The dream was vivid.
A bright, technicolor nightmare that had woken him with a start and had him bolting upright.
Isaac softly panted and ran a hand through his hair. It was damp with sweat.
And Jesus, his hands were shaking. He balled them into fists and tried to swallow down the unease.
The dream had been disturbing.
He glanced at the clock. 2:01 in the morning.
He looked over at Sidney. She was still sleeping peacefully beside him.
Isaac sighed and thought about the nightmare.
It was the boy.
It was the crying baby boy that he’d been seeing in a vision for a year now.
That was new.
The vision had been coming to him periodically for months, but the dream was completely new. What was it that had woken him though?
In the dream, he’d seen the boy, crying and covered in blood. He’d heard the screaming. He’d heard the shots.
“Gunshots.”
His voice was a whisper in the dark, silent room. But he was certain that’s what had woken him. In the dream, there’d been two gunshots.
In the past, he’d never seen anything that indicated guns being fired in the vision.
Isaac shook his head, trying to let it all go. In an effort to calm his racing heart he took a slow, deep breath and laid back down next to Sidney. Then he took another deep breath, just to breathe her in. The scent of her, and the feel of her skin soothed him, as it always did.
He closed his eyes, and tried to go back to sleep.
His ringing cellphone shattered the stillness of slumber.
Isaac quickly rolled over and grabbed it, silencing it so it wouldn’t wake Sid. Through the haze and fogginess of broken sleep he vaguely wondered how long it had been since his nightmare. He glanced at the digital clock.
2:38
Roughly half an hour.
“Taylor.”
His voice was gruff with grogginess and frustration. The voice that greeted him was respectful and efficient.
“Sorry to wake you, Detective Sergeant, but Detectives Palmer and Driscoll are requesting a supervisor to their crime scene.”
As a homicide detective, Isaac was technically always on call, but it had been a long time since he’d done the all-nighter thing. He yawned and said, “All right. Text the address to me. I’ll be there shortly.”
“You have to go in now?” Sidney mumbled, still half asleep.
“Shh.” Isaac leaned over and kissed her cheek. She was all warm and soft, and he wished he could snuggle up to her again. “I’ve got to go to work. You go back to sleep.” He kissed her lips and left the bed.
He dressed quickly in jeans and a dark blue, long-sleeved CPD pullover. Then he brushed his teeth and grabbed his gun and holster. By the time he left the house it was 3:01 in the morning.
Exactly one hour since his nightmare.
Isaac could say one thing for being called out at 3 in the morning — there was almost no traffic this time of day. He turned on the lights, minus the siren, that his personal car had been equipped with, and zoomed off to the crime scene.
While he drove his mind replayed that nightmare he’d had earlier. It had all felt so real and terrifying. Even now, he couldn’t let go of it. It just kept playing in his head over and over like a highlights reel.
He’d been having that same vision of the screaming little boy for just about a year now.
A whole year.
Always triggered by touching Sidney. It was a vision of a future event, and Isaac had no clue what it meant. But he’d never dreamed about it before tonight. And lately, that vision had been happening with more and more frequency.
Somehow Isaac knew that meant the appointed time was hurtling closer.
He turned the car onto the street dispatch had texted him and pushed thoughts of his nightmare aside. He needed to concentrate on his job.
When he pulled up to the crime scene, he noted the unmarked detectives car, two marked police cruisers, an EMT Squad unit, and the medical examiner’s vehicle. The entire street was lit up with police lights, and there were a few small pockets of rubberneckers lining the sidewalks nearby. Curious neighbors, some in pajamas, wearing looks of startled concern.
Isaac got out of the car and trepidation trembled around in his gut. He’d been on the other side of this where he was the one calling for a supervisor to come to a crime scene and make a decision he felt uneasy about, or to answer a pertinent question related to the crime. But this would be the first time that he was the supervisor everyone was waiting on.
The first time he was the man in charge.
The first time he was the acting head of the homicide division in Lt. Hayes’ absence.
He took a deep breath and started for the house.
He could do this.
He neared the yellow police tape and flashed his detective shield at the uniformed cop standing watch. The cop nodded at him and stood a little taller.
“Detective Sgt. Taylor.”
Isaac did a quick double take before he ducked under the tape. The patrolman wasn’t someone he recognized, but apparently the guy knew him.
Or maybe knew of him.
He was still getting used to the thought that word of his abilities was spreading throughout not only the precinct, but apparently the whole CPD. At least, that’s what FBI Special Agent Emmett Fox had said.
Before he even neared the door of the residence Isaac heard what sounded like a baby crying. He glanced around and spotted Detective Lynn Driscoll standing near the garage door of the house speaking with a redheaded young woman wearing a pair of scrubs.
“Detective Sgt.”
Isaac looked at the CSU tech and took the shoe coverings he was offering. “Thanks,” he said, but he wasn’t sure he’d been heard over the screaming.
He took a second to slip the covers on over his shoes, and then he stepped through the door.
The instant he walked into the house Isaac knew.
His breath caught in his throat.
All of his nerve endings crackled to life, the tingling sensation of knowing crawling along his skin.
This was the vision he’d been having for a year now.
The vision that had plagued, puzzled, and perplexed him for an entire year.
The vision that had overwhelmed him so much last Christmas that he’d had to pull over and stop driving.
This was the vision.
The first thing he saw was blood.
It was everywhere.
Two dead bodies and so much blood.
Then his gaze zeroed in on the screaming little boy.