Max pushed himself between Brett Benson and his dog. “Leave Prince alone!”
He squatted down and put an arm around Prince’s neck. Neil stooped beside him and examined the cocker spaniel’s coat. Brett Benson was right – there were flecks of silver paint around Prince’s front paws.
Jeff Calton ran a hand through his hair. “Honestly, Max, it’s just one thing after another. Can’t you keep your dogs under control?”
“Obviously not,” said Brett Benson. “But if you will have kids and dogs larking around on set, what can you expect?”
He cast another glance at himself in the mirror, and strolled out into the gallery, still smirking.
“Prince is under control!” Max said hotly. “He didn’t spill the paint. I know he didn’t!”
“Then how did it get on him?” Jeff asked.
“I don’t know!”
“Listen, Mr Calton,” Neil said. He was finding it easier than Max to keep calm. After all, it wasn’t his dog in trouble. “Just think about it. Verity says the props people are using this paint. Do you think Prince went into the props room, found the paint and carried it along here, just so he could spill it on a costume? And then hid the paint pot under the rack? It’s just not possible. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know what makes sense any more,” Jeff said, exasperated. “I just know that this film will be ruined if there’s any more trouble. Anyway, Max, and you two – village set in fifteen minutes, OK?”
He strode out. Morgan gave Verity a quick hug and said, “Don’t worry,” before following him. Emily went behind the screens to change, while Verity put the ruined dress to one side and went back to looking for Neil’s costume.
“Max,” Neil said while he waited, “where was Prince this morning? Has he got an alibi for this?”
Max frowned, thinking. “I’m not sure. I fed him in the kitchen first thing, and then I left him there while I went into breakfast. I suppose he could have wandered up here.”
“But he didn’t fetch the paint from the props room,” Neil said. “Somebody else did. Then they spilt the paint on the dress and dabbed some on Prince so that he would get the blame.”
Max was looking even more upset now. He was still kneeling beside Prince, an arm around him. “I’m not taking my eyes off Prince after this,” he said. “Whoever it is, they’d better not try anything else!”
He straightened up. “Neil, I’m going down to make-up. I’ll see you on set. Come on, Prince.” He slapped his leg, and Prince trotted obediently after him.
Neil watched him go, and then realized that Verity was holding out his costume: a pair of loose brown trousers and a shirt, with a sheepskin jerkin to go on top.
“Thanks,” he said absent-mindedly. As he went off to change he was still thinking about the attempts to sabotage the film, and whether there was anything he could do to put a stop to them.
The collapsed inn had been repaired, and the village looked very realistic under its coating of snow. Brian Mason wanted to film one of the most important scenes of the film, when the villagers, who had been forced to work for the wicked Morgan le Fay, rebelled, joining King Arthur and his knights in an attack on her castle.
“You can’t have found another castle for Morgan?” Neil said to Max.
“No, it’s just a different bit of this one,” Max explained. He still sounded tense, and he kept Prince very close beside him while they waited for filming to begin. “But it’ll look fine on the film.”
Nearby, King Arthur and his knights were mounting their horses, getting ready for the moment when they were to come trotting into the village. The villagers had to cheer them and then listen while Arthur rallied them to fight against the wicked Morgan.
The director called the extras together and explained how the scene would work. While he was talking, Neil noticed the mysterious extra standing at the back of the crowd, head down, as if he didn’t want to be seen. Neil edged his way towards him.
“Hi,” he said. “Thanks for getting Prince out the other day.”
The man gave him a sideways glance, and just grunted. Neil tried not to let the gruff manner put him off. This was the first real chance he’d had to talk to him, and he wanted to find out what had frightened Prince in the woods and why the man had run away.
“I saw you playing with my dog Jake in the woods,” he said chattily. “Do you like dogs?”
Another grunt.
“Jake really enjoyed—” Neil was beginning, when a shout from Brian Mason interrupted him. “Shut up at the back there, will you? We haven’t got all day!”
Neil had to give up and start paying attention to the scene.
King Arthur and his knights rode in, with bright surcoats and shining armour. Brett Benson as Sir Lancelot carried a scarlet and gold banner. Neil and Emily and all the other villagers cheered, and Zeno came forward to offer their support to Arthur.
The run-through went perfectly, and Brian decided to go for a take. The horsemen regrouped and rode into the village again, but when the time came for Max to talk to the king, Prince suddenly broke out into frantic barking, and tore off down the path towards the castle.
“Cut! Cut!” Brian yelled. “Somebody catch that dog!”
Max and Maggie Brown ran off together after Prince. Neil followed, fishing in his pocket under his costume for a dog treat to help coax the cocker spaniel back. By the time he caught up, Maggie already had a hand on Prince’s collar, and Max was patting his dog to soothe him.
He looked up as Neil approached. “Something bothered him. He’s not usually like this.”
Neil squatted down and offered the titbit to Prince, who wolfed it down and looked for more. He had recovered from his shock, whatever it was, and trotted happily back towards the set at Max’s heel.
Neil wondered whether to say something to Max about the extra. He didn’t suppose that anyone else had noticed, but the man had been right next to Prince just before the dog took off. Prince had behaved just as he had in the wood the day before when they had met the man. It looked as if Prince didn’t like him, but Neil didn’t understand why.
The next take went well, but Brian Mason insisted on filming the scene a second time anyway. When he was satisfied, Neil and Emily went back to the castle to wash off their makeup and change into ordinary clothes. Then they headed for the kitchen to find Jake. The young Border collie threw himself at Neil to welcome him, leaping up with his tongue lolling out in a doggy grin.
“Hey, get down, you daft dog!” Neil rumpled Jake’s ears. “I’ve been away two hours, not two months!”
The kitchen at Ainsworth Castle was a huge room, with oak beams holding up a whitewashed ceiling. Copper pans hung on the walls, decorated with sprigs of holly from the greenery Neil and the others had collected the day before.
Along one side was an old-fashioned kitchen range, where Adrian Bartlett was making himself a cup of coffee. Princess was balancing on his shoe and trying to climb up his leg.
Adrian looked a bit harassed. “Is Max back?” he asked.
“No, he stayed to do another scene,” said Neil. “Is Princess a problem?”
“I have to finish off the estate Christmas cards,” Adrian explained. “And I shudder to think what she could get up to in the office! I daren’t leave her, though, especially after what happened yesterday.”
“I’ll look after her,” Emily said, scooping up Princess and cuddling the little pup close to her face. “Come on, gorgeous.”
Adrian gave her a relieved smile. “Thanks, that’s a big help.” He took his coffee and went out, pausing in the doorway to say, “Penny’s putting up decorations in the small drawing room, if you want to give her a hand.”
The small drawing room was about the size of a tennis court. When Neil and Emily arrived, Penny was sorting shiny baubles from a large cardboard box. An enormous Christmas tree, without any decorations, stood in a tub on one side of the fireplace with a stepladder next to it. A bright fire was burning, and the room smelt of pine branches.
“Hello,” Penny said, smiling. “I could do with some help. Better keep the dogs away, though. If they break these they could get hurt.”
“Jake should be OK,” Neil said, as the Border collie went to touch noses with King who was sprawled on the hearthrug. “Em, you’d better hang on to Princess.”
Emily gave him a blissful smile. “No problem!”
Neil went up the ladder while Penny handed him the baubles.
“How did the filming go?” she asked.
“OK,” said Neil. “But it was freezing cold down there. You’re lucky your scenes are indoors!”
Penny laughed. “I have to do embroidery, though!” Pausing with a glittering ball in one hand, she added, “Was there any trouble?”
Emily was sitting cross-legged on the rug, while Princess scrambled all over her and covered her face with sloppy licks. She said, “Not really. We think that extra – the one Neil saw in the woods – might have spooked Prince a bit.”
“I wonder who he is,” said Neil. “Penny, do you know him?”
Penny shook her head. “Most of the extras are village people, but I’ve never seen him before.”
Neil reached down for another bauble and fastened it carefully to a branch. “It’s weird, because he helped Prince when the set collapsed, and he got on fine with Jake. I can’t think why Prince has taken a dislike to him.”
Penny shrugged. “Oh, well . . . That’s not the big problem, though. What I want to know is who’s trying to wreck the film. Verity told me what happened with the paint.”
“Brett Benson was up there,” Emily said. “And he was the one who found the paint spots on Prince.”
Penny frowned and shook her head. “I can’t believe it’s him. Nobody’s that stupid!” She fished in the box again. “Here’s the star to go on top. Can you reach that far, Neil?”
Neil took the star and climbed up to stand precariously at the top of the ladder. While he leant over to fix the star to the topmost branch of the tree, he said, “I’ve been thinking. Whoever’s doing this has to be able to come and go in the castle without anybody asking questions.”
“That means the whole of the film crew,” said Emily.
“And the people who live here,” said Neil.
“But none of us would do it!” Penny protested. “We want the film to be made. The money’s going to pay for all sorts of things.”
Neil still wasn’t used to the idea that a lord who owned a castle could be short of money, but he knew that Penny was right. Lord Ainsworth really needed the fee from the production company.
“Yes, but . . .” An idea was nagging at Neil. A few things he’d ignored were starting to fit together. “You know, Adrian was up in the Long Gallery about the time the paint was spilt. He looked a bit funny, too, as if he didn’t want to be seen up there.”
“But Adrian’s nice!” Emily protested. “And he was keen on the film from the start.”
“I know.” Neil tweaked the star into position and climbed down to where he felt safer. “But that’s not the only thing. He was supposed to be looking after Princess yesterday, when she got into trouble for chewing Jeff Calton’s notes.”
“He took Jake for a walk,” said Emily.
“I just wonder if that’s the only thing he did.”
Penny had stopped unpacking the decorations and stood still, staring up at Neil. “That’s . . . stupid,” she said. “Why would Adrian try to spoil the film?”
“Not spoil it,” said Neil. “Just delay it. You said yourself, your dad needs the money. And the longer the film crew are here, the more they’ll have to pay to use the castle. I’m sorry, Penny. I’m really sorry. But Adrian—”
Penny had suddenly gone red with anger. “It’s not Adrian – he wouldn’t! I know he wouldn’t! You are so arrogant, Neil Parker. You always think you’re right, but really you don’t know anything. I think you’re horrible!”
She spun round and ran out of the door, slamming it behind her.