Eighteen

I tried calling Hank on my way to the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington since I knew I couldn’t text him while I was driving. I had to tell him that I remembered Valerie mentioning something about a meeting with the publisher in a couple of days. That meant it was today. It also reminded me how much Valerie was trying to change Nadine’s mind about the cookbook concept and was trying to get her to do another romance with the ghost writer. She was so determined that I just knew that Valerie was the ghost writer. And that was why Nadine had to get rid of her.

Not the fact she was the agent, she was the writer and Nadine was not going to have her name on those books anymore. She wanted a clean break and the only way out was doing what was in her heart. A cookbook.

It all made sense in my head and when I started to fumble my words on Hank’s answering machine, I just gave up.

“Forget it. Call me. I’m driving to Lexington to see if I’m right and the meeting is happening.” I threw the phone down in the seat and drove the curvy roads.

I was happy to see the county road was cleared and that I even passed a few salt trucks with plows. County roads were the first ones maintained during snow emergencies. Sometimes it took forever to get somewhere when one of the salt trucks got in front of you, but today I was grateful for the clear path that was leading me exactly where I needed to be.

I parked in short-term parking and hurried inside. I knew if Valerie and the publisher were meeting, they had to meet outside of the secured part since Valerie didn’t have a plane ticket to get inside the security, unless she’d recently bought one. I let all those things float out of my mind because I trusted that Hank had done his job and put traces on the rental car and flagged Valerie’s name, alerting him or the FBI if she’d tried to get a plane ticket. At least, that’s what the sleuths on TV did. From my experience, they weren’t too terribly different.

As if divine intervention had crossed my path, in the distance on a couch near the baggage claim sat Valerie Young and a man in a suit.

“Valerie,” I had walked up behind her. She turned her head and then adjusted her body to turn slightly behind herself.

“Mae.” Nervously, she looked between me and the man. “Dan, this is Mae West. A friend of mine.” Her words were so convincing, for a second, I thought I was wrong. “Mae, this is Dan. He’s Nadine’s editor. We were just discussing how we are going to approach Nadine’s last book she was working on.”

The man stood up and shook my hand. His grip was so hard, it nearly took me to my knees. He gave me a good hard stare that frightened me.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I jerked my hand back before he stopped the blood flow and my hand fell off my arm.

Valerie gave Dan her polite smile and excused herself. The horn above the carousel in the baggage claim sounded and the belt started to move, sending luggage from a flight down and around, making a screeching noise.

“Why did you kill her? Are you her ghost writer?” I asked, though the sound was so loud I had to be louder.

“Keep your voice down.” She glared at me. Her jaw tensed. “I had to do what I had to do.”

“You are a murderer and I’m calling Hank to let him know I found you.” I reached around my pocket for my phone and realized I’d thrown it on the seat in my car after I’d left Hank a message.

Valerie reached out and grabbed me by my arm, digging her nails into me. I winced from the pain.

“You’re not going to call anyone. You are going to go over there with me and get this deal done so I can have one last book published. Then, if you are a good girl, I might just be kind and kill you fast. If you aren’t the good girl like your foster mom wishes you were, then your death will be slow and painful.” Her words sent chills all over me. She didn’t leave any room for negotiation for my life. Either way, she was going to kill me.

I did what she said and walked back over to Dan with her death grip now on the flappy part of my upper arm. She pinched it so hard, I was in pain. While she made her deal with Dan, it would give me time to figure out what I needed to do to alert the security officer just feet away from me that I was taken hostage by a crazy lady. My heart was beating. My palms were sweating. My mouth was dry. It seemed like we were sitting there forever, and my brain had gone to mush. I couldn’t think past beyond the pain of her stepping on my toe.

“That settles it.” She had the toe of her shoe on my boot, pressing down, letting me know that she was well aware I was still there and that we had a deal. “I’ll write the next book with the sweet, small town setting and all the family and relationships as Nadine White’s last novel. I’m glad we agreed to a final settlement of a one million dollars advance.” She had the contract they’d just negotiated in her hands.

“Not before we write up the ending.” Hank Sharp had walked up behind the couch and put a heavy hand on Valerie Young’s shoulder, causing her to wince out in pain. “Thank you, Dan.”

I jumped to my feet. Dan opened his shirt to show where there was a wire taped to him.

“I thought you were going to blow my cover,” Dan gasped for air. “I was dying sitting there. Valerie Young can be a mean person.”

“Are you really the editor?” I was so confused by what was going on.

“Yes. The FBI contacted the publishing house and we sent over all the contracts. Valerie Young was a ghost writer for her and that’s when they told me to keep this meeting. They didn’t give me a choice not to be wired up.” Dan finished off telling me about Nadine and how she’d come to the publishing house.

Dan told us that Valerie had once been a great writer, but turned crazy after they broke her publishing contract and became an agent. She saw Nadine as fresh talent and knew she could enhance it. That’s when Nadine talked a Valerie into co-writing and using her as a ghost writer. All these years Nadine had felt stuck in a writing relationship she didn’t find true to her heart.

“That was close.” I was so happy to have Hank walk me back to my car.

“When I saw you walk into the airport, my heart sank. I wasn’t about to let anything happen to you now that I found you.” Hank brushed my curls out of my face. His hand rested on my cheek. “It was then that I realized that you stole my heart the first time I saw you with the lake scum all in your hair.”

“That awful day.” I had just moved to the campground and the lake was nasty. I was standing on the rickety pier with Henry trying to figure out what I needed to do to get the lake looking good so I could sell the darn campground. The pier gave way and both of us fell into the lake just as Hank and his then partner were driving up to question me about Paul’s escape from jail. I had nasty moss and scum stuck in my hair and I was drenched from head to toe.

“You were so natural in that moment. So vulnerable even though you gave me heck and hated the campground.” He moved his other hand to the other side of my cheek, cradling my face. “Don’t scare me like this again.”

“I called to tell you where I was going.” I stared into his big green eyes and could feel my heart warm.

“If you don’t hear from me, don’t do it.” He warned me, sealing it with a kiss.

“You mean, you’re going to keep using me in your investigations?” I smiled.