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

“Either way, I could use a sandwich or something.”

“Okay. Let’s hit the taco stand down the street.”

Isaac was about to respond when he glanced up and spotted Burle Savage rounding the corner pushing a mop bucket.

Talk about scum.

Savage wrung out the mop and stepped into the break room.

“Actually, Pete… I have something I need to do, so I’ll see you back here after lunch.”

“Whatever.”

Pete got to his feet and headed for the stairs.

Isaac stood and slowly made his way to the break room. He waited at the door and watched while the man mopped up a spill.

With every second that ticked by, his grandad’s words of instruction echoed in his head with the things he needed to concentrate on so that he could tell if what he’d seen before was in the past or in the future.

Sterling had made it sound so easy. Like breathing. Isaac wasn’t so sure.

When Savage turned to leave, Isaac took a breath and stepped inside.

“Whoa!”

The collision was quick, but effective, and Isaac fought not to double over when blades of fire ripped open his gut.

In the flash that followed, Savage swung.

The billy club splattered Savage’s cruel face with blood.

Isaac reared back, bouncing into the counter in the break room.

“I didn’t see you there, buddy! I’m sorry.”

Savage rushed forward, arms reached out to help steady him.

Isaac drew back and quickly raised his hands in a don’t-come-any-closer stance.

“I’m all right. Don’t. Touch me!”

Savage stopped and stared at him, his face going hard as stone.

“Well, you don’t gotta be shitty about it. I did apologize.”

Isaac clutched the counter behind him and tried to steady himself with thoughts of Sidney.

“Apology accepted.”

“You’re one of them jumpy types, ain’t ya?”

Isaac took a deep breath, finally filling his lungs with air and gratitude.

“Not really. I just don’t like to be touched.” He straightened up to his full height and stared Savage in the eyes. “You gotta problem with that?”

“I got no problem.”

Savage’s gaze locked on his, and Isaac got the feeling they were now playing some twisted game of who’ll-blink-first. Isaac had no intention of being the one to look away. He stared the slightly shorter man down.

An evil grin slithered across Savage’s face, then he slowly turned for the door.

“Cops,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What was that?”

“What?” Savage returned the mop to its bucket and looked back at Isaac.

“I thought you said something.”

“Nope. Nothing.”

He watched Savage slink out of the break room and down the hall, and then he sagged against the counter behind him once more, taking another deep breath.

He wasn’t certain if he’d done it right or not, but the flash felt like the future to him. Like something Savage was looking forward to with great anticipation.

Unfortunately, that knowledge brought with it many more questions than it answered.

He needed to talk to Sterling again.

He took off through the detectives pit and hurried down the four flights of stairs and out to his car. On the way, he stopped at the vending machine down by the exit doors and grabbed an energy bar.

He had no intention of actually going anywhere. He simply needed a quiet, private place to talk. He dialed his grandad and put the cellphone in the holder, then he opened up his energy bar and took a bite.

“Why, hello there!”

Isaac looked up at the phone screen and smiled. “Hey, Grandad. How you doing?”

“Oh, I’m doing just fine. How ’bout yourself?”

“I’m okay. Hey, is this a bad time? I don’t want to interrupt your daily chess game with Maynard.”

His grandfather had a long-standing date to meet his friend, Maynard Jennings, by the pond at their retirement village, where they would play a game of chess before lunch.

“Oh, I’ve got a little time. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“I did what you said and touched that guy today, concentrating on the information that I wanted to know.”

“Right. Did it work?”

“It did. I was able to tell that the flash I had was a vision of the future.”

“Excellent! See, I knew you could do it.”

Isaac shook his head and took another bite.

“It was weird, Grandad. I could actually feel this guy’s anticipation. He’s looking forward to…” He stopped himself and just shook his head once more. “Sorry. You don’t need the gory details.”

“I’ll take your word for it. So what’s your question?”

“Well, now that I know for sure that it is the future, I was wondering if there was a way that I could find out a location for this future event? I thought about going to Geneviève and asking her, but…”

“Oh, sure there is.”

“There is?”

“Yeah. All you gotta do is freeze what you’re seeing and step outside your target’s head to examine the scene.”

Sterling said the words like he was telling him to put one foot in front of the other. As though it was no big deal, and Isaac stared at him on the screen.

“Do what now?”

Sterling chuckled. “Okay. Let’s start at the beginning.”

“Yes, please. And go slow. Act like I’m a five-year-old.”

Sterling laughed again.

“Okay. First, just relax. You don’t have to touch anyone for this, so there’s no anxiety needed. It’s just you and the memory of the vision you already had.”

Isaac nodded and set aside the empty energy bar wrapper. He took a deep breath and tried to let the tension seep from his shoulders.

“Now, close your eyes and think back on that vision you had when you touched this man.”

Isaac nodded again and closed his eyes. He was reluctant to see the flash again, but he was eager to learn any tricks his grandfather had to teach him. Especially if they could help him to live a better life with his monsters.

“Okay now, do you see it? The vision?”

In his mind, Isaac saw through Savage’s eyes as he walked up to the stranger’s door and knocked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Is it playing out in your mind’s eye, just like before?”

That door opened, and the homeowner greeted Savage with a curious smile.

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“Freeze it. Just like you’re pushing a pause