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“One and the same. He wasn’t home when we got here so we had to wait for him. When we stopped him outside his run-down piece-of-crap house, he pulled a gun and fired on us. Pretty jumpy, I guess—”
“Fired on you?” she said with a gasp.
Travis grinned and pointed at his chest. “I had on a vest under my shirt. He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with that weapon. But his stupidity gave me just cause to place him under arrest. He started screaming that it wasn’t his house and that he wasn’t guilty, giving us just cause to search the premises. Duke got on his computers and found all kinds of illegal and harassing activity.”
They could hear a voice in the background and then Duke appeared behind Travis. He waved and gave Travis rabbit ears before speaking so she could hear. “Hey, Veronica! Hey, Hank! I need a shower after being in this guy’s house and on his computers. Nasty bastard. He’s been pirating authors for years, as well as plagiarizing a couple who are relatively well known, changing their books up a little and repackaging them with new covers and self-publishing them, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Veronica, you know this guy, don’t you?”
“I do.” Hank looked at her and Travis, and Duke nodded onscreen. She said, “He was a member of the first writer’s critique group I joined online, years ago. He’d bring these awful manuscripts to the group, monster erotica short stories. Like…dinosaurs with women. Pretty high ‘ick’ factor for a group of mainstream authors. When he didn’t like a critique, he’d lash out by giving the other authors harsh critiques. There is a market for those kinds of stories, so I tried to help him by making suggestions and I overlooked his rudeness. The sad thing was that he had skills. He just didn’t apply himself to learning his craft.
“He wanted me to edit, and basically rewrite, his works for him and when I refused he became petulant in the group and started giving me evil critiques on my work. I ignored him. Everything changed when my first book was published and I pulled back from that group, both because he was being so abusive and because I didn’t have time for it anymore. It was a year or two later when BookAddictedWhore started showing up in reader groups, being friendly at first to get into my good graces and to gain access, before he turned ugly.
“The sad thing is that I searched for his pseudonym online a couple of times, to see if he ever straightened himself out and got published. I guess he expected everyone to pat him on the head and give their approval for his stories when the truth was that he had a lot to learn. I guess instead of doing the work, he decided he’d get his kicks harassing, pirating, and plagiarizing. He was doing other bad stuff?”
Duke curled his lip and when Travis looked at him and shook his head. Travis said, “Yes, but you don’t want to know, Nika. It’s nasty, honey.”
The looks in their eyes convinced her to not ask. “Is he still there? I’d like to say a few words to him.”
“Yes. We called the FBI when we discovered what he was doing. They took great interest in the lengths he’s gone to, harassing you, and would like to talk to you in the future.”
“I’d be happy to testify.”
“Kemp was bummed because he didn’t get to use his duct tape on the bastard. Jefferson is right here.” He turned his attention to someone else and conversed briefly, interspersed with nods and shakes of his head that she couldn’t interpret and then Travis turned his attention to her again. “The investigator says you can say what you need to say, but keep it brief because they want to take him in to process him.” Travis curled his lip. “I’d also keep it brief because he’s got a nasty mouth and he’s pretty pissed that we spoiled his fun.”
“There’s nothing he can say that can hurt me ever again. I love you, Travis.”
“I love you, too, Nika. Here you go.” The picture jumped and then focused on a man. It was hard to tell how old he was, because of the greasy hair, beard, and dirt.
He sneered at her and she said, “You know, Lucas, you could’ve been successful if you’d been willing to put in the work. I never minded critiquing your work, even though monster erotica was never my thing. What I did mind was your petulant manner in the group. Look where it’s led you.”
