J.M.J.

Ice Cream and Soap Operas

Bess—Stay Tuned for Danger

1999

Serena turned her back to Rory, the tears streaming down her face, though whether they were tears of utter heartbreak or of raging fury, even Serena couldn't say. "How can I ever trust you again after this?"

Rory spread his arms in a disarming gesture. "It wasn't me, Serena. I swear it. You have to trust me." He placed a hand on her arm.

Instantly, she whirled around, wrenching her arm from his hand. "Don't you ever touch me again, Rory Danner! I trusted you once already, and where did that get me? To find you breaking our date to go out with Kathy Simmons instead!"

"I already told you, Serena, it wasn't me you saw. I don't know what you saw, but Kathy never agreed to go out with me."

"So you have asked her?" Serena folded her arms.

Rory stammered a moment, flustered. "Well, yes, but she always said she was busy. Probably she was busy dating this other guy you saw her with."

"Stop lying to me, Rory. I would recognize you if I saw you, and this was definitely you."

Rory's brow furrowed. "But it wasn't, so that can only mean it was…Yuri!"

"Your evil identical twin?" Serena's voice held a note of sarcasm, but then the reality began to sink in. She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. "You're right. It must have been Yuri! Oh, Rory, I'm so sorry for ever having doubted you!"

The two of them embraced and then kissed.

The screen faded to black and a commercial for some kind of turbo vacuum came on. Bess Marvin reached for the remote and switched the TV off with a deep sigh.

"I wish they wouldn't switch to commercials so fast," she lamented. "It kind of spoils the effect of a romantic scene like that. Don't you think, Dad?"

"Hmm? What?" Bess's dad, Greg Marvin, was sitting in the other armchair in the Marvins' living room where he was far more engrossed in the newspaper than the TV. He had taken the day off from work to get some chores around the house done, but he was taking an extra long lunch break to read through the paper. He had barely even noticed when Bess had turned the TV on.

"Don't you think it spoils the effect of a romantic scene to switch to a commercial immediately afterward?" Bess asked again.

"Oh. Maybe. I wasn't paying attention. Say, what were you watching, anyway?"

"Light of Our Love. I've got to admit, it's not as good as Crimson Cove, and it's so annoying that they're both on at the same time, so I can't watch both. But I figured I should watch Light of Our Love this time in case Nancy needs some background. I can't believe she actually gets to solve a mystery at Worldwide Broadcasting. You know, the company that produces Light of Our Love. What I wouldn't give to get to meet Mattie Jensen and Rick Arlen in real life! And Nancy's getting to be roommates with Mattie." Bess sighed. "If there was ever a mystery I wish I could have gone with Nancy on…But, Dad, why do you think anyone would send death threats to Rick Arlen?"

"Is that the blond guy who was cheating on his girlfriend with that redhead?"

"Well, yes, but he wasn't actually cheating on her. It was his evil twin, Yuri, who Rick Arlen also plays, of course. Although Rory was cheating on Serena last week."

Greg grinned wryly. "I don't blame whoever it is."

"Dad!" Bess protested.

"All right, all right. All joking aside, I don't know why anyone would send death threats to an actor. I guess that's what Nancy will find out."

"Maybe it's one of his ex-girlfriends," Bess mused. "He has several. He really was dating Mattie Jensen for awhile, you know, and then he was dating the director, Lillian Weiss, and they had an epic break-up. And then he was dating Rikki Lettenmeier—the main actress in Destiny Tomorrow—but that only lasted, like, a couple months. And let's see. There was Chrissy LeGault from The Third Bride and Vonnie Fields from A King for Polly and Nevermore, not to mention Dahlia Richards from As Once Before. There were probably a few others before that, but those are the main ones in the last couple years."

"In the last couple years?" Greg repeated aghast. "I know celebrities are known for playing fast and loose on the dating scene, but don't you think that's a little much? Why do you know all that, anyway?"

"Oh, well, I might have happened to come across it online, here and there," Bess said.

Greg raised an eyebrow. "So that's what they use the Internet for? I never understood why anyone would care about learning every detail of a celebrity's life. Why not just their movies and leave their personal lives alone?"

"But we've got to care about what's going on with Rick Arlen, since someone's trying to kill him," Bess objected. "How would we have any idea who it was if we didn't learn all about him?"

Greg playfully threw his hands in the air. "I give up. Okay, so who do you think is sending him threatening messages?"

Bess twisted a lock of blond hair around her finger. "Like I said, it could be an ex-girlfriend. Mattie Jensen and Lillian Weiss are the only ones on the set of Light of Our Love, but I don't think it's either of them. Mattie is so sweet and nice and Lillian…well, I don't know a whole lot about her, but what kind of director sends threatening messages to their star? Then there could be someone else who would have a motive. Like maybe a psycho fan. Wouldn't that be weird? What if it's someone who can't tell the difference between Rick and the character he plays, and since the character—either of the characters, actually—isn't very nice, that could be a motive for someone who was crazy enough."

Greg picked up the newspaper again and opened it to the entertainment page, which had the ratings of the week for the newly-airing shows. "It looks like Light of Our Love only gets about one-point-two million viewers a day, which is pathetic, but it's still one-point-two million suspects if your idea is right."

"Well, we can subtract me from that since I know it's not me, but, yeah, that's still a lot of people." Bess frowned. "I need some ice cream to think. Want some, Dad?"

"I'll always take ice cream," Greg replied.

He carried the newspaper into the kitchen and continued looking at the TV ratings while he and Bess dished up mint chocolate chip ice cream and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Looks like that other soap opera you mentioned, Crimson Cove, gets almost two million viewers a day," Greg noted in between bites of ice cream. "At least Nancy doesn't have that many suspects to sort through."

"Ooh! I just had an idea," Bess said. "What if someone on the show blames Rick for the poor ratings? Maybe they think audiences dislike his character so much that they're not bothering to watch, so getting him out of the picture would boost the ratings?"

"It's more likely that someone thinks that a big story around the show would attract viewers," Greg pointed out. "One of the lead actors getting death threats would probably fit the bill of a big story."

"But then Rick's life wouldn't really be in any danger." Bess knit her eyebrows and frowned. "Nancy said someone planted a bomb in his dressing room and tried to drop a klieg light on him, so those threats must be serious." Then her eyes widened. "Wait! What if your idea is right, but someone doesn't just want the story to be the death threats, but an actual murder! That would be so crazy."

"I've got to agree with you there," Greg said. He shook his head. "I hope Nancy can figure it out, because it's beyond me." He finished his ice cream and took the bowl to the sink. "Well, I'd better get back to some yard work before the whole day runs out."

"Do you want some help?" Bess asked. "I'm waiting for Nancy to call so she can fill me in some more and I was going to do some more reading so I could fill her in some more, but if you need help…"

She was cut off by the phone ringing.

"That might be Nancy now," Greg said. "You'd better answer it. The sooner this case gets solved, the better I'll like it."

Bess giggled and headed for the phone. "Thanks, Dad. I'll let you know if there's any news."

"I can't wait," Greg replied, but his wink gave away that he was teasing.