Last Grave (9781101593172) Read Free

evil. Jill was someone she’d known from college in Boston a few years before. They’d had a lot of classes together and had been study partners. Since then, Jill had been consistent in sending Christmas cards even though Samantha hadn’t.
    When Samantha had decided to move to San Francisco, before she’d met any of her new coworkers, she’d reached out to Jill just to ask her some questions about where she should try to rent a place. It turned out Jill was in graduate school now and in need of a roommate. Jill had been thrilled, still seeing Samantha as a friend from the old days. Samantha had never had many friends. Trust didn’t come easily for her—that much Jill was right about. But this way she could afford to live in the city.
    And it’s just a bonus that Jill’s presence keeps me from doing actual evil.
    A silver car pulled up to the curb. She got in, rubbing her hands briskly. “Morning, Lance.”
    He grunted in reply and pulled away from the curb.
    Lance was thirty, just two years older than she was, but his dark hair was streaked with gray. In Boston she’d been the odd one who’d had difficulty finding the right partner until Ed had come along. Here she’d quickly assumed that they were sticking Lance with her because she was the outsider. As it turned out, it was more the opposite. She was the one person he hadn’t pissed off yet, so they had stuck her with him.
    Her phone rang, and he swore.
    â€œYou need to have that thing on all the time?” he asked.
    If only Ed could hear you say that,
she thought sadly. She never used to carry her phone, and it had nearly gotten her old partner killed. Now it was like it was a lifeline.
    She checked to see who was calling.
    Anthony.
    Her heart stuttered. She couldn’t deal with talking to him, not right now. She declined the call and pocketed the phone.
    â€œThe guy back home who won’t let you go?” Lance guessed.
    â€œSomething like that,” she said with a sigh. Her relationship with Anthony was far too complicated to deal with, let alone explain, especially at three in the morning. What was it Anthony had said to her before she left Salem, about them having a great story? It was something like
Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy tries to kill girl.
And now they were in the phase where boy was trying really hard to win girl back. But she had nearly gotten him killed, and even if he could get over the fact that the coven she was raised in had murdered his mother, Samantha wasn’t sure she could. Even if she was constantly thinking of him.
    â€œWho calls at three in the morning?” Lance asked.
    â€œYou do,” she said.
    She could see him rolling his eyes at her. “That’s business.”
    The truth was, it was the first time Anthony had called so early. It made her wonder briefly if something was wrong, if he was in trouble. She was tempted to call him back, but, whatever it was, she was sure she didn’t want to be discussing it in front of her new partner.
    â€œWant me to tell him to get a life?” Lance asked.
    â€œNo, but thanks for the offer.”
    â€œYou know what they say: ‘protect and serve.’”
    She smiled. “So, are we going somewhere, or did you just miss me?”
    â€œSomeone called in a disturbance at the California Academy of Sciences in the Natural History Museum. By the time officers got there, there was no disturbance, just a body.”
    â€œLucky us.”
    There was little traffic on the streets, and they soon arrived at their destination. Officers had already cordoned off the scene, and one of them met Lance and Samantha at the car.
    â€œWhat do we have?” Lance asked.
    â€œWinona Lightfoot, local historian, dead.”
    â€œHow?” Samantha asked as she moved toward the building.
    â€œThat’s one for the coroner.”
    â€œAny witnesses?” Lance asked.
    â€œNah. Call about a