Chapter 11 Stalking Monsters and Monsters Stalking
Stalking Monsters and Monsters Stalking
“VIP at Coachella this year was embarrassing.” Piper Redwood lounged on a futon sofa near an empty craft table, nibbling a baby carrot she’d taken from a plastic bag in her lap.
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. They were the only wrinkles touching the elfin, wide-eyed features that had made her famous and her role as the daughter of Ramona’s character believable.
Yesterday morning, Sam had been in a different building for the Theomina reshoots, which fell under Howell Motion Pictures but not its StudioHonor streaming arm.
She’d never been on this part of the campus.
The double soundstage that belonged to The Howling was dominated by a massive set piece of a family home from the nineties, complete with wood paneling, printed vinyl floors, and sculpted carpeting.
Certain areas were hung with sound and lights, and there was a slight smell of prop cigarettes made from nontoxic herbs, probably due to the overflowing ashtrays on the set’s end tables.
On the way in, they’d passed a space near the outside wall of the soundstage where a number of the show’s animatronic prop monsters had been stored on shelves and in cubbies.
Sam had stared at the pink eyes of a flayed face, most of its skin peeled away, and told herself they would find Ramona, and she had nothing to be afraid of.
There were so many monsters stalking Ramona. Sam really hoped one of them hadn’t pounced.
“You didn’t miss anything good,” Piper was telling Vic. “I just forgot to fill you in. I was supposed to see the headliners with Sera and Matty, but of course they couldn’t even go near the main stage VIP because Linus was there, and you know.”
“I do,” Vic moaned. “But I still can’t believe I couldn’t make it. I was going to have that woman who body painted Liv do me, and it would have been one legend moment after another, but instead there was a lab for Developmental Biology? No. The worst.”
“Amazing that you do the school thing, though. As soon as I’m twenty-five, I’m going to have to start playing moms.”
“So, hey.” Bex interrupted what promised to be an interminable catch-up conversation with a wave and her big voice. “Nice to see you, Piper. This is Sam Farmer and her brother, Fergus.”
Piper stood up and pulled her long, dark braid over her shoulder. Her wide-eyed gaze focused in on Fergus, who she stepped toward and offered her hand to. “I saw you at Sushi Park, right? With Ryan Gosling.”
Fergus laughed as he shook her hand. “No, you didn’t, but it’s lovely to meet you.”
“Hmm.” Piper didn’t let go of him. “That’s right, you have a little feud with Ryan, I think.” She grinned. “Doesn’t matter to me. You can call me, though, the next time you go.”
Fergus tried to take his hand back. “I don’t have your number?” Sam’s clueless brother looked hilariously confused.
“You do.” Piper looked back at Vic, just a quick glance, raising her eyebrows.
“My brother’s not in the industry.” Sam held out her hand, forcing Piper to let go of Fergus. “It’s really great to meet you. Love your work on the show.”
Piper gave Sam a closemouthed smile and took her hand away. “Thank you. I’m sure your project with Chad Bevington will be interesting, too. I was surprised you were cast as Theomina. I imagined her much younger when I read the book.”
“She’s a three-thousand-year-old mage,” Sam said, unbothered. “I think the casting director thought there was a bit of range in the part. We’re actually here to talk about Ramona and why she’s missing shooting this week.”
“Ramona Watts?” Piper tipped her head as though she might know dozens of Ramonas.
“Yes. The star of this show. Your colleague. Ramona Watts.”
“I mean, okay, I guess I’ll help with damage control, even though I kind of despise her right now. But should we do a quick tour of the studio first?” She gripped Fergus’s arm. He held it out from his body at a strange angle, as though he had to remain motionless to prevent a viper strike.
“We’re kinda in a tight schedule sitch.” Vic gave Piper a sympathetic look of annoyance.
Piper huffed. “I can’t believe she emerged from her seclusion just to sun herself and sign autographs.
Did you know we’ve been shooting around her not being here for two days?
I’ve got to do all these scenes from different episodes completely out of order.
Like, I can’t. I learn my parts in linear progression, emotionally, and now I have to deliver these completely random feelings with no concern about how that affects my process.
I’m so effing peeved, I’m starting to think it’s better if she doesn’t come back and they have to make it so one of the monsters ate her. ”
Sam moved to stand closer to Bex. She could smell sun and sea in Bex’s wild hair.
“Star Spy’s blind items aren’t the most reliable,” she said.
“We’re looking for confirmation from people who know Ramona that they’ve seen her.
Have you, or have you heard anything from the other cast and crew? ” she asked. “Rumors?”
Piper flopped back onto the futon. “I’m very method, so I don’t commingle.” Vic sat next to her, and the rest of them grabbed stage stools. “But I can say she still hasn’t checked in.”
“How do you know that?”
“My agent and I took a meeting with Honor last night to discuss future projects.” She widened her eyes at Sam as if to ask if she knew who Honor was.
“Honor Howell,” Sam said obligingly. “The studio head.”
“Yeah, and I overheard her on the phone talking to someone about Ramona’s being AWOL. She was demanding an explanation, which means she doesn’t have one, right? And if Honor doesn’t know why Ramona’s not here, I can promise you nobody else does.”
“Thank you,” Sam said, distracted, because now she was much more worried. They’d just ruled out any plausible professional explanation for Ramona’s absence. “It’s helpful to know that no one involved in Ramona’s job has been in contact with her.”
“However.” Piper gave Sam a sly smile and reached into her back pocket for her phone.
She waggled it at them. “If I had seen this last night, I could’ve helped Honor out.
I’m officially on to you guys. I’m not totally sure how much I want to help you shape the narrative or whatever, since it looks like Ramona doesn’t care anyway. ”
Sam glanced at the dark screen of Piper’s phone, then at Piper again, completely lost. “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t have to go around pretending to look for Ramona anymore. She updated her Instagram a couple of hours ago.”
Vic’s jaw dropped. “Um, can I take a look?”
Piper shrugged and handed her phone to Vic. “Sorry she made you go to all this trouble. I’ve heard she’s like this, even with her friends.”
Sam’s palms itched to see whatever was making Vic’s pale eyebrows meet her hairline.
She swiped several times, then looked up at Sam, Bex, and Fergus.
“These are pictures on a lurker account,” Vic said.
“There’s no way we could’ve found it. The account is private. But it really seems to be Ramona’s.”
“It is,” Piper said. “She added me so I could follow her ages ago. Usually, it’s just her cat and recipes, and she rarely updates. You can see for yourself it’s nothing worth talking about.”
“I wish you’d told me about this post,” Vic said.
“The new one. It’s a bunch of scenery shots from the Maldives.
No selfies or pictures of Ramona. It’s someplace fancy, like a resort hotel.
” She squinted at the screen. “No, the art’s too good.
Resort hotels don’t have marble sculptures propping up the balcony.
Maybe it’s a high-dollar rental. Could she have gotten to the Maldives as of a couple hours ago?
” Vic tapped at the phone screen, presumably doing a search to find out how long it took to get from L.A.
to the Maldives. “Barely. Is this really how she was going to let her friends know she was okay? An Insta post without even a caption? That’s … not okay.”
Piper shrugged. “Whatever.”
Sam’s radar must’ve been tuned up high, because she didn’t miss the hurt in Piper’s voice. She studied the young woman, thinking about her self-protective body language. The way she’d talked since they arrived. The flirtatious behavior. The aggressive nonchalance.
Piper liked Ramona.
All of Piper’s attitude since they started asking about her costar was because Piper was having some big feelings that she didn’t know how to handle. She hadn’t believed Ramona would do something like this. Walk off the set. Leave her hanging.
Sam couldn’t really make herself believe it, either.
“You said none of the pictures actually have Ramona in them?” Sam asked Vic.
“Not in this new set.” Vic passed the phone to Bex, who started scrolling through, biting her lip. “But it’s definitely Ramona in some of the cat pictures from before.”
“The caption just says ‘the Maldives,’” Bex pointed out. “Vic’s right, though, the art looks expensive.”
“Wait.” Piper leaned forward and took her phone back to study the photo set again. “What are you saying?”
“Piper, do you genuinely think that Ramona fucked off to the Maldives and is on the beach now ignoring phone calls from her studio head?” Sam asked. “Does that fit what you know about her? Does it feel correct?”
Piper shoved her phone back into her pocket.
She suddenly looked young. “She always takes the time to help me with my craft,” she said softly.
“She actually worked with Meisner when she was my age. Like, Sanford Meisner himself, not at one of his studios.” Piper looked from Sam to Bex.
“And I saw Star Spy. She couldn’t be in L.A. and the Maldives at the same time.”
“No. She couldn’t. I think someone wants anyone who’s paying attention to think Ramona’s living up to a bad reputation that she didn’t earn. I think they might be doing that to distract people who care from noticing that she’s in trouble.”