A Profiler's Case for Seduction - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,38

healthy response to a perceived danger. It’s a primal response that helps keep us alive.”

“In any case, I appreciate you helping to alleviate some of mine even though I can’t imagine why I’d be in any danger. I still think it’s possible I’m just a little bit on edge and imagining things because of what’s happened here in town.”

They had almost reached Dora’s house when Mark stiffened beside her and grabbed her arm with a sense of urgency. “Your imaginary stalker is at the window on the side of your house,” he said softly as he reached inside his jacket.

Dora released a startled gasp as she spied the dark figure at the side of her house.

“When I say go, you run straight to your front door, get inside and lock the door,” Mark whispered.

“What are you going to do?” Dora asked in alarm. She wanted him to come with her, to run inside the house and lock the door against any danger to either of them.

“Go,” he replied, and gave her a little shove as he took off running toward the house. Dora ran just behind him, her heart beating frantically, her gaze focused entirely on her front door.

Get inside and lock the door. Her brain screamed the command as she hit her porch. Mark had disappeared in the darkness, and the fear that screamed inside her begged to be released as she realized her fears were true...somebody was really stalking her.

* * *

Amanda raced back to her apartment, coffee already half-gone and her thoughts spiraling out of control and shooting in all directions. The day before, Melinda had given her the assignment to research everything she could find on the internet concerning sociopaths. Initially Amanda hadn’t thought it a big deal...until she’d actually started the daunting task.

There were thousands of articles about the mental illness, thousands of pages about killers, child abusers and other criminals who had been diagnosed with the personality disorder.

Much of it Amanda knew Melinda already had in her books and papers on the subject, so she didn’t understand why she had been given a task that felt remarkably like stupid busywork.

And something was definitely going on between Ben and Melinda. Something wrong. Amanda reached her apartment and sank into the sofa, sipping the last of the coffee as she thought of her boss and her coworker.

Secrets. They seemed to share secrets that didn’t include her. If she entered a room when the two of them were there, there was a sudden pregnant silence. They didn’t seem to want her to hear them.

Things had just gotten weird and Amanda couldn’t quite place her finger on what was going on. She only knew that for the first time since she’d started working for Melinda she’d begun to see some flaws in her idol.

The fact that Amanda was relatively certain Melinda had invited Ben into her bed wasn’t just nauseating, but so beneath the brilliant woman Amanda had thought she’d known.

Lately Melinda would occasionally fall silent, as if in her own world inside her head, and a small curve would lift her lips. But when jarred out of her thoughts, there was a second when her huge green eyes looked hard and wicked and frightening.

The truth of the matter was that Amanda had begun to distrust the woman she’d once admired above all others. She certainly couldn’t talk about her feelings with Ben, who had always been a besotted fool where Melinda was concerned. If Melinda told Ben to jump off a cliff he wouldn’t hesitate if he knew it would make Melinda happy.

She thought about the FBI agent she’d met. Mark. He’d seemed nice and she’d always liked Dora, but what would she tell them? That something strange was going on but she couldn’t put her finger on it? That her coworker was sleeping with the boss and Amanda was jealous of the relationship they seemed to have formed? A relationship based on sex and secrets?

She tucked a strand of her long blond hair behind her ear with a weary sigh. Maybe everything seemed strange because she was functioning on empty. What she needed more than anything was about twenty-four hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in her near future.

She drained the last of her coffee and headed to the computer where a screen saver of butterflies filled the monitor with splashes of color. It would take all night for her to accomplish what Melinda wanted done by morning and even then it wouldn’t be a