Curses and vows, p.1
Curses & Vows, page 1
CURSES & VOWS
LASHELL COLLINS
Copyright © 2021 Lashell Collins
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or people — living, dead, or undead — is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author. This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers (under age 18).
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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this eBook may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Note From Lashell
About the Author
Join Lashell’s Facebook Reader Group
Acknowledgments
Also by Lashell Collins
1
“Are you ready for this, baby?”
Detective Isaac Taylor stuffed the last of his barbecue pork taco into his mouth and stared at the most beautiful woman in the world.
Was he ready?
Was she kidding?
He swallowed his mouthful and licked the sauce from his lips.
“I am more than ready to marry you, darlin’. But you already know that.”
They had just come from the courthouse, where they’d met in the middle of the day to obtain their marriage license. Now, they sat at a picnic table in the food truck lot where he’d treated her to a quick lunch before they both went back to work.
As Mondays went, this was a pretty freaking good one.
Sidney wiped her hands with a napkin.
“I am more than ready to marry you too. But I’m not talking about the wedding. I mean the craziness. It’s about to begin.”
“The craziness?”
“Yep.”
“Hmm. What is this craziness of which you speak?”
Sidney grinned at him, and his day got even brighter. How in the world a social misfit like him had scored a gorgeous, smart, sexy woman like her, he would never know. But he’d be forever grateful.
“You know what I’m talking about. Weddings always make people crazy.”
“I’ve heard the rumors.”
He downed the last of his soda and smiled at her.
“And we both have family coming in this week. It’s about to get really hectic. I’m glad I decided to take the week off from work. I have a million things to do before the wedding.”
Sidney sighed, and Isaac just knew that she was running her to-do list through her head.
“I’m really grateful that Zoe let me take the week off.”
“Well, just make sure to keep in mind what we’ve already agreed to, okay? You and I are not going to get caught up in all the craziness, remember? That’s why we sent your family a list of five-star area hotels to choose from, and we set my grandad up at Adam’s place, where he and Bree have way more room, and a maid. That way we don’t have to worry about hosting anyone at our house this week.”
“Yes, I know. And everyone agreed and understood. But I’ve got the family brunch at the hotel tomorrow when everyone gets in. Oh! Which reminds me that I need to call there and finalize the brunch menu. And we’ve got the bachelor and bachelorette parties coming up, and the rehearsal dinner. And we have to…”
“Sidney.”
Isaac’s tone was firm when he cut her off. He reached out and took both of her hands in his own, and looked into her eyes.
“It’s all going to be great. Don’t let the process stress you out, okay? We’re in the home stretch now. The location’s set, the florist and caterer are booked, the DJ’s ready to rock. Your gown is being altered. Everything is done. Let’s just relax and enjoy it, all right?”
She sighed, and Isaac could tell she tried to stop the smile that was slowly spreading over her luscious lips.
“All right. But you do realize that telling a bride not to stress out five days before her wedding is like telling a bird not to fly, don’t you?”
Ike grinned. “Well, maybe I’ll just have to come up with a few ideas to keep you relaxed and happy, huh?”
“Intriguing thought. What have you got in mind?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Still holding her hands in his, he ran his thumbs back and forth over her knuckles. “Maybe a little preview of what to expect on our honeymoon.”
He leaned in and kissed her lips. He couldn’t stop himself.
“I like the sound of that. Especially since you won’t tell me where we’re going.”
“Nope. You get no hints.”
“But you know that I’ve never been anywhere but here and California. The states I drove through to get from there to here were just a blur, since I wasn’t exactly sightseeing at the time. At least tell me if we’re going to another state?”
“No hints.”
“Come on, Ike! I don’t even know what to pack.”
“You don’t need to pack anything but a bathing suit, darlin’. A bathing suit and a toothbrush. That’s it. And you probably won’t even be wearing the bathing suit much.”
“So… we’re going someplace with a beach?”
She gasped and her face lit up with a guess.
“Are you taking me back to California because I miss the Pacific Ocean?”
Isaac chuckled and opened his mouth to reiterate that he wasn’t about to give her any clues, when his cellphone rang. He held up a finger — the universal symbol for wait a second — and pulled the phone from his pocket. It was police dispatch.
“Taylor.”
“Good afternoon, Detective Sergeant. You and Detective Vega are needed at the bowling alley downtown. There’s been a shooting. Officers on scene say there are two bodies and possible wounded. EMTs and CSU have already been dispatched.”
“Okay.”
The word came out on a sigh.
“Detective Vega is not with me at the moment, so you’ll need to call him. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He ended the call and looked at Sidney.
“I’ve got to go. Dead bodies. Two of them, at the bowling alley.”
“Homicide in the broad daylight?”
“It happens.”
They stood and gathered up their trash.
“Well, I need to get going too. I promised to swing by the shelter for a bit to drop off some worksheets for the kids and clear some things off my desk before the wedding.”
“What happened to taking the week off?”
“I am off. This is just going to take a few minutes. An hour, tops. The shelter is pretty full right now, and I feel kind of like I’m leaving them in the lurch.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Six adults and seven children. There’s a lot of abuse going on out there unfortunately. A couple of the residents are getting ready for court dates. A few others who are going through coaching for job interviews. And I’m tutoring some of the children in math and reading. It’s been crazy.”
They tossed their trash into the bin, and Isaac wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her close, and walked her to her car.
“So what’s going to happen next week when you’re busy making love on a beach somewhere?”
She smiled at him and his stomach did this weird, decidedly un-manly, quivering thing.
“Is that what I’ll be doing next week, Detective?”
Her voice was flirtatious, and Isaac grinned and opened her driver’s door.
“Oh, trust me. There’s going to be a whole lot of that going on, Ms. Fairchild. And I’m dearly sorry that we can only take two weeks away.”
He leaned in and nibbled on her neck, and Sidney giggled.
“Well, I imagine we’ll make the most of those two weeks. And to answer your question, Zoe’s offered Julie some overtime pay to take some extra hours the next two weeks while I’m gone. And we’ve had Beth, one of the residents, doing some filing and light office work for the past few weeks too.”
“Good.” Isaac kissed her lips. “Because I don’t want you preoccupied with work concerns once I’ve got you all to myself.”
One last kiss, this one lingering. Then he sighed, and she slid into the car.
“Gotta go. You be careful going to Hope House.”
“I will. See you tonight, husband-to-be.”
“Love you, wife-to-be.”
“I love you back. Be safe.”
Isaac watched her drive away before he got into his own car and headed off to another crime scene.
2
Isaac pulled up at the bowling alley where a large portion of the parking lot had been sectioned off with bright yellow police tape. The place was teeming with people in uniforms — police officers were keeping the growing crowd of gawkers at bay, while paramedics were tending to a person who appeared wounded. On the ground , lay two bodies, and the crime scene techs were hovering over them. Off to the left he saw the news trucks moving in.
“Detective Sergeant.”
An eager-looking officer guarding the scene snapped to attention. He was either a rookie or a detective hopeful, Isaac thought. Maybe both. Either way, Isaac acknowledged him with a nod and slipped under the police tape. He spotted his partner across the parking lot already looking over the scene, and he headed that way.
“What have we got, Pete?”
“Witnesses say there was no altercation. Guy just follows a small group of people out of the bowling alley and opens fire. Then he takes off.”
“Can witnesses describe the shooter? Or the car he took off in?”
Pete shrugged a shoulder.
“I just got here and got the scoop from a uniform. I haven’t questioned anyone yet.”
He turned and looked Isaac in the face.
“You and Sidney get the license?”
Isaac grinned at the mention of it. He couldn’t help himself. He was marrying the woman of his dreams in just a few days.
“Yeah. We’re all set.”
He turned his attention to the bodies on the ground and moved in closer, digging a pair of blue latex gloves from his pockets and pulling them on.
The gloves brought an unpleasant memory of the thick nitrile gloves he used to wear at crime scenes like this. All in an effort to keep from touching the dead bodies and having a flash of the victim’s last few moments of life.
But all that had changed now.
Everything in his life had changed the day Sidney floated in and brought her sunshine and warmth.
He stepped carefully beside a CSU tech who was taking pictures of the body. She looked up at him.
“We found a couple of shell casings, Detective. Look like .45s to me.”
She pointed a few feet away to where she’d marked the shells, and Isaac walked over and gingerly knelt to examine it. He studied the casing without touching it.
“Definitely a .45,” he mumbled, and stood. He turned back to the tech. “Was this a robbery?”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet, sir. You’re welcome to check.”
Isaac glanced at Pete and nodded toward the body.
Pete understood his non-verbal perfectly and quickly stepped over to the body. Lightly, he patted the corpse’s pockets with gloved hands and pulled out a wallet. Isaac watched him flip through it.
“Victim’s name is Derrick Powell and he…” Pete checked the wallet thoroughly, “was not robbed.”
He handed the wallet over to Isaac and then went over to the other body.
Isaac flipped through the wallet himself noting all cash and credit cards still there. The tech handed him two evidence bags.
“Thanks.”
Pete came back holding the second victim’s wallet.
“Ian Pembroke. Also not robbed.”
“So if it wasn’t robbery, maybe it was personal.” Isaac handed Pete one of the evidence bags. “Where are our witnesses?”
“All inside with Officer Drake,” Pete said, placing the wallet inside the bag.
“All right. Let’s leave CSU to it and get started.”
Inside the bowling alley a group of six people sat silently while Officer Drake looked on. Isaac gestured to him.
“Stay here while we separate them out one by one for questioning.”
“Sure thing, Detective.”
Over the next hour they spoke to the girl who worked the shoe rental counter, the man who ran the concession stand, the owner of the bowling alley, and three patrons who’d been bowling with the two dead victims earlier in the day. By the time they had questioned them all, Isaac felt no closer to understanding what had happened than he had before they’d begun. He looked at Pete and shook his head.
“So these two over here were bowling with Pembroke.” He gestured to two of the bowlers.
“Yes, and that one was bowling with Powell.”
“And according to them, Powell and Pembroke did not know each other.”
“So they say.”
“We’ll need to pick them both apart and see if that holds up.”
“Yep.”
“Did you notice that all of our witnesses describe the gun in great detail?”
“Oh, yeah. Hard to ignore a description like that. Gold plated and ornate. Fancy grips. But they can’t say what the shooter looked like. What the hell is that about?”
Isaac shook his head. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound… normal.”
“I’ll say. I mean, none of them can even say for certain that the shooter was even inside the bowling alley. Some of them say he was and that he followed them out. Others say the shooter was outside and opened fire as they exited the building.”
Isaac gestured to the pool of witnesses again.
“Yes, but the girl from the shoe rental counter didn’t recall seeing him at all. She said that she rented bowling shoes to five people. So if the shooter was inside at any time, he didn’t bowl.”
Isaac turned to Officer Drake and motioned to the witnesses with a nod of his head.
“They’re all free to go, but make sure we have contact information on all of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
He and Pete left the building, and Isaac ran a hand over the back of his neck.
“Two groups of people who claim not to know each other, both leaving the bowling alley at the same time.”
“And a shooter who may or may not have been inside watching them bowl,” Pete offered.
Isaac glanced over to where the CSU techs had completed pictures and were now actively gathering evidence.
“And none of those people can describe the shooter, yet they all perfectly describe the gun used.” He looked at Pete. “Something about that just doesn’t sound right.”
“Nope. But the gun sounds beautiful.” Pete grinned.
Isaac smirked at him. “I’ll see you back at the house.”
“Okay, I’ve left the worksheets here in this folder marked school, and they’re separated by grade already, but to make it easier on everyone I’ve also written the children’s names on them. So all you have to do is grab and go. There’s enough worksheets there for the entire two weeks I’ll be gone, so the children will each have something to work on. I also left some fun coloring and activity sheets in their packets.”
“Sidney, you’re too much,” Zoe exclaimed. “Teaching the resident’s children isn’t even part of your job description. And most of them are still able to go to school every day.”
“Well, I know, but then there are ones like Beth’s daughter, Kylee. She still can’t send that girl back to school what with Hank threatening to grab her and run. Oh! That reminds me. I also brought a few books for Kylee.”
She dug into her tote bag and pulled out three paperback books from a popular children’s series and set them beside the school folder with a sticky note bearing Kylee’s name.
“Make sure to let Beth know that these are here. They should help keep Kylee busy while I’m gone.”
Zoe sighed. “You’re spoiling that girl.”
“Who, Kylee? Or Beth?”
“Both.”
“I just feel bad for them. I mean, can you imagine, Zoe? Being afraid to send your child to school for fear of your highly abusive husband snatching that child and leaving the state with them? Or the country?”
“I wish the cops could find that jackass. How is it that they can’t seem to locate him, yet he still manages to get threatening notes and messages to Beth and terrorize her?”
“I don’t know. But it’s all so sad.”
