Chapter Twenty-One
Eden
Three days had passed since Troy gave the nanny cam bear to Blair, and I was starting to think that we’d been wrong about her. I’d watched the footage from each day on high speed every evening, and so far I hadn’t seen her doing anything out of the ordinary. I’d even started to feel bad for spying on her, because for all we knew, our original suspect—Anya—was the real saboteur. After all, Emily had permanently left the show in a huff yesterday after her hair extensions had failed to mask her new bald spots properly, and Anya had simply snickered and said ‘bye!’ in a sing-song tone, before giving us a nice little interview about how she was glad that Emily had quit, leaving only four contestants still in the running.
Troy really seemed to believe Anya was just playing up the mean-girl attitude for the cameras to boost her acting career, but I wasn’t sure. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think. Who was it more likely to be at this point—her or Blair?
Or was it someone else entirely?
Until now, I hadn’t considered this, but what if our saboteur was actually an angry crew member? That opened up the issue to a whole other realm of possibilities, and I felt like I was drowning in a sea of confusion as I considered it all.
I got an answer to all my questions sooner than I thought I would, though.
It was about seven o’clock P.M., and I had a rare night off while a small dinner party scene between Troy and the remaining contestants was filmed. I was in my trailer, eating a microwave meal and listlessly watching the empty footage from Blair’s bedroom, but I perked right up when something caught my attention on the screen.
The time-stamp was from earlier in the day, and it showed Blair doing something strange on her dressing table; it looked like she was chopping something up with a knife. I squinted at the screen and zoomed in on her as much as I could, wondering what on earth she was up to, and then my blood ran cold. Right next to her was a bag, and I recognized the label because it was the same brand my parents used to eat on family movie nights. It was a bag of unsalted peanuts.
Oh, shit.
Blair really was the saboteur, and she was crushing up peanuts, most likely to slip them into Cailin’s food. Cailin was severely allergic, and something like this wouldn’t just hurt her.
It could kill her.
My whole body went numb with pure shock at my discovery, and the next few minutes flew by in a haze of fear and adrenaline. I quickly saved the video to a thumb drive and then left my trailer before dashing towards the mansion, where I knew the contestants would be starting the dinner party soon, and I burst into the main dining room five minutes later.
“Wait,” I gasped out.
Glenn turned to me and held his hand up. “Shh!” he said. “We’ve just started filming. I thought this was one of your scheduled nights off.”
I turned and looked at the table. Shit. I was too late; they were already at least halfway through dinner. Cailin had just finished polishing off a small bowl of what looked like chicken curry, and she smiled as she finished chewing her last bite. “That tasted amazing,” she said, patting her stomach. “I love Indian food. It reminds me of the time I went to…” She suddenly coughed and squinted her eyes, and then she brought a hand to her chest.
“Call an ambulance,” I said, whirling around to Glenn. “I think there’s peanuts in that curry she’s been eating, and she’s allergic.”
Cailin nodded, her eyes watering now. “Yes,” she gasped out. “I’m having…I can’t breathe properly. Get my Epi-Pen!”
“Where is it?” Candice asked, racing towards her.
“My purse. Right…there. Floor,” Cailin managed to choke out as she gasped for air.
Troy was sitting at the head of the table, and he got up so fast that he knocked his chair right over before racing over to Cailin, concern etched into his face. “Just try to breathe,” he said, gently patting her on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be fine, I promise. Candice is getting your medication.”
Glenn dialed 911 as Candice went through Cailin’s purse in search of the Epi-Pen, and he barked orders at the operator to send an ambulance as soon as possible. Cailin’s neck, chest and arms were starting to break out in angry red hives, and I watched helplessly as Candice continued her search.
“Where is it?” I asked. “What’s taking so long?”
Candice finally tipped the entire contents of the purse on the floor, and then she stood up, her eyes wide.
“It’s not here,” she said. “The Epi-Pen…it’s gone!”