“You got that right. Now, let’s get you settled in.” Ronan knew Greeley was going to be an incredible asset to the Salem Cold Case Unit. If the assholes running the Homicide division in Boston didn’t see his potential, then fuck them! There was no doubt in his mind that Greeley was going to rock this new job, pun intended. Hell, he might be a better detective than Jude and Ronan.
Well, maybe better than Jude, anyway.
8
Tennyson
Ten had gotten up earlier than usual so that he could grab his two poisoned pen letters and slip them into his satchel to bring to West Side Magick without Ronan seeing him. It had been a near thing. Ten knew he was going to have to show the letters to Ronan at some point, but not before he had a chance to speak to Carson and Cole about them.
He’d scheduled the meeting for noon, when everyone was free. Carson had hired several part-time workers in the shop and they were capable of running the store and answering the phones while the psychics were in the meeting.
With his letters tucked into his back pocket. Ten headed for the conference room. All of the others were there. Shutting the door behind him, Ten noticed Cole and Carson looked nervous. Ten had a feeling he might know why. “Hey, everyone, sorry I’m late.”
“No worries,” Carson said, his voice shaking.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush here.” Ten took a seat at the head of the table. “Cope and I have been getting these awful anonymous letters. They’re frightening both of us. We haven’t told our husbands and have no idea who is sending them or why.”
“Thank goodness!” Carson and Cole said together.
Ten felt his eyes widen. “Thank goodness?”
“Not that you’re being harassed,” Carson was quick to say. He reached into his bag and pulled out two letters.
“We’re getting them too,” Cole said. “It’s a relief to be able to share them with you.” Cole set a tattered envelope on the table.
Ten and Cope did the same thing. “Cope’s only gotten one so far. I’ve gotten two.” Ten passed his letters to Carson, since Cope had already seen his.
“Jesus, it’s the same person,” Carson said. “Same envelope, same printing.”
“No return address on yours either,” Cole said, after reading the letter Cope slid down to him.
Ten took the letters Carson offered him. It started out the same way with the author telling Carson that he knew something Carson didn’t. Then went on to detail how the Velociraptors were the most hated kids in the fourth grade. The letter ended with the vague threat of the kids getting what they had coming. The second letter said much of the same. “This is insane. No one hates your kids.” Ten handed his letter to Cope, who traded Cole’s letter in return.
Skimming Cole’s letter, he saw that the writer had gone after Cassie, insinuating that she was having an affair with her flour vendor. “Cole, you know Cassie’s not cheating on you.”
“I know,” Cole agreed. “Cas would never do that. Not to mention the fact that the flour delivery guy is twice Cassie’s age. I’m sure he eats a lot of the treats the bakeries sell. Maybe the asshole letter writer saw them having early-morning coffee and pastries and thought there was more going on than there actually was.”
“I spent the last few days thinking a jealous parent was behind the letter. I ended up interrogating my kids.” Carson shook his head. “I spoke to them together, apart. Offered bribes, a trip to Disney World and none of them knew what was going on.”
“Did either of you get anything from your gifts when you were reading these letters?” Ten asked. He hadn’t felt anything from the six letters. Not a vibe or the shadowy figure of the author. As Ronan would say, he had fuck all.
“I’ve got nothing,” Cole said. “Not with my letter or any of yours.”
“Same,” Carson agreed. “How is that even possible?”
Ten had been wondering the same thing. “Three of the letters came for our kids, three of them claim our spouses are cheating. Who the hell would do this to us?”
“That’s the big question,” Cope said, “before we can answer it, we need to know if any of the others are getting them too.”
“You mean Cassie and our husbands?” Carson asked.
“Right,” Cope agreed. “I haven’t told Jude about this and I know Ten hasn’t told Ronan.”
Ten nodded. He knew the time to tell Ronan had arrived. “We’re going to have to let them know gently and make sure they all understand that we don’t think they’re guilty of whatever the letters accuse them of.”
“You’re gonna have triple duty,” Cole began. “Not only is the letter accusing Ronan of drinking and cheating, but he’s going to lose his mind when he reads what this asshole wrote about Everly.”
Ten had been thinking the same thing. “That’s the last thing we need. If we’re going to find out who’s doing this and why, we all need to keep our heads on our shoulders. It’s obvious what this person wants to do is put us at each other’s throats. He wins if we do that exact thing.”
