Vision Of Love (Cold Case Detective Book 0)

by Pandora Pine

  Carson gasped, causing the pain in his chest to ratchet up tenfold. A pretty blond woman was at his side. He couldn’t hear what she was shouting, but could read her lips well enough to see her telling someone to call 911. A moment later he felt her tiny, but powerful hands roll him to his back and start to do chest compressions on his- not his – chest.

  Sweet holy fuck, he was witnessing Truman’s death from Truman’s point of view. All he could do was stare up at the man who had shot him, Truman rather, and try to memorize every last detail. Dark, short, but curling hair. Blue or greenish, rage-filled eyes. As Carson watched, another man tackled the shooter, sending them both crashing to the floor.

  He turned his –Truman’s- attention back to the tiny woman performing CPR. He could read her lips. “Stay with me, Truman. Stay with me.”

  Carson felt his vision start to fade. The young woman trying to save his life was getting harder and harder to focus on before she faded away completely. His own body hit the floor and his eyes flew open with a jolt. He could hear his mother’s Tibetan chimes jingling away like they were in a hurricane.

  “Jesus Christ, Carson!” Cole was grabbing him off the floor and trying to pull him into a sitting position. “Are you okay?”

  He had a feeling nothing was ever going to be okay again. Was this how it was for his mother? Was she able to see people’s deaths from their point of view too? “I saw him die, Cole, from the inside,” he whispered.

  “What do you mean the inside?” Cole’s voice was laced with concern.

  “Like I was him. Like I was the one who’d been shot.” Carson started gasping for breath.

  Cole held him tighter. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to find the son of a bitch who did this. We’re going to find him and we’re going to stop him.”

  “Damn right we are,” Carson said, feeling stronger already. “Grab your sketchpad and charcoal pencils. I know what he looks like.”

  10

  Truman

  He’d tried on ten different outfits before finally settling on a pair of jeans and a purple plaid shirt to wear on his first date with Carson. It was an Irish pub on a Wednesday night, jeans were acceptable. Plus, Carson had already seen him in dress pants and a button down.

  Truman had considered wearing a sweater, but knew it would be warm in the bar and he tended to sweat when he was nervous. There was nothing worse than the wrinkled nose of your date when he got a good whiff of nervous sweat. He’d also doubled up on the deodorant.

  “What do you think, Sadie? Is Daddy gonna knock him dead tonight?” Truman turned around for the dog’s benefit.

  Sadie cocked her head to the side before running out of the bathroom.

  “Thanks, Princess,” Truman muttered to the empty room.

  After coming down the stairs, he shoved his arms into his winter jacket and put his wallet into the inside pocket before zipping his jacket up to his neck. “You behave. No boys in the house while I’m gone and no scary movies.” Truman burst out laughing. He knew the dog would be asleep in her favorite spot on the sofa the minute she heard his key turn in the lock.

  McCarthy’s was close enough to his house for Truman to walk. He’d considered driving for a minute. Some of the residual fear he’d felt over firing Mike Davenport still lingered. He’d gone so far today as looking up his personnel file. The man lived in Methuen, Massachusetts, which, after looking it up on Google Maps, Truman learned was thirty-one miles away from Salem.

  It was a cold night, in the lower thirties, with a chance of flurries later on. With money being tight after losing his job and not being given any severance pay, Truman doubted very much the man was going to drive all the way to Salem to stalk him in a neighborhood he wasn’t even familiar with.

  Truman turned his mind back to Carson and their first date. It was amazing to him that they lived in this town and had never met each other before, especially since they were fond of going to McCarthy’s.

  Not that Truman was a huge bar guy. He and Cassie hung out downtown from time to time. She loved coming to the Witch City for its over the top Halloween celebration and was a fan of visiting the local psychics. He tagged along on those trips with her, but didn’t believe in that bunk at all.

  He needed to be able to see and touch something to believe it was real, like Carson Craig, who was standing outside McCarthy’s waiting for him. He could see the other man had his hands shoved in his pockets and had the collar of his jacket pulled up around his ears to protect them against the wind off the water. “Hey, Carson!”

  “Hi, Truman!” He pulled his hand out to wave.

  Throwing caution to the wind, Truman ducked down to give his date a quick hug. His entire body thrilled with attraction over being so close to Carson. He could smell his spicy aftershave and couldn’t resist giving his delicious date a quick peck on the cheek. “Hungry?” Truman could eat him whole.

  Carson nodded. His electric blue eyes looked nearly black in the orange glow of the street light.

  “Let’s get you inside. You look frozen to the bone.” Truman smiled and held the door open for him.

  Speaking of bones, there was one in his pants that was making its presence known, loud and clear. Thankfully, his jacket was long enough to hide the evidence of his attraction to Carson.

  If a small hug and a barely there brush of his lips against Carson’s clean-shaved cheek did this to him, it was going to be explosive if they ever ended up naked in the same room together.

  “Hi guys!” A chipper hostess cheated. “Here for the bar or a table?”

  Truman glanced over at Carson. “Table okay with you?”

  Carson nodded, a faint blush rose up over the collar of his shirt.

  “Table please.” Truman took Carson’s hand and followed after the hostess as she led them to a quiet corner booth. That tingling shiver of attraction radiated up his arm and before long, his whole body was vibrating with it. He wondered if Carson was feeling it too. If they weren’t in public, he’d grab the other man and kiss him senseless.

  “Vickie will be with you in a minute. Have a great night, boys.”

  “Let me help you with that.” Truman helped Carson slide his winter jacket off his shoulders and hung it on the peg.

  “Thanks.”

  Truman watched Carson watching him while he took off his own jacket. He could see the other man’s mouth almost watering as his muscles bunched and rippled. He couldn’t remember another man looking at him like that in a long time. “How was your day at work? You said you had meetings?”He slid into the booth and had to clutch his hands together. The need to reach out for Carson’s hand again was almost overwhelming.

  Carson’s eyes darted away from his own for a split-second. “My meetings were good. I managed to help out a lot of clients today.”

  “What do you do for the shoe company?”

  “I’m in sales and consulting.” Carson shifted in his seat. “It’s not as flashy as human resources must be.”

  “Hi, I’m Vickie! I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Can I start you off with a drink? We’ve got a great new Christmas craft beer from a local brewery in Rockport. Customers have had some great things to say about it.”

  “I’ll try one. How about you, Carson?” Truman grinned at his date.

  “Make that two and we’ll have some hot wings to start.” Carson waggled his eyebrows at Truman.

  “Wise ass!” Truman loved that Carson was sassy enough to order them hot wings like that. It’s what he was in the mood for, but he love that Carson did it just to tease him.

  “So, human resources…” Carson trailed off. “How does one end up in that job?”

  Truman thought that was an odd lead off question, but didn’t mind answering it. “I went to Framingham State on a football scholarship. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I played ball and majored in business.”

  “Framingham isn’t exactly a known for being a football powerhouse.” Carson laughed.

  �
��I know, right!” Truman laughed along with him as Vickie set down their drinks and wings.

  “Flag me down if you guys need anything else.”

  Both men nodded, but didn’t take their eyes off of each other.

  Carson set an appetizer plate in front of each of them and used his fork to put a wing on Truman’s plate before grabbing one for himself. “So you were a business major,” Carson prompted.

  Shit, is that what they were talking about? Truman had gotten lost in the blue depths of Carson’s eyes. He nodded. “Yeah and then after I graduated there was an ad on Monster for an HR position at Gemtronics. I applied and I got it. The guy whose position I was applying for was about to retire, so he trained me before he hightailed it out of dodge. I’ve been in my position for nearly eight years now.”

  “Do you like it?” Carson leaned forward, as if to hear better.

  Truman studied his handsome date. No one he’d ever been out with had been this interested in him or his boring job before. “It’s a job, you know? My best friend, Cassie, works there. Having a close friend at work makes the days better no matter what.”

  “Is Cassie a short, blonde girl?” Carson asked.

  Truman was taken aback by the question that described Cassie to a T. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

  “Isn’t every girl named Cassie short and blonde” Carson shrugged. “I’ve gotta hit the head. Are you gonna be okay alone for a few?” Carson slid out of the booth.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Truman watched Carson head across the bar toward the men’s room. Maybe it was just his imagination, but when he’d asked how Carson had known what Cass looked liked, he’d reacted like he’d just seen a ghost.

  Oh well… Truman shook his head. Maybe Carson was right. Maybe every girl named Cassie was short and blond. Who cared anyway? He was out with the hottest man he’d met in years and that hot man seemingly only had eyes for him.

  11

  Carson

  Carson was completely sure he’d blown it when he’d asked if Cassie was short and blond. He had to get out of the booth or his heart was going to beat clean out of his chest like it did on cartoons.

  Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, he could see the sweat beading up on his forehead. Sweet Jesus, that had been close! If it hadn’t been for his quick thinking, this whole thing would have ended up in the toilet.

  Mining Truman for information while trying to sweep him off his feet wasn’t as easy as it first sounded in his head. For the rest of the night, Carson needed to focus on Truman’s interests and not ask any more questions about work.

  He quickly washed his hands and wiped off all the sweat with a damp paper towel.

  Thankfully, Truman was still sitting in their booth when he walked back from the men’s room. “Sorry about that.”

  “No worries.” Truman smiled at him. “Tell me about your family.”

  Carson breathed a sigh of relief. At least Truman wasn’t going to ask again how he knew what Cassie looked like. If he had, Carson would have told him. “It’s just me and my younger brother, Cole, now. My mom kicked our father out when I was ten and my brother was an infant. He chose not to stick around after that and my mom passed last year from breast cancer.”

  Truman reached out to set his hand on top of Carson’s. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “She was an amazing lady. I miss her every day.” It was true. After Corny was out of their lives, it was just him and Bertha running the show and the store. “What about your family?”

  “My parents live in Peabody. That’s where I grew up. I have two older sisters, Amelia and Emily. They’re both married and I have a niece and two nephews.”

  “That’s great.” Carson would love to be part of a big family like that. “Do they mind that you’re gay?”

  Truman set another hot wing on each of their plates. “God, no. My mom swears she knew I was gay when I was in pre-school since I always wanted to play dress up with the Barbie dolls.”

  Carson laughed. He loved playing with Barbie dolls too when he was a kid. Thankfully, Bertha never thought twice about buying them for him.

  “I didn’t really know until middle school when all I wanted to do was kiss Bryan Marston instead of playing video games with him.” Truman waggled his eyebrows.

  He couldn’t help laughing at the thought of a twelve year old Truman wanting to put the moves on his best friend. Sitting here with him tonight seeing how alive this man was galvanized Carson. He’d been determined to do everything in his power before to save Truman’s life, but hadn’t been so sure he’d be up to the task of saving him again and again if death was determined to take him.

  Carson knew now that if death wanted Truman Wesley, it was going to have one fucking hell of a fight on its hands.

  “Carson?” Truman was shaking his left hand.

  “Hmm?” Carson looked up to concern in Truman’s green eyes. Damn…

  “Where’d you go? You looked like you were super angry at something. Or someone.” Truman started to pull his hand back.

  Carson reached up to link their fingers together. “I was just thinking about how tired I was after a long day at work today and what a bummer it is that we both have to get up early and do it all again tomorrow.”

  Truman looked over at the bar. “Damn, it’s nearly 11pm. I had no idea it was that late already.”

  Carson rubbed his thumb over Truman’s fingers. “Time flies when you’re having fun and I really had an amazing time with you here tonight. Any chance we could do it again?”

  Truman nodded. “I was just going to ask you the same thing. How about dinner and a movie on Saturday night? I’ve got some Christmas shopping to do during the day on Saturday.”

  “It’s a date!” Carson was counting the minutes already.

  What he needed to do between now and then was try to figure out who the hell the man was that shot Truman and why he’d brought a gun to a Christmas party. Was he the man that Truman fired earlier in the week? Some random stranger? Or had he been there to kill someone else and Truman got in the way?

  “You ready to head out?” Truman was tucking his credit card back into his wallet and sliding out of the booth.

  “I am.” He went to grab his coat, but Truman was faster. He held the jacket open so that Carson could slip into it.

  “You smell so good.” Truman whispered into his ear.

  Carson shivered from his head to his toes. God, he wanted to eat this man alive.

  Truman put on his own coat and led them out the door and onto the sidewalk. “I had the best time tonight, Carson. Thanks for meeting me here.”

  “You’re welcome. This is the best first date I’ve ever had in my life.” He meant it.

  “Maybe it’s our last first date?”

  Before Carson could answer with a snappy comeback, Truman’s lips were pressed to his own. They were soft and warm. Sighing, Carson slipped his hands around Truman’s hips and pulled the other man closer.

  Truman cupped Carson’s face in his hands and kissed him like he had a dawn appointment with the hangman. Their lips slid together with Truman tugging on Carson’s bottom lip.

  Just when Carson thought he was going to run out of oxygen, Truman pulled back.

  “Wow,” Truman whispered.

  Wow, indeed. Carson had never been kissed like that in his entire life. First kisses were supposed to be messy and uncoordinated with too much spit or too little tongue, but this was perfect. Just like Truman.

  “I’ll see you on Saturday.” Truman kissed him again, just a quick peck on the lips this time.

  “Yeah, see you then.” If I make it that long, Carson thought. He stood on the sidewalk for a few seconds and watched Truman walk away. Best. First. Date. Ever.

  Last. First. Date. Ever?

  12

  Truman

  “You’ve been awfully quiet about this date you went on the other night,” Cassie said.

  Truman had been quiet about it. He had the tendency to
go on and on about things and he knew once the floodgates were open about him and Carson, he wasn’t going to shut up.

  They were at the Northshore Mall trying to get through all of the things on his Christmas list for his family. They’d already picked out mountains of Lego kits for his two nephews and were now in the Disney store looking for the perfect Elsa doll for his niece.

  “He’s gorgeous. You know that actor in Wonder Woman, Chris Pine? Carson is almost a dead ringer for him.”

  “What? You mean that guy with the killer blue eyes? Oh my God, Truman, that boy is beautiful!” Cassie half hugged him. “Aside from him being easy on the eyes, was he as easy to talk to as he was to look at?”

  “He was. It was mostly getting to know you first date kind of stuff, but it was so comfortable. I never wanted the night to end.”

  “How did it end?” She elbowed him in the side.

  “I was going to ask him out again, but he beat me to the punch and he asked me out.” Truman still couldn’t believe they were going out again tonight.

  When he’d gotten back home, there was a text message waiting from Carson thanking him for a great date. They’d texted pretty regularly over the last two days, with Carson sending silly pictures of himself and tempting Truman to do the same in return. He’d sent one of himself with a Gaston stuffed doll earlier.

  Carson had responded back by saying he’d always been more of a Prince Charming sort of a guy. Truman had been toying with the idea of buying him one for Christmas ever since he’d gotten the message.

  Was it too soon to buy a man you’d known for less than a week and been out with once a Christmas present?

  “Earth to Truman?” Cassie giggled.

  “Sorry. My mind was somewhere else.”

  “Yeah, down Carson’s pants.”

  Truman burst out laughing. It wasn’t, but he wouldn’t mind if they got a little further than first base tonight at the movies. He walked back over to where the prince dolls were stacked up and started looking through the pile for the perfect one for Carson.

  “I’m so happy for you, Tru. It’s been so long since you’ve smiled like this.”