“What’s he doing?” Grant asked.
“Not sure,” I said. What was he doing? “Maybe he wants to be an actor when he grows up and is taking notes.”
Grant nodded a little. Then said like he was presenting a huge gift, “Tell him that if he wants, he can interview me.”
“I’ll let him know. I’m sure he’ll be very grateful.”
Grant smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Even though I knew he’d been at the studio today, I was still surprised at how happy I was to see Donavan sitting in my trailer when I walked in. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming today,” I said, walking to the mirror and immediately getting to work removing my makeup.
“I thought I could help.”
“With what?”
“With trying to figure out who’s behind all the sabotage.”
A feeling of gratitude warmed my chest. He was the first person who wasn’t trying to downplay my feelings. “Thank you.” I cleared my throat and nodded toward his notebook. “So what did you learn?”
“Did you know that Simone, your new makeup person, is married to Noah?”
“The assistant director?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t. So what does that mean in all this?”
“I don’t know. I’m just making notes on people. We’ll figure out motives later.”
I was so happy he was helping me that I couldn’t hide the smile that had taken over my face. “Okay.” I dropped the last piece of latex onto the counter, grabbed a makeup wipe, and joined him on the couch. “Speaking of makeup people, my old one, Leah, had something going on with my director, Remy.”
He scribbled that down in his book.
And I added quietly, “And now she’s dating my dad.”
“She is?”
I nodded.
“Does that bother you?”
“A little, but I was just thinking it might be a clue.”
“You think Remy is sabotaging his own movie?”
I groaned. “No. I don’t. I don’t know; I’m grasping here.”
“I get it.”
I scooted closer to Donavan, putting my elbow on the back of the couch, so I could read over his shoulder. I saw the name Peter right below Simone’s. “Grant’s agent? You talked to him?”
“Yes.”
I waved my makeup wipe several times over his name. “He’s evil. Doesn’t he just give off an evil, self-righteous vibe?”
Donavan moved his hand in the “so-so” way.
“Really? Just meh about him?” I finished wiping off the rest of my face and threw the wipe toward the trash in the corner. It missed. “Why don’t you have any notes next to him?”
“Because he didn’t say much.”
“What’s your spiel anyway?”
“My spiel?”
“You’re walking around with a notebook, saying, what? ‘Hey, I’m Donavan, tell me your life story and how that might relate to screwing over my friend.’”
“You know, that was my backup line. I decided to go with the more boring, ‘Hi, I’m doing a class project about moviemaking.’”
“Probably a good call. So they don’t find it weird when you then ask personal questions, like their marital status?”
“I don’t ask personal questions. They usually end up divulging personal stuff when I ask work-related questions. Like if I ask, are the long hours hard on family life? They either say, oh, I’m not married or no, not really, my wife works here too, so it’s not a strain.”
“That’s what Noah said?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m surprised he talked to you at all. Not sure if this is motive or helpful, but I think Noah hates me. I’ve always felt an impatient negative vibe from him.”
“I felt like he hated me too, so maybe it’s just his default.” He glanced over at me, and I realized how close we were, his face inches from mine. I didn’t move away, just met his eyes. He didn’t move away either. It would be wrong of me to close the space. To kiss him right now. So wrong. I was giving him up because I cared more about my career. I was selfish.
“You’re good at this,” I said before I talked myself into doing what I wanted to do.
“At what?”
“At investigative reporting. Maybe it’s in your future, after all.”
He laughed a little and shook his head. “No, I dread doing it.”
And yet, here he was doing it . . . for me.
“Who else?” I asked.
“Who else?” he asked.
“Who else made the notebook?”
He looked back down. “Oh, right. Did you know that Faith tried out for the movie?”
My mind went back to that video I’d watched in Amanda’s dressing room. “I did know that. I’d forgotten.” Could that be something? Was Faith jealous? “What else did you find out? Have you talked to Grant yet?”
“I haven’t talked to him yet.”
“When I saw you walking around the set he asked what you were doing. I told him you were interested in acting. Then he said that you could interview him.”
“How big of him.”
“It actually is kind of big of him. He’s a big deal, Donavan. It’s nice that he’d be willing to give you an interview.”
“Me? As in a nobody?”
“That’s not what I said.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line.
“I know you don’t think he’s a great actor and didn’t like his movies, but he doesn’t know you’re the viral-review guy, so if you’re scared that—”
“I’m not scared.”
“What is it, then?”
“I just don’t think it’s him. It would be a waste of time.”
“Really? What happened to everyone is a suspect?”
“I think he’s too prideful to think that you could screw up his career.”
“He’s not. In fact, one day he told me he didn’t want me to screw up his career.”
“Wow. Nice. Then I don’t think he has enough foresight to plan out something like this. To string together a bunch of mistakes that he hoped would be enough to get results.”
“You don’t think he’s smart enough? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Maybe.”
I shook my head. “Even if he’s not, he has his agent, who could easily be helping him.”
He nodded but didn’t look convinced.
A knock sounded at my door, and I backed up, putting some space between Donavan and me. “Come in!”
Aaron opened the door. “Hey,” he said. “Do you need anything?”
“I’m good.”
“I’m glad you’re back. Sorry for all the drama with the missing zombie face. I wish there was something I could’ve done.” It was so cute when he acted like a mini adult. Like he was somehow in charge of anything on set.
“There wasn’t anything you could have done. Thanks though.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks, Aaron.”
He smiled and left.
“Who was that?” Donavan asked.
“That is the director’s son and my biggest fan.”
Donavan raised his eyebrows. “Who has a huge crush on you?”
“No. He’s just nice.”
“What did he mean by missing zombie face?”
I lowered my brow and pointed at my cheek. “That section Leah always took off my face went missing sometime in the last two days— Wait, you didn’t know that?”
“How would I know that?”
“I guess I thought you heard somehow. . . . So you are helping me because of what I said at the restaurant about the article?” I felt my cheeks go pink but tried to pretend they weren’t.
He met my eyes. “Yes.”
“Thank you.”
He smiled. “You already said that.”
“It’s just I’ve felt so alone in this. Like nobody truly thinks it’s a big deal.”
He held up his notebook. “So what about that kid? Aaron. Does he have a reason to sabotage you?”
I thought about it. “This is really sad that it’s come to this.”
“I know.”
“I can’t think of any reason he would. He really does like me. But maybe? I don’t know. What would be his motive?”
“I don’t know.” Donavan nodded once. “I’ll talk to him.”
“I guess everyone needs to be on the suspect list,” I said.
“Well, everyone but me.”
I let out a burst of laughter. “No, you are at the top of the list. Remember, you used to think I was a spoiled, entitled snob.”
“Used to?”
I scrunched my nose at him. “So mean.”
His eyes dropped to the cushion of space I’d put between us when Aaron had knocked. “Who did you think was at the door?” he asked.
“My dad.”
He wrote two more names in the notebook: Aaron and Donavan. Next to his own name he added, revenge for all the math Lacey makes him explain.
I smirked. “I’d want revenge for that, too. I don’t blame you.”