Nashville Nights (4 page)

Then she started at the control room and walked toward the side door. A few feet from the door, something caught her eye—something glittery. She reached down and picked it up.

It was a pin, shaped like angel wings, and set with diamonds. AJ recognized the logo right away.

It was the symbol for the popular R & B sister group, HeavenSent!

AJ heard Aly's voice behind her.

“Find anything?”

AJ quickly put the pin in her pocket and turned around. Faith and Hope stood behind Aly.

“No,” AJ lied. “How about you?”

“Nothing,” Aly said. “I think the lock pick is our best clue.”

“It's a start,” AJ said. She yawned. “I forgot how late it is. Faith and Hope, are you going to be okay?”

The sisters nodded. “We'll be fine,” Faith said. “Thanks so much for coming here. It's strange, but I have a feeling you two are here to help us. Like guardian angels, almost.”

“We definitely don't have wings,” Aly said. “But we'll do what we can to help. We'll call you in the morning, okay?”

Faith nodded. “Thanks again.”

Aly and AJ headed back outside to the car, where Jim was waiting for them. They got inside, and Jim drove off.

AJ leaned over to Aly, who sat in the front passenger seat.

“Aly, I lied,” she said. “I did find something.” She showed Aly the diamond angel pin.

“That's the HeavenSent logo!” Aly exclaimed.

AJ nodded. “I know. That's why I didn't say anything in front of Faith and Hope. Just because there's a clue doesn't mean someone is guilty. That's happened to us before. Faith and Hope were pretty upset. I didn't want them to go calling up HeavenSent in the middle of the night.”

“Smart thinking,” Aly said. “This is exciting. Why would HeavenSent want to steal the tape?”

AJ yawned again. “Can we talk about this in the morning? I'm beat.”

Jim shook his head. “You know, you girls might not talk to me about this whole detective thing you're doing, but don't think I haven't noticed. You're not going to leave the music business to become detectives are you? I mean, if you did, I'd still stick with you. I always thought I'd make a great private eye. But I think your fans would miss you.”

Now Aly was yawning, too. “Jim, I didn't hear a word you just said. My brain is mush.” She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

“Fine. Be mysterious, then,” Jim said.

Aly and AJ slept until ten o'clock Tuesday morning. They ate a late breakfast at Wally's Waffles, a small restaurant down the street from their hotel. Aly was digging into a plate of strawberry waffles with whipped cream, while AJ had chosen the Southern pecan waffles with maple syrup.

“These are waffle-icious!” AJ joked.

“Definitely!” Aly agreed. “I'm feeling wide awake now, too. Although it's probably the sugar rush.”

AJ took her notebook from her bag. “Now that we're fueled up, we should really talk about what happened last night,” she said. “I want to make some notes. Let's talk about the facts. What do we know?”

“We know that the tape was stolen when Lionel was at dinner,” Aly said. “Faith told me that was between 7:30 and 8:30 at night.”

AJ wrote that down. “Got it. We also know that the tape was locked in the control room, and whoever took it used a lock pick to open the door. That reminds me—we need to ask Jim if the studio engineers have a key to the studio. If they do, we can probably rule them out.”

“Right,” Aly said. “Then there's that pin you found.” She took a copy of
Note
magazine from her bag. Then she turned to a page that showed a picture of the angel-shaped pin next to a photo of HeavenSent.

“I remembered reading about this,” Aly continued. “The diamond pins were a special gift from their record company after their last record went platinum. They were specially made—so the pin has to belong to either Sabrina, Holly, or Eve.”

“Right,” AJ agreed. “We know the sisters were recording at the studio next door yesterday. So one of them would have had the opportunity to break into the studio. I just can't figure out why they would want to steal Faith and Hope's tape.”

Aly turned to another page in
Note
, a full-page ad for the National Music Awards. “HeavenSent is performing live at the awards,” Aly said.

“Faith said that the sisters in HeavenSent are very competitive,” AJ chimed in. “They knew Faith and Hope's video was going to premiere at the awards. Maybe they didn't want the country-singing sisters to steal their own sister limelight.”

“That makes total sense,” Aly agreed.

“So that means that HeavenSent had the opportunity,
and
a motive,” AJ added.

“They're not the only ones with a motive,” Aly said. “Remember Faith and Hope's old manager, Parker something? He was super angry about the video. I was thinking he might have stolen the video just to get revenge on them.”

AJ nodded and wrote quickly in her notebook. “That's a totally great motive,” she said. “Good thinking.”

“So what now?” Aly asked.

“I think we need to interview our suspects,” AJ replied. “Let's start with HeavenSent first. That pin is the best clue we have.”

“You're right, but how do we get close to them? They're super famous,” Aly said. “Unless . . .”

AJ was already dialing her cell phone. “I'm sure Jim can help us.”

Aly laughed. “We're going to have to make him our official detective assistant.”

“Jim is a miracle worker,” Aly said as she and AJ rode in a cab to Nashville Star Studios. “First, he called Lionel and found out about the keys. Lionel says his studio guys have keys, so the thief is probably somebody from outside the studio. Then he actually got us a meeting with HeavenSent!”

“I just wish we were meeting them under better circumstances,” AJ said. She put her hand in her pocket and closed her fingers around the HeavenSent pin. “I wonder how the pin ended up at the scene of the crime?”

“Hopefully, we'll find out,” Aly said as the cab pulled up in front of the studios.

Faith and Hope were standing outside, talking to Lionel. AJ paid the cab driver and thanked her.

“Aly, AJ,” Faith's face lit up when she spotted them. “It's so good to see you guys. We've got some good news and some bad news.”

“The good news,” Hope said. “Is that our record company has given us the okay to reshoot the video.”

Lionel frowned. “But Cadence and Calista have refused to do a reshoot. The producers of the National Music Awards wanted to premiere the video when they heard Cadence and Calista would be in it. They've been trying to get them to perform on the awards for years, so for them this was the next best thing. I'm not sure if they'll play the video if Cadence and Calista aren't in it.”

“Maxine is talking to the producers about it now,” Faith said. “But if you guys aren't in it either, then I doubt we have a chance.”

“Of course, we'll help out in any way we can,” AJ assured them.

“If you decide to reshoot, we'll be there and be ready!” Aly said. “But why won't Cadence and Calista do the video again?”

Hope shrugged. “The excuse is that Calista still isn't feeling well. Physically, she seemed fine when they were here. But there was something strange going on. I guess the rumors about the sisters not getting along are true.”

“Let us know when you need us, and we'll be there,” AJ told them. “But we've got to get to a meeting now.”

After Faith and Hope promised to call them to let them know about the video reshoot, Aly and AJ headed toward the same studio they saw HeavenSent enter the other day.

“Jim said they were still filming today,” Aly said. “And that they would be happy to meet us.”

After giving their names to a security guard sitting at the front desk, Aly and AJ were escorted through the building to a soundstage very similar to the one they had been on yesterday. Lights and cameras hung from the ceiling. This set was made to look like a fancy red carpet event. But no one was filming. Instead, Holly, Sabrina, and Eve were sitting on the sidelines, taking a break.

The three sisters were dressed in glamorous gowns that were truly breathtaking. Holly wore a sparkling sleeveless sheath that was covered with crystals. Her long, dark hair was parted to one side and fell over her shoulder in a tumble of curls. Sabrina wore her hair up in a French twist. It looked perfect with her elegant, white silk, empire-waist gown that was embellished with a black velvet bow. Eve wore a black, floor-length dress that had a jeweled neckline.

“Hi,” Aly said as she and AJ walked over to the sister group. “I'm Aly. This is my sister AJ. It's so nice to meet you. By the way, I love your dresses. You all look so amazing!”

The sisters smiled at Aly and AJ. “Thank you,” Sabrina said. “The concept for our video is a big red carpet event. That's why we are all decked out. I'm Sabrina, and this is Holly and Eve,” she said as she gestured to her sisters.

Aly and AJ greeted the girls.

“Thanks for agreeing to meet with us,” AJ said. “We heard you were shooting next door, and we've always admired your music.”

Aly chimed in. “We spent all day yesterday helping Faith and Hope with their new video. But someone stole the footage!”

The sisters' smiles changed to serious looks. Holly nodded. “We heard about that. It's such a shame!”

“I can't imagine working so hard on something and then having someone come along and take it,” Eve said. “We're going to be extra careful on this set with our video footage. It would be a shame for it all to go to waste.”

AJ reached into her pocket. “I think this belongs to one of you,” she said. She opened her hand and showed the pin to HeavenSent. “We found it in the studio last night after the break-in was discovered.”

Holly, Sabrina, and Eve exchanged puzzled glances with one another. Sabrina reached out and took the pin from AJ.

“Thank you,” she said as AJ dropped the pin into her hand. “I don't know how that got there. It isn't mine. Holly, Eve, does this belong to either of you?”

Holly and Eve shook their heads no. There was an awkward silence for a moment. It was clear that Aly and AJ were wondering why the pin would have been found in the studio where the video footage was stolen.

“It's probably a cheap copy,” Holly suggested.

“People are always copying our style,” Sabrina added. She slipped the pin into her purse.