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

this extra five pounds to lug around. I have an appointment with my orthopedic guy at eleven.” “Good.” Eleanor scooted out a chair and waved Sam into a seat. “Now, I’ve got to tell you that ever since that nutcase called last night, the station has been besieged with calls and e-mails. Be-frickin“-sieged. I mean, we’ve had listeners call in all day.” Her dark eyes gleamed as she wrapped long fingers around the chipped ceramic cup. “George is going bananas.”
    “George would,” Samantha said, thinking of the owner of the station as she slid into her chair. Tall, dark and handsome, born with a silver spoon shoved decidedly between his teeth, George was forever worried about the bottom line, about losing a dime. He would do anything to increase the audience and the ratings. Sam considered him one step up from pond slime.
    Leaning on the small of her back, she cradled her cup, blowing across the steamy surface. “I guess I’d better come clean with you,” she said, wondering if she was making a major mistake.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Last night wasn’t the first time the guy contacted me.”
    “Come again.” Eleanor’s coffee was forgotten. She pinned Sam in her gaze.
    “He left me a message on my recorder; I thought Melanie would have told you.”
    “She hasn’t come in yet.”
    “Okay, well, he did. And then there was this letter and a marred publicity shot.”
    “What letter?”
    She gave Eleanor a quick update and watched as the animation left her boss’s dark face. When she’d explained about returning home and discovering the message and letter, Eleanor reached across the table and wrapped bejeweled fingers around Sam’s wrist. “Tell me that you called the police.”
    “Didn’t I say I did? Don’t worry.”
    “It’s my job to worry. So what did the police have to say?”
    “They said they’d send more patrols around the area.” Eleanor’s eyes narrowed. “Did they come out to the house?”
    “Not yet,” Sam said. “Why not?”
    “I haven’t been home much.”
    “Jesus H. Christ…” Eleanor sighed loudly. Her neatly plucked eyebrows slammed together. “Since the Cambrai police don’t have jurisdiction here in the city, tell me you’re going to haul your ass into my office and pick up the phone to tell them about the calls coming into the station here, cuz, honey, if you don’t, I sure as hell will.”
    “I will.”
    “You bet you will.” Eleanor wasn’t taking any excuses. “As soon as you finish your coffee, you use my office.”
    “I’d planned to call tomorrow,” Sam said. “Why wait?”
    “I just want to see if the creep calls back tonight,” Sam said. “Make sure it’s not a onetime thing.”
    “I doubt it. Considering what’s gone on at your home.”
    “You said yourself that the station was being inundated with calls. That should mean a larger audience,” Sam argued. “Isn’t that what we all want?”
    Eleanor tapped a fingernail on her cup. “Yes, but I think you’re playing with fire,” she said, but she was warming to the idea.
    “Maybe. It’s true, he’s scared me. But I’d like to find out what makes him tick. So far the threats have been pretty vague. And I’d like to find out what’s going on with him.” She finished her coffee in one swallow. “Bet my listeners do, too.”
    “I don’t know about this—”
    “If I get another call, I’ll run straight to New Orleans’s finest, I swear,” Sam said, raising two fingers as if she were a Boy Scout.
    “Promise?”
    “Cross my heart and hope to die—”
    “Don’t even say it,” Eleanor cut in. “And for the record” “—she thumped a finger on the Formica table—” “I don’t like this. Uh-uh. Not one little bit.”
    “Don’t like what?” a gravelly voice demanded. Ramblin’ Rob, dressed as if he were planning to attend a cattle drive rather than sit in a booth with a presorted stack of CDs, swaggered in. He smelled of smoke and rain, the brim of his