Murders & Romance: A Psychic Detective Romantic Mystery (Isaac Taylor Mysteries Book 5) by Lashell Collins (motivational books to read txt) 📕

But something about the flash he’d seen when Savage’s arm had touched the back of his hand disturbed him on so many levels.

The brutality of it.

The inhumanity.

The look on Savage’s face as he beat the homeowner. Like he was enjoying himself.

Bodies stood all around him, and Isaac was jolted back to the here and now. He stood and followed everyone out into the pit and headed to his desk.

“What’s going on, partner?”

Isaac looked up at the sound of Pete’s voice.

“What?”

“I said what’s going on? You got that look.”

“What look?”

“That look.” Pete pointed to Isaac’s face, and then sat down. “The one that says something’s on your mind.”

Isaac sighed. He wasn’t ready to bring Pete in on this yet. He wasn’t even sure what this was, and he wanted to be sure. He may have gotten to a place where he wasn’t trying to run from his abilities anymore, but that didn’t mean he was eager to trot them out like dancing bears at a circus for everyone to gawk at either.

“Nothing. Just wondering where to begin this morning with Amber Camden’s family members.”

He sat down and began leafing through the papers on his desk, searching for the list he’d made the day before of the girl’s male family members, and where to locate each of them.

“Well, she’s got a dad and two brothers, right?”

“Right.” Isaac looked over the list and confirmed the number of brothers. “Not to mention a step-father and several uncles and male cousins.”

“I say we start at the top and work our way down.”

Isaac nodded. “Father it is then. Let’s go.”

“Where we headed?” Pete asked once they were in the unmarked cruiser.

“Paul Camden works at an ad agency downtown. We’ll go there first. One brother manages the appliance store on Buckeye Road, and the other one works from home doing medical billing or something. He’s out in Fairfax.”

“You’re still set on one of them being our killer?”

“It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Unless you’re suggesting that Amber Camden snuck out of her room at the institution and did it herself.”

Pete chuckled. “Now that sounds like the plot of a very twisted movie, doesn’t it?”

“It does indeed. Not to mention the fact that she’d have to have superhuman strength on top of the ability to fool all the medical staff at that place, and her family that comes to visit.”

Those words rattled around in Isaac’s brain for a couple of seconds.

“You know, Pete… we should head back to the institution at some point and get a look at their visitor log. Find out who Amber Camden’s regular visitors are. It’s a long shot, but it might tell us something useful.”

“I’ll make a note of it.” Pete thumbed in a few keys on his cellphone.

They navigated the morning traffic and pulled to the curb in the heart of downtown, and got out of the car. They entered the ad agency building with badges at the ready.

“Detective Sergeant Ike Taylor. My partner, Detective Pete Vega. We need to speak with Paul Camden.”

The receptionist blinked at him, and Isaac wasn’t sure if her non-response was fear or shock. It didn’t matter. Either way, he needed her to move.

“Ma’am?”

“Yes? Oh. Yes, of course! Right away.”

She picked up a phone then and spoke softly into it. Isaac shot a what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-her look Pete’s way, to which Pete rolled his eyes.

“If you’ll follow me, please.”

She stood and came around the desk, giving Isaac a shy smile. They followed her across the vestibule and down a short hall. Then she stopped and ushered them into a small conference room to their right.

“Mr. Camden will be right down to meet with you. Can I get you anything, Detective Sergeant?”

“No, thank you.”

“Willa. I’m Willa Cooper.”

She tossed her dark blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled. Isaac shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced at the floor before he looked at her again.

“Thank you, Ms. Cooper.”

Was this for real? Was she flirting? With him?

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

Pete’s flippant response brought a soft pink blush to Willa Cooper’s cheeks.

“Right.”

She backed out of the room giving Isaac one last glance over her shoulder.

He couldn’t have stopped the surprised grin if he’d tried. Women didn’t typically flirt with him. Not until Sidney, anyway. She’d been the first woman to flirt with him in a very long time. He wasn’t any good at flirting back. That’s why he still couldn’t believe that he’d actually gotten that woman to fall in love with him.

Wait.

Was this the proper response?

A young, attractive woman openly flirted with him, and all he could think about was flirting with the woman he loved. Was that right?

“Okay, you can wipe that cheesy grin off your face now, Mac Daddy. She’s gone.”

“Mac Daddy? Wow. Okay.”

“Whatever. She obviously needs glasses.”

“Obviously.”

The door opened, and a man walked in dragging the weight of the world behind him. Something about the concern in his eyes touched Isaac.

“Detectives? I’m Paul Camden. What’s wrong? Has something happened to Scott or Jonathan?”

“Your sons are fine as far as we know, sir. But we’re investigating a triple murder that’s led us to the rape your daughter suffered several years ago. We have some questions for you.”

Isaac motioned to the conference table, and they all moved over and took seats.

“I don’t understand,” Paul said as he settled in the chair and ran a hand through his graying brown hair. “How could a murder case lead you to my daughter’s rape? Does this have something to do with DNA?”

“No, it doesn’t. Mr. Camden, the three men who were prosecuted for raping your daughter were each found dead within the last 72 hours. The bodies of all three men were grossly mutilated.”

“Oh, my God. Mutilated how?”

“That’s not important. What is important is that we have reason to believe your daughter’s rape is central to our investigation. We’ve been to visit Amber at the institution, and we know…”

“You went to the institution and bothered Amber with this?”

The