Heroes and hellfire, p.1
Heroes & Hellfire, page 1
HEROES & HELLFIRE
LASHELL COLLINS
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Copyright © 2022 Lashell Collins
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).
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book 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.
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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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Love & Hate Crimes
About the Author
Join Lashell’s Facebook Reader Group
Acknowledgments
Also by Lashell Collins
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1
The entire world vibrated around her. Or maybe it was only her body.
Sidney Taylor struggled to take a breath. To draw air into her lungs. To will her hurtling heart to slow down.
This is what he did to her.
Every. Single. Time.
It wasn’t just that her husband, Detective Isaac Taylor, was good in bed. Oh no. It was much more than that. The man had a masterful command over her body. He made it do things Sidney had no clue it could do before she met him. As though he were some mysterious magician who could make her come with only the powers of his mind.
That thought brought on the giggles and she suddenly couldn’t stop.
“Really?” Isaac looked down at her with that devilish dimpled grin that always made her lose her panties. His brow glistened with sweat. “I’m giving you some of my best moves here, and in return I get laughter? You do know what that does to a man’s ego, right?”
Sidney laughed harder before she fought to rein it in.
“I’m sorry, baby. It’s not what you think. I’m not laughing at your stellar moves.”
“No?”
“Absolutely not. That was freaking amazing and you know it.”
“Well. Thanks.” His smile was as smug as his tone. “But why the giggles?”
“I was imagining that you were some mysterious magician who could make me orgasm with only the powers of your mind. And then I pictured you wearing a wizard hat and nothing else.”
Isaac’s lips twitched and twisted into a mangled grin, and Sidney knew he was trying hard not to laugh.
“Was the hat hanging off my dick?”
That sent her into giggles again and he rolled over and stared at the ceiling, still panting.
Sidney audibly sighed and made herself stop laughing. “Good morning, my love.”
“Good morning, darlin’. That would be something, wouldn’t it?”
“What’s that?”
“If I could figure out how to get my telekinesis to diddle you in just the right way. Then I could command you to orgasm whenever I wanted. Now that would be a cool superpower to have. Imagine Superman flying around, making women come just by looking at ’em.”
“Some would say Henry Cavill already has that ability.”
The look Isaac gave her almost sent Sidney back into laughing convulsions, but she held it together and moved in to kiss his lips.
“I was thinking that we should do something special to celebrate our upcoming anniversary.”
Isaac laughed this time. “We’ve only been married eight months, Sid. You’re already planning for our first anniversary?”
“No, I don’t mean our first wedding anniversary.”
“Okay, now I’m confused.”
“The anniversary of our first date is coming up. We met in person on the same day we had our first date, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I definitely remember that. After talking to you on the phone for a couple of weeks we braved the should-we-or-shouldn’t-we scariness and met at Niccolo’s for dinner.”
“Yep. And then my car blew up.” Her tone took on a wistful quality, as though the car bomb was something she thought of fondly.
It was not.
“It sure did. Man. What a year it’s been, huh?”
“Oh, gosh. Don’t I know it. So much has happened since then, baby. You saved my life, more times than I can count!”
“I discovered I could touch your skin without experiencing any pain.” It was part of his unwanted and unwelcome psychic package. The abilities he’d inherited from his grandfather and was only just now beginning to truly embrace. “And then we became lovers. We moved in together.”
“And then we got married.”
“And it’s been blue skies and starry nights ever since.”
“That’s right.” Sidney took his left hand in hers and looked at their matching wedding bands. Those words — blue skies and starry nights — were engraved on the inside of each ring.
“I love you so much, darlin’.”
“I love you back, baby.”
His lips touched hers, soft and perfect, and he rolled her onto her back.
His tongue caressed hers and his large hand closed around her boob, causing Sidney to arch her back.
The alarm sounded.
Isaac’s head dropped to her shoulder in silent protest, and Sidney kissed his temple.
“I’ll go start breakfast.”
“All right. But this is not over. To be continued after work.”
They got up and started moving then. Sidney pulled her satin, flower print robe on and headed for the bathroom door.
“And, Sid?”
“Yes?”
“I like your idea. I think we should do something special for the anniversary.”
Something inside her lit up with his words. “Okay. Leave the planning to me!”
* * *
Just over an hour later, Isaac walked into the briefing room on the fourth floor of the police department and pulled a straight-backed chair close to the wall and sat down. It was his way of making sure he stayed out of the way as the room filled up with his fellow homicide detectives. His way of making sure no one accidentally touched him.
After a few minutes his partner, Detective Pete Vega, walked in and took the seat nearest him.
“Morning, Ike.”
“Morning.”
“Good morning, Detectives,” Lieutenant Gavin Hayes took his place at the podium and addressed them all. “We’ll keep it short and sweet this morning as I have a ton of paperwork to get through today.”
He launched into his usual spiel, relaying the incidents of note that had gone on during the night shift, and then handing out a few new assignments.
“One last incident report from overnight. There was a fire in the warehouse district at the Cuyahoga County Canning Factory. The blaze began around 11:45 pm and fire crews battled it well into the wee hours of the morning. One firefighter, Jim Lawson, was lost in the line of duty. The fire station will be taking donations for his family, which we will be participating in. Information on that will be posted in this room later today.”
Gavin paused and then caught Isaac’s eye.
“Det. Sgt. Taylor, I’m giving this one to you and Det. Vega.”
Isaac stood and took the file Gavin was holding out to him. “I don’t understand, sir. Is the Fire Investigator not involved in this case?”
“He is,” Gavin confirmed. “But his preliminary investigation is leaning toward homicide, so he believes it’s ours.”
That got Isaac’s attention.
“All right, let’s be safe out there people,” Gavin said, dismissing them all, but Isaac barely heard him. He’d begun flipping through the file even before all the others rose to leave the room.
“How could a dead fireman in a burning building be homicide?”
Isaac could hear the puzzlement in Pete’s voice and he shook his head.
“I don’t know. Let’s head over to the Fire Investigator’s office and find out.”
The Fire Headquarters Building was just a few blocks away from the station. Close enough that they could’ve walked if they’d chosen to.
“Well if it isn’t Cleveland’s Finest.”
The distinction came from a strapping young man behind the desk in the entryway, and there was no malice in the tone. Only the genuine mutual regard that typically marked the relationship between cops and other first responders. He was wearing the dark blue t-shirt with the fire insignia emblazoned on it t hat identified him as a Cleveland firefighter, and Isaac smiled at him.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Could be better. Sad day, I’m afraid.”
“Yeah, so we heard. That’s actually why we’re here.”
“How can I help you gentlemen?”
“We’d like a moment of the Fire Investigator’s time if he’s available.”
“Sure thing. I believe he’s in his office. Right down that hall, first door on the left.”
“Thank you.”
The door of the office was open, and Isaac made eye contact with Captain Ryan Hudson as soon as looked in. He knew Hudson to speak to in passing, having worked with him in the past.
Hudson stood, his large frame unfolding from behind the small desk, and came around it with his hand extended.
“Taylor, right?”
“That’s right.” Isaac stepped into the man’s office, but avoided the handshake, motioning instead to Pete. “This is my partner Detective Vega.”
Hudson shook Pete’s hand.
“Our Lieutenant says you’re pretty sure you’ve got a homicide on your hands?” Isaac studied the man closely. He knew Capt. Hudson to be a fairly level-headed guy.
“That’s right.”
“From what we understand, the blaze at the Cuyahoga County Canning Factory was a massive one. Stations 12 and 23 battled with it well into the night?”
“Morning’s more like it. But yeah, that’s right,” Hudson looked him in the eyes.
“So why are you so certain the fire didn’t kill your man?”
“Because it simply doesn’t add up, Detective.”
“You want to walk us through your findings, Captain?” Pete’s tone was full of respect, and Isaac got it. For all of the friendly animosity that sometimes went on between police and firefighters, the level of admiration was always undeniable. Mainly because both were always willing to acknowledge the fact that neither wanted to do the other’s job.
“Sure. Firefighter Jim Lawson fell eight feet from the second story landing of the canning plant to the floor below. That’s it. Eight feet may be enough to break a leg or an arm, but it shouldn’t have been enough to kill him.”
He seemed completely sure of what he was saying, but Isaac wasn’t easily convinced.
“That’s all you’ve got? That an eight foot drop isn’t high enough to kill him?”
Hudson looked disgusted, but Isaac had to examine all the angles. It was his job.
“I mean no disrespect, but you just said yourself that it was enough to possibly break a leg or an arm. Why not a neck? For that matter, what about the smoke inhalation? Or the flames themselves? Maybe he was trapped down there. Maybe—”
“Detective, it might not seem like much to you, but trust me. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I have never seen a fire death quite like this one before. Lawson fell eight feet into a section of the canning plant that hadn’t been compromised by the fire at that point. Smoke inhalation and flames were not a factor for that section of the building at the time Lt. Williams lost contact with Lawson.”
“Okay,” Isaac nodded, giving the man the benefit of the doubt. Hudson had much more experience with fire investigation than he did, so what did he know? “You’re the expert. Our first move is going to be a visit to the Medical Examiner. You’re welcome to tag along if you’d like.”
“I would appreciate that. Thank you.”
“Sure. You’re welcome to ride with us or you can meet us over there.”
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2
“Thanks again for allowing me to tag along. I appreciate being kept in the loop on this.” Fire Captain Ryan Hudson met Isaac and Pete at the entrance of the morgue.
“It’s no problem.” Isaac stepped passed him. “Let’s go on in. I’m eager to see what’s what.”
Once inside, Isaac spotted Dr. Hiroshi Sato hunched over a body that was stretched out on the big metal table. He was wearing a pale yellow surgical gown over a pair of dark blue scrubs and a plastic face shield.
“Hiroshi, is this a bad time?”
Hiroshi looked up at them. “Not at all.”
He waved them closer and turned back to his task — placing what looked like a human kidney into a thick plastic bag and sealing it. Then he carefully placed the bag into the open body cavity of the man splayed open on the table.
Isaac recognized the exercise. Hiroshi was in the final stages of an autopsy. The part where the human organs that had been removed and thoroughly examined are sealed in leak-proof bags and returned to the body cavity like macabre puzzle pieces. Then the breastbone and ribs that had been sawed off to reach them would be placed back on top, and the body sewed back up nice and neat and ready for embalming.
“Aw, God!” Captain Hudson’s fist flew to his mouth like he might hurl, and he took a huge step back away from the table.
“You okay there, Hudson?” Isaac’s upper lip twitched from the strain of trying not to laugh.
“Yeah. I just don’t do well with blood and guts and stuff.”
The man was now bent over. His hands clutched at his knees and his gaze was glued to his shoes so that he didn’t have to look anywhere near the body.
“Uh, can one of you get Captain Hudson to a chair?” Hiroshi called out, sounding concerned.
Pete moved, pulling a rolling chair over from one of the work stations and helped Hudson onto it. The man swiveled away from the action at the metal table.
Isaac and Pete stood quietly by and watched Hiroshi finish the process, bagging the rest of the organs and returning them to the body cavity. When the breastplate was finally back in place, Hiroshi turned to his assistant.
“Carla you want to handle the closing while I talk to these gentlemen?”
“Sure thing, Dr. Sato.”
Hiroshi stepped away from the body, removing his face shield and pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. Then he pulled off his latex gloves. “I assume you’re all here about firefighter Jim Lawson.”
“That’s right,” Isaac confirmed.
“That’s him on the table. As you can see, I’ve just completed his autopsy. It’ll be a little while before I have the full report written up for you though.”
“Are you done?” Hudson’s voice sounded harried, like he may still lose his breakfast at any minute. He sat with his back to the rest of them, his shoulders slumped forward.
“I am. Why don’t we all go into my office to get you away from the sights and smells, huh?” Hiroshi moved that way and motioned for them to follow.
“That’d be great.” Hudson stood, his movements jerky and unsteady, like Frankenstein’s Monster. His face had lost all color.
They all followed Hiroshi into the office and Isaac didn’t dare glance over at Pete. He knew if he made eye contact with his partner they’d both bust a gut over Hudson’s discomfort.
Isaac quietly cleared his throat. He was a professional. He could get through this without laughing or insulting the Fire Investigator. “So what were your findings, Hiroshi?”
“Not at all what I expected given he’s a firefighter who died during a 5-alarm blaze.”
