Read Samantha Moon: First Eight Novels, Plus One Novella for Free Online Page A

No,” I said.
    “ Do you believe you are a vampire?” he asked.
    I hesitated. “No.”
    “Fine,” he said. “Is your husband cheating on you?”
    “ Why would you say that?” I asked.
    “ I assume he is,” said Kingsley. “I assume he’s terrified of you and he doesn’t know what to do about it yet, especially with the kids in the picture.”
    “ Shut up, Kingsley.”
    “ And since you’re not denying it, I will also go as far as to assume he’s a son-of-a-bitch for abandoning you in the hour of your greatest need.”
    “ Please, shut up.”
    “ I also know something else, Mrs. Moon. He will take the kids from you and there isn’t a single goddamn thing you can do about it.”
    Something came over me, something hot and furious. I flashed out of the client chair and was on Kingsley before he could even uncross his arms. My left hand went straight for his throat, slamming him hard against the wall. Too hard. The back of his head crashed through the drywall. Teeth bared, I looked up into his face—and the asshole was actually grinning at me, with half his head still in the wall. His hair and shoulders were covered in plaster dust.
    “Shut the hell up!” I screeched.
    “ Sure. You got it. Whatever you say.”
    We stood like that for a long time, my hand clamped over his throat, his head pushed back into the wall.
    “Can you set me down now?” he asked in a raspy voice.
    “ Down?” I said, confused, my voice still raspy in my throat.
    “ Yeah,” he said, pointing. “Down.”
    I followed his finger and saw that his feet were dangling six inches above the floor. I gasped and dropped him as his head popped out of the wall.
    “Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I was mad.”
    Kingsley rubbed his neck. “Remind me next time not to piss you off,” he said, dusting off his shoulders and opening his office door. “Oh, and I’m sorry to inform you, Mrs. Moon, that you are very much a vampire.”
    Eyes glowing amber, he winked at me and left.
     
     
     
    13.
     
     
    Sara and I spent the next three hours sorting through files and since Sara was a little on the grumpy side, I did what any rational person would do under similar circumstances. I ordered Chinese. When it arrived she perked up a little. Some people needed alcohol to loosen up, apparently Sara needed fried wontons.
    We ate at her desk. Or, rather, I pretended to eat at her desk. We ate mostly in silence.
    Interestingly, according to the pictures on Sara’s desk, she seemed to know how to let loose just fine. There were pictures of her in a bikini on some tropical isle, of her hiking along a heavily forested mountain trail, of her viciously spiking a volleyball, of her dressed as a pirate in an office Halloween party, complete with massive gold hoops, eye patch and mustache. In the background was Kingsley dressed as a werewolf. I almost laughed.
    “You played volleyball?” I asked.
    “ Yes, at Pepperdine. I tried out for the Olympics.”
    “ What happened?”
    “ Almost made the team. Maybe next time.”
    “ Maybe next time,” I said. “Is Kingsley a good boss?”
    She shrugged. “He’s kind enough. Gives big bonuses.”
    “What more could you want?” I asked cheerily.
    She shrugged and turned her attention to her food. I tried another approach. “Do you like your job?”
    She shrugged again and I decided to let my attempt at idle conversation drop. Maybe she needed more fried wontons.
    While we ate, we worked from a long list of all of Kingsley’s closed files from the past six years. Seven hundred and seventy-six in all. Kingsley was a busy boy. From these files, I removed all those Kingsley had personally litigated. Now we were down to three hundred and fifty-three. Still too many to work with. From those, I removed all violent crime; in particular, murder defense cases. Now we were down to twelve files.
    I told Sara I would need copies of all twelve files. She promptly rolled her eyes.
    While we made copies, Sara decided to open