BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)

BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)

BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)

AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)

CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

A TRACE OF MUDER (Book #2)

A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER ONE

Sipping from her I Survived Another Meeting That Should Have Been an Email coffee mug, Diana St. James shivered in the too-chilly air-conditioning. Who’d turned that sucker down again?

Someone on the floor definitely had the constitution of a penguin just like her soon-to-be ex-husband, Evan. All those years, she’d had to grin and bear it when he turned the thermostat way down. It was so much better to be able to do as one pleased, organize the house the way she wanted to . . . I should be happy to be getting rid of him!

Diana stood behind her desk, contemplating the latest addition to the product line. Sure, there was MAC cosmetics, NARS cosmetics, e.l.f., and NYX. But the last thing they needed was to make Addict the butt of all jokes by naming their latest, greatest mascara after one.

B. U. T. Who the heck came up with that one?

Diana sighed. It was another rainy Monday. It seemed like April showers had just given way to more May showers, and now it was a humid, sticky, waterlogged early June. The floor-to-ceiling windows in Diana’s corner office were steamed over, only partially blocking her view of the throngs of people dodging the puddles and raindrops on the busy Tribeca street below.

She went to her intercom and buzzed Sandy, her trusty, just-out-of-college administrative assistant. Diana had chosen her because, with her blue eyes and freckles, she reminded her of her youngest daughter, Beatrice, who’d been in Japan for the past year. Most marketing executives would’ve questioned that hiring move—god knows, HR did, especially since Sandy didn’t have squat on her resume—but Diana hadn’t had the heart or the time to go through a lengthy hiring process. Anyway, it had turned out to be a good decision. Sandy was always cheerful, always willing to help, and always eager to learn.

Plus, she always answered on the first buzz. “Good morning, Diana! How can I help?”

“Hi, Sandy. Can you please tell Phil that none of these names is going to work for the new mascara? They’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something different.”