Phillip Margolin: Sleeping Beauty

Ashley squared her shoulders and stared down Casey Van Meter. “He didn’t care about you any more than I do.”

One Year Later

I don’t care, Howard,” Joshua Maxfield shouted into his cell phone. “My contract calls for the best suite in every hotel I stay in on the tour. This is not the best suite. The view is shit, and the Taj Mahal suite, which has the best view, is bigger.”

“I don’t know what to say, Joshua,” Howard Martin, editor in chief of Scribe publishing, answered. “Margo checked with the hotel. They told her that the Presidential Suite was the best and the biggest. It’s the most expensive.”

“And there was a bottle of fifteen-year-old scotch in my room,” Maxfield continued, ignoring his editor.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? Wasn’t it the right brand?” Martin asked.

“Yes it was the right brand, but it was fifteen-year-old-scotch. I specifically asked that idiot to make sure that the scotch was twenty-five years old. Can’t you afford to hire publicists who know their numbers?”

“We’re here, Mr. Maxfield,” Barbara Bridger said from the front seat of the limousine. Maxfield held up a finger to silence her and continued his tirade. The chauffeur had his door open and was waiting patiently when Maxfield cut the connection. Joshua got out, still muttering to himself about the incompetence of Scribe’s publicist.

The back door to Murder for Fun opened, and Jill Lane rushed out to greet her author.

“Mr. Maxfield, you have no idea what an honor it is to meet you. I love your books.”

Maxfield plastered a smile on his face and grasped Jill’s hands in his. “The honor is all mine. Speaking at your store will be the high point of my tour.”

Neither Jill Lane nor Joshua Maxfield saw Barbara Bridger roll her eyes. She couldn’t wait for this appearance to be over so she could rid herself of this egomaniacal asshole. She debated whether she should tell Jill how Maxfield had ranted and raved about the indignity of an artiste like himself having to speak at a bookstore that specialized in murder mysteries.

“The store is packed and the press is here. You’re our biggest draw since…well, since Miles Van Meter.”

“I just hope I don’t get arrested,” Maxfield joked.

Jill laughed and led Joshua and Barbara inside and up to the front of the store. The audience applauded as soon as they spotted the author. He nodded modestly. Jill stepped to the microphone.

“A little over a year ago, Miles Van Meter, one of history’s most diabolical serial killers, was arrested in this store on this very spot after giving a reading from his bestseller, Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty purported to be a work of true crime, but now we know that it was a work of fiction that falsely accused tonight’s guest author of the horrible crimes that Miles and his sister, Casey, committed. Fortunately, the Van Meters are behind bars where they belong. Casey was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in Oregon in exchange for testifying against her brother. Miles Van Meter was sentenced to death in Oregon for the murders of Norman Spencer and Tanya Jones, and he received other sentences for attempting to murder Ashley Spencer. Of course, Miles and his sister are facing charges in several other states, some of which have the death penalty.

“Our guest tonight, Joshua Maxfield, suffered in prison after he was framed for the Van Meters’ crimes, but he turned his suffering into art. While on death row, he penned Caged, a work of fiction that details the horrors suffered by an innocent man who is incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. The book was published two months after Mr. Maxfield’s release from the Oregon State Penitentiary and it is still on the New York Times bestseller list, more than a year after its publication.

“But Mr. Maxfield is not here because of Caged. He is here to discuss his memoir, Framed, which is his account of the Van Meter case and his years in prison. Framed was released this week, and we just learned that it will debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. And now, without further ado, I give you Joshua Maxfield.”

The audience applauded, and Joshua basked in their adulation. He did not want the applause to stop. It sounded so terrific. After all the years of silence his genius was finally being recognized. And he was a genius. A towering literary genius whose works would live forever. He was convinced of it. The years between The Wishing Well and Caged had simply been a hiccup in his climb up the mountain to the pinnacle of success. His publisher was clamoring for his next book and, as soon as his tour ended, he would begin work on it. Of course, right now, he was too distracted to think about what it would be. In fact, he had no idea whatsoever.

The following people helped me with the research that hopefully made Sleeping Beauty believable: Steve Lesser, Brian Ostrum, Dr. Nathan Selden, Dr. Howard Weinstein, Ashley Berman, Bridget Grosso, Mary Joan O’Connell, and Christine Brown. My editor, Dan Conaway, definitely made the book more readable, and I appreciate the help of Dan’s intrepid assistant, Jill Schwartzman.

Thanks also to the countless bookstore owners, clerks, managers, and author escorts who have been so kind and supportive during my many book tours. I bet you never guessed that you were unwittingly helping me with my research for Sleeping Beauty. Thanks also to Marie Elena Martinez and Elly Weisenberg, who organize my book tours and never get their numbers wrong.

I want to thank everyone at HarperCollins and the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency for their enthusiastic support.

Last, but definitely not least, I want to thank my family, Doreen, Ami, Daniel, and Chris, for putting up with me.

Phillip Margolin’s insider’s view of the criminal mind comes from his unique background as a long-time criminal defense attorney. All nine of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. His PerfectBound e-books are Wild Justice; The Associate; Ties That Bind; and Sleeping Beauty. Visit www.phillipmargolin.com.