“Where have you been?” Beck asked as she trudged to the sofa and sat down between him and Adi.
“The studio tour for the Domain ran long,” she said. “I just got out of hair and makeup.”
A series of deafeningbangs andcracks came from the foosball table, followed by Gabriela throwing victorious arms into the air.
Carter swiveled to face Adi. “Did you know your mom’s here?”
Adi’s body jolted like he’d been given an electric shock. “Now?”
“Yeah, I ran into her when I was in the hall.”
“Why is she here?” asked Beck. “Is she freaked out about the freezer incident? She’s not taking you home, is she?”
“She’s not here because of the freezer,” said Adi, shutting off his phone screen. “She doesn’t care about that.”
Beck frowned.Hisparents had certainly cared when he’d called to tell them. It was a borderline hysteria level of caring. In the end, he had spent much more time comforting them than they did comforting him.
“She said she wanted to talk to Ranielle,” said Carter. Her tone lightened. “You could have told us your mom is a celebrity.”
Adi scoffed. “Wasa celebrity.”
“Who is she?” Beck asked.
When it was clear Adi didn’t intend to answer, Carter said, “Symphony Parvesh.”
Beck clutched at his heart. “The archaeologist from the Cursed Tomb franchise?”
Carter shrugged.
“What? Don’t tell me you haven’t seen them!” said Beck. “They were what first got me into puzzles. Well, that and the Jasper Barrett treasure.”
“I don’t know about the movies, but lately she’s been doing these infomercials—”
Adi groaned loudly and slumped down until his head rested on the back of the couch.
Carter grimaced. “That’s probably not important. Why do you think she’s here, if not because of the freezer?”
“To continue her crusade of making my life hell?” Adi said, staring dolefully at the ceiling. “Actually, strike that. By this point I’m sure she’s much more focused on torturing the producers instead. That’ll teach Ranielle to get in bed with the devil.”
“She did mention something about how she helped the show . . .”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure Ranielle regrets getting her involved.”
They waited for an explanation. When one wasn’t immediately forthcoming, Carter poked him on the shoulder.
He sat up again. “She’s trying to claw her way back into Hollywood, either through me or throughthatguy.” He tipped his head toward Sierra.
Beck looked disbelievingly at the crumpled magazine cover. His attention whipped back to Adi, whose frown had turned into a scowl. “Victor Cunningham?”
“That’s the one.”
“That makes so much sense!” said Carter. “The fanslovehim.”
“I’ve been thinking maybe my mom cajoled him into helping out the show in return for getting her own fingers in the pie.”
Beck tilted his head to one side. “Your mom knows Victor Cunningham?”
“They had a fling when he was a consultant on the first Cursed Tomb movie. That’s why they killed off her character in the second movie. Because she was pregnant.”
