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great aunt's Alzheimer's, but also her handsome, shell-shocked army captain with amnesia who can only be saved by knowing the truth about his dark past.”
    I looked up, my stomach sinking.
    She went on. "Dr. Steele and Captain Russell Bonner work against an evil drug company, Sinbad Pharmaceuticals. It sells expensive anti-Alzheimer's drugs and will stop at nothing to keep Dr. Steele's permanent cure for the disease off the market. The heroes nearly get killed in the process of saving old people's memories everywhere.”
    Silence in the room.
    Jackie looked sick. "Oh, my God. If you change the names, that's Rhonda's book!"
     

CHAPTER 3
     
    A longer silence fell, during which my world tilted and a trap door opened under my feet.
    "What the hell?" I yelled, shooting up from the table to challenge her. "What are you talking about?" Jackie put a hand on my arm, but I shook it off. "Ms. Winkler, this is just mean. You've said nothing but nasty things about everyone here all night."
    Yvette looked stunned.
    Marian said, "Ms. Winkler. We respect your ability as an editor, but you can't be right. We've watched Rhonda develop her plot and characters over several months.”
    Yvette, leaning back toward James, said the unthinkable. "Since the beginning?"
    Carb gluttony in the room had stopped. Sympathy? Or relief that it wasn't them? Horror stories of plagiarized manuscripts ran rife among writers.
    I turned purple and grabbed Yvette's arm. "Where is this book? Let me see it!"
    Jackie put her arms around my waist and pulled me off Yvette, who ran behind James and hid.
    "Now calm down, Rhonda. When did Rhonda join us, Marian? Last summer?" George said.
    "In December, right before James," I said, smoke curling out of my ears. Jackie kept hold of my skirt to keep me in check.
    George frowned. "Yeah. Rhonda had her first draft done already, and I introduced her to my daughter's friend in neurobiology at UCI to help her with the science terms.”
    "Stop talking about me in third person!" I yelled. "I'm not a baby. Show me this other book! NOW!"
    Yvette shrugged. "I didn't buy it—I skimmed it in the bookstore."
    Marian ventured, "Ms. Winkler. Rhonda's protagonists are Lieutenant Russ Boone and a plump redhead , Dr. Amanda Steale, who nearly get axed by Eastern Drugs.
    Jackie added, "Whose grandmother is sick."
    Yvette rolled her eyes. "Don't quibble. The two books are too close, although Mr. Jackson's version is, in my opinion, miles better written than yours. Put the same plot in more capable hands …"
    I wrenched away from Jackie and launched myself at Yvette, but James caught me by the arms and pulled me into his lap, becoming my living straitjacket. In other circumstances, my body would have melted right into his like a cat in a cushion, but now I fought him in a blind panic, seeing only months of my hard work, my first winning series idea after years of trial and error, my soul-felt hope for a place in publishing, washed down the sewer in a freak flash flood.
    "Hey," James tried for levity, while keeping a painful grip on my wrists. "Remember Rhonda's professor character named Dr. Robert Einstein who studied gravity? Bet he's not in Jackson's book.”
    Through gritted teeth, I snarled at Yvette, "How could someone else publish a book that close to mine?"
    "Nearly identical, but important differences," Yvette said. "Jackson's superior writing shines through, and his book is already climbing the bestseller list." She moved in front of me and gave me a hard look. "What I want to know is how you explain such glaring similarities in plot, dialogue and action between your book and Reynard's, including the ditzy strawberry blonde?"
    "She's my best character yet!" I roared up from James's lap and Yvette skittered back against Jackie’s china cabinet. "And that's my book flying off the shelves!" My hands flew up and hit Jackie's chandelier , sending it spinning and the lights dancing. "Those are my fans! He's getting my big shot!"
    The air