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

If Gerri makes you happy, if you feel like what you have together can become something real and lasting… take the chance. Let her transfer. Make it work. Choose happy.”

14

Sidney scribbled furiously, dumping all the information flooding her brain onto the legal pad. There were so many ideas flowing, so many things to add to the checklist, to the rules, to the plan.

She’d been at her desk for several hours, lost in the idea of helping battered women escape from their abusers. She’d made pages and pages of notes, and gone over the ones she’d made the other day too, adding things and making revisions.

She paused and put down the pen. She shook her hand and wiggled her fingers, looking over the list she’d made. It was a series of questions for anyone expressing interest in her services. The first question was the hardest.

Are you sure?

So simple. But a person’s response to this one question would determine their success in getting away and staying under the radar. Because in order to succeed, they would have to completely sever ties with everyone in their present lives. Everyone — including parents and siblings and friends — in order to stay safe, and to keep loved ones safe from their abuser.

Sidney had been lucky in that respect. By the time she ran from Damien, he’d completely isolated her from her Aunt Bobbie and her cousins. They were the only family she had besides her brother, Simon. Since Simon had been overseas in Japan at the time, when she ran, she just ran. She didn’t have a problem severing ties with anyone.

“Hmm. But you’re not in hiding anymore, Sidney. And Damien is dead. Which means Aunt Bobbie and your cousins aren’t in any danger from Damien anymore.”

Zoe walked into the office and glanced at her.

“Were you saying something, Sidney?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I still have a bad habit of talking to myself sometimes. It started after my mom died when I was in high school. I used to talk to her, and it made me feel better. And that eventually turned into talking to myself. I did it a lot after I ran from Damien and was in hiding.”

Zoe sat down at her desk across the room and smiled at her.

“I can understand that. I used to talk to Hope that way after she died.”

“Your sister.” Sidney nodded, remembering the story of the sister Zoe named the women’s shelter after.

“Sometimes I still do.”

Sidney was about to respond when a timid knock came at the open door. They both turned to see who it was.

“Ann. What can we do for you?”

“Actually, I was hoping to speak to Sidney if that’s all right.”

“Of course, come on in.” Zoe waved her inside.

“Um…well…”

“Oh, I forgot.” Zoe popped up from her chair like bread from a toaster. “I have something I need to take care of. Excuse me.”

She winked at Sidney on her way out the door, leaving her alone with Ann.

Sidney stood and crossed the room to close the door so they could have some privacy.

“Why don’t you have a seat, Ann.”

“Okay. You said you wanted to see me. Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing. I just wanted to talk to you again about your request. You see, I need to know how serious you are before I agree to help you.”

“I’m very serious. I told you that! If the kids and I don’t get away from Donald, he is going to kill me. And I can’t leave my babies alone with him. Please!”

Sidney felt for the woman. She motioned again for her to sit down, and then she took her seat and picked up the legal pad from her desk.

“Ann, I’m going to ask you again. Are you sure you’re ready to do this? Because you’re going to have to cut off all contact with everyone you know. All of your family, your friends.”

“Well, I can contact them once the kids and I are settled somewhere.”

“No! You can’t. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. When you run, you have to leave your current life behind you, for good. Otherwise there’s no point.”

All the color drained from Ann’s cheeks, and Sidney was certain she was about to faint.

“I don’t understand. Why can’t I just let them know that we’re settled somewhere?”

“Let me explain. Let’s say you run across the country and settle in someplace, like Portland for instance. Then you contact someone here and let them know that you and the kids are safe in Portland. A month later, Donald gets drunk and decides he wants his family back. So he pays a visit to whomever it is that you called, and he threatens them. Or he flat out beats the shit out of them until they give him the information he’s after. What do you think happens next?”

Sidney didn’t think Ann could get any paler, but she did.

Then her chin trembled.

“Then I won’t tell them where we are. They can’t give him any information if I don’t tell them where we are.”

“No, they can’t. But do you think that will stop Donald from trying to beat it out of them anyway? The point is, when Donald realizes you and the kids are gone, he may be the type to say, ‘oh well, good riddance,’ and let it go. But he might be the type to stop at nothing to track you down and drag you back home. Or do something worse than drag you back. Which type do you think Donald is?”

Ann licked her lips and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

“My mom is elderly. She was so happy when I told her that the kids and I had come here. She made me promise never to go back to Donald again. I couldn’t talk to her again? Ever?”

“There are ways you can get a message to a loved one. But it can’t be through conventional means. Nothing that Donald could monitor and trace back to you. Think of it as being in the witness protection