Free Stories from New York #3 by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel Page B

feeling probably not,” Ivy said. “Helvetica wouldn’t like it.”
    The door flew open again, and Dakota came in, her eyes gleaming. She stopped short when she saw us, or rather when she saw Ivy and Whit standing together.
    “What’s up?” Whit asked. “There’s something going on, and I know you know. You
always
do. Something’s up with the shoot, right?”
    Dakota shrugged, then smiled, looking very pleased with herself.
    “Come on. Tell us what you found out,” Whit pressed.
    “Is it a mouse?” Tally asked. “There aren’t any bats here, so if you heard that, it isn’t true.”
    “Seriously, Dakota, what’s the deal?” Miko asked. “Whit said you always hear what’s going on before anyone else because you know all the people to talk to. Do you or don’t you?”
    Dakota’s smile got bigger. “Oh, I do,” she said. She perched herself on the edge of a radiator cover beneath the window.
    “Dakota, stop fooling around,” Ivy said. “What’s going on?”
    Dakota glanced at Ivy, ignored her, and turned to Whit instead.
    “Okay. So the big photo shoot scheduled for this morning has been very hush-hush, right? There’s a supercelebrity that nobody was supposed to know about, but
I
know who it is.”
    “Quincy Vanderstan,” Ivy said.
    Dakota frowned. “Well, everyone knows
today
,” she said. “I’ve known for, like, weeks. Anyway, they were worried she wouldn’t show up because she had to fly in late last night. They wanted her here at eight this morning just to be sure there was enough time toget her ready even if she was late. They had a B-list celeb lined up just in case.”
    “And she didn’t show?” asked Whit.
    Dakota leaned forward and touched his arm.
    “No, Whit, she
did
!” Dakota said. “She showed up right on time with her mother, who’s her manager. But something happened, and she got really mad. Garamond was trying to fix whatever the problem was, but while all that was going on, Quincy…
disappeared
.”
    “Disappeared?” Tally cried. “You mean she was kidnapped?”
    “Oh please,” Dakota said. “This is reality, not
Law & Order
. I mean she disappeared herself
on purpose
. She took off. That’s why everyone is so upset. One of the highest-profile shoots of the year, there’s a documentary film crew wandering around, and Quincy Vanderstan is gone.”

• chapter •
9
    “She could be anywhere,” I said. “This is one of the biggest cities in the world. They should call the police!”
    “Oh no. She couldn’t have left the building,” Whit said. “That would be impossible—the only way out is taking the elevator to the main lobby, and you have to turn your guest pass in to security when you leave. Plus, when there’s a celebrity in the building, they make sure security is really well informed. You wouldn’t know it, but they probably have extra people at the desk and are being supercareful that everybody gets checked going in
and
out.”
    “That’s right. She’s definitely somewhere here in the building,” Dakota agreed.
    “So that’s why Garamond and Constantia were going room to room and questioning people,” Ivy said.
    I didn’t know whether to feel excited or disappointed. It wasn’t every day you got to see real movie-star drama unfolding behind the scenes! But I also really wanted to meet Quincy. And if the shoot was off, obviously so was our chance to ask questions.
    “That was supposed to be our biggest story,” I said to Ivy.
    “What was?” Dakota asked.
    “We were going to sit in on the photo shoot and each ask Quincy a question for our magazine,” Ivy told her.
    “No way,” Dakota said. “I’ve seen the memos. That’s a totally closed set. They never would have let you in. I begged Garamond to let me be an assistant just so I could watch, and he said no to me.”
    “Well, they did,” Ivy said. “It was all set up—my mother is coordinating the whole piece and doing the interview herself. Why do you look so