Bad Samaritan Read Online Free PDF

in the entrance to face her. She repeated the description of the man who’d handed Tom the drink. “Does that remind you of anyone in particular?”
    Gloria thought about it for a moment. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it does—Mayor Garcia’s new son-in-law. His name’s Matt, Mike, or something like that.
    â€œThe guy’s trouble, Sister Agatha. I’ve heard that JD nearly had a coronary when Cindy married him. According to Tom, the kid’s been arrested for possession of dangerous drugs—I think he was dealing—about a year or two back,” she said, her eyebrows knitting together, “but I’m not one hundred percent sure about that timing. Tom will know more.”
    â€œI’ll check on that. Thanks.” Sister Agatha stepped out onto the porch, Pax at her side.
    â€œJust so you know, nobody in the Garcia clan is a fan of Tom’s. It wasn’t simply a personal thing between him and Robert. Every single one of them would be happy to see Tom go down. He’s been a thorn in the side of their political-crony network for years now.”
    â€œTom has enemies—it goes with his job, Gloria. But he’s also got some very good friends,” she added with a confidentsmile. “I’ll tell you another thing I’ve learned over the years. The truth
always
comes out if you’re willing to keep digging, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
    Her confident words had their intended effect. Sister Agatha could see Gloria’s spirits lift. Yet experience assured her that things would get a lot worse before they got better.

3
    B EFORE SHE PUT HER HELMET ON AGAIN, SISTER AGATHA called the station and asked to speak to Millie. After her late night, Millie would probably have the day off, but she wanted to make sure.
    Having verified that Millie was at home, Sister Agatha turned to Pax, and smiled. “We’re on our way to make pests of ourselves. We’ll probably wake Millie up, but under the circumstances, I don’t think she’ll mind.”
    They were soon driving down a badly maintained graveled road. Sister Agatha went slowly, not only because of the rocks that covered the roadway but in an effort not to spook the horses and llamas in an adjacent pasture. Pax barked happily at them, but then, seeing Sister Agatha signal him, quieted down almost instantly.
    A minute later, they pulled up at the end of a dead-end street and turned right. The small, unpaved driveway was coveredwith adobe-colored rocks and lined by big chucks of black volcanic lava—a popular landscaping material found locally in abundance.
    As Sister Agatha climbed off the motorcycle, she saw Millie coming though a gate that adjoined a horse stall at the rear of the property. In her hand was a green plastic feed bucket.
    After closing the gate behind her, Millie looked up and, seeing them, waved. “I thought I heard a motorcycle. What are you two doing here this early?” she asked pleasantly, joining them. “I guess you don’t sleep late much either, huh?”
    â€œThe Maria bell at the monastery is always on time,” Sister Agatha answered. “But what are
you
doing dressed and working already? You were at the station until well after midnight.”
    â€œI can’t sleep in, ever. No matter how late I go to bed, I always wake up at six thirty in the morning,” she said, wiping the sweat off her brow with a tissue. “It’s starting to warm up already, so we’ll probably reach close to three digits today. Let’s go inside. We can relax and have something to drink.” She added, “You’re welcome, too, Pax. I’ve got some leftover chicken you might like.”
    Pax whined in eagerness, and Sister Agatha laughed. “Pax, you’re really a pig.” Glancing back at Millie, she added, “I want you to know that he eats a whole huge bowl of kibble every night on top of all the