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

“So, tell me about Emily Taylor. What’s she like?”

Emily smiled and set her slice of pizza down and wiped her hands with a napkin before picking up her wine glass.

“Oh, she’s a world of contradictions, that one.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Both her expression and her voice were full of mock gravity, and Emmett grinned.

“She’s silly, but also serious and business minded. Intelligent, but also spontaneous and fun-loving. Girly, but also raised with three brothers, and therefore more than capable of burping the alphabet, and making crude noises with her armpit.”

Her words brought Emmett up short and he stared at her.

Then he laughed harder than he’d laughed in a long time, nearly doubling over with the best kind of stomach spasms.

He wiped tears from his eyes and said, “I think I’m going to enjoy getting to know her.”

22

“Oh, come on. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

Sidney sighed and pulled her car to the curb, putting an end to the blaring siren. The flashing lights continued though, as the black and white police cruiser pulled in behind her.

She lowered her window and placed her hands firmly on the steering wheel, thoughts of yesterday morning’s humiliating handcuff and car search events swirling in her mind.

The male officer approached her window and Sidney smiled at him.

“Good morning, officer. I have a Concealed Weapons Permit, and my gun is in my purse.”

“Thank you for the information, ma’am. Can I get you to step out of the car and put your hands on your head, please?”

“Yep.”

Sidney did as she was told, holding her tongue the whole time the officer instructed her to turn around and place her hands on the trunk of her car. He performed a quick and unceremonious pat down of her body.

“Where is your purse, ma’am.”

“On the passenger side floor.”

“Thank you. Stay here.”

He retrieved her purse, extracting the gun, her permit, and her license. Then he approached her again.

“All right, ma’am. Your CWP appears to be in order. And I do see that you have an FOP emblem on your back plate, here. Who does that belong to?”

“My fiancé. Detective Sgt. Isaac Taylor of the third precinct.”

“Very good, ma’am.”

“That would be your precinct too, is that right? Officer Garfield?”

Sidney glanced at the name tag on his uniform.

When his cheeks pinked up like she’d slapped him, she felt a small measure of satisfaction. Too bad she hadn’t thought to ask the same question of the female officer from yesterday.

“Yes, ma’am, this area of the city is in the third precinct, and I’m aware who Detective Sgt. Taylor is.”

His chest seemed to deflate a little, and his gaze dropped down to the citation booklet in his hands before he looked her in the eyes again.

“I pulled you over because you failed to come to a complete stop back there at the stop sign. I normally write citations for that, but out of respect for Sgt. Taylor I’m going to let you go with a warning today. Just make sure you pay better attention while you’re driving.”

He tore a page out of his citation book and handed it to her.

Sidney took the slip of paper from him.

“Of course. Thank you, officer Garfield.”

He gave her a quick nod and handed over her purse. Then he got back in his cruiser and drove off.

Sidney stood there for a few moments, staring at the ground.

Twice in so many days.

Coincidence?

She’d stopped at that stop sign.

She was sure of it. So, what the hell was going on?

She got back in her car and continued on to work, fuming the whole way. She walked into Hope House completely distracted by the puzzling encounter, and wondering if the one from yesterday had anything to do with this one today. Mostly she wondered what the hell it all meant.

“Everything okay?”

She looked up at the sound of Zoe’s voice.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Well, you slammed that drawer closed with a lot of force. Who are we mad at?”

Sidney stared at her and then looked down at her desk where she’d just put her purse away in the bottom drawer.

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

Sidney sighed. “Nothing. Just a frustrating morning. Traffic and crap.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure.” Then she smiled and crossed the room to Zoe’s desk. “Can I help you with anything this morning?”

She held out her left hand in a dramatic fashion, rocking it back and forth so that the stone could catch the light.

Zoe’s lips formed a perfect O, but no sound came out. Then she reached for Sidney’s hand, bringing it closer for a better look.

“Sidney! It’s stunning. Oh, do you love it?”

“I do! It’s so gorgeous I can’t stand it.”

“How did he give it to you? Was it romantic?”

“He gave it to me like a rock star. Or an actor, or some other wealthy millionaire type.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it started off as a really crappy night because I told him all about the strange package that came for me…”

“Eww! I’d almost forgotten about that.”

“Yeah, well, when I showed it to Ike, he took me immediately to the police station to file a harassment report.”

“That was probably a good idea, don’t you think?”

“I suppose. But anyway… on to the good part.”

“Okay!”

“So, we left the PD and he just started driving. And he wasn’t saying much, so I assumed that he was really upset. And I kept asking him where we were going. Finally he stops the car in Woodmere, of all places, right in front of Tiffany & Co.”

“No!”

“Yes! He said that he obviously needed to put a ring on it so that other men would back the hell off. His words.”

“You told him about the kiss.”

“I did.”

“Wow.”

“Well, I felt like I had to. Especially after the super-scary creepy crawly package. I mean, the fact is, that box was hand-placed in our mailbox. It didn’t go through the post office. And Dr. Lurker had just been here.”

Zoe shook her head.

“I just can’t believe that Lance would do such a thing. I’m going to be so angry and disappointed if he did this. I’m sorry,