Liam shook his head. “No, Doyle tried to get Brian Anderson to rep his book.”
Eve turned toward Jake and Adam. “Brian ran the mainstream arm of the business. He’d spent years trying to build his reputation on strong literary fiction. But he’d never had anything higher than a mid-list client. Then his wife decides to try her hand, and a few years later she’s bringing in the majority of the money.”
Adam could complete that thought for her. “But with what Brian Anderson considered low-quality writers. Serena and Bridget and Chris. And from what I overheard at one of their lunches, Lara was trying to expand by bringing in more romance authors.”
Liam took a seat next to Sean and Grace. “Poor, snobby Brian couldn’t catch a break. And neither could Doyle Brooks. I checked cell phone records. They started talking about three months ago. They talked for hours, several times a week. When Brian found out about the publicity stunt Lara was pulling, he must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven.”
Grace’s eyes were wide as she looked at Adam. “They were the ones who sent the violent notes and keyed her car?”
“And burned down her house.” Killing them once hadn’t been enough. “All in an effort to lend credibility to the fact that a stalker was really after Serena.”
“Why make a move today?” Jake asked. “Why didn’t they wait until things died down a little? Eventually we would have relaxed our guard a bit. I mean if they had backed off for a month or two, we probably would have thought the whole thing was over.”
Ian took a long breath. “I can answer that. Lara told me she was filing for divorce next Monday. She was going to leave Brian and take all of her clients with her. Her clients were the only thing propping the agency up. At some point in time, he convinced Doyle Brooks that they could kill both their spouses and make some cash in the meantime. Serena had never updated her will. And there was a life insurance policy still in force on her for a half a million dollars. Doyle would have made a lot of money.”
“So they knocked out the officer we’d placed outside the door, and then Doyle would have taken Serena after he’d shot or stabbed Brian Anderson in some non-lethal way to make it look like he was just another victim. I’m sure we would have found Serena’s body in a few days and both men would have alibis. And with the money he would have made from the policy Brian had on Lara, he intended to find some real clients, I would bet. Hell, he might even have written a book himself. There would have been a lot of press. I’m sure there still will be,” Jake pointed out.
“Writer gets stalked and nearly killed by agent.” Alex huffed out a little laugh. “Yeah, it’s going to make the national news. And Serena is about to get a lot of attention. Don’t be surprised if her books go crazy after this.”
Did she know that? Did she realize she was about to get bumped into another stratosphere? Would she need two difficult bodyguards now that she had just about achieved her dream?
They hadn’t made things easy on her. Adam had been moody and emotional and Jake had been a hard-ass, and they hadn’t had the chance to say it.
I love you.
Was he going to have to go to a signing to see her again?
The chime on the security system rang.
“I’ll take care of it,” Liam said, heading toward the front of the house. “Let’s hope the reporters haven’t figured out your address.”
Adam looked at his partner and knew they were thinking the same things. They were wondering where she would stay and who would take care of her. She was a grown, smart, capable woman, but everyone needed people to take care of them, to see to the little things. Would she come back for her computer or send someone to get it?
“Hi.”
Adam turned and his heart flip-flopped when he saw Serena in the doorway, a tired smile on her face.
Chris gave them all a little wave. “I drove her over. We managed to get by the press. They were all over the hospital. I smuggled her out the back.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Serena said. The polite tone of her voice set Adam on edge. “I know you would have preferred to drive me, but it was so crazy up there, I didn’t want to add to it.”
Adam’s eyes ate her up, but he held his ground. Was she here to get her things? Damn it. He wasn’t going to let her leave without a fight.
Jake had gotten to his feet. “They let you go? What did the doctors say?”
She looked so fragile standing there next to her friend. “The bullet grazed my side. No surgery. It only took three stitches. They were more worried I’d gotten a concussion, but the scans didn’t show anything. I waited so long because I needed to make sure Bridget was okay. And I checked in on the officer who was hurt. He did have a concussion, but they say he’ll be all right. I need to find a way to thank him.”