Page 88 of The Lighthouse on Plum Island
“What’s happened?” Caroline froze on her way to the front door and held her breath as thoughts of what could’ve gone wrong flashed through her mind.
“You and Brad.” Jennifer paused again. “He did find you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did,” Caroline told her, hearing the sigh of relief Jennifer breathed.
“Great, the two of you need to return herenow!“ Jennifer’s voice took on an urgency. “We’ve just found out why the intrudertook your laptop and shredded the screenplay of it in Dawn’s hotel suite.”
“I can’t come back right now,” Caroline told her, her head turning toward where the banging on the front door was getting louder.
“Look, I know you and Brad have a lot to sort out,” Jennifer said. “But Caro, Travis Danes, and the publishing house are freaking out.”
“About what?” Caroline was confused.
“Whoever took your laptop has called the publishing house and Travis Danes. They are claiming that you stole their manuscript,” Jennifer’s words bounced off her system initially as Caroline didn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “Caro, someone called Tan King is accusing you of plagiarism and demanding that the book and series get pulled.”
“We have to go on a conference call and tell Travis and Jen’s previous employer what’s been going on,” Harriet’s voice came through the receiver.
“What?” Caroline felt the world shrink around her as shock engulfed her. “Why would they do that?” She frowned. “I don’t know any Tan King.”
“I got your old laptop from Jules’s room,” Jennifer told her. “Caro, that spy program thingy was on it, and whoever’s doing this has been stealing your manuscripts since the publishing house requested the rewrites.”
“But that was nearly a year ago,” Caroline’s confusion grew, and something registered. “Wait, is that why they stole my laptop? To put the spyware on it?”
“We think so,” Jennifer confirmed, and her voice dropped. “And Caro, I got word from another publisher friend of mine that someone tried to sell them Newbury Dawn.”
“But I haven’t even finished that series yet.” Caroline struggled to comprehend the unfolding crisis. “That’s the real reason theywanted my new laptop because Newbury Dawn isn’t on the old one, nor is it in my cloud.”
“Did you give a draft of Newbury Dawn to Dawn?” Jennifer asked her.
“Yes, when we were in New York,” Caroline told her. “It was only the first five chapters of the first book. Why?”
“Dawn had written a sample screenplay of it for you, but it was stolen from her suite the night whoever did this shredded the screenplay for Cobble Cove Mysteries,” Harriet told her.
The banging on the door resumed a little more frantically, pulling Caroline from her state of shock.
“You and Brad need to get back here,” Jennifer told her.
“I can’t,” Caroline’s head swiveled to the door. “We may have whoever’s behind this trapped in your aunt’s cottage.|
“You… you... What?” Jennifer spluttered.
Caroline gave her a quick rundown of the events. “And now someone’s locked inside the cottage.”
“How do you get locked inside a cottage?” Harriet’s voice echoed her confusion.
“I love my aunt dearly,” Jennifer explained to Harriet. “But she is crazy paranoid and has these weird fail safes everywhere in her house. She reasoned that if someone was trying to get her and she ran out of the cottage, she could trap them inside until the police came.” Caroline could picture Jennifer holding up her hand to ward off questions. “Don’t ask,” she said to Harriet.
“Can we get to the cottage or call the police?” Harriet asked.
“If you could call the police, that would be great,” Caroline told them. “We think there may be two people and that one has escaped toward Cobble Cove. Brad, Sandy, and Blue Beard have gone after them while I’m about to see who’s behind door number one.”
“Caroline, you can’t do that! The last time you were knocked flying,” Jennifer reminded her.
A meow made her look down to see Melton had finally joined the party. “Don’t worry, I have Melton with me.”
“You’re going to throw a cat at them?” Harriet asked in disbelief.
“Oh, no,” Jennifer told Harriet. “Melton throws himself at strangers.”
