Free So Much For Buckingham: The Camilla Randall Mysteries #5 by Anne R. Allen Page A

way to Swynsby and back. "You know the old saying, 'You're only as big as your last picture'. Unfortunately, I was one of the writers on " Oscar Wilde, Werewolf Hunter ".
    "Never heard of it."
    "Exactly."
    Plant stepped away from the desk, hoping to escape, but it was too late.
    "Here's your cab." Alfred pushed the script into Plant's hand and waved at a man in a cap who had just come in through the lobby door. "Now you'll have something to read on the train. Seriously. Read it. If you can get the film made, I'll split the profits fifty-fifty!"
    Some things were the same all over the world.

Chapter 21—Camilla
    ––––––––
    I reminded myself I needed to breathe. But I had to do it silently. I didn't want whoever was out there to know for sure that I was here.
    This wasn't Internet bullying anymore. This was real life. I had rapist psychos banging on my front door.
    It occurred to my rational brain that they must be very lightweight rapist psychos. I hadn't heard any footsteps. People always made noise crunching through the gravel in the courtyard.
    But I wasn't taking any chances. I dialed 911.
    The door banged again.
    As the phone rang, I grabbed the empty wine bottle by the neck to use as a weapon.
    "What is your emergency?" the operator said.
    "Somebody keeps slamming my screen door," I whispered into the phone. "They've sent me a threatening email, pretending to be my best friend, but I think it's a bunch of lunatics from Amazon. They know where I live. They sent a picture of my house. They don't like my taste in architecture, so they want to rape me, apparently. These people are not sane."
    "Amazon? The online bookstore? Are you being physically threatened?" The woman's voice was businesslike, but soothing.
    "Um...They said news about my corpse would be in tomorrow's Bay News . I guess they don't know it's a weekly." I worked hard to make my voice sound calm. I didn't want to sound like a paranoid crazy person. "They also threatened somebody named Hinckley Lutterworth, and I don't even know anybody by that name. Not that I can remember. They also said something like 'Libra will rise'. I have no idea what that's about. I'm a Scorpio."
    "Can you see who is at the door ma'am?  Do they have weapons?"
    I could see nothing from the front window. Not even a shadow thrown by the bright security light that illuminated the path between the store and my cottage.
    I drew up my courage, set down the phone, and unlocked the door.
    "I have the police on the phone!" I shouted into the courtyard as I yanked on the doorknob.
    But I saw no one. The person who had been banging the door had disappeared. Which made no sense. I still hadn't heard any footsteps on the gravel.
    Nobody could have got away that fast. There were trash cans next to the back door of the shop, hidden behind a couple of bedraggled jade plants. Somebody might be scooching down behind them, hiding in the shadows, but it would have to be an awfully small, agile person.
    I picked up the phone again.
    "I don't see anybody," I said. "But they could be hiding."
    "Are these people threatening you, ma'am?"
    I let go of the door handle and looked in horror as the screen door moved away from me, seemingly on its own.
    Then it banged again.
    I looked down. There was Buckingham, with his claws hooked in the screen, pulling back the door.
    He unhooked his claw and gave me a look that said, "You can't be this stupid. Open the damn door."
    "I, um, maybe it's not..." I felt my face flush. "I'm so sorry. It seems to be a false alarm. Sorry. It's only my cat. Don't bother the police."
    "A unit has already been dispatched, ma'am."
    I closed my phone and gave Buckingham a stern look.
    "I'll let you in on one condition," I said to his smug little white-mustached face. "When the rapist reviewers come for me, you will use those claws on them."
    Buckingham gave me a quick glance, then scampered inside to jump on my favorite chair and curl up for a nap.
    When the police arrived,