Murders & Romance: A Psychic Detective Romantic Mystery (Isaac Taylor Mysteries Book 5) by Lashell Collins (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

He scanned the area with a hawk-eyed gaze.

“This guy fought back. Our killer wasn’t able to knock him out and transport him to a second location.”

“Nope.” Pete looked at the body. “But he did eventually get what he wanted. Dude’s junk is cut clean off. Just like the other two.”

“Yeah.” Isaac looked around at the blood and scanned the floor and the area around the body. “Exactly where is the… um, junk?”

He and Pete looked around.

“Uh, we haven’t located it yet, Sergeant.”

Isaac looked at the CSU tech and felt his eyebrows lift to the sky. Was she for real?

“What? Did the killer take it like a souvenir?”

The tech shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her task.

Donning blue latex gloves, Isaac and Pete joined the careful search of the dorm room.

“Found it!”

The other CSU tech sounded victorious, like he’d just won a new car in a game show.

Isaac watched him carefully lift the severed genitals from a small trash can behind the desk. The man stared at it with a scrunched-up expression.

“It’s flattened. Like it’s been stomped on or beaten.”

“Like tenderizing a piece of meat?” the female CSU tech asked.

Isaac looked at Pete. “We’re looking at some serious revenge here.”

“No shit.”

Isaac snapped a picture of the victim’s face for their case board.

“Who found the body?”

“Guy’s in the dorm room next door with Officer Jackson,” the tech said, carefully putting the mangled genitals into an evidence bag.

Isaac and Pete ventured to the dorm room next door, where he nodded at Officer Jackson. Then he flashed his badge at the young man sitting on the small couch, head in hands.

“Detectives Taylor and Vega. You are…?”

“Doug. Doug Henley.”

The kid looked up at him with wide eyes that didn’t seem to be focusing on anything, and Isaac thought maybe he was in shock.

“And you live in the other dorm room with the victim?”

“Yes. Mike is my roommate. We met freshman year when we were paired together in Biology Lab.”

“And his full name?”

“Michael Rivers.”

Isaac and Pete shared a glance.

“That’s the missing third man from the high school case,” Pete said.

Isaac nodded, then turned back to Doug.

“I’m assuming he wasn’t like this when you left this morning?”

Doug looked up at him again. “I just got back to campus this morning. I’d been in Cancún with my parents for two weeks.”

“So you have no idea how long he’s been here like this?”

“No, sir.”

“Was he scheduled to be here all this week, or had he gone on vacation like you?”

“No, he was staying here. Said he’d use the quiet to study for his biochem exam or something. He was still taking classes this summer.”

“He have any enemies you know of? Anyone he’d been having trouble with?”

Doug appeared to think about it.

“There was this jock who threatened to kill him once over a girl. But that was over a year ago now. I don’t think there’s anyone currently looking to kill him.”

“Did Mike ever tell you about being accused of rape when he was a senior in high school?”

“What? No, I… he never mentioned that.”

“Did he ever mention a Bobby Cook or Craig Wentworth?”

“Yeah. They’re his friends. They both go to Case Western. He wanted to transfer there too at one time. Not sure why he stopped pursuing that.”

“Did you know Cook and Wentworth?”

“I met them through Mike. They all went to high school together. Why are you asking about them? Did they do this to him?”

Doug sounded horrified at the prospect, and Isaac shook his head in response.

“No. They didn’t hurt Mike. They’re dead.”

“What?”

“Killed in the exact same manner.”

Doug turned an alarming shade of green, then he lowered his head, bending over at the waist. No doubt attempting to stave off the nausea.

Isaac motioned for Pete to hand over one of their cards.

“Please don’t leave town, as we may have more questions in the near future. And if you think of anything else that might be helpful, no matter how small, give us a call.”

They stepped out into the hallway and Isaac looked at his partner.

“We need to dive deep into that old rape case. Seems someone’s getting revenge.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet the killings stop now that all three of the accused and acquitted are dead.”

“Unless our killer decides to go after the victims lawyers, or even the judge.” Isaac didn’t like the idea of that, but it needed to be pointed out all the same. “Do we have a current location of their alleged rape victim?”

“No. But I’m on it.”

They headed for the stairs.

“Good. That’s where we need to start.”

At the foot of the stairs in the lobby, Pete took the lead again, and Isaac grinned to himself.

“Coming through, people,” Pete called out. “You know the drill!”

The small crowd parted again to let them through, allowing Isaac the freedom to walk through them without the fear of being touched.

Outside the building, he gave his partner a sideways glance. Pete smiled, but refused to look directly at him.

He was turning out to be the best partner Isaac had ever been paired with. Certainly the most accepting of his touch issues and the crazy psychic shit. They might make a good team after all.

They marched back to the car in silence, and Pete stared at his cellphone the whole time. Once in the car, Pete finally looked up.

“Lakewood Mental Institution.”

Isaac looked him in the eyes. “Mental Institution?”

“Yep. Apparently, she’s been there for the last five years almost.”

“So, she’s been there since the rape?”

“It would seem so.”

Isaac sighed and started the car. He hated this case. As he punched the destination into the cruiser’s GPS system, he shook his head. He hated everything about this case, and he didn’t even have all the facts yet.

The institution was local, on the outskirts of the city, and they fought lunchtime traffic to get there. When they walked through the glass doors, Isaac was reminded of the last mental institution he’d visited just a few weeks ago during the lullaby case, and how his traveling companion, Special Agent Emmett Fox, hadn’t given the