“A pleasure, Poppy,” Trent said, beaming, before jogging back to the set.
Timothy led them down a long hallway to the largest suite in the hotel and knocked on the door. One of Danika’s personal assistants, a harried-looking girl carrying two different phones, whipped it open and ushered them inside. “Hurry, we don’t have much time and Danika is dying to talk to you!”
Timothy hung back as the girl waved Poppy and Matt inside and tried to get out, “Trent wanted to let Danika know we’ll be ready to shoot again in—” but the assistant slammed the door in his face.
Poppy and Matt followed the assistant into the main room of the suite. Sitting in a chair in front of a mirror while an African American hairdresser fussed with her wavy dark curls was Danika Delgado, petite, unblemished brown skin, in a pink robe. She held her phone up in front of her face as she recorded a video for her fans. “So this is day eight of the Palm Springs Weekend shoot, guys, and it’s going awesome! I love my co-stars! Chase Ehrens is such a sweetheart! And a first-rate kisser, too, if I’m going to talk out of school! I’ll share more juicy details from the set in my next post at bedtime! Love you all! Oh, and the lipstick shade I’m wearing is called Flawless, in case you were wondering!”
The assistant turned to Poppy. “Danika has a marketing deal with Color My World products. She’s one of the highest-paid social media influencers out there.”
Poppy nodded as if she had a clue what this girl was prattling on about.
Danika threw her phone down on the table next to her and glanced at herself in the mirror. “Does it look kind of flat to you, Chanel?”
The hairdresser quickly began fluffing Danika’s locks out. “No worries, girl, we’ll get it where it needs to be.”
The nervous assistant cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Danika . . . ?”
Danika was still staring at herself in the mirror, dissatisfied with her appearance. “I’m not liking this eyeliner at all. We may have to reshoot before we post anything to Instagram.”
The assistant apprehensively tried again. “Danika?”
“What?” Danika snapped, swiveling her head around.
“The private detectives are here,” the assistant whispered, practically shaking.
Danika instantly slapped on an inviting smile. “Oh, good!” She popped up from her chair. She was a short little thing, about five feet two inches. Her eyes instantly fell upon Matt and without even a pause, cooed, “You are so much hotter in person!”
Unlike Poppy, Matt had no qualms about soaking up compliments. “Why, thank you. As one of your one hundred and twenty-eight million Instagram followers, dare I say the same?”
“Oh, you are the charmer!” Danika said laughing, eyeing him up and down lustfully. “When my people found you online, I said to myself, this guy’s a detective? He should be an actor!”
Matt beamed brightly. “Funny you should say that—”
“Miss Delgado needs to be back on the set soon so why don’t we get down to business,” Poppy quickly interjected.
Danika’s eyes finally strayed away from Matt and over to Poppy. “And who are you?”
Obviously, unlike the film’s director, Danika was far too young to ever know who Poppy had been in a previous life.
“I’m Poppy, Matt’s . . . assistant.”
She always had trouble actually saying it.
Especially since it was not true.
“Oh, nice to meet you, Poppy,” Danika said pleasantly as she pointed out a lush comfy-looking couch nearby. “Why don’t you both sit down while Chanel tries to work miracles on this rat’s nest?” She sat back down in her chair as Chanel rubbed some gel on her hands and went about smoothing out Danika’s chic hairstyle.
“How can we be of service?” Matt asked.
“I’m having trouble with a stalker,” Danika said matter-of-factly.
“Do you know who this stalker is?” Poppy asked, reaching inside her shoulder bag and pulling out a pen and some paper to take down notes.
Danika shook her head, forcing Chanel to stop for a second. “No. I have no idea. I mean, let’s face it, I have a zillion crazies following me. Everyone with my kind of online profile does. It’s impossible to keep track of them. But this guy, he’s different. It started out innocent at first. The usual flowers and chocolates and little personalized gifts he knew I liked just by following me on Instagram and subscribing to my YouTube channel. But lately, things have taken a dark turn. His messages are far less adoring and more worrying.”
“How so?” Poppy asked.
“There’s a rumor going around that I’m dating Chase Ehrens.”
“Your co-star on this film,” Matt offered.
“Yes, which I am most certainly not. Chase is a decent enough guy, but definitely not my type. We’re just friends.”
Poppy cocked an eyebrow. “I’m a bit confused. When we walked in here you were making a video with your phone and talking about him as if there might be something going on between the two of you.”
“That’s just for show. Keep people interested, you know? It promotes the movie and us as well. It doesn’t matter if it’s not true. The problem is, this wacko thinks it is true and it’s making him mad! Like, stalker-y, I’m going to murder you, mad!”
“He’s threatened you?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, about five hundred times. He knows I’m here in Palm Springs shooting this movie, and he’s made no secret of the fact that he is here too and ready to come after me at a time and place of his choosing. That’s a direct quote from his last post, by the way.”
“Have you called the police?” Poppy asked.
Danika laughed derisively. “Duh. Of course. But what can they do? Oh, sure, they rushed down here acting all concerned and serious and made some kind of report, but that was it. Until this guy literally guts me with a carving knife, they’re totally useless. The studio is
