Model Suspect 3 by Carolyn Keene Page B

ordered me to add some sooty smudges to your face.” Shooting a slightly nervous look over her shoulder, she added, “And it’s never a good idea to ignore Madge’s orders, if you know what I mean.”
    “Maybe you’re scared of her, but I’m not.” Brushing aside the makeup brush, I took a step toward Madge. “Look, I think that’s enough of the filming,okay?” I said loudly, putting up my hand to block the lens of the closest camera. “My friends and I just want to get back to our bungalow and clean ourselves up.”
    “Nancy’s right,” George agreed, shooing away another makeup artist. “We’re out of here.”
    “What are you talking about?” Madge scowled at both of us. “You signed the releases. And this is a reality show—we’re just filming what happened.”
    “Oh, really?” Bess spoke up. “So it’s reality when you want me to rip a sleeve off my favorite shirt just because you say it’ll make good TV?”
    Madge just sputtered for a moment, looking even more irate than usual. “Cut!” she spat out at last, spinning toward the cameras and making a choppy slashing movement across her own throat with one thin hand. “Turn them off!”
    “That’s more like—” I began, ready to appease her a bit if necessary.
    Before I could finish, she spun back around to face me and my friends, her eyes all but shooting sparks. “That’s enough!” she hissed. “I should have known you three were only here to cause trouble. What’s your angle? Let me guess—you’re actually plants from
Winners and Losers
, right?”
    “Huh?” I goggled at her, taken aback.
    “
Winners and Losers
is another reality show,”George said with a frown. “It’s
Daredevils’
s biggest ratings rival, actually.”
    “That’s right.” Madge crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “And if you think you’re going to sabotage this production, you’ve got another thing coming! I had enough of that back on the mainland, and now that I’m in charge, I’m going to make sure you don’t cause any more trouble, do you hear me?”
    Wait—so Madge thought
we
were the saboteurs? I was so stunned I could barely react.
    “Madge!” Donald rushed up at that moment, breathless and red-faced. “There you are!” He stopped short, taking in the sight of the burned bungalow. “Hey, what happened?”
    “What do
you
want?” Madge snapped, rounding on him with a glare. “Can’t you see I’m busy here?”
    Donald took a half step backward. “S-sorry,” he stammered. “You told me to let you know if Vic or Sydney turned up, and I wanted to let you know I just spotted Vic heading toward the snack bar.”
    Madge was silent for a second, glowering at him, then at us. Finally she shrugged. “Fine,” she snapped out. “Come on, guys. Let’s go film Vic eating his cheeseburger or whatever. Might be boring, but I’m not about to give
Winners and Losers
any more free publicity for their sick little game.”
    With one last snarl in our general direction, shestalked off. The camera operators exchanged glances and shrugs, then followed. Donald shot one last confused look at the charred remains of the honeymoon bungalow and trailed after them.
    “Whew!” George breathed out, shaking her head slowly as she watched them all disappear. “That was … interesting.”
    “Yeah.” I drifted a few steps in the direction Madge and Co. had gone, my mind churning. Could the assistant director really think my friends and I were the saboteurs? Or was this some kind of ruse, a distraction to keep us from suspecting
her
?
    Before I could reach any conclusions, a bit of conversation drifted my way from nearby. Two young women wearing maids’ uniforms were standing on the beach a few feet away, staring out at the scene of the fire. “. . . so it looks like we wasted our time getting Suite 1 fixed up so fast, didn’t we?” one of the maids griped.
    “Don’t complain,” the second employee said. “We got paid overtime for it,