"Of course I do," she said with a wicked smile. "It is-"

Lillian didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. All of a sudden, every light in the entire studio flashed on. Shading her eyes, Nancy glanced up to the director's booth, where the lighting controls were.

There, looking down at them from behind the thick Plexiglas, was Dwayne Casper! His expression was furious, and in his hand was a gun-pointed straight at Nancy!

Chapter Sixteen.

"WELL, h.e.l.lO, YOU two!" Dwayne's voice boomed at them, seeming to come from every imaginable direction. He let out a monstrous laugh. "I only followed Lillian, but I've trapped both of you. How lucky! Congratulations, your death scenes will look so lovely on videotape. A videotape for my personal viewing pleasure only!"

For an instant, Dwayne relaxed his grip on the gun a bit. Nancy, seeing her chance, made a dash for the door. Just as she reached it, she heard it go whooossshh whooossshh, and the red light above it flashed on. The door was locked-vacuum sealed.

"Are we locked up down there?" Dwayne screamed in a grotesque parody of Luther Parks. He laughed again. "A little stage fright, Ms. Elliot? Actually, I didn't know until yesterday that you and Ms. Elliot were one and the same. Very good bit of acting. Very realistic. You see, we strive for realism here-real bullets, real blood, real death." He waved his gun playfully at them.

"You two are only the first act. Rick Arlen's death will be the climax of my little soap opera. He's gotten away from me so far, thanks to you, Nancy Drew. But with you two little nuisances out of the way, I don't think he has much of a chance. Do you?"

Dwayne paused, waiting for a reply. Nancy had to think fast. This might be her only chance to save her life and Lillian's. Somehow she had to distract him, make him forget he had a gun.

"Dwayne, why? Why do you hate Rick so much? Lillian and Mattie have more reason to hate him than you do!"

Her words seemed to ignite Dwayne's fury. He exploded at her, just as he had at Bess that day in his office.

"More reason than I? What do you know about it? Keep your ignorant little mouth shut! Rick Arlen has to die, and I'll tell you why. Because he killed me, that's why. He killed Dwayne Casper."

Dwayne paused for breath. Nancy had the feeling Dwayne's story was a long one. That was good. She needed time-time to think of a way out.

"I was an actor," Dwayne cried, all the hurt and rage in him pouring out with his story. "I'd studied every aspect of my craft and was a master of Shakespeare, dialects, stage combat-everything. I was underrated and underappreciated-but brilliant. Then I met Mattie.

"We fell in love, and I was the happiest man on earth. Then-then came August. We did Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet. Mattie was Juliet, but Rick beat me out for the role of Romeo. The director was a sucker for a pretty face, and so, I soon found out, was Mattie.

"From that moment on, my life was never the same. And I never forgot what he had done to me."

As Dwayne ranted on, Nancy looked around desperately for some way out.

"I am not like some people, who fall in love every day," he rasped. "When I lost Mattie, I knew that I would never love anyone ever again. I decided that if I couldn't have her, I'd make money, lots of money. I gave up acting and became an agent instead.

"I made them stars. I did it all. And how did Rick pay me back? By leaving me, that's how. I got nothing in return for all my hard work-nothing at all. He had destroyed me again.

"Once Rick left, other clients began to leave. All I had left was Mattie. And then-" Dwayne paused, and his expression grew dark with rage. "Then he started luring Mattie away from me. That's when I decided to kill him. Which brings me back-" he raised the gun at Nancy, looking down at them "-to you two ladies."

"Dwayne!" Nancy shouted, shaking him out of his daze. "Your story sounds like a soap opera. That stuff doesn't happen in real life!"

"That shows what you know about life, Nancy Drew," Dwayne rasped into the mike." "Real life is is a soap opera. You'll learn that. Or rather, you would have, had you lived." a soap opera. You'll learn that. Or rather, you would have, had you lived."

"Rick didn't kill you," Nancy insisted. "You're still-"

Dwayne erupted again. "Enough!" he screamed. "It's time for the final closeup. I'm going to write you two out of the script forever."

Quickly, he disappeared from sight. Nancy guessed that he was on his way down to the set. That only gave her a few seconds to think of something.

Nancy looked frantically around. Lillian was standing, shocked, unable to help in any way. She was frozen with fear. As clever as she had been in figuring out who the criminal was, she was utterly useless right then.

In the few seconds she had left, Nancy scanned the set, looking for something-anything. Then, she saw it.

Over in the corner stood a large metal cylinder. On it were written the words "Smoke Machine." Rushing over to it, Nancy found the control switch and turned it to the Dense setting.

Not a moment too soon, either. Seemingly from nowhere, Dwayne appeared.

"Ah, there you are, my nosy little friend. Would you care to rejoin Ms. Weiss onstage?"

Nancy moved slowly back to the kitchen area, hoping that her plan would work.

"What's that hissing?" Dwayne turned and looked around nervously, but all he could see was the nearer half of the studio. The rest was hidden by a thick white fog, which was made even worse by the spotlights.

Quickly, while his back was turned, Nancy grabbed Lillian by the arm and pulled her into the protection of the fog. By the time Dwayne realized what was happening and turned around again, they were gone!

Dwayne cursed loudly as Nancy dragged Lillian into a foggy corner on the set. She left Lillian there and began to walk toward the sound of Dwayne's voice. She had to get the jump on him from behind.

Then she heard a sound that made her heart sink. It was the sound of a giant fan-the wind machine.

"Very clever, Nancy Drew," came Dwayne's voice through the diminishing fog. "But there's an antidote for every poison, or vice versa."

The fog was now down to a very small area, and Nancy knew that her time was running out. Crouching down, she took a deep breath and prepared to make a desperate dive at Dwayne. He would still have the gun, she knew. She had only one advantage-surprise.

Rearing back, Nancy flung herself through the air at Dwayne. At the last moment, he turned and saw her. The two of them fell together, toppling over each other, and Dwayne's gun emptied itself.

Chapter Seventeen.

"THOSE WERE GUNSHOTS coming from the set!"

"Quick, this way!"

When the police raced onto the set they found Dwayne Casper flat on the floor. On top of him was Nancy Drew, holding his arms in a double hammerlock.

"His gun is on the floor over there," she told the police breathlessly as they relieved her of her burden.

"Nancy!" Eloise exclaimed, rushing over to her.

"I'm fine, really, Aunt Eloise."

"Well, all the karate lessons in the world wouldn't have helped if this bullet had come any closer!" Eloise poked at the sleeve of Nancy's jacket. In it was a charred round hole the size of a dime.

Nancy looked down at the hole, her heart skipping a beat. "Please, don't tell Dad," she begged. "And I promise I'll be more careful from now on."

Throwing her arms around her niece, Eloise sighed. "Oh, Nancy, I'm just glad you're alive!"

Bess rushed up to them and threw her arms over theirs in a three-way hug. "Thank goodness, you're all right!" she cried. "When we heard the shots-" She couldn't go on.

The police had handcuffed Dwayne, who stood there pa.s.sively, a dull look in his eye.

"Do you know how close I was to paying Arlen back for all he's done to me?" he began telling the police officer, who stood impa.s.sively beside him clutching his arm. "Do you know how long I worked to get this close?" Dwayne muttered bitterly, his hands locked behind his back.

"Tell your story to the sergeant, buddy," the police officer said. "Ms. Drew, I'll need to get a statement from you and from Ms. Weiss. Would you see that she makes it down to the station house?"

"Of course," Nancy agreed. In all the commotion, she hadn't even given a thought to Lillian. Apparently, the fright had been a bit too much for her-she'd fainted.

"I had had to call the police, Nancy," Eloise was explaining. "Something told me you weren't safe, and I had to." to call the police, Nancy," Eloise was explaining. "Something told me you weren't safe, and I had to."

At the door, Dwayne spun around suddenly. "Rick Arlen was going to die. He should have died! And I would have killed him if it hadn't been for you, Nancy Drew!"

"Whew." Bess sighed as the officer pushed Dwayne outside. "He's crazy-"

"He's in the right hands now," Nancy added soberly. "And not a moment too soon, either."

"Flight four-seventeen will be boarding at gate three in five minutes."

"That's our flight, Aunt Eloise," said Nancy, putting down her luggage so she could give her aunt a hug.

"You must promise me you'll come again soon-maybe in the fall?" Eloise asked. "And give your father my love, will you? Goodbye, Bess-I hope I'll see you again soon."

But when Nancy and Bess turned to go, they heard their names being called out.

"Nancy! Bess, wait!" A familiar voice floated down the airport corridor. Turning around, Nancy saw a radiant Mattie Jensen running toward them, her auburn curls flying around her face. "We couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye," she cried.

Beside her, Rick Arlen was cradling two large bouquets of roses in his arms. He handed the first to Nancy and said, "Thank you for saving my life, Nancy-I don't know what I would have done without you."

Then he turned to Bess, who seemed more than a little fl.u.s.tered. "This one is for you, love," he murmured, giving her the flowers.

"Oh, Rick, thank you," she cried, letting down her guard. For a minute, Nancy almost felt sorry that she had been thinking of him as such a heel. She was sure the flowers were his way of saying he was sorry for toying with Bess's emotions.

But the hopeful light went out of her eyes when he explained, "They're from Pappas. He asked us to give them to you."

"Pappas sent us flowers?" asked Nancy incredulously.

"Oh, he's really a teddy bear," said Mattie. "And he's on top of the world now that the show's back on track."

"He even agreed to cancel my contract with no hard feelings," Rick said, laughing. "In fact, he's already written it into the script. I'm getting killed next week, and I go to work on my feature the week after. Ironic, isn't it? Rick Arlen lives, but Rory Danner bites the dust!"

"And Pappas rehired everyone that he fired," Mattie added. "All thanks to you, Nancy."

Nancy's eyes twinkled. Nothing beat the wonderful feeling she always had after solving a case. "I'm glad I could be of some help," was all she could say.

"But the best news of all is-" Rick flashed Mattie a million-dollar smile. "Shall I tell them, or do you want to?"

Mattie beamed. "You go ahead."

"Mattie has agreed to marry me," he announced proudly. "We're flying to her parents' house next weekend. All this made me realize that there's only one woman in the world for me." He looked somber for a moment, adding, "Thank goodness it wasn't too late."

Nancy noticed that Rick avoided Bess's eyes as he spoke. "Well," Nancy said, "that's great news, you two. Congratulations." Looking over at her friend, Nancy could tell that Bess wished she were in Mattie's shoes. "Well, we'd better get going, though," Nancy said. "See you next time we're in New York!"

With that, and a final squeeze of her aunt's hand, Nancy put her arm around Bess's shoulders and walked past the Pa.s.sengers Only sign.

"I'm sorry it worked out like this, Bess," she told her friend. News like that had to hurt.

"Oh, it's okay," Bess said and sighed. "I'm just so tired."

Nancy adjusted the strap of her carry-on bag with a weary smile. "I know what you mean. After a vacation like this, we really need a vacation!"

"So tell me," said George, leaning forward over a hot fudge sundae and crinkling her nose. "Is Rick Arlen really as gorgeous in real life as he is on TV?"

Nancy looked over at Bess, wondering how she would respond.

"Not nearly," Bess replied. "He's kind of short, and those fabulous blue eyes are really contacts."

Nancy rolled her eyes. Bess was laying it on just a little thick.

"And you actually had a date with him?" George was practically shouting. Bess just turned her face away. "I can't believe it!" George went on. "I'm so jealous! What was he like? What did you do?"

"Uh, George-she doesn't want to talk about it," Nancy warned, finally able to interrupt.

"Oh, I get it." George nodded. "Well, you did get to be on television-and on 'Danner's Dream,'" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Yeah-" Bess sighed. "But seeing how actors and actresses really live, and how hard they work, I don't know. I've been thinking of becoming a model instead." With that, she took an enormous mouthful of strawberry ice cream.

"Oh, really?" Nancy said skeptically. "Will you go on your famous ice cream diet?"