A Dark Mind Read Online Free PDF

a deep breath and settle down. Everything is fine. I bet you’re regretting that you stopped by.”
    “Of course not,” Lizzy assured her. “I’m sorry about your mom.”
    “Thanks.” Jennifer did her best to sort the copies from the original, making sure not to include any of her party-planning papers. She restapled the original contract and handed it to Lizzy along with a check. “The deposit is attached. That should do it.”
    Lizzy put the envelope in her bag, and then stood and shook Jennifer’s hand. “I’ll get to work on this right away and call you in a week or two with an update.”
    “Thank you,” Jennifer said as she followed Lizzy to the door. “Looks like it’s going to rain.”
    Lizzy looked out at the sky. Dark gray clouds were huddling together, up to no good. Before she had a chance to open the door, a man’s face appeared on the other side of the glass.
    Jennifer shrieked and jumped back.
    Lizzy instinctively reached toward her shoulder holster for her gun.
    Jennifer put a hand on her chest. “It’s Michael.” She opened the door. “You scared the daylights out of us.”
    Michael Dalton stood well over six feet. He was in his late thirties, but with blond windswept hair, broad shoulders, and a healthy tan, he didn’t look a day over twenty-nine. He gave his wife a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that. I was surprised to see your car still parked at the curb. I wanted to make sure you were OK.”
    Jennifer gave him a forgiving smile before she gestured toward Lizzy. “You remember Lizzy Gardner. She stopped by to bring us the contract for the Simpson case. I already signed it, made copies, and gave her a deposit. She’s going to get started right away.”
    “Great. Nice to see you again,” Michael said, offering his hand.
    “Nice to see you, too.”
    Stepping inside, he held the door open for Lizzy and said, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you snag Simpson. Nothing worse than a freeloader.”
    “I will,” Lizzy said. “I’ll be in touch.”
    A couple of raindrops dotted the sidewalk as Lizzy unlocked the car door. Once she had her seatbelt on, she turned on the ignition and glanced over her shoulder at the realty office. Michael Dalton was staring out the window at her. Shivers coursed over her body. She gave him a quick wave, but he didn’t wave back. As she drove away, a strange sense of foreboding rose up around her.

CHAPTER 6
    It was an urge…a strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people—risks that normally, according to my little rules of operation, I wouldn’t take because they could lead to arrest.
    —Edmund Kemper
    Antelope
    Wednesday, May 2, 2012
    Dominic Povo took the boring out of surveillance work, Jessica decided as she watched him work. The man was sizzling hot, a Greek god in the flesh. A couple of his coworkers weren’t too bad either. No wonder Danielle Cartwright was considering throwing caution to the wind and marrying for a fourth time. According to the research she had done on Povo, he was the foreman on this particular construction site in Antelope, California, a flat area with few hills and no major bodies of water.
    Povo grew up in Pittsburg, California. When he was eighteen, he moved to Las Vegas and went to culinary school. He never earned a degree, and it was still a mystery to Jessica as to how or why he detoured from culinary to construction. Extracurricular activities included hanging out with his pals andmaking regular treks to Las Vegas, something she intended to ask Danielle about.
    From what Jessica had seen so far, the man spent most of each day inside the trailer parked on the site—a lot of meetings were held in that trailer. He would appear in the morning dressed in khakis and a collared shirt. He usually carried building plans under his arm and did a lot of pointing as he gave his men instructions. He appeared to have a temper, although she