“Cut!” someone cried from the bushes.
The Beast stopped in its tracks and lowered its arms. In the daylight it was easy to see it was a person wearing a costume. Torn patches of the shaggy light brown fur were roughly mended, and the eyes were blank glass. The shoulders were obviously padded, giving it an ape-like appearance. Vicious fangs stuck out of its mouth. Rubbery-looking paw pads ended in long plastic claws. A strange sound came from the head of the Beast—could it be a muffled laugh?
“It’s just a movie.” Xena’s voice wobbled. She couldn’t tell if she was about to laugh too, or if she was on the verge of tears. Even though she’d figured it couldn’t be real, when the Beast jumped out at them it seemed completely believable.
“Why did you yell cut? Did I miss my cue?” came a voice from the bushes, and out stepped the woman who’d been riding the scooter. Only
now, instead of jeans and a denim jacket, she was wearing a long filmy gown and high heels. She wobbled on the uneven ground, and a redheaded young man who had also just emerged from the underbrush grabbed her arm.
“Steady, there!” he said with a laugh. “Can’t have Lady What’s-her-name break an ankle!”
“What’s going on?” Xander asked, but Xena said, “I bet I know!”
The couple turned to her. “What do you know?” asked the man.
“You’re making a movie, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said the man. “We’re calling it Death on the Downs. Good title, don’t you think?”
A third person hurried up to them. She looked about the same age as the others, college students like Katy and Emma. She was smiling at Xena and Xander. “That was great! You two looked terrified. Marvelous! I’d like to keep that shot in the film. I’m Susan, the director.”
“We weren’t really scared,” Xander said.
“No, just startled,” Xena confirmed. “We already figured out that the Beast was a person in a costume.”
“Still, it’s one thing to know and yet another to have it pop out of the bushes at you, isn’t it?” Susan said with a grin.
“Are we taking a break?” asked a muffled voice from inside the Beast. “Because if we are, I want to get out of this thing. It’s hot in here.”
The scooter woman undid some snaps around its neck and pulled the head off. Then she unzipped the back of the costume and pulled down the shoulders, revealing a blond young man whose hair was plastered with sweat. He must have been looking through holes in the chest of the Beast, since its head was well above his own.
“Phew!” he said. “That’s better.”
“We’re making one of those mockumentaries,” the redheaded man explained. “You know, it will look like it was filmed by a news crew as it happened, but really it’s a regular film, with a script and actors and everything.”
“I play Lady Periwinkle,” said the woman who had been riding the motor scooter. “It’s the starring role!”
“No, the Beast is really the star,” teased the blond man.
“You’ve got to be joking,” said the woman. “You don’t even use your own voice for the howl!”
“What is that sound anyway?” Xena asked.
The redheaded man seemed eager to explain. “I made it out of a mixture of effects. There’s a bloodhound and a peacock—”
“A peacock?” Xander asked.
“Yes, that’s the screech. And a train whistle and a beluga whale. I mixed them all. I’m the technician.”
“So you’re the one in charge of lights and things?” Xena asked. He nodded.
Xander walked over to one of the tall spotlights. With his hands he measured the distance between its legs. “I was right! It was the tripod that made those holes!”
“We saw one of your lights this morning around dawn,” Xena said to the red-haired man. “It was really bright.”
“It has to be when we’re filming in dim light,” he explained. “Otherwise you lose a lot of detail. We use a filter to keep it from looking like the middle of the day.”
“But the other nights when we heard the howl, I didn’t see any light,” Xander said. “And it’s so bright that we would have seen one.”
“Early this morning was our first time filming in the dark. It’s hard enough getting around in this costume without stumbling over things.”
“You mean like the post near the rosebushes in the village?” Xena asked.
The blond man groaned. “Yes. The first time I tried on the costume was our first night in the
village. I lifted my arm and one of my fingertips got stuck on the wooden slats! The costume’s arms are at least a foot longer than my own, and they’re hard to control. I had to tug at it until the end ripped off. How on earth did you know about that?”
“We found some fur,” Xena said.
“And you took the newspapers from the library to get details about the Beast sightings a hundred years ago, right?” Xander added, eager to confirm all the details.
“Newspapers? I didn’t take any newspapers.” The technician looked puzzled. “Did you, Susan?”
The director shook her head. “Not me. I finished my share of the research before we came.”
“Derek?” The man in the Beast costume shook his head, and for good measure shook the Beast’s head in his hand too.
“Maggie?” But the woman playing Lady Periwinkle denied it too. Understandable, Xena thought. Nobody wants to confess to it in front of us. It’s pretty sneaky, taking something from a public library.
“So why’ve you been making all that noise at night?” Xander crossed his fingers, hoping they’d slip up and admit they’d been out late.
“We haven’t been,” said the director. “I told you, early this morning was our first time out in the dark.”
“But wait a second,” Xena said. “If it wasn’t you, who was it?”
“Maybe there is a Beast after all,” Xander said. He tried to sound like he was joking but his nervousness must have come through, because the others fell quiet.
Xena broke the silence. “I bet someone’s using your costume!”
Susan considered this. “That other team, maybe. The ones doing that bird film.” Her voice was scornful. “They’re so competitive—they’ll do anything to get their film done first. Maybe they’re stealing the costume at night. Remember that morning when we found some rips in it?” she asked one of her crew.
“But why would they?” one of the other students objected. “And how? Our props are locked up in the shed every night. Nobody in the crew would tell anyone the combination to the lock.”
“Hmm.” Xander thought about this. The film would account for some Beast sightings, maybe, but there was no reason for the students to lie about whether or not they’d been making
the noises at night. Someone else must have been doing that.
“Where’s this shed?” Xena asked.
“On the estate,” Susan said. “Blackslope Manor. On the end of the stable where the old man keeps his dogs.”
Xander drew Xena aside. “I bet that’s not a shed!” He was practically dancing up and down with excitement. “I bet it’s the apartment that Adeline the cook lived in with her husband!”