A New Suspect
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Drew drove Nancy, George, and Bess to Thunderchickens Studios. The shooting of yesterday’s crowd scene had been canceled due to Fluffington’s disappearance. It had been rescheduled for today, even though Fluffington was still missing.
“The show must go on,” Mr. Banner said to the cast and crew as they stood around, getting ready for the day. “We will find Fluffington. In the meantime, all we can do is act like the professionals we are and make the best movie possible. Come on, people, let’s get to work!”
Everyone scattered. Mr. Drew walked over to Mr. Banner. Nancy and her friends followed. Nancy noticed that Beezil wasn’t around.
“Any news about Fluffington?” Nancy’s dad asked Mr. Banner.
Mr. Banner shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Carson. I talked to the police this morning, and they’re working on it. In the meantime, I’m trying to keep Fluffington’s disappearance out of the newspapers. Otherwise—”
He lowered his voice. “Otherwise I’m going to have a lot of unhappy people on my hands. The president of Krunchies, Incorporated, for example. Also the Aliens producers, who have given us a lot of money to make this movie. And last but not least, Fluffington’s owner, Mrs. Rice. She lives in New York City. She’s very old. I don’t think her health could take this kind of shock.”
“What are you going to do?” Mr. Drew asked Mr. Banner. “About making the movie, I mean. You can’t shoot Fluffington’s scenes without Fluffington.”
“Actually I can,” Mr. Banner said.
“He’s going to use that CG-something,” Nancy spoke up.
Mr. Banner smiled at her. “Smart girl! That’s right, Nancy. We’ll use CGI—or ‘computer generated imagery.’ My CGI guy, Tucker Diaz, is working on it now. Nancy, George, Bess, you’d better go see Meadow for your hair and makeup. We’re going to try to shoot that crowd scene in about an hour or so,” he said.
“You girls better go,” Mr. Drew said. “I’ll pick you up at five so we can get ready for Pompom’s birthday party tonight.” He winked.
“Okay, Daddy,” Nancy said. Mr. Banner had invited them to the celebrity dog’s birthday party. Nancy had never been to a real Hollywood party. She couldn’t wait!
Nancy hugged her dad good-bye. Then she, George, and Bess headed in the direction of the dressing room area.
On the way, they passed Tucker Diaz. He was working at his computer station. His face was so close to his computer screen that his nose was almost touching it.
“Hi, Tucker,” Nancy called out.
Tucker barely looked up. “What? Oh, hey. Hi, girls.”
“Mr. Banner told us that you’re superbusy,” Bess said.
“Because of Fluffington being missing,” George added.
Tucker yawned and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve been here since four a.m. trying to get these computer generated Fluffington images right,” he said. “So? What do you think?”
He leaned back to let the girls see the computer screen. Nancy gasped. An image of Fluffington was on the screen. It looked just like her!
Then Tucker pressed some keys on his computer keyboard. The computer-Fluffington cleaned its whiskers with its paw. It chased a mouse. It jumped up in the air. It lay down and closed its eyes.
“That’s amazing,” Bess exclaimed. “It looks exactly like Fluffington!”
Tucker beamed. “It’s like I’ve been trying to tell Mr. Banner. CGI is way better than the real thing. Now I finally have a chance to prove my point.” He quickly added, “Not that I’m happy Fluffington is missing, of course.”
Nancy frowned. That was a strange thing for Tucker to say, she thought.
Then Nancy noticed something even stranger.
Tucker had kitty hairs on his T-shirt. A lot of kitty hairs. He also had some scratches on both his arms.
Could they be kitty scratches? Nancy wondered.
Could Tucker be Fluffington’s kit-napper?
Nancy frowned. Tucker’s scratches definitely could be kitty scratches. If he kit-napped Fluffington, then maybe Fluffington scratched him while she was trying to escape. Poor Fluffington! she thought.
Nancy tried to see if the kitty hairs on Tucker’s T-shirt were white, like Fluffington’s. But his T-shirt was light blue, so it was hard to make out the color of the kitty hairs. She needed to get a sample.
Nancy glanced around. She spotted a roll of tape on a nearby desk. She walked over to the desk, making sure Tucker wasn’t watching, and very quietly tore off a piece of tape.
George stared at Nancy and mouthed the words, What are you doing? Nancy put her finger to her lips. She would explain everything to George and Bess later.
Nancy walked back to where Tucker was sitting. Bess was in the middle of asking Tucker a question. While Tucker answered, Nancy carefully placed the sticky part of the tape on his T-shirt. She made sure to aim for his sleeve, which was loose and baggy; that way, she wouldn’t actually have to touch him and make him suspicious.
Just as carefully, she peeled the tape away from his sleeve. Something was stuck to the sticky part.