Weeding Out Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

department had been having troubles since last spring, and had been investigated by In ternal Affairs, but nothing had come of it. The chief ended up looking like a fool, as did the prosecutor. The matter was dropped, but the department was still shaken and rumors persisted. Kevin laughed them off, and I thought if anyone had knowledge of what was going on, it would be him.
    So I tried to have faith. Really, I did. But so far I hadn't been given much hope. I tried to reassure Ana, but she wasn't having any of it, so I decided to change the subject. "Oh," I said.
    "What? What do I hear in that 'Oh'?"
    "Kevin's staying with me for the next week."
    "Oh!"
    "Yeah. Recuperating." I filled her in.
    "Now I've got to come home."
    "Why?"
    "Because I want to be there when you kill him."
    My teeth chattered as I smiled. "I'll take pictures."
    Abruptly, I straightened and pulled the phone away from my ear, listening closely. Something rustled the leaves. I covered the phone. "Is anyone there?" I asked loud enough to scare away any stalkers.
    No one answered.
    "Kit?" I whispered.
    I crept out of the gazebo and toward the line of trees that bordered the back of the property.
    "Kit?" I whispered again.
    I heard muffled squawking and realized it was Ana.
    "Is Kit there?" Her voice rose. "I heard you calling his name."
    "I don't know," I whispered. "I heard something in the woods behind the house."
    "Are you outside?"
    "Yes."
    "Isn't it about ten below with blizzard conditions?"
    "Your point?"
    "Why aren't you inside?"
    I crept on tiptoes. My feet sank into ankle deep snow with each step. "Weren't you listening when I explained about Kevin?"
    "Oh, that's right."
    "Kit!" I called out again.
    Something rustled in the brush, and all at once I wished I'd brought a flashlight.
    "Do you see him?"
    I inched closer. "No." Pulling back a branch of a sparse Norwood pine, I found myself staring upward into two dark beady eyes.
    "Eeeee!" I screamed, and took off running from the turkey I'd found roosting in the tree.
    He didn't appear happy to see me either.
    A loud turk-turk-turk noise filled the air, and the rustling of feathers followed close behind me as he chased me through my yard.
    It was the turkey escapee I'd seen earlier, running through the neighborhood.
    And he was mad.
    The turkey flapped his wings, fanned his tail, and chased me with a vigor I didn't know turkeys possessed.
    "Eeeee!"
    Mr. Cabrera's back door burst open and he flew out, cardboard box in hands. "Corner him, Miz Quinn, corner him!" he yelled at me.
    BeBe chased after Mr. Cabrera, barking up a storm. Until she sniffed the air. Suddenly, she made a U-turn, tucked her tail and barreled back into the house.
    Can't say I blamed her.
    My back lights flashed on just as Lewy and Joe sprinted around the corner of the house, guns drawn.
    "Don't shoot!" I cried.
    Mr. Cabrera circled me as another turkey, a smaller one, wobbled out from behind the gazebo and joined in the fray, except this one clucked instead of turked.
    "Holy Moses!" Mr. Cabrera shrieked. "There're two of them!"
    Two! There were two turkeys! Where were they coming from, and how many friends did they have hiding in the woods?
    "Hold still!" Joe shouted. "I'll shoot 'em."
    "You'll do no such thing!" Mrs. Krauss yelled from the doorway of Mr. Cabrera's house. "I'll have your badge! There are laws against animal cruelty!"
    I kept running, the bird chasing me, half running, half flying, wings flapping. Thank goodness my personal trainer, Duke, had gotten me into some semblance of shape.
    The smaller turkey started after Mr. Cabrera, who threw the box into the air and beelined for his back door.
    Lewy apparently found the whole situation hysterical until the big turkey turned on him.
    "Run!" I yelled. Snow filled my Keds as I headed for my back door. Kevin and my mother stood on the back step, laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.
    Then I saw it.
    Salvation.
    The lights were on across the street.
    "Gobble gobble," Kevin