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

For now, he shut it down. Pushed it away to the back of his mind and leaned back in his chair. He shoved his toes into the sand and looked out at the lake.

The sound of the waves, and the gulls calling overhead, and the chattering of the people… the beach had a definite hum all its own, and there was something about it that Isaac found so soothing. It was as if stress wasn’t allowed to enter here. The tightness in his shoulders slowly melted in the morning lake sun.

“Hey, Sidney?”

“Hmm?”

“How are you doing, darlin’? I mean, really. We haven’t talked about the miscarriage since that night in the grocery store parking lot, after you’d just kicked that guy’s ass.”

Sidney opened her eyes and looked over at him.

“I’m okay. I’m still sad. But something tells me that I’m always going to be sad about what happened. It’s just something that I’m going to have to learn to live with. And I know it’ll take time. But for now, I’m okay.”

“Good.”

“How are you?”

“Me?”

Sidney nodded. “You lost a baby too. How are you doing?”

Isaac took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

“I’m okay. Honestly, I’ve just been so worried about you.”

“Please don’t worry. I’m sad, but I’m okay, Ike. I promise.”

He reached out and caressed her face, staring into her eyes.

“Besides, all the weird stuff going on at work is giving me something else to focus on instead of feeling sorry for myself.”

“Oh, speaking of that. I got a text from Eddie at the garage. Your tires have been replaced and they’ll be dropping the car off later today. I told him to just leave the keys in the mailbox if we’re not home.”

“What about the bill? Don’t we need to pay them?”

“Already done. I had them charge it to my credit card.”

“But Ike, I should pay you back for that. Tires aren’t cheap.”

“It’s no big deal, Sid. I already have a card on file with this garage, so it was just easier. And I got the tires at a discount because I work at the PD. Plus, we decided we were going to merge our bank accounts into one joint account after we’re married anyway, so what’s mine is already yours.”

She smiled at him, but he could still see the uncertainty in her eyes.

“Are you sure you won’t let me pay you back?”

“Oh, I’m positive.”

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“So, tell me. Have there been any other strange things going on at Hope House lately?”

“Well, I guess that depends on what you consider strange.”

“I consider four slashed tires strange. I consider an angry husband now being charged with assault for hitting you strange. I consider you pulling your gun on this same man strange.

“Gotcha.”

“So?”

“So?”

“Have there been any other strange things going on there? Anything that might make you believe there’s a pattern of odd behavior?”

She seemed to study him for a second.

“You don’t think any of this is random, do you?”

“I’m just looking at it all from a cop’s perspective. It’s two fairly major incidents too close together. If it were me… I’d be writing everything down in a notebook of some kind. Keeping some sort of record of odd behavior so you have it to refer back to if you need it.”

Sidney looked out at the water, and Isaac could tell she was thinking about his suggestion.

“Now, it could be that the irate husband has nothing at all to do with the slashed tires.”

“And we have no way of knowing? There’s no way to find out if he’s the one who cut my tires?”

“Not really. Not unless Zoe, or one of Hope House’s neighbors on that street happened to pick something up on a security camera.”

“And I know for a fact that Zoe doesn’t have any kind of security system there. After what happened with Diane and Tom Billings, I asked Zoe to give some thought to possibly hiring a security detail.”

“Not a bad idea. That would certainly cut down on incidents like the one you just went through. Most shelters would never have the budget for something like that, but Hope House is privately funded by Zoe and her family.”

“Yeah, but she’s concerned that the residents would be spooked by big male security guards lurking around. I suggested she look into female security guards. You wouldn’t happen to know of any outfits that hire females, would you?”

“Not off the top of my head, but I can look into it for you.”

“That would be great.”

He smiled at her and leaned back in his chair, crunching the sand up beneath his toes. Beside him, Sidney was silent for a moment. Then he heard her take a deep breath, and something inside him went on alert, bracing for whatever curve ball she was about to throw him.

“So, I’m moving ahead with my decision to help Ann and her children get away from her abusive husband.”

Isaac’s stomach tightened.

He looked over at her, but didn’t reply.

“I know you don’t like the idea, but I just really feel like it’s something I have to do.”

The tightness became almost painful.

“I don’t want you to be angry with me over this, Isaac.”

“I’m not angry, Sidney. I’m in awe of you. And I’m proud of you, and I’m terrified about what you could be getting yourself into. I don’t want you getting cozy with people who traffic in false papers. I don’t want you getting mixed up in anything illegal at all.”

“I understand that, but…”

“I worry about you so much just working at Hope House. I mean, you had to pull your gun on some asshole there just a few days ago.”

“I understand your reservations, Ike. I do. And I completely get it. All of your fears are totally valid. But this is happening. Helping women escape their abusers is my calling. It’s my destiny. And I intend to go through with it.”

The painful tightening in his stomach grew to a dull, throbbing toothache kind of pain. The kind of pain he knew he’d