sulking nearby.
âBut theyâre finished,â Shea said, looking confused. âShould I ask Nysa first?â
âOmar, donât harass him,â Zoë scoffed. âItâs fine, Shea. I just need to get an idea of what time I shouldbe here tomorrow. Iâm trying to schedule something.â
Shea looked anxiously from Zoë to Omar. Finally he said, âIâll get a call sheet, Zoë,â and he ran to the production trailer.
âFine. Donât listen to me,â Omar huffed, rummaging around in one of the coolers near the craft service table.
Even though it wasnât first time Iâd heard Omar make a snotty comment, he was being particularly harsh on Shea. I wondered if there was something bothering him beyond being kicked off the set.
âOmar, can you hand me a soda?â I asked. âIâm really thirsty.â
âHuh?â he said, as if he didnât understand.
âA soda. Please .â
âOh, sure,â Omar replied, tossing me a can.
âAre you okay?â I asked. âYou seem kind of . . . on edge.â
âYeah,â he said. âIâm just tired. The early mornings are getting to me, you know?â
I nodded.
âAnd I guess Iâm a little homesick,â he added.
âFor L.A.?â
âNo, Iâm from Vancouver. Iâve never actually been to Los Angeles,â Omar admitted, âbut Iâm hoping that Brianâs next project will take me there.â
Shea jogged back out of the production trailer, sweating and wearing a panicked expression.
âLali?â he called, and then repeated his words into his walkie-talkie. âHas anyone seen Lali? Itâs an emergency. I need her NOW.â
Moments later Lali hurried over. Shea whispered something in her ear, and she snatched the call sheet from his trembling hand.
I leaned over to peek. In big red letters on the bottom of the piece of paper, someone had written: SHUT IT DOWN, OR YOUâLL BE SORRY .
CHAPTER FIVE
Double Agent
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING I drove bess and George to the dayâs first location: the actual Hamilton Inn. We spent the entire car ride going over the events of day one.
The night before, Lali had assured the cast and crew that the threatening note was just another prank, but I could hear the worry starting to seep into her voice. She had already called me that morning to find out if I had any thoughts on a culprit. I had to say no, but I assured her that we were working on leads.
âShea says the new call sheets were left unattendedin the production trailer for about thirty minutes while he was out looking for the stapler and doing various errands. Someone must have gone inside and left the note during that time,â I told my friends.
âBut thereâs no way of knowing if the note was on the call sheet before Cora went inside?â Bess queried.
âCora says she didnât see the note, but she claims she was only in the production trailer for a second, so itâs possible she didnât notice,â I responded. âShea found the note about five minutes after Cora left the trailer.â
George raised an eyebrow. âThis looks bad for Cora,â she said.
âSheâs high on our suspect list,â I replied, âbut Sal was also around. And Omar was acting strange too, actually. He didnât want Shea to pass out the call sheets. Maybe he was trying to keep Shea from going inside the trailer.â
âCould he have written the note?â Bess asked.
âIf he did,â I pondered, âhe didnât want anyone to find it, which doesnât make any sense at all.â
Following handwritten signs that said CREW PARKING ,I drove onto an unpaved road that snaked into the woods. I could feel my car bumping over the sticks and stones as I pulled into a makeshift parking lot set up in a dusty clearing. All the trucks and trailers were parked on the other