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

“Mr. Luden, do you know how Amber came to be here?”

“Well, sure. Everybody here knows the story. Sad, sorry business, that was. Those boys got off scot free after what they done. It weren’t right.”

“No.” Isaac studied Randy Luden for a moment, assessing whether or not he might possess the upper body strength to pull off this heinous triple murder. “No, it wasn’t right. Mr. Luden, are you aware that those very same boys, young men now, were all recently murdered?”

He hesitated for a fraction of a beat.

“Well, yes, sir. I may have heard tale about that around here lately.”

“And what is that tale exactly? What are people saying about it around here?”

“Just that it was karma coming back to bite those boys where it hurts, is all. You won’t find no sympathy for ’em around here. No, sir.”

Isaac looked him in the eyes.

“So, you think they got what they deserved?”

“Alls I know is that if something like that happened to someone I loved, I’d want ’em dead. Wouldn’t you, Detective?”

Isaac stared Randy Luden in the eyes.

“I suppose I would.”

Randy Luden nodded in agreement.

“You wouldn’t happen to know who set that karma in motion, would you Mr. Luden?”

“No, sir.”

“Would you tell me if you did?”

Randy appeared to think about that for a moment.

“No, sir, I don’t think I would.”

Isaac glanced at Pete, who raised his eyebrows in response.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Luden. Please tell Nurse Turner we’re ready for the next one.”

They watched the man leave, and Pete rapped his knuckles on the tabletop.

“You believe he doesn’t know anything?”

“I do.” Isaac looked at him. “You don’t?”

“I don’t know. I mean, he didn’t seem like he had any special attachment to Amber or anything.”

“No, he didn’t. I get the feeling Randy Luden’s a man who comes to work, does his job, and goes home. He pays attention to the work gossip, but he’s not really a part of any of the hospital cliques. He knows what’s going on, but for the most part he stays out of the office politics.”

“Let me ask you something, Ike — padawan to Jedi master.”

Pete grinned, but Isaac could see the seriousness in his eyes.

“What?”

“All that you just said about Randy Luden…”

“Yeah?”

“Was all of that police work, or was there a certain amount of psychic Jedi mind tricks involved?”

Isaac put a quick stop to the curl of his lips and looked down at the table.

Part of his job as the senior detective was to teach his new partner everything he knew. And as the new sergeant of the homicide division, he felt like that obligation was now doubled. So he owed it to Pete to be honest. He looked his partner in the eyes.

“Pete, I’d be lying if I said the psychic thing didn’t play any part in me doing my job. It does. Every single day. Sometimes in small ways, sometimes in much bigger ways. It’s inevitable because I can’t turn it off. But honestly, that was mostly just watching and listening. The body language, the small tells that alert you when someone’s not being truthful, the voice inflection. All things you can and will pick up over time.”

“You make it look so easy.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“That’s how it was meant.”

“You gotta remember, I’ve been a detective for almost ten years now. I didn’t start out knowing everything. Hell, I still don’t know everything.”

“Yeah, well you…”

“Excuse me?”

They looked up to see a young woman, roughly in her late twenties or early thirties, standing in the doorway. She was short and pleasant looking with her starched white scrubs and blue cardigan. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail tied with a red ribbon. She even wore one of those old-fashioned nurses’ caps on her head. She looked as though tiny woodland creatures helped her get dressed in the mornings, like Snow White. If Snow White were a nurse in a mental ward.

“Hello. I was told to come speak with the detectives in the boardroom. I’m Freya Altman.”

“Come in, please.”

Isaac stood and motioned her to the seat Randy Luden had vacated. She took her seat and folded her hands in her lap.

“Is this about what happened to those three young men? The ones from the colleges?”

“As a matter of fact, it is.” Isaac took his seat and looked at her. “I’m Detective Sgt. Taylor; this is Detective Vega. What do you know about those three young men, Ms. Altman?”

“Only what they’re saying around here. That those are the three young men who hurt Amber Camden, and what they did to her sent her here.”

“So you didn’t know about that until the three men were murdered?”

“Well, I knew that something traumatic had happened to her, and I’d heard whispers and rumors ever since she came here, but I’d never gotten the full story until this week.”

“I see. And you take care of Amber often?”

“Oh, everyday just about. Well, during the daytime hours anyway. My shift is over at four.”

“So you’re usually working when Amber gets visitors, correct?”

“Yes. Oh, and she’s got a great support system. Her mother comes about twice each month. Her father too. And on her birthday, her whole family comes together with a cake and balloons. It’s so sweet. If only the poor girl would respond to them.”

“She never responds? Not to any of them?”

“No. So sad.”

“Ms. Altman, have you ever seen or heard Amber respond to anyone?”

She shook her head, but then stopped, and Isaac could see her thinking.

“Ms. Altman?”

“There was this one time…” Her voice trailed off, like she was trying to remember the details, or maybe just questioning what she’d witnessed.

“What happened?”

“I was walking by her room… you know, on my regular rounds to give out afternoon meds?”

“Yes.”

“It was the strangest thing. I heard someone talking, so I stuck my head in her room.”

She paused again, sparking Isaac’s impatience.

“And?”

“Well, her friend Danny was visiting. And he gave me the strangest look when I walked in. Almost