Deadly Forecast: A Psychic Eye Mystery by Victoria Laurie Read Free Book Online

out that a talented psychic
     was working for us on this one, I’d like you to wear your vest at all times.”
    I had to work hard not to break out into a big ol’ grin.
    For a minute Dutch looked completely taken aback—he didn’t know what to think. And
     while Gaston had him slightly off guard, the director took out his cell phone and
     said, “That’s anorder, Agent Rivers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to call Washington and give
     them a brief of the scene.”
    As the director walked away, however, I saw Dutch’s stunned reaction fade and it was
     replaced by something just south of furious.
    Uh-oh.
    “You know, Edgar…,” he said, shaking his head angrily. “You accuse me of not playing
     fair, but as things go,
that
was dirty pool.”
    I started to feel really bad, but in my mind I’d had no choice. “Dutch…I—”
    “We’ll talk later,” he said, cutting me off. At that moment Candice and Brice came
     up next to us, and without another word, Dutch stalked off.
    “How mad is he?” Candice asked.
    “If we were already married, I think he’d be asking me for a divorce.”
    “He’ll get over it,” Brice said, his gaze moving to the smoldering rubble. The firemen
     were starting to coil up their hoses and Brice lifted his chin toward the fire chief
     in an unspoken question.
    The chief waved us over. “It’s safe, but there are parts that’re still hot. Watch
     your step,” he said, his eyes fixed on me.
    “Yes, sir,” I said, and moved with Candice and Brice over to the front of the building,
     which had a huge hole blown out about the place where the door would have been.
    “It looks like the bomber walked in and didn’t waste any time detonating the bomb,”
     Brice commented.
    Broken glass crunched under my feet as I stepped gingerly into the space. A large
     hole had also been blown through the ceiling, but otherwise the interior was fairly
     intact.
    What surprised me most, however, was what I saw bolted tothe floors. The remains of six barber chairs lined one wall, and toward the back I
     could clearly see the partially melted remains of two dryer stations.
    “A hair salon?” I said.
    Candice nodded, a puzzled look on her face as well. “Odd choice of target for a suicide
     bomber.”
    “Very,” I agreed, continuing to scan the area.
    “When did the blast occur?” Candice asked.
    “Right after the shop opened,” Brice said. “A little after nine a.m.”
    The last time I’d looked at a clock had been while I was in my car—right before Candice
     showed up. I remembered it’d been a little before eleven a.m. “They got the fire out
     fast.”
    Brice nodded. “The fire station is just around the corner.”
    I looked again at the scene, and had to tuck in my emotions when I spotted five yellow
     body bags set to the side ready for the coroner to take them away. “Any idea who they
     were?” I asked.
    Brice read from his notepad. “We believe one of them is the owner of the shop, Rita
     Watson, and the other four we haven’t identified yet, but several calls have come
     in from the families of two other women who work here, Kelly Longfellow and Grace
     Williams, as well as a call from the mother of a possible client—Valerie Mendon. Mrs.
     Mendon had just dropped off her daughter five minutes before the blast.”
    I bit my lip and fought back against the moisture welling in my eyes. Brice read the
     facts of the scene without any emotion, which is what his training called for, but
     stuff like this affected me deeply. All I could think about was that poor mother who
     would forever blame herself for giving her daughter a ride to the place of her premature
     death.
    Candice subtly laid a hand on my arm and squeezed. I nodded and silently thanked her
     for the reassuring gesture.
    “And the bomber?” I asked when I could talk without losing it.
    Brice shook his head and sighed heavily. “There’s not much left,” he said.
    I grimaced. “Do you know