Her feet bounced with barely restrained nervous energy as she stared at the phone. “It’snot published.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Okay. . .”Iput a hand on her shoulder. “Maybeyou should go out and get some air.Ithink you’ve been holed up in here a little too long.”AndmaybeIneeded to replace the batteries in my carbon monoxide detector.
“In a little bit,” she said as the hyper-focus mania began to take over.
I sat down beside her. “Roar, what the hell is going on with you?”
“The book isn’t published!” she whispered in excitement.
“I’m gonna need a little more information.”
Aurora pointed to the manuscript from the safety deposit box. “Ihave a completely finished, completely editedAuroraArchernovelthat was never published.Doyou know how huge that is?!SoIdid some digging, and since my mom is now the executor of the estate, all ofAuntJuniper’sbusiness interests are her responsibility now.Obviously, my mom doesn’t know a thing about publishing, so she told me to run with it.Ihunted down the agent who represented my aunt before she died, and she’s still in the industry!”
Things were starting to make a little more sense. “Sois that why you’re staring at your phone like it’s a bomb you have to defuse?"
She nodded. “Iemailed her and explained whoIwas and thatIwanted to talk, so she agreed to call me.”
The phone started ringing as an unknownNewYorknumber appeared on the screen.Auroranearly came out of her skin as she lunged to answer the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Dammit,DumpTruck!Itold you to stop eating the damn pie!NowI’vegotta go back toWegmans.Sorry.Hi.IsthisAurora?”
The tension in her shoulders loosened as she let out a light laugh. “Itis.Andyou’reLucia?Isnow a good time to chat?”
“Absolutely.Sorryabout that.Mydamn dog ate a roll of toilet paper, an entire pie, and half of a sandal.Idon’t know if he ate the flip or the flop half.NowI’mone flop short of a flip.Hence, why we call himDumpTruck.Anyway.Howare you,Aurora?Obviously, it’s been quite a long time sinceItalked to your late aunt.I’msorry for your loss.ButIhave to say,Iwas quite surprised to get your email.Shewas a riot to work with.Talkto me about what’s going on.”
“My mom is the executor of her estate now.Iwas helping her prepare a property belonging to the estate for sale when we found some . . . clues that led us to a safety deposit box where my aunt had kept an unpublished manuscript.Ibelieve she intended for us to find it and publish it after her death.”
There was a clatter on the other end and some rather creative profanities beforeLuciareturned. “You’reshitting me.”
Aurora laughed. “IpromiseI’mnot.It’sa physical copy, soI’dhave to scan it all to send it over to you so you can take a look at it.Iunderstand this sounds completely crazy.”
“No, it sounds very much likeAuroraArcher.Sorry—JuniperWhitlock.Habit.”
“No worries at all.Iget it,”Aurorasaid.
“Did you work with your aunt or something?”Luciaasked. “Idon’t thinkIremember hearing your name.Shewas a bit of a recluse about her writing.”
“No,Iactually didn’t find out she was an author until we started going through the house.I’vejust been around publishing for a while.”
“Really?”Luciasaid curiously. “Doyou write?”
Aurora opened her mouth to say that she used to, butIglared at her.
“I do,” she said, shooting that look right back at me.
“Good girl,”Imouthed.
She rolled her eyes.
“AnythingIwould have heard of?”Luciaasked.
Aurora chewed on her lip for a moment. “PetrichorbyWanderWhitlock?”Herwords formed a question rather than a statement.
“Shut up!”Luciascreamed. “You’rejoking.”
“Do people usually joke about stuff like that?”
