Lullabies & Dead Bodies, page 3
“You called it right the first time.”
Pete chuckled. “Seriously, what’s up with that?”
“Hell if I know. That guy’s just never liked me. Not from day one. We went through the police academy together. As you might imagine, apprehension training and hand-to-hand fighting techniques were no picnic for me.”
Isaac’s hands tightened around the steering wheel thinking back on his time at the academy.
“I had to fight my way through it while also putting up with the snide comments and ridicule from Dorn and his fellow assholes, accusing me of thinking I’m too good to touch others with my bare hands. Calling me a liar and a freak.”
“Oh, wow.” Pete looked over at him. “I never thought about how tough the academy must have been for you. That was probably like torture.”
Isaac drew in a breath. Truth was it hadn’t really been any worse than his school years.
“It wasn’t all bad. Lots of stuff I excelled at. It was just the touching that tripped me up. The instructors let me wear long-sleeved t-shirts and gloves, even though they thought I was nuts. Anyway, Dorn’s just never liked me since, and that carried over when he joined the detectives section.”
“So you made detective first?” Pete asked.
“Yeah. By two years.”
“And didn’t I read somewhere that you graduated at the top of your academy class?”
Isaac shot him a sideways glance and turned back to the road.
“You been reading up on me?”
“I may have looked when I first made detective and found out I was being partnered with you. What? You telling me you didn’t read my jacket too?”
Isaac looked at him again. “No, I read it.”
“Okay. So… first in your academy class?”
“Guilty as charged. Despite the touch issues I worked my ass off to be better than the dicks giving me shit over my weirdness.”
Pete nodded. “So maybe that explains it then.”
“Explains what?”
“Why Dorn is always such an ass to you. He’s jealous because you’re smarter than he is. I heard he was spouting off about you getting the sergeants position. Apparently he took the test too.”
“Oh, really?”
Isaac hadn’t bothered to find out who else was up for the position when he took the test. He glanced at his partner, endlessly amused by the way Pete always seemed to be up to date on all the latest PD gossip.
“Yeah, I heard he was popping off about how there was no way you could’ve scored higher than him and his masters degree in criminal justice, and how you only got the position because you’re Gavin Hayes’ pet ass kisser. Shit like that.”
Isaac registered slight shock, but he didn’t respond. Was that really what people thought of him at the department? Hayes’ pet? An ass kisser?
Part of him wanted to ask Pete that question, but the bigger more grown up part of him didn’t want to give a damn.
“So I casually let it slip that you topped the scores by eight whole points ahead of everybody else who took the exam. Without a single college degree!” Pete laughed at his own statement. “Dude was apparently not happy to hear that. I heard he was trying to prove I made it all up, but then he got a look at the test scores. Shut him right up.”
Isaac stopped at a red light, shaking his head.
“How’d he get a look at the test scores?”
“They were made public at the promotion ceremony,” Pete said with a shoulder shrug. “You didn’t see them?”
“No.”
“Well, you kicked ass, Ike. Eight points higher than anyone else on the written exam and a near perfect score on the oral interview.”
“I was notified of my own scores, but I didn’t see anyone else’s. They shouldn’t post them for everyone to see.”
“Well, they did.”
“It was a fluke anyway. Me getting that high a score.”
“Um… I call bullshit, Ike. I know we’ve only been partnered a few months, but I see how smart you are, even without your psychic powers. I mean, your brain just works differently than everyone else’s. Like interviewing the small children in this case. I honestly don’t think anyone else would’ve gone there, but to you it was like the obvious next step, wasn’t it?”
Isaac shrugged a shoulder.
“Only makes sense. They were there too. Maybe one of them saw something. And they’d have a better chance of telling us something useful because they’re the ones who were with her while all the grown ups were inside. Don’t count them out just because they’re baby humans. Baby humans are smart. Hell, some of them are smarter than full grown people.”
Pete laughed.
“You laugh, but I’m serious. Not to mention the younger ones are honest to a fault because they haven’t learned yet how not to be.”
He pulled the car to the curb in front of the huge three-story house where the girl had been abducted. When the front door was opened, they were greeted by a middle-aged man with worry lines etched in his face.
“Detectives Taylor and Vega.” Isaac showed the man his badge.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. We’ve already spoken to the detectives a million times by now. Surely you don’t have more questions.”
“We just wanted to have a look around your yard, sir. I wanted you to know we were here in case you looked out a window and saw two strangers wandering about.”
“Oh. Yes, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you, Detective. It’s just that my nerves are shot. My whole family is a total wreck right now.”
Isaac nodded. “I can’t even imagine. You’re little Isabel’s uncle, right?”
“That’s right. Larry Scott. She’s my brother, Tom’s, youngest child.” He sighed and looked down at the porch floor. “She was my brother’s youngest child. I just got back from the morgue. My wife and I went with them to identify her body.” His voice broke and he shook his head. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. Go ahead and look all you’d like.”
He gestured towards the yard and Isaac took a deep breath and a step backward, attempting to retreat from the man’s very palpable pain.
“Ah, you wouldn’t happen to know the area the children were playing in before Isabel disappeared, would you?”
“I think I heard the kids say they were over by the swing set.”
“Thank you. We’re sorry for your loss.”
The man went back inside and closed the door, and Isaac was grateful. An overdeveloped sense of empathy was part of his psychic package that disturbed him the most. Feeling someone else’s emotions so deeply. It was every bit as disorienting for him as the visions and flashes he got whenever he touched someone’s skin.
He and Pete left the porch and wandered around the backyard where the slightly rusted swing set stood.
“So what exactly are we looking for here, Ike? I mean, Dorn may be a dick, but he was right about CSU already going over this place.”
“And I have no doubt they did a thorough job of it. But I’m not really looking to find evidence, Pete. I’m here to feel the place.”
“Ah! You’re here to vibe the scene. See if you get any psychic impressions about it. I can dig it.”
Isaac’s lip twitched and he fought a grin. He secretly loved giving his new partner a hard time over this one.
“Vibe is not a verb, Vega.”
“Yes, vibe can be a verb, Ike.”
“It cannot be a verb because it’s a noun. A person, place, or thing. It is a thing. The word is short for vibration.”
“Yes, but language is always adapting to stay fresh, Ike. To stay youthful and current and relevant. Vibe, when used as a verb, means to feel those vibrations you were just talking about.”
“Oh, my God. If I give in will you shut up about it?”
“I’ll try.”
“Fine! I’m here to vibe the place. You happy now?”
A triumphant grin lit up Pete’s face.
“Immensely.”
Isaac stepped away, looking around the yard. He reached out and touched the swing set and was immediately beset with a flash of kids at play. He jerked his hand away, somehow knowing that flash was unrelated to their case.
He wandered around the yard not really knowing what he was doing. Embracing his psychic side was still new to him. Normally he’d be running from it. Trying to pretend it didn’t exist. Trying to pretend he was a regular guy. Trying to pretend he wasn’t scared half to death of the monsters inside him.
That all changed after Sidney encouraged him to talk to a practicing psychic who could give him answers. And then he reconnected with the long lost grandfather he’d inherited his abilities from. Now he was just trying to learn how to live with them without fear.
He wandered to the back edge of the yard when a heavy feeling of dread overtook him.
It was like stepping into darkness.
A quiet gasp escaped him.
Slowly, he turned in a circle. It was all around him here. The purest evil.
“What is it, Ike?”
“It was here.” He was certain. “This is where he approached her.”
“Are you sure?”
Isaac checked out their surroundings. The large house sat on a double lot and they were standing in the back corner of the yard next to an ivy-covered old wrought iron fence, the gate of which was directly in front of him. He could reach out and touch it. Beyond that stood an alley that gave the residents of the street access to their detached garages.
“Yeah, I’m sure. She went out this gate into the alley.”
“Why would she do that?”
Isaac shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe he lured her out.”
“What? Like, hey little girl you want some candy?”
Pete sounded skeptical.
“Want some candy? Can you help me find my puppy? Something like that. It’s a cliché for a reason, Pete.” He pointed to the gate. “Get on the horn and speak to CSU. Find out if they tried to lift any prints off this old gate. If they didn’t, get them back down here on the double. I’m going to walk down the street to the alley and check it out.”
“I’m on it.”
Pete pulled out his cellphone and Isaac took off through the yard. At the sidewalk in front of the house, he sprinted to the end of the block and went around to the alley behind the row of houses. Once there, he slowly began to make his way back to the Scott residence, scanning the ground as he walked.
Gravel crunched beneath his feet with each step. The bark of a dog got his attention and he looked up to see a fluffy white ball of fur on four legs staring at him.
“Hey, pooch. Sorry to invade your space, but it’s important.”
The dog stuck its snout through the chain link fence and wagged its tail.
Isaac resumed his search of the alley, studying the ground, looking for any sign that the killer had been back there.
A tiny plastic toy caught his eye up ahead and he stepped closer and knelt down in front of it. It was one of those itty bitty things young girls liked to play with; the kind of molded plastic doll that was just big enough to fit their teeny hands. This one was dressed like a princess. Isaac lightly ran his left thumb over the very tips of his fingers. Then he reached out, gingerly laying his hand on the doll.
Shadows and light flickered immediately behind his eyes. When it cleared he saw Isabel Scott walking down the alley holding a man’s hand.
“You’ll like my kitty once we find her. She’s soft and sweet,” a man’s voice said.
Isabel looked up at him and was blinded by the setting sun.
Isaac gasped and jerked his hand away. In his crouched position he looked around the alley on this bright sunny day and felt the darkness swirl and close in around him. He stood, leaving the toy where he found it.
“Hey, Ike?”
Pete called to him from over the Scott’s back fence.
“CSU’s sending a tech back this way.”
“Well call them back and tell them to send the whole team because this alley just became part of the crime scene. And get me some uniforms out here to cordon off the area.”
3
Adam Taylor stood shaking his head in dumbfounded disbelief. It was a mountain. A virtual mountain of diapers in every conceivable size.
“Between the ladies at my practice and both of our families and all our friends, I’d say the nursery is now well and fully stocked. We shouldn’t have to buy a single diaper until junior here is potty trained.”
He gave Bree’s swollen belly an affectionate pat and then pulled her into his arms and stepped behind her.
Bree giggled and it made Adam smile. He loved the sound of his wife’s girlish laughter.
“We did bring in a pretty big haul, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did.”
They stood there for a moment longer just looking around the adorably decorated nursery. They’d chosen not to learn the sex of the baby ahead of time, so the walls were painted a soft muted yellow while the furnishings were all light green and lavender with the cutest baby animal motif.
They had finally just finished putting away all the gifts they’d gotten at their recent co-ed baby shower the day before, and nearly one entire wall was stacked full of every brand of diapers he could think of.
“My mom and my sister and Sidney did an amazing job,” Bree said of the three women who had planned the whole thing. “And your parents and Emily giving us that huge layette. That must’ve cost them a fortune, Adam!”
“Well, your parents weren’t much better, babe. That gorgeous bassinet and the fancy stroller. Those are big ticket items. Anyway, I know my parents are excited about their first grandchild.”
“Mine too. He or she is going to be so spoiled.” Bree rubbed her hands over her belly. “Everybody went a little overboard with the gifts, I think. Did you see that precious book collection from Sidney and Isaac? I counted. There were like twenty-five books in there.”
“Yeah. That must have been Sid’s doing. All Ike and I read as kids were comic books.”
Bree laughed and swatted his arm.
“That’s not true. Your mom told me some of the books in that collection were your very favorites that she used to read to you when you were a little guy.”
“Maybe.”
Adam moved Bree’s blonde curls aside and kissed a trail from her neck up to the back of her ear, and he smiled against her skin when he felt her shiver.
“Mmm. That feels good.”
“I know what makes my kitten purr.”
“Oh, do you now?”
“You better believe it.”
“Maybe you did once. Back when your kitten had a tiny waist, perky boobs, and could actually see her own feet. Now I’m just a big old baby blob.”
“Woman, I got skills for all the stages of yo body.”
Bree laughed at his best gangsta rapper impersonation, and Adam feigned hurt feelings.
“What? You don’t believe me?” He planted a soft kiss on the rim of her ear and then took her by the hand. “Come with me, Mrs. Taylor.”
He led her out of the nursery and across the hall to their spacious master bedroom.
“Sit yo fine self down right here, shawty.”
He gestured to the king sized bed they shared, and Bree climbed on top of the covers and scooted back against the pillows to get comfortable, cracking up laughing the whole time.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you’ve been listening to way too much hip hop, babe.”
Adam laughed out loud. It was common knowledge that he was a big fan of rap and hip hop music, but he was also aware that his clean cut, white bread looks didn’t exactly mesh well with his musical tastes. He never let that stop him from singing along though.
He sat down on the side of the bed and placed her feet in his lap. Then he made a big show of removing her sneakers and socks and tossed them aside with great flourish. Picking up her left foot, he began to massage it.
“Oh, God! Oh, Adam, that feels so good.”
Bree melted deeper into the pillows, and a huge smile spread across Adam’s face.
“Uh huh. What’d I tell you? I know how to make my kitten purr.”
“Oh, yeah you do. God, that’s better than sex.”
Adam stopped what he was doing and looked at her.
Bree’s eyes fluttered open and met his gaze.
“No, I mean… well, just right now. While I’m big as a whale and completely unattractive, it’s better than sex. I mean, it’s not better. It’s not better than sex, it’s… you know. It’s like, just almost as good. Almost, but not quite. You know what I mean?”
Adam grinned and let her off the hook, resuming his foot massage.
“Relax, babe. I know what you meant. And, by the way? You are the most beautiful girl in the entire world. You could never be even remotely unattractive. That’s just not possible. It’s like outside the laws of both physics and nature.”
“You have to say that because you’re the one who knocked me up.”
He chuckled and kissed the ball of her foot before setting it down and picking up the other one.
“Ooh. Ah, yeah.”
She cooed and moaned at his ministrations and the sound of it connected with his dick. He squirmed and adjusted his position on the bed to relieve some of the pressure. This foot massage was all about her, not him.
He smiled to himself and concentrated on his task, allowing her to zone out for a few minutes. They’d spent over three hours putting the baby things away and putting the finishing touches on the nursery. Three hours that Bree had been on her feet and working. He wanted her to relax and take it easy.
“Can you believe that by this time next month, there will be three of us in this big old house?” That thought blew his mind.
Bree smiled and opened her eyes to look at him. “I can hardly wait.”
They shared a knowing smile and then Bree jumped.
“Whoa!”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Well, I think your little boy is just as excited about that as we are.”
“Is he kicking?”
“More like practicing his soccer moves.”
Adam stretched out beside her on the bed and placed a hand on her belly and leaned in close.
