“What if it’s important?”
“She’s probably just calling to complain about my book.” And I had far more pressing things to worry about at the moment than my heroine’s problematic love life.
I drummed my fingers on the car door as Sylvia tried again. Then again. Nerves fried, I picked it up. “It’s not a good time, Syl. Can I call you back?”
“No.” I held the phone away from my ear as she shouted through the speaker. “You’re never going to believe this.”
“You hated my revision.”
“No, your revision was fine. Very hot actually. Your editor loved it. I’m telling you, Finlay. Killing off the lawyer was the right call. The tension between the assassin and the cop is palpable. And those new action scenes were real nail-biters.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Like when the big baddy is chasing your heroine on foot through the city, and he gets squashed by a car. Totally didn’t see that coming.”
I rubbed my temple. “That makes two of us.”
“And the sex! When she thinks the hot cop is going to arrest her, but instead he ravages her in the back seat of his car and does that thing with his tongue.” She moaned and smacked her lips together. “Chef’s kiss, Finlay. Your best work yet.”
Nick smirked.
“Then what is it, Syl?”
“The early review copies of your latest book went out.”
My stomach bottomed out. “When?”
“Last week, while you were away at your police thingy.”
I sat up in my seat. “Seriously? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I would have if you’d bothered to return my calls.” Nick threw me anI told you solook.
I angled away from him, tamping down my rising panic. Advance copies of my book were out in the world. People were reading it. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. “How many?” I asked.
“Three thousand.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. This was the first book of my brand-new series, the one I’d based loosely on my involvement in Harris Mickler’s murder. Vero kept insisting it was fine, that no one could possibly read my novel and make that leap. I’d convinced myself that no one would spot the truths hidden beneath the fiction when I’d cashed that advance check. After all, Feliks had already been arrested for the crime. The evidence against him had been overwhelming, but after everything that had happened since, publishing this book now seemed like a very bad idea. Feliks had escaped. He presumably was in possession of a body (or at least, parts of one) that had belonged to a man I’d had a hand in squishing. A single phone call to a tip line could turn the entire investigation against me. Nick was already suspicious that something was off about Harris Mickler’s death. It wouldn’t take him long to connect the dots he’d been too stubborn (and hopeful) to see clearly. Hope (and luck) could only get you so far.
I cleared the knot from my throat. “Is that it?”
“No, there’s more. A Hollywood scout passed a copy of the book to a big-time producer who’s hot to buy the rights. I just got an email from his people. They want to set up a call. What’s your schedule over the next few days?”
Nick gave my knee an encouraging squeeze as words failed me. My schedule? Besides playingWeekend at Bernie’swith two corpses while concealing their murders from the cops, hiding an irreverent teenager from people who wanted to kill him, and tracking down a stolen sports car so I could take down the leader of the Russian mob before he got to me first? “Like I said, Sylvia, it’s not a great time. I’m dealing with some family stuff right now, and—”
The Cadillac swerved as Nick’s attention shot to me. I pressed a finger to my lips to shush him as he said, “Are you kidding? This is a huge opportunity, Finn! You should take the call.”
“Who is that?” Sylvia demanded. “Is that him? The hot cop your accountant told me about? The one who inspired the character in your book?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I was going to murder Vero next. “No.”
“I knew it. Put him on the phone.”
“I’m not putting him on the phone!”
“Hello, Sylvia,” Nick called out, grinning at my scandalized look.
“Good god,” Sylvia said, “that man has a very sexy voice. I think my panties are wet, and at my age, that’s really saying something. Put me on speaker.”
