Dying to Kill (Angel Delaney Mysteries Book #2) Read Online Free PDF

hand. The bullet had entered his skull just above his left ear. Not much blood, Angel noted. Candace had said he’d killed himself, but in Angel’s mind, suicide didn’t jive with what she was seeing. Jenkins had settled in to watch a baseball game on television. The set was still blaring. The game over.
    She felt more than heard Candace come up behind her. “I cleaned him up the best I could.”
    “What did you say?”
    But Angel had heard every word. She just couldn’t believe them.

SEVEN
     

     
    T here was mud on the floor and blood on the chair and the carpet,” Candace explained. “Phillip hates things to be messy and . . .”
    Angel groaned and rubbed her forehead. It wouldn’t be the first time a person had cleaned up a crime scene. And this was obviously a crime scene. The man had been murdered. “You may have destroyed vital evidence.”
    “Evidence? I don’t understand. He killed himself. Why do you need evidence?”
    “Come on.” Angel led Candace out of the kitchen and back to the porch. “I need to call the authorities.”
    “I know. I suppose I should have called them instead of waiting for you, but I couldn’t. You understand, don’t you?”
    “Yeah. I understand.” But she didn’t, not really. Why had Candace called her mother’s place asking for her? To give her more time to clean things up? For moral support? Angel put her shoes back on and joined Candace on the porch. Pulling the cell phone out of her pocket, she dialed 911 and reported the death.
    “I’m sorry,” she said to Candace when she’d finished making the call. While she wanted to believe the woman’s story, she couldn’t quite dismiss Candace as the killer. Destroying evidence and failing to call the police provided more than enough reason for suspicion.
    Angel glanced at the still-open van door. “Where are the children?” Her mind jumped in with more scenarios. Had Phillip injured or killed the children? Had Candace come to the end of her rope? Had she gone psychotic and killed them all?
    “They’re in the barn. I told them to feed the animals.”
    Thank God . Angel released the breath she’d been holding.
    “Mommy?” One of the children stood in the barn’s yawning dark doorway. “Can we come in the house now? We’re cold.”
    Candace turned toward the child. “Not yet.”
    “Do they know about Phillip?” Angel asked quietly.
    “No. I came in with some of the groceries and asked them to bring some in too. When I saw him, I sent them to the barn. I don’t know how I can tell them. They loved their dad. He was good to them when . . .”
    When he wasn’t drinking . She’d heard the line a hundred times before.
    Candace frowned. “I should put the rest of the groceries away.”
    “No, just leave them where they are. It’s fine.” Candace had done too much already.
    The woman didn’t argue. She assumed the same position she’d been in when Angel had first pulled into the driveway, straight backed and staring at some spot on the cloud-scattered horizon.
    Angel watched the sky as well. Another storm system was approaching. Her morning patch of sunshine had already become a distant memory.
    Angel looked over to the barn. The children stood just inside the doorway, apparently reluctant to disobey their mother’s orders. “Mom!” one called out. “We’re hungry.”
    Candace lifted her gaze to Angel. “Can I get them a snack? I have some cheese and crackers and fruit in the van.”
    “Sure. I’ll come with you.”
    They were heading down the porch steps when Nick Caldwell pulled up in an unmarked car and whipped into a parking spot beside her Corvette. Being a friend of her brothers, Nick had practically lived at the Delaney house while they were growing up. Angel loved him like a brother and had a lot of respect for him as a fellow officer.
    “Hey, Angel, what are you doing out here?” Nick was six years her senior, tall and slim but muscular. He’d been her oldest brother, Luke’s,