California Schemin': Book One in the Malibu Mayhem Trilogy by Carolyn Keene Page B

something?” I said. “Do you guys use makeup from Roland’s Renewal Retreat and Spa? The package has a yellow sunburst design—”
    “Never!” Mandy cut in.
    The sisters then looked straight into the camera.
    “We use only Foxy Girl products,” Mallory said.
    “Because in order to be foxy,” Mandy said, a provocative gleam in her eye, “you have to look foxy!”
    “And—cut!” Bev shouted. “Great way to plug our sponsors, girls.”
    Bess, George, and I exchanged looks.
    That answered that.
    Bev waved the cameraman over to Mallory on the sofa. “Let’s get a one-shot,” she said.
    Peanut growled as Mallory tossed him off her lap. “What do I say?” she asked Bev.
    “Talk about how relieved you are that the girls weren’t stealing your boyfriends,” Bev said quickly. “Blah, blah, blah.”
    Out of nowhere a woman rushed over to Mallory. She brushed powder over her face, then hurried out of the shot.
    “Three, two, and one,” Bev counted down before pointing to Mallory.
    Bess, George, and I stood stunned as Mallory spoke directly to the camera. “We found out that the girls next door were not stealing our boyfriends. So, like, we left that message on their phone for nothing. I ruined my favorite lipstick for nothing too, which is totally stressing me out.”
    “Cut!” Bev shouted. “Let’s take a ten-minute break, then shoot cutaways.”
    “We’ll take a half hour.” Mandy smiled at us. “Let’s have coffee outside.”
    We left the crew inside to lounge on the Casabian sisters’ deck. The five of us drank coffee and had our first real friendly chat.
    “How do you like L.A.?” Mandy asked us.
    “We love L.A!” Bess answered, shooting George a look. “And when I finally see Rodeo Drive, I’ll love it even more.”
    “We can take you there one day,” Mandy said.
    “Really?” I asked.
    “Sure,” Mallory said. “Let’s all go out one night. We know the best clubs and places to eat—”
    “And a lot of cute guys to introduce you to,” Mandy added. “Unless you already have boyfriends.”
    “I do,” I replied. “His name is Ned.”
    The sisters smiled when I showed them Ned’s picture on my phone.
    “Nice!” Mallory said.
    I thought this was a good time to mention Mia. I still hadn’t forgotten seeing her on the yacht last night.
    “You two have boyfriends,” I said slowly. “But what about Mia? Is she seeing anybody?”
    Their faces dropped.
    “Who knows anything about Mia these days?” Mallory said softly. “She’s still over at that dumb spa.”
    “Well, we think we saw Mia last night. She was getting on a yacht with a bunch of other people,” Bess said.
    “You saw Mia?” Mandy gasped. She turned to Mallory and said, “She was probably on Roland’s yacht.”
    “So it is Roland’s yacht,” I said.
    Mallory nodded. “Everyone in Malachite keeps their yachts at the marina,” she said. “Except Roland. He keeps his anchored off his beach at all times.”
    I wondered why that was, but I still had a fewmore questions about Mia. “Why don’t you go to the retreat and find out about your sister?”
    “We’ve tried,” Mandy said. “The first time we went, Mia told us she was fine. The next visit, some blond woman in a white suit told us that Mia didn’t want to see us.”
    Blond woman in a white suit? Inge!
    “Did you ever try calling or texting her?” George asked.
    “Sure, but Mia doesn’t answer,” Mandy said.
    “Except that one time,” Mallory reminded her sister. “I got her to stay on for a few minutes, but it was weird. She sounded like a different person.”
    “A different person?” I repeated.
    “Her voice was flat, and she kept going on and on about Roland,” Mallory explained.
    “Well, it gets even weirder,” Mandy went on. “We just got a call from the bank asking about a huge withdrawal from Mia’s account. I’m pretty sure Mia took out the money, but why would she need all that money in a place like that?”
    “It’s a