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

“Hey, Sid, I didn’t forget. Pete wouldn’t let me. So I’ll be leaving the station in ten minutes.”

She could hear the playfulness in his tone. It was comforting.

“Isaac…”

It was the only word she could push past the tight grip fear had on her throat. But somehow, he heard the distress in her voice.

“Sidney what’s wrong?”

“My car. My tires have been slashed.”

“What?”

“All four of them.”

“They’re flat?”

“Yes, but someone did this! I can see the cut marks.”

“You’re at the shelter?”

“Yes.”

“All right, stay put. I’m sending a tow truck to take the car to a repair shop, and I will swing by and pick you up. I’ll be right there.”

“Okay.”

She ended the call and stood there staring at her tires. She glanced up and down the street once more, and then she checked out the tires on Zoe’s car, as well as a few others that were parked on the street. None of the other cars had been targeted, just hers.

She walked back up to the house and took a seat in the chair on the porch. Who could’ve done this? And why?

That question brought two people immediately to her mind. Ann’s husband, Donald. And Dr. Lance Tobey.

Donald could be pissed that she’d pulled a gun on him. Not to mention the fact that she’d knocked him on his ass in front of his wife. Yeah, he could be angry enough to slash her tires.

Lance Tobey, on the other hand, was probably not that vindictive. Slashing someone’s tires wasn’t usually the kind of thing someone did after they’d been jilted, was it?

She lost track of time as she sat there mulling it all over, and was slightly startled when Zoe stepped out onto the porch.

“I thought I saw you through the window. What are you still doing here?”

“Waiting for Ike and a tow truck. My tires were slashed.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“But who would’ve done such a thing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, Sidney. You don’t think it could’ve been Ann’s husband, do you?”

Zoe glanced back at the door to make sure no one was around.

“He did cross my mind, but I just don’t know.”

She stood up when she spotted Isaac’s metallic dark blue Mustang GT coming down the street.

“Ike is sending a tow truck to get the car, so if you see one out here, you know why.”

“All right. Please be careful. I don’t like the turn things have taken around here.”

Sidney nodded. “I don’t really care for them myself. Have a good evening, Zoe.”

She left the porch and joined Isaac in the street, where he had knelt down to examine her tires.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hey, darlin’.” He stood and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her forehead. “You okay?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little rattled. But I’m fine. What do you think?” She gestured to the car.

“Well, you’re right. They’ve definitely been slashed. All four of them. I’m going to walk around a bit and look at the other cars on this street. See if any others were hit.”

“I checked Zoe’s and a couple of others, but I didn’t see any damage.”

“Well, let me have a look. Why don’t you go on and get settled in my car? I’ll be right back.”

He took off, walking down the street, and Sidney watched him scrutinizing each of the cars that were parked on the road. By the time she’d gotten into his car, he’d gone down quite a ways. She watched him cross to the other side and start back up the street, checking out the cars on that side as he made his way back to his car.

He opened the door and slid in beside her.

“Well?”

“Nope. No other cars have slashed tires, or fresh damage of any kind.”

“So my car was targeted on purpose?”

Isaac’s head bobbed from side to side.

“We still don’t know that for sure. I mean it could be that some kids came down the street and picked a car at random to vandalize. Long shot, but it happens. I mean, do you know of any enemies who might want to give you a hard time?”

There was a certain amount of levity to his voice and she knew that he was only trying to make her feel better. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom.

“Only Ann’s husband, Donald.”

“The asshole who put his hands on you a few nights ago and marred that pretty face of yours.”

She silently nodded.

“Yeah, I thought of him too.”

There was something in his voice when he said the words that gave Sidney an uneasy feeling.

“But I got a call from Officer Hamilton informing me that they’d picked up Donald Mowbray this afternoon and charged him with assault and battery, among other things. He’s in a jail cell downtown, so unless he did this right after you got to work this morning, — which I suppose is entirely possible — it wasn’t him.”

Fear and dread ran over Sidney like tires leaving skid marks.

Isaac started the car and pulled onto the street, heading for home.

“Don’t we have to wait for the tow truck?”

“No. I’ve already given them all the information. They’ll pick it up and get it to the repair shop, then they’ll deliver it to the house once the tires have been replaced.”

“Wow. That’s some service.”

Isaac smiled and flashed those dimples at her.

“It’s a garage owned by the same company that maintains the police cruisers. They like to keep the cops’ business, so they add a few perks and a discount if you have a badge. It’s still not going to be cheap to have all four of those tires replaced though.”

“I was afraid of that.”

He reached over and took her hand, then brought it to his lips and kissed it.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll have your car back by tomorrow, and it’ll be fine.”

She slumped back against the seat and held tight to his hand all the way home.

15

“Ah!”

Pete flinched from the hot steam and dropped the