Lisa Jackson's Bentz & Montoya Bundle: Hot Blooded, Cold Blooded, Shiver, Absolute Fear, Lost Souls, Malice, & an Exclusive Extended Excerpt From Devious Read Online Free PDF Page A

night, as if unseen eyes were watching your every move?
    Gritting her teeth, she reminded herself for the hundredth time she was letting a couple of stupid, malicious pranks get to her. She’d dealt with crank callers before. As long as she changed the locks, fixed the faulty alarm system that had come with the house and made sure that the Cambrai police were true to their word and increased their patrols of the area, she’d be fine.
    Right?
    A few hours later, after most of the staff had gone home for the night, Sam was tossing the trash into a wastebasket when the click of high heels caught her attention. Turning, she spied Melanie breezing into the room. Her hair was windblown, her cheeks pink from the heat of the summer night.
    “Welcome back,” Melanie greeted with a grin. All of twenty-five, Melanie had graduated at the top of her class at All Saints, a small college in Baton Rouge, where she’d majored in communications and minored in psychology. She’d worked at the college radio station, then landed a job in Baton Rouge before accepting a position with WSLJ not long after Sam had hired on. Melanie, like Sam, was one of Eleanor’s recruits.
    “Thanks.”
    “I’m gonna run down to the shop on the corner and pick up coffee and something totally fattening and sinful…Probably a beignet smothered in powdered sugar. Want one?”
    “Tempting, but I think I’ll pass.” Sam set the mail aside and rolled her chair back from the long counter that served as a desk. “And thanks again for taking care of the cat and leaving me the coffee and milk. You’re a lifesaver.”
    Melanie beamed under the compliment—in many ways she was still a kid. “Just remember that when it comes time for my review and raise, okay?”
    “Oh, I get it. You bribed me.”
    “Absolutely!” Melanie was blocking the doorway, a hand on either side of the jamb. In a gauzy purple dress, thin black cape, platform shoes and fresh makeup, she looked ready to go out on the town, rather than work.
    “Hot date?”
    “A girl can hope.” Melanie laughed and lifted one shoulder. “Maybe I’ll get lucky. And—” she held up a finger, “—no motherly advice about being careful. I’m a big girl now.”
    “And I’m not old enough to be your mother.” “Then no friendly or even professional advice, okay?” Sam knew when to button her lip. Melanie’s past relationships had been less than stellar, and the girl was waiting to get her heart broken again, but Samantha didn’t argue. After all, she wasn’t exactly batting a thousand in the love department herself. “When are you off duty?”
    Melanie looked at her watch. “After the show, same as you. Now, what can I get you from the coffee shop before it closes for the night? Tea? Perrier?” “You don’t have to wait on me.” “I know. It’s only because of the cast. Once you’re on your feet again, you’re on your own, so make a slave of me now, if you feel so inclined.”
    “You asked for it. Okay, get me a Diet Coke.” “Will do.” Melanie glanced ruefully at Sam’s leg. “Does it itch?”
    “Like crazy.”
    “I’ll be right back.” She left as quickly as she appeared. Sam did a cursory look over her e-mail, her pulse elevating a bit, her palm sweaty on the mouse, but no one had sent any notes that could be construed as threatening. A few notes from fans asking about her return, two dozen jokes she deleted immediately, interoffice memos that were outdated, an offer to speak at a local charity event, another reminder from the Boucher Center about her next appointment and several quickly dashed thoughts from friends. One from Leanne Jaquillard, a seventeen-year-old girl she worked with at the Boucher Center where she volunteered.
    There was nothing out of the ordinary in her letters from cyberspace. Nothing sinister. She began to relax. By the time Melanie returned sans cape, with a little bit of powdered sugar still clinging to her lips, a can of Diet Coke in one hand,