Deadly Forecast: A Psychic Eye Mystery Read Online Free

away, many of the assigned reporters out in front of their vehicles
     reporting live from the scene.
    As I made my way down the side street across from the strip mall, I waved my badge
     to several more patrol officers, and was finally directed to a spot just at the corner.
     I’d long since lost sight of Dutch’s car, but I knew he was somewhere in the mess
     of first responders.
    As I pulled into the space, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because I was a good
     distance away from the crime scene, but with an unobstructed view, and even as I turned
     off the engine, I spotted Dutch making his way toward a cluster of men I recognized
     from his office. Gaston was easy to see with his sleek black hair and handsome face.
     Despite the fact that the director was a taskmaster and often manipulated me into
     working for him, I liked him. I couldn’t exactly tell you why, but he was an honest
     and earnest man, completely devoted to the job of protectingthe innocent and bringing the guilty to justice. I also liked that he didn’t suffer
     fools gladly—a trait I’d been accused of on occasion…cough…cough.
    While keeping my eyes on Dutch, I shimmied into my sweatshirt and discreetly pulled
     on my jeans. Not an easy feat in a Mini, let me tell you. As I was setting my jammies
     to the side, I heard a loud rap on the passenger-side window and I think I jumped
     about a foot. Immediately locating the source, I hid a groan and undid the lock.
    “Morning,” Brice said, sliding into the seat to offer me one of two cups of coffee
     he held.
    I took the coffee and waited for the lecture.
    “Dutch sent me over,” he explained. Something I’d already guessed. “He called me from
     the car and said you were tailing him.”
    “I’m not going to get in the way, sir,” I said, adopting the formal address because
     he was on duty and, technically, I worked for him.
    “I know,” he replied, turning his gaze back to the chaotic scene. “And I’m a little
     torn about that.”
    I sighed. “You think I could help.”
    “I know you could help. But Dutch would probably do something stupid and insubordinate
     if I talked you into joining us.”
    “And we know where Gaston falls on the subject,” I added.
    He waved his cup at the throng of people working the scene. “This is only going to
     make him more insistent, Cooper.” Brice rarely called me Abby, and truth be told,
     I rather liked the way he treated me like one of the guys.
    “So what’re you saying?”
    “I’m saying that when Dutch called me on his way here to ask me to talk some sense
     into you, my first thought wasn’t to order you away from the scene.”
    I bit my lip, my eyes searching for Dutch and finding him scribbling in his notebook
     while Gaston spoke to him. “Something’s changed, sir.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Something around Dutch has changed.”
    Brice’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
    I sat up straighter and tried to think of how to explain it to him. He didn’t have
     an intuitive bone in his body, so sometimes my predictions—or the way I worded them—confused
     him. He was a pretty literal guy. “There’s been a shift in the ether,” I began, watching
     him only to see his brow furrow even more. “My Spidey sense says that Dutch is in
     serious danger.”
    The brow rose sharply. “What kind of danger?”
    My gaze drifted back to the scene and I scanned the crowd standing behind the police
     barricades. “I think he might die,” I whispered so softly that Brice asked me to repeat
     myself.
    When I did, he scratched his chin and stared hard at his second-in-command. “How?”
     he finally asked.
    I shook my head and closed my eyes. “I don’t know.”
    “Do you think someone might try to shoot him?”
    I considered that, and had to discard it. “I don’t think so, sir, but I can’t say
     for sure.”
    “Is it someone from an old case he worked on?” Brice asked next, clearly trying to
     help me identify