Dead for christmas, p.7
Dead For Christmas, page 7
“Just keep one thing in mind,” Ten said. “If you daughter is actually gifted, these abilities won’t go away, they’ll only get stronger over time and could cause trouble for her if she doesn’t understand what’s happening to her or if you and Barb tell her what she’s seeing and feeling isn’t real.”
“I never thought about it that way.”
“I might not like the things Everly can see or some of the spirits she communicates with, but I know that if I stop trusting her or if ignore what she’s telling, she’ll stop talking about what she’s experiencing. I’d much rather know that she spoke to Jillian Marsh’s spirit and help her process it, rather than letting my six year old deal with what she saw alone.”
“Did she see that poor woman’s murder?” Rive asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Ten nodded. “Unfortunately, it’s not the first murder she’s seem and it won’t be the last.” He hated that for his daughter. Everly never seemed to be upset by her lot in life. Maybe that would come when she was older. Ten was always amazed by her acceptance of her gifts and her desire to use them to help other people. Not every child could handle the things Everly saw. It was just one more thing that made his daughter so special.
“Have you heard from Dad lately?” River asked.
Ten shook his head. “No and Everly hasn’t mentioned seeing him either. To be honest, I think he checks in on her, but won’t let himself be seen.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s struggling with us knowing about you. Part of me thinks he assumed we’d all treat you like he did. Us welcoming you into our family has thrown him for a loop. I told him I didn’t want to see or speak to him again until he was ready to accept you as his son.”
“I don’t want you to lose your relationship with David because of me,” River said. His eyes were damp with unshed tears.
“I do,” Ten said without hesitation. “You’re my brother. My family. I lost forty years with you and I wasn’t going to lose one second more for any reason. If David were still alive, I would have said the same thing to his face. I don’t want him in my life if he doesn’t accept you in his.” Ten sighed. “Remember, I’ve been through this before with him.”
“You mean when he kicked you out of the house when you came out?”
“Exactly. I didn’t speak to my father for twenty years after he put me on that Greyhound Bus out of town. If he hadn’t come to me the night he died, asking me to take care of my mother, I never would have reached out to his spirit. To be honest, I didn’t want to reach out to my mother either. She was complicit in running me out of town and not contacting me for two decades.”
“How did you end up fixing your relationship with her?”
“It was thanks to Ronan. When I told him what happened to my father, he insisted we get on a plane to Kansas. I didn’t want to go, but Ronan talked me into it. Kaye was awful to us when we showed up at her house, but Ronan wouldn’t take any of her bullshit. He made sure she was eating and helped plan David’s funeral. Later, when Fitzgibbon came out to help, he brought his adopted teenage son and spending time with Greeley was what changed Kaye’s attitude. He made it clear that my mother had a choice, stay in Kansas alone, or join our family in Salem. The last thing I told her before Ronan and I flew back home was about Everly. I left the decision of what to do next in her lap and she made the right decision.”
“Do you think David would have done the same if he’d lived?” River asked.
“I think so,” Ten said. “I knew David was spending time with her when she was a baby. I think he would have overcome his religious bias at some point like my mother did, but I wouldn’t have allowed him in her life if he was still spouting his bullshit about me being a child of Satan because I was psychic and gay.”
“Everly’s lucky you understand her so well.”
“I would understand my daughter even if I didn’t.” Ten grinned at his brother.
“What?” River asked, sounding confused.
“If I didn’t have my gifts, but Everly did, I would have gone out and bought every book about psychic phenomenon that I could get my hands on. I would have become a subject matter expert and would have gone out and found people who could help her master her talents and who could help her deal with the emotional toll those gifts take on her.” Ten laughed. “I would do the same thing if Everly decided she wanted to play volleyball or softball.” Ten prayed his daughter wouldn’t be interested in sports or cheering, but if she was, he’d be by her side, rain or shine, through every practice and every game.
“That’s a good point. Brooke is interested in gymnastics. We were thinking of getting her into a tumbling program. It might be fun to check out the studio and see if we like what we see.”
“I love that idea. If you want me to come along, I’d love to help.”
“Are you sure about that?” River asked. “Everly wants to do everything Brooke does. You might end up having to learn balance beam routines.”
“God help me.” Ten laughed at the thought. “Hell, I trip over thin air walking thought my kitchen, never mind on a narrow piece of wood, three feet off the ground. Of course that would mean that Wolf and Aurora would want to give it a go too.” He couldn’t help thinking a program like that would be good for the girls’ self-esteem.
“Do you want to try to reach out to David while you’re here with me?” River asked softly.
Ten couldn’t help thinking his brother sounded like a little boy, which in a way, Ten supposed he was. A little boy who’d grown up without his father’s love and pride. All River wanted was a bit of what he’d missed out on thanks to David’s selfishness. “I’ll reach out to him, but let me tell you this, if his attitude toward you hasn’t changed, I’m not bringing him here to meet your or your family.”
River opened his mouth, looking as if he were about to challenge Tennyson. “Okay. If he’s going to be hateful or hurtful, I don’t want him around my girls.” River was silent for a few seconds. “I can’t tell you how much it means to have you here for Christmas, Ten. I feel like the luckiest man alive to have all of my favorite people here to celebrate with.”
“I feel the same way. I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more of each other in the year to come.” Ten didn’t want to say it out loud, but he wanted to come back down for the kids’ February and April vacations and also wanted to invite River’s family to come to Massachusetts for the month of July. Maybe they could spend some time down the Cape or up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The sky was the limit for as far as Tennyson was concerned when it came to building a relationship with his brother.
Family was everything to Ten and he’d risk being added to the naughty list if it meant keeping River safe from his father’s poisonous attitude.
11
Ronan
Ronan had outdone himself with the ribeye steaks he’d grilled for dinner. He and River had worked like a well-oiled machine with Ronan in charge of the meat and his brother-in-law in charge of the sides. The mashed potatoes were the creamiest he’d ever eaten and the kids had loved his roasted brussels sprouts, a miracle in Ronan’s eyes. He’d asked River for the recipe so he could make them at home for Everly and Ezra.
After dinner, they’d settled the kids in the family room with Frozen and bowls of ice cream with hot fudge, while the adults sat on the patio, enjoying the sultry southern breezes. “I hate to bring this up, River, but there are some things we learned about Patrick Marsh today.”
“Bad things, I assume?” River asked.
Ronan nodded. “Jude, Fitz, and I met with Shane Matheson earlier.”
“That’s the former Boston cop you worked with?”
“Right,” Ronan agreed. “He’s working as a licensed private investigator and mall Santa. One of his clients is Mabel Marsh.”
“Patrick’s wife?” Barb asked. “Why did she hire a PI?”
Ronan exchanged an uneasy look with Tennyson, who nodded. “She thinks he’s cheating on her.” Ronan paused for Barb’s reaction.
“Cheating? There’s no way Pat would do that. He’s an upstanding guy who…” Barb stopped in her tracks when Ronan, Fitz, Jude and Ten all shook their heads.
“Barb,” Ronan began gently, “Not only is Patrick cheating on Mabel, he’s also poisoning her.”
“He, what?” Barb asked so loudly that she woke her sleeping daughter cradled in her arms. Delta let out an angry squeak, but soon settled back to sleep. “You know I love you, Ronan, but you can’t go around making up lies about people just because he had the misfortune of his first wife dying.”
Ronan was about to remind Barb that Patrick’s first wife hadn’t died, she’d been viciously murdered, but for the sake of family harmony, Ronan took a different tact. “Mabel came to Shane Matheson with a claim that her husband was poisoning her. She had several health ailments that her doctor couldn’t explain, so Shane sent her for a heavy metal toxicology panel. The results came back today and Mabel had higher than normal levels of arsenic in her blood.”
“Arsenic? How is that even possible?” Barb looked to River, who looked as confused as she sounded. “I thought the EPA banned it from rat poison.”
“They did,” Fitzgibbon said, “but arsenic itself is still sold commercially. You can order it online. It’s used to make bullets stronger and is also used in taxidermy. It’s regulated and monitored, so it should be easy enough to find a record of Patrick Marsh purchasing it.”
“Oh, God,” Barb gasped. “Patrick does taxidermy in his spare time to relax. Mabel always talks about how disgusting it is to have dead animals in her house as décor.”
Ronan felt his stomach turn, he never understood how people could shoot and kill wild animals for fun or prestige. He would rather starve to death that snack on Bambi’s mother. “If that’s the case, then it might have been a weapon of opportunity.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Jude agreed. “With arsenic in the house, Marsh will simply claim his wife getting sick was a case of cross-contamination.”
“Christ, make sure no one eats whatever potluck dish Patrick Marsh brings on Christmas Eve.” River wore a sour look on his face.
“Should we just uninvite them altogether?” Barb asked. “I don’t want to convict the man without a trial, but I also don’t want him in my house around my kids, nieces and nephews.”
“I know this is going to make me sound like a dick, but I’d prefer if you didn’t cross the Marsh family off the guest list. We were hoping to cozy up to him.” Fitz pointed between himself, Jude, and Ronan. “Ten would be able to read the man and Mabel to see if Marsh had been responsible for the death of his first wife.”
“And also to see if he’s the one poisoning the second wife,” Ronan added.
“Wait, hold on.” Barb put her hands in the air. “I thought you just said Patrick was poisoning Mabel.”
“Actually, I said that Mabel was being poisoned. Anyone could have slipped arsenic into her food or water.”
“And with Patrick dogging around town with every woman who’ll have him, it’s also possible he was the intended target of the poison,” Jude added. “I’m not a huge fan of potato salad, but I’ll eat it if Cope makes some. So if Ronan was trying to poison my darling husband, he’d end up killing me instead.”
“Why the hell haven’t I thought of that before?” Ronan asked, laughing. He sobered seconds later. “I suppose it’s possible one of Patrick’s girlfriends is the one poisoning his wife, which makes a lot of sense when you remember there’s nothing to tie him to the death of Jillian. Someone else killed her. What we don’t know was if that murder was directed by Patrick or by some lovesick fool he convinced to do his bidding.”
“What’s your plan to find out?” River asked.
“Shane was going to see Mabel Marsh after we left him this afternoon. She’s staying with her parents while she recovers from the arsenic poisoning and to keep her out of the line of fire. Shane’s got a shift at the mall tonight, but after that, he’s going to surveil the Marsh house and go through their trash. We’ll have more info in the morning , just in time to make decisions for the Christmas Eve party tomorrow night.” Ronan didn’t like the idea of Patrick Marsh being in the same space as his kids. He was willing to take the risk if it meant putting the murdering fucker behind bars. Ronan understood that not every set of parents would make the same decision. If River and Barb decided to uninvite Patrick Marsh or cancelled the party altogether, he’d go along with it and would need to find another way to get close to the alleged wife killer.
Barb sighed. “I suppose we can wait to hear the results of the surveillance before we make a final decision about the party. Do detectives really go through people’s trash?”
Ronan nodded. “They sure do. When you throw something away, it’s considered abandoned. When I was with homicide, we used to tail suspects and wait for them to pitch a cigarette butt or to throw out a drink from a fast food restaurant in order to collect DNA. This was especially helpful if we couldn’t get a court ordered DNA warrant.”
“What does Shane think they’ll find in the trash?” River asked.
“Hopefully proof that he poisoned his wife or something to indicate what he had planned next. You’d be surprised how many people write out their plan to check it for holes and weaknesses. They figure the information is safer if it’s not on their computer or online.” Ronan was always shocked how smart criminals were brought down by the smallest detail. A receipt in the trash. The indentation of a kill list on the pad of paper it was written on. “What time do you want us here to help set up for the party and to start cooking?” Ronan could talk about the Jillian Marsh case all day long, but he knew Barb and River had their limits.
“We told people to be here around five, so we’ll need to have the food ready by then. It will all go in chafing dishes so that people can help themselves. We figured letting people graze all night was a better idea that having a stuffy sit down meal.”
“Right,” Barb agreed. “How about we start cooking around noon?”
“Sounds great,” Ronan said. “We’ll bring by lunch and we can get to work after that. The kids can spend the afternoon in the pool.”
“I’m sure Jace or Cope wouldn’t mind watching them. Hell, I wouldn’t mind watching them either. I’m good with the grill but not so good with regular recipes.” Ronan’s cooking skills had gotten better over the years, but they still ordered a ton of takeout.
“We’ll give you something to do to help that won’t include treating out guests to salmonella.” River laughed.
“Whatever I can do to help.” Ronan loved how quickly River and Barb had accepted him into their family.
“Ten and I were talking about Christmas traditions my mom and I had when I was growing up. One of them was making Christmas cookies, which I hope all of the kids will join in on tomorrow.”
“All of the kids love to bake,” Ten said. “Except for Ezra. He just wants to eat.”
“We’ll definitely need a taste-tester,” Barb laughed.
“In that case, Ezra’s your man.” Ronan heard giggles come from the living room. He had a feeling Olaf had just appeared on screen. Ronan headed into the house to peek in on the kids. They’d finished their ice cream and had left their abandoned bowls on the coffee table.
Doing a quick clean up job, Ronan noticed that Everly, Brooke, and Aurora were bundled together in a blanket patterned with gingerbread cookies on a pink background. They looked and sounded like sisters. Wolf sat beside Lizbet, holding his sister’s hand. Ezra had zonked out, with his head on the arm of the sofa.
Nothing was more important to Ronan that the little people in the room. The last thing he wanted to do was put them in any danger. Same went for the adults laughing out on the patio. Usually Ronan was all about solving cold cases at any cost, but standing in the doorway, watching the kids laugh together, he had to admit nailing Patrick Marsh wasn’t important at all in the grand scheme of things.
Ronan hoped that while on stakeout tonight, Shane Matheson would find a clue that would lead to Marsh’s arrest and would allow everyone to enjoy a happy Christmas together.
12
Tennyson
It was all-systems go the next morning. All of the kids were excited for Christmas Eve and wanted to go to River’s house as soon as they all woke up. It hadn’t been easy wrangling them into eating breakfast and spending the morning at the rental house. Jude and Ronan had taken the kids on a beach walk to look for shells, which freed Ten and Cope up to take showers and get ready for the day.
It was Ten’s plan to make a batch of his tomato sauce. After he was clean, he gathered all of the ingredients and put them in bags to bring with him to River’s house. Cope did the same thing with the ingredients to make Running Eagle’s famous Navajo Fry Bread. He used to make the bread for Jude all the time when he was growing up and had taught Cope how to make it last Christmas when he’d come to Massachusetts.
“Hey, Ten?” Ronan called from the back deck. “Did you hear my phone ring at all while we were gone?”
Ten headed for the sliding door after picking up Ronan’s phone. “No one called. Why, who are you expecting to hear from?”
“Shane,” Ronan said. He tapped the phone and seconds later the kitchen was filled with the sound of Shane’s voicemail message. “Hey, man, it’s Ronan. Just checking in to see how things went yesterday with Mabel and with the surveillance on the Marsh house. Call me later.” Ronan disconnected the call and handed his phone back to Tennyson.
“You said he was going to stakeout the Marsh home last night. He’s probably just sleeping in this morning. I’m sure he’ll get back to you when he wakes up.” Ten didn’t want to say the words out loud, but there were people who didn’t put their jobs above everything else in their lives. Maybe Shane was one of them. He’d been with the Boston Police Department for his entire career and Ten, for one, wouldn’t blame him if Shane took a more easygoing approach to private detective work. He wished Ronan had done the same, but unfortunately it had only ramped up his obsession with cold cases over the years.
