Page 51 of The Chain House

“Yes, it was called the chain. There were many links in the chain as far as payments and royalties and correspondence.”

“And no one ever dove deep into reversing the chain?” Sam asked.

“No,” Donna said with a sigh that sounded regretful. “Books were all delivered on time. Correspondence, which eventually turned to secure emails with frequently changing addresses, was always prompt. We were all making money. A lot of money. And the bottom line is, Mr. Harper, that the entire thing was fun. We had fun with a mystery that constantly revolved around Mallard Malone and Oliver Crown.” She paused for a deep breath. “But this … what’s coming out now, is deeply disturbing, and as you can imagine, we’re scrambling with how best to deal with it.”

Sam was so mind-blown he didn’t know how to respond, other than saying, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Hanson.” And remembering why she was speaking to him in the first place—because Batise refused to talk directly to her—Sam said, “What is it I can do for you?”

She let out a laugh that wasn’t really a laugh, but an expression of disbelief and perhaps annoyance at the current situation. “All things as they are, and we don’t even know yet what the status will be going forward on the final book, other than a worldwide revolt if we don’t publish it, we’d still like to know where the final book is.”

Sam was shocked. “You mean you don’t have it?”

“No, we don’t.”

“But … I thought it was due out in a few months?”

“We were already in panic mode here even before the news came out this morning,” she said. “And when you’re in a panic, Mr. Harper, you …” Her voice cracked with obvious emotion. “Desperation leads you to do things you wish you could take back.”

“What … what did you do?” Sam asked, his heart revving right back up again.

“I asked … we … asked … one of our marketing assistants was begging, okay … he was begging us to let him try and reverse the chain. To try and find some answers.”

“And? Mrs. Hanson?”

“We can’t get hold of him,” she said in a hiss across the phone.

“Since when?”

“Since yesterday afternoon. And that was before the interview. Oh, Jesus, we’re scared out of our minds now … now that we know who’s behind it. We just reported him as officially missing.”

“His name?” Sam asked. “The marketing assistant?”

“Joseph Gerrard. He’s twenty-three,” she said. “I was told the FBI is trying to question Sal Batise now?”

Down the hallway, Sam saw an FBI man in a suit and tie waiting outside the door to Warden Wren’s office, checking his watch, and now Sam felt the need to hurry Donna Hanson off the phone. FBI Agent Givens had already been inside with Sal Batise once, but for only five minutes, the warden had told Sam, because Batise had refused to answer any questions without Sam Harper’s presence in the room. In other words, whatever game Sal was playing, they were still in the middle of it.

Sam said over the phone, “I’m getting ready to go in with the FBI agent, yes.”

“This is all so bizarre,” she said.

“You don’t know the half it,” Sam said, motioning toward Agent Givens that he’d be off the phone in a minute.

“But can you ask him, I mean, where’s the book? Has he even written it? Is he holding it hostage?”

“I’ll ask him, Mrs. Hanson. And if I can get anything useful out of him, I’ll get back with you.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Maybe we’re being paranoid, and our assistant went out of town, camping without his phone, but—”

You’re not paranoid, Sam thought, but didn’t say. They had every right to be worried.

Donna, with sarcasm said, “Good thing his books never need any editing, I mean, if we do have to publish it in a hurry.”

Intrigued by this, Sam said, “His novels don’t need editing?”

She said, “No. Like I said earlier. His stories come in flawless. Character arcs, storylines, plot, dialogue … all of it. Up until now, Mr. Harper, I’ve had the easiest editing job in the history of publishing. I get the manuscript, read it, and I pass it along to production.”

“So either Sal is a literary genius …”

“Or there’s a secret editor in the chain who edits his books before I get them.”