’t read her expression.
“I don’t understand,” said Nancy, prompting her.
Lillian looked at her curiously, as if she were sizing Nancy up. After what seemed an eternity, she fixed her eyes on Nancy. “Rick is going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And I’ll tell you something else—whatever happens to him, he has coming. He got where he is by stepping on a lot of people, but he made one mistake. Along the way he stepped on the
wrong
person, and he’s going to pay for it.”
Nancy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this a confession? A warning? She wasn’t sure how to take Lillian’s statement.
As suddenly as she had appeared, Lillian stood up to leave. “Well,” she said, fingering the hem of her purple lamb’s-wool sweater, “nice running into you.” She gazed at Nancy with a tight smile. “I’ll say one thing for you—you’ve got guts.”
Nancy watched as the strange young woman walked, away. She was sure now that Lillian had deliberately arranged to run into her. But why? Nancy was more in the dark than ever.
“The restaurant we’re going to isn’t far away, Nancy. We’ll just ring for Mattie on our way out.” Eloise was standing in front of the hall mirror, fussing with a teal blue silk scarf. “Is Bess ready yet?”
“Bess!” Nancy called as she knocked on the door of the room where her friend lay sleeping. “Don’t you want to have brunch with us?”
The answer was muffled, so Nancy opened the door. “Leave the address,” was all Bess could manage. “I’ll meet you there.” With that, she flopped over and buried her face in the pillow.
Nancy closed the door. Eloise waited by the main door of the apartment while Nancy wrote down the address and left it on the telephone table. “Ah, youth,” Eloise said, smiling wistfully. “I used to be able to sleep like that on weekend mornings. Now I’m always up at the crack of dawn!”
With a wink, Eloise tugged on Nancy’s arm. “Shall we? If I wait for my morning coffee much longer, I won’t be worth knowing.”
As they sat in the restaurant eating eggs Benedict, Nancy couldn’t stop thinking of her conversation with Lillian Weiss. The look in her eyes had been so intense. Could it be that Lillian was the one who was trying to kill Rick? Or maybe she was just hiding the identity of the person who really was.
Nancy decided not to mention running into her. Still, she had to know what Lillian’s personal situation regarding Rick was. “Mattie,” she began offhandedly, “tell me more about Lillian Weiss. I know you said lots of people hate Rick, but she seems to hate him more than most.”
Mattie looked up, amazed. “You don’t think she’s behind it all, do you?”
“I don’t really know,” Nancy replied. “But I’d like to know more about her.”
“Lillian’s the one Rick broke up with me for,” Mattie blurted out. She looked down at her plate unhappily. “I couldn’t believe it when he fold me. I mean, I’d stuck by him through all the bad times. When he finally made it, he just dropped me. It was so—” she paused for a moment, unable to go on “—so humiliating.” She took out her handkerchief and blew her nose. Suddenly Mattie laughed. “But that’s Rick for you. They were only together for two months. He stuck with her till she introduced him to the film people she knew, then he dumped her. I really can’t blame Lillian for hating him. I just wish she’d get on with her life. She’s Just—I don’t know—the kind of person who nurses a grudge. The kind that never lets go of anything, know what I mean?”
“Yes,” said Nancy thoughtfully. “I think I do.”
“Oh, do I dare try one of these?” Eloise was asking with a smile as the waiter held up a plate of miniature pastries.
“Oh, go ahead, Eloise,” Mattie said with a grin, trying to put all thoughts of Rick and Lillian behind her.
Eloise looked at the pastries and thought for a moment. “Why not?” she quipped, lifting a small one onto her plate.
Just then, the manager came up to the table. “Excuse me, ladies. Is there a Nancy Drew at this table?”
“Why, yes,” Eloise answered, looking at her niece.
“Ms. Drew, you have a phone call,” the manager said. “You can pick it up at the main desk by the coatrack.”
“It must be Bess,” Eloise guessed. “She probably woke up and realized she’d never be able to make it here after all.”
Nancy thanked the manager and made her way to the phone.
“Hi, Bess,” she said into the receiver.
But it wasn’t Bess. A raspy electronic voice warned her, “Stay away from Rick Arlen, Nancy Drew! And tell your little friend she’d better stay away, too!” With that, the phone line went dead in Nancy’s trembling hand.
Chapter Eleven
“
B
Y
A
PPOINTMENT
O
NLY!”
“Put Your Picture And Résumé Under The Door!” “Do Not Ring Buzzer Without An Appointment!”
Nancy read the signs and gulped. Although she’d called earlier and left a message on Dwayne’s answering machine, Nancy felt she’d have a better chance of seeing him if she went in person. But getting inside Dwayne Casper’s office wasn’t exactly going to be easy.
With a sigh and a deep breath, she pressed the buzzer. For a moment it was so quiet that she wondered whether anybody was in the office at all. Then, crisp footsteps sounded on the other side of the door.
“Do you have an appointment?” Dwayne’s voice was all business.
“Well, no,” Nancy replied. “Not exactly.”
“In that case, I suggest you learn to read!”
“But, Mr. Casper!” Nancy said in her most polite voice. “I left a message on your machine. Mattie Jensen said you would talk to me. My name is Diane Elliot. . . .”
Nancy heard a click as he unlocked the door. It swung open, and a smiling Dwayne Casper greeted her. “Well, why didn’t you just say you’re a friend of Mattie’s?” he asked. “Come in! You must understand that if I opened the door to every struggling actor in this town, I’d never be able to get any work done.”
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Casper,” Nancy said, sounding grateful. In the front reception area was a large empty desk. No receptionist, Nancy noted.
“Right this way,” Dwayne said with a sugary smile. He led her into his plush office. “How do you know Mattie?”
“Oh, well, I was an extra on ‘Danner’s Dream,’ and she was kind enough to talk to me. She did say she’d call you about me. But I guess she got busy.” That much was true Nancy thought.
Dwayne settled into his chair and looked at her appraisingly. “So you know Luther Parks too?”
“Well, no. Not personally, that is.”
“I see. Has Mattie ever seen your work? Apart from extra work, that is.”
Here we go, Nancy thought. Time to start lying—and lying big. “Oh, yes,” she assured him. “We did a production of
The Sound of Music
together in the Midwest. Mattie played the oldest daughter, and I played one of the younger children.”
An amused look passed over Dwayne’s face. “That must have been at least eight years ago. Mattie wasn’t more than a kid herself, back then. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see that production.”
I know, Nancy thought. That’s what Mattie told me.
Dwayne leaned back in his swivel chair. He seemed warm now, even friendly. “So, let me guess, you’ve come to the big city because you want to be a real actress.”
Delighted that the agent had bought, her story, Nancy threw herself into her real-life acting role. “Yes, sir,” she answered breathlessly.
“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.”