Top Secret Vampire (Monsters, PI #4)

13. Reese

Chapter 13

Reese

I sat in my driver’s seat, struggling not to sob. “I didn’t plagiarize anyone,” I whispered, not daring to look Wolfram’s way. “You believe me, don’t you?”

I’d questioned the clerk further, and she admitted that rumors were circulating in all the book forums that I’d copied the work of a less famous thriller author. They’d showed examples, and while there was a similarity to the story in questions, and I’d pointed out that the book I was accused of copying had been published after hers, the clerk was insistent.

“I love your work,” she’d told me in a low voice, glancing toward the door to the office behind the long counter. “I’ve read all your books, and I don’t believe it for a minute, but I only work here. I spoke up for you, if that helps, but the boss was insistent.”

“Damn Tracy,” I snarled, smacking my palm on the steering wheel. “She’s involved in this. I know she is. And I’d bet anything Flint’s involved too.”

“We need to tell Detective Carter.”

I called him and explained, and he said he’d arranged to speak with Tracy tomorrow but that he’d also make a point of chatting with Flint. He told me to get a lawyer.

“Know any lawyers?” I asked after I hung up. “Good ones.”

“I know shark lawyers.” He held up his phone. “Would you like me to speak to one of my friends?”

“Please and thank you.” I couldn’t believe this was happening. How could I do damage control for something like this?

I started my SUV and drove toward my house while Wolf spoke with his friend. He hung up as I was shutting off the engine.

“Let’s go inside, and I’ll tell you Brandon’s plan,” he said.

We settled on the sofa in the living room and Wolf put his arm around my shoulders, giving me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head. We might only be friends, but I found his touch both comforting, and arousing—something I should let go of right now. I had important things to worry about, and I didn’t need the distraction of a relationship on top of everything else.

Except it felt good to snuggle into his side, to feel the warmth of his touch. I’d be worse off if I was alone.

He tapped a pad of paper on his lap with a pen.

“Where did you get that?” I asked. “It wasn’t there a second ago.”

“I misted it here from your office. See?” He pointed to the notes he’d taken this morning. Was that only this morning? It felt like years had passed since we picked up my SUV at the mechanic.

“Thank you for being here with me.” A whimper came through in my voice. “It would be torture trying to figure this out on my own.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be, Reese,” he said gravely. “Nowhere.”

My face flooded with heat, and I wasn’t sure what to say. What we had was changing, and while I might feel as if I should resist it, I didn’t want to. I liked him. I loved how kind and sweet he was.

And I still wanted to kiss him.

Heaven help me, but I was falling in love with a vampire.

“First thing.” He flipped to a clean page. “Brandon, my shark shifter lawyer friend, said that—”

“Wait. Shark shifters exist?”

His lips curled up on one side. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“That’s cool.”

“It truly is.”

“He can really shift into a shark?”

“Of course.”

Huh.

“He asked if you have proof that your book was written prior to the one you’ve been accused of plagiarizing.”

“At the end of each day, I email myself a copy of the latest version of whatever book I’m writing, so yes. It’s all on my laptop, and I back that up to the cloud often. I have copies of each version of my books from the time I first opened a Word document to write, to the time I upload the final file for publication. That’ll be easy to prove.”

“Excellent.” He made some notes on the paper before looking up again. “He’ll be able to tell you what else he needs once he’s finished looking into this. Next is witnesses. Does anyone other than you know for a fact that you write your own books?”

“Tracy, but she’s not a reliable witness when she’s probably the one who started this rumor.” I palmed my face. “What will she do next?”

“Assuming she did this.”

I looked up at him. “Who else could it be?”

“I’m as eager as you to pin these incidents on her, but I don’t want to overlook anyone else who might be involved.”

“If all this is supposed to make me leave town, which is a guess on our part, accusing me of copying another author won’t make that happen. If anything, it makes me want to stay here where I’m safe.”

“I still suspect we’re dealing with two people here. Although, say this was only Wilber. Ruining you could be a distraction. If you’re busy trying to fix things, you may not bother to tell everyone about what he did years ago or remind them of his mother’s actions.”

“Alright. Maybe they could be connected.”

“If we can find out why they’re doing this, that’ll help us narrow down our suspects.” He tapped the paper. “I’ll give Brandon this information and see what he suggests we do now.”

“We?”

He paused. “I’m sorry. You. What you can do now.”

“I like we, Wolf,” I said softly. “Very much.”

His arm tightened around my shoulders.