“Financial planning was her day job. Emma told me Victoria always wanted to write books. It had been her passion since she was a young girl, and was probably what drew her to Cameron Young. But Victoria never found any success. She wrote all these manuscripts but never landed a publisher. I found them on an old flash drive in one of the dusty bins Emma gave me of Victoria’s yearbooks and memorabilia. I printed them out earlier today. To the best of my knowledge these manuscripts have sat untouched and unread on that flash drive in Emma Kind’s attic for the past two decades.”

Christine nodded on the screen. “Okay? How is this related to the Cameron Young case?”

“I’m not sure yet. But here, look at this.” Avery picked up one of the paper stacks.

“This is Victoria Ford’s first manuscript. The Word document indicates it was written in 1997. Working title is Hot Mess. Now look at this,” Avery said, placing the manuscript pages back onto the bed and picking up Natalie Ratcliff’s paperback novel. “This is a novel published by Hemingway Publishing in 2005 by an author named Natalie Ratcliff.”

“Baggage!” Christine said. “Peg Perugo. I love those books.”

“So you’re a fan. Then you’re going to love this next part. Baggage was published in 2005—the first in the Peg Perugo series, which, as you know, is amazingly successful. One of the most successful series in commercial fiction.”

Christine raised her eyebrows as she waited for Avery to continue.

“Hot Mess. Baggage. Similar titles, right?” Avery asked. “Similar meanings, anyway.”

“Sure.”

“So here’s the catch. Besides a change in title, the two stories are identical.”

There was silence as Christine stared from the computer screen.

“What do you mean identical?” she finally asked.

“I mean Victoria Ford’s manuscript became the first book Natalie Ratcliff published in the Peg Perugo series.”

Christine shook her head. “One hundred percent not following you.”

“Natalie Ratcliff was Victoria Ford’s best friend. They roomed together in college and stayed close after they graduated. Natalie went to medical school and practiced emergency medicine for eight years. Victoria entered the financial world and started her own career. The whole time, Victoria was writing books hoping someday to publish one of them.”

“Yeah, still not following you.”

“Victoria died in 2001. For the next four years, Natalie Ratcliff practiced emergency medicine until her first book was published. It took the world by storm and she retired from medicine. That was in 2005. She’s written fifteen novels in fifteen years. But here’s the problem,” Avery said, walking over to the bed where Victoria’s other manuscripts were stacked in neat batches, each with a Natalie Ratcliff paperback on top.

“Every one of these piles represents one of Victoria’s manuscripts—manuscripts that have sat untouched in Emma Kind’s attic for the past twenty years. Each one also happens to be published as a Natalie Ratcliff book.”