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Julie, I stepped outside. Luke offered me his arm, and so did Ben. I took them both, and the boys practically carried me between them over to the soundstage. They teased me the whole way, making fun of my hair and my ugly black button-up boots. As an only child, I’m not used to being ribbed like that. They were acting exactly how I imagined
real
big brothers would act, and I liked it!
    By the time we got to the set, I was having a blast. The scene we were about to film was one in which the whole Rackham family visited the Mahoney Anvil office. Esther thought they were there to buy an anvil for her brothers to use in their new black-smithing business, but the Rackham boys were really there to check out the office. They were already plotting their heist, and they needed to see exactly where in the office Ethan Mahoney’s safe was so that they could plan their break-in.
    The whole scene took place while the Rackhams were waiting in the office for Ethan to come in. It was just me and the Alvarez brothers. Harold Saferwas finished filming for the day, but he was still there on set. He came over as soon as I arrived.
    “Nancy, you look terrific!” he cried.
    “Thanks, Harold,” I said. “I found the fire, by the way. Your house and the cheese shop are both safe.”
    “Oh, thank goodness.” He mopped his brow. “This acting job is a lot of fun, but I don’t think it’s going to turn into a whole career. If anything happened to the cheese shop, I’d be doomed.”
    “I don’t know about that,” Ben Alvarez interrupted. “You’re a natural actor, Harold. You may have to move to Hollywood after this!”
    At that, Harold blushed bright red.
    “Speaking of natural actors,” Morris Dunnowitz interrupted, coming over to us, “let’s get Miss Nancy Drew in front of the cameras.”
    “Break a leg, Nancy,” Harold said. “I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines.”
    “Oh, Harold, you must be exhausted,” I replied. “You don’t have to stay to watch me.”
    “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said.
    “Neither would we!” added Bess. I turned to see George and Bess hurrying in before the soundstage door was closed.
    My heart gave a jump. All my friends on the set were going to be watching? Chills shot down my spine. I’d managed to forget my fear while goofing around withthe Alvarez brothers, but now it was returning full force.
    I didn’t have time to focus on my fears, though, because Morris quickly ushered us all onto the set. A production assistant was busy snapping instant photos of the Mahoney Anvil office. As soon as the photos developed, the set dresser, Mary Lupiani, compared them to instant photos taken when the set was first designed. Before any footage could be shot, Mary had to make sure that every prop and every bit of furniture was in exactly the right place. She and her assistants checked every set before every take. It was the only way to make sure the film footage was consistent. I knew that they had to do this, because when the editors sat down to put the movie together, they would use shots from many different takes. When you watch a scene in a movie, you might be watching one actor talking during one take, and another actor reacting during an entirely different take. The editing machines piece everything together seamlessly, but if even one prop changes place from one take to the next, the entire take is useless.
    Once Mary gave us the go-ahead, Morris called, “Action!”
    I stood rooted to the ground in horror. I had expected a rehearsal first—that’s the way Morris usually did it. He was probably in a real rush to finish. But I wasn’t prepared. Ever since I’d gotten back from thefire at Jeffrey Allman’s house, everything had happened so quickly. I hadn’t even had time to go over my lines for the scene. In fact, I could barely remember whether I
had
lines in this scene!
    Luckily Ben and Luke Alvarez knew just what they were doing. They prowled around the office,