Deadly Chaos Read Online Free PDF Page A

sitting in the office answering phone calls. It also helped keep her mind off of the murder she’d committed last week. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dead Bill. She relived every single moment of that horrible night with each breath she took. But the crisp October air and sunshine helped ease the grip the memory had on her just a bit. At this point she’d take any help she could get. It’d been five days since the murder. Self-defense, she reminded herself. It was self-defense. She didn’t know what Paolo and his friends had done with Bill’s body and she figured she was better off not knowing. Paolo hadn’t mentioned the incident and she was grateful for his discretion. She’d yet to figure out exactly how she could repay him, but she would find a way.
    Her cell phone rang. Pulling it from her back pocket, Chaos looked at the number. She was half expecting the police to call her and exhaled in relief when she recognized her office number. Probably another family trying to get their sprinkler system winterized before the snow came. An early season storm was predicted for the weekend and the ski resorts were getting excited. The first snow in Santa Fe was always a big deal.
    She let the call forward to her answering service. They had the schedule and could handle it if there was room.
    “Go home, Mija,” Paolo said, coming up beside her.
    “I can’t,” she said. “The whole place stinks like him.” It did smell like him. The sickly combination of cologne, whiskey, blood and sweat had become part of her home. She’d left the windows open for two days and froze trying to get the smell of him out. It hadn’t worked. But that wasn’t the real reason she didn’t want to go home. Dead Bill was stalking her. She woke up in the middle of the night thinking about him and went to sleep with the fear that she was going to wake up thinking about him. She couldn’t get away from him and it was driving her crazy.
    A large black crow landed atop a mound of dirt in the yard. The sun caught its stretched out wings, making the blue black feathers shimmer. The crow let loose its raucous call, took flight and circled her head before flying off.
    Paolo watched the bird fly away. Taking the straw hat off of his head, he tugged an old red bandanna from his back pocket and wiped it across his brow. “If you can’t go home, then come out with us tonight. You shouldn’t be alone. We’re meeting at El Paseo.”
    “Who’s playing tonight?” she asked, grateful for the invitation. She didn’t go out often, hell she didn’t really have any friends to go out with. Her choice. It was better that way. But she’d take any opportunity she could to avoid spending the evening alone in her home.
    “Don’t know who is playing. Doesn’t matter. Good food. Good beer.”
    “Good company,” she finished for him. “I’ll meet you there. Thanks. All right, guys,” she said, turning her attention to the crew still hard at work. She had to admit, they did a good job bringing her vision to light. The cactus garden alone was a piece of pure inspiration. Her client was going to be thrilled. At least she hoped so. Each happy client helped her build this aspect of her business. Sure, fertilizing, mowing, and sprinkler blow outs were fine and she’d built a great business, but she really enjoyed the design part. Each client’s garden was like a puzzle. The process of finding the right pieces was the only thing that gave her any pride or sense of accomplishment. “I think we’ll get this finished up tomorrow, don’t you?”
    “Si. Yes. Probably early. Especially if you’re not here,” he said the hint of a kindly tease in his voice.
    “I know I’m getting in the way. I just can’t sit still lately.”
    “Then tonight will help. We’ll get you so drunk you’ll be passed out for days. It’ll be good for us, too. We can work in peace.” Paolo chuckled at his joke and winked at her. “Go