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unpacking.” The last thing she needed was Angelo knocking on her door. Again. She wanted to stall the inevitable for at least another month.
    “Oh hell no,” Jackie said, sounding much more chipper. “The only address on file is your post office box.”
    “Good.” Sarah let out a sigh of relief.
    “I’m sorry, Sarah, I really am.”
    “It’s okay.” Actually, it wasn’t, but she didn’t see the point in making a big fuss over it. By hook or by crook, Angelo always found a way to get what he wanted. Well, almost always. “I just hoped for another couple weeks of peace and quiet.”
    “Don’t sweat it. He’ll get over it soon.” A note of confidence returned to Jackie’s voice. “I’ve seen him like this before. After a few months he usually loses interest and shifts his attentions to someone else.”
    “Lucky me,” Sarah said, not looking forward to another couple months of inappropriate comments and “accidental” pats on the ass.
    As the largest testing facility in the central Florida area, Cava Tech had a reputation as the dream employer for scientists aiming to build a name in the biomedical research community. She’d considered herself fortunate when Angelo Cavalli offered her the position at the main lab. He’d even helped secure the government grant to fund her research. But over time his attentions had turned more personal; a whisper in the ear, an inappropriate comment followed by a facetious apology, followed by not taking no for an answer when he asked her out to dinner. And with each refusal, he became more focused and determined.
    A scream from the apartment next door startled her from her thoughts.
    “What on earth was that?” Jackie asked. “It sounds like something’s getting slaughtered over there.”
    “I have no idea.” Sarah moved closer to the wall that separated her apartment from her neighbor. “It sounds like it’s coming from the guy next door.”
    “The hot blond?”
    “Yeah.” Since moving in three weeks ago, she’d barely had time to get settled in, much less get acquainted with the eye candy next door. Blonds normally didn’t push her buttons, but something about this guy made her stomach do little flip-flops every time she laid eyes on him. She’d run into him a handful of times since then—once when Jackie helped her with a load of boxes—but had gotten no more than a cordial nod as they passed in the hallway.
    Oh well. It wasn’t like she had any free time on her calendar. Between work and Grandma Pearl, she was lucky to carve out a couple hours to get her laundry done. Maybe, once her project cleared the live trials, she’d have some breathing room for the little things in life, like a sunny day on the beach with a drink in her hand and a hot blond by her side.
    She heard another scream, this one filled with such agony Sarah cringed. Then the grinding beat of Linkin Park filled the air, the thumping base making the walls vibrate and drowning out all other noise.
    “What’s going on over there?” Jackie asked.
    “I have no idea.” Sarah walked over to the front door and slipped on her sandals. “But I’m about to find out.”
    “Wait! Don’t go over there!” Jackie sounded genuinely panicked. “You said he keeps weird hours. What if he’s a serial killer? You might be interrupting his latest kill!”
    “Oh, don’t be ridiculous.”
    “I’m not being ridiculous! It’s always the normal looking ones that do the really sick shit. For all you know, he might try to eat your liver with some farva beans and a nice Chianti.”
    “You watch too many movies. And it’s fava beans.” Still, Jackie was starting to give her the creeps, so she stuffed her cell phone into her pocket. “I’ll bring my phone with me. I’ll call nine-one-one if I run into any trouble. If I don’t call you back in fifteen minutes, you have my permission to call the police.”
    Before Jackie had the chance to voice any further objections, Sarah disconnected and