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Carolyn Keene is the author of the ever-popular Nancy Drew books.

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Model Menace

Aladdin

1

A WILD KNIGHT

Are we ready to par-tee down?" my friend Bess Marvin asked with an impish grin as she climbed into the backseat of my Prius. Next to me, in the passenger seat, my friend George Fayne groaned. She and Bess might be cousins, but their personalities are very different.

"Ready as I'm going to get," I replied, pulling out of Bess's driveway. "Hopefully this party will be a little quieter than the last one we went to."

"You mean, we won't catch any criminals?" George asked, faking a disappointed pout. "I do so love a party that ends with someone being led away in handcuffs."

I smiled. The three of us were headed to a joint bachelor/bachelorette party for George and Bess's cousin, Sydney Marvin. Syd was scheduled to get married in a week, and so far, the preparations for her wedding had been a little too exciting. First Syd got a very creepy reply card in the mail. Instead of just information about who would be coming to the wedding and whether he or she would bring a guest, this card was printed to look like the original invitation, and read:

RSVP: I WILL ATTEND
BUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST
FOR YOU, SYDNEY, YOU WON'T.

Sydney is a pretty successful model, so if this had been the only strange incident, we might have written it off as a practical joke from an overzealous fan. But then, within hours of arriving in town, her fiancé, Vic, was sent to the hospital after someone tried to poison his drink with jet fuel! Thankfully he'd come out of it fine, but just days later, Syd was the victim of another attack -- this time she was given a lei infested with tiny biting ants. That may sound odd -- what do leis have to do with wedding preparations? -- but truthfully, this whole wedding is a little odd. For one thing, it's being filmed by the producers of Daredevils, the reality television competition, as a TV special. And for another, the wedding seems to be under attack. It looks like somebody out there really doesn't want to see Syd and Vic say "I do."

"Has Syd mentioned any more creepy e-mails or texts?" I asked my friends as I pulled into the parking lot for Mead, a medieval-themed chain restaurant that would be hosting the party. Over the last few weeks, Syd had received a couple threatening e-mails -- all sent from public computers -- and at least one scary text message.

Bess shook her head. "Nothing since the shower," she replied. At Syd's bridal shower, we'd gotten at least some answers as to why the wedding seemed to be cursed. Putting two and two together, I'd realized that a friend and fellow model to Syd, Candy Kaine, was the most likely suspect for wedding saboteur. When we'd questioned her, she'd admitted it: she had sent the RSVP card, given Syd the ant-infested lei, and even wrapped up a scary reminder of a stalker Syd had dealt with in the past -- a Mr. Silhouette -- as a "present" for the blushing bride. Oddly, though, she claimed not to know anything about the e-mails or the jet fuel incident. At first I had assumed she was lying and just didn't want to be charged with any serious crimes, but then, after Candy had been questioned by the police and had her cell phone taken away, another creepy text arrived for Syd:

And we'd known it wasn't over.

"Maybe whoever's trying to destroy the wedding got scared off by what happened to Candy," Bess suggested.

"What?" George asked. "You mean how the police determined she hadn't committed any serious offenses, and how she graciously just flew back to New York today because she felt awkward? I don't know if that's going to scare anyone off."

Bess shrugged. "No, I mean that she was caught at all." She glanced at me. "Whoever's doing this must know that Nancy's on the case. You know, that someone's paying attention. That might be enough to convince them to cool it."

I pulled into a parking space as close to the front door as I could get, which wasn't very close at all. It looked like this was going to be a huge party. "Maybe," I allowed. "But if this person is Mr. Silhouette, I don't think attention will be enough to scare him off. That's exactly what stalkers want: attention. And if he can't get the good kind -- befriending Syd, or getting her to fall for him -- he'll take the bad kind, by just scaring her to death."

George shuddered. "Gosh, this has to be so weird for Syd. It's one of the happiest times of her life, and this totally creepy thing is taking away from that."

I nodded grimly, unclipping my seat belt. "That's why we're going to catch whoever's behind this A-S-A-P."

We got out of the car and started strolling over to the entrance. As we got closer, I saw that the entire restaurant was surrounded by security guards watching every exit and even the big windows! At the front door, where members of the production crew were already clustered, trying to make sure only wedding party members and invitees got in, a group of security guards were further examining all the entrants. I noted that a large metal detector had been installed in front of the entrance, and guards were forcing all partygoers through it, as well as examining the contents of all their bags and pockets. Donald, the geeky production assistant we'd met before, was checking people's names off of a list.

"Jeez," George murmured. "They're really taking this threat seriously!"

Bess nodded. "Yeah, I think that's how they convinced Syd to go ahead with this party at all," she replied. "After all, she and Vic didn't really want bachelor or bachelorette parties, but the producers were pushing hard for it. When Syd told them what happened after her shower, they agreed to guard this place like Fort Knox if Syd would just agree to attend the party."

Fishing our invitations out of our pockets and purses, we began the long process of being vetted by production and then again by the security crew. Finally we were able to make our way inside.

"Wow," breathed Bess as we entered the main restaurant -- a huge room, complete with jousting ring, that had been decorated in a soft rose-pink, Syd's color. Hundreds of tiny lights twinkled in arrangements hanging from the ceiling, and small votive candles made every table glow. Gorgeous floral arrangements graced each table, and larger ones circled the jousting ring and dining area.

"I guess we should be used to TV-budget-decorating by now," George observed. "But you know, it never gets old."

We walked in among the tables, glancing down to locate our names on the place cards. The three of us were at a table with the three other remaining bridesmaids and their dates. But most of the partygoers who'd arrived so far were wandering the room, enjoying some mouthwatering-looking appetizers, and chatting. Bess, George, and I put our things down and walked over to a group of familiar faces.

Ellie Marvin, Syd's mother and Bess and George's aunt, smiled when she saw us approach. "Well, my favorite bridesmaids have made it." She greeted us with a smile, pulling each of us toward her in turn for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you girls? Ready to celebrate?"

"We're all doing well," Bess replied. "How's Syd? She's not here yet, is she?"

Ellie's smile seemed to flicker. "She just called -- she's on her way from the hotel."

"Hotel?" I asked with a frown. Syd had been staying at her parents' house -- at least up until the disastrous shower.

Ellie nodded, her mouth tight. "The producers felt it would be best."...