One thing was for certain, with Fitzgibbon and Greeley on the case, the letter writer was going to be very sorry for setting his sights on their families.
9
Ronan
Ronan had spent the morning going over files with Greeley. They’d made a list of cases they were interested in working and planned on presenting them to Fitz after lunch. All plans for the day went out the window when Fitzgibbon dropped an envelope with block-printing on his desk, joking how it looked like a ransom note.
As soon as Ronan read the first few lines about Tennyson keeping secrets, he’d seen red and charged out of the office like a bull in a China shop. He’d heard Fitz and Greeley call after him and their thunderous steps coming down the stairs after him, but Ronan wasn’t stopping until he found Tennyson and could ask his husband what the fuck was going on.
Ronan hadn’t counted on running into a meeting between the psychics and a very pissed off Jude. Kaye had been trying to calm him down, but his temper kept rising, along with Ronan’s. He sat at the conference table feeling numb as Tennyson and then Cope read the letters they’d gotten from the anonymous letter writer. Everyone was shouting in an effort to be heard. Ronan felt a headache coming on.
Fitzgibbon let out a shrill whistle, instantly silencing the room. “Everyone take a breath and try to calm down.” After a few beats of silence, Fitz continued, “Ronan, read the letter you got today. Jude, read yours after Ronan is done. No bullshit from either of you, got it?” Fitz’s narrowed eyes moved back and forth between the two detectives.
“Got it,” Jude and Ronan muttered at the same time.
“Ronan, read.” Fitz pointed to the letter Ronan had been waving around.
With a brief nod, Ronan cleared his throat. “My dearest Ronan,” he read out loud, with a shaky voice. “I know something you don’t know. You don’t know me, but I know you. I also know your husband, famed cold case psychic Tennyson Grimm. I spy with my little eye, a man with secrets. Deep dark secrets, the kind that could land you in divorce court and tear your family apart.”
Ronan felt like throwing up. His mind cast back to the last time Ten hid something from him. He’d thought his best friend and former partner, Tony Abruzzi, had been killed in the line of duty, when in fact the FBI had put him in protective custody to keep him safe. Ten knew Tony was alive and never said a word because the FBI promised to throw him in jail and make sure he never saw Everly, who was a baby at the time. That little secret had almost ripped them apart. What the hell was this secret going to do to their marriage and family?
“Jude, go,” Fitzgibbon commanded.
Jude picked up his letter and held it up to his face. He moved it back and forth, before sighing. “I’m seeing double. I can’t read.” He passed the paper to Fitzgibbon.
“My dearest Jude,” Fitzgibbon began with a sour frown twisting his lips. “I know something you don’t know. You don’t know me, but I know you. I also know your husband, psychic Copeland Forbes. I spy with my little eye, a tall, dark, and handsome man that your precious husband meets on Wednesday nights. Complete with long hugs, time spent behind closed doors, and anguished partings. As a reformed man-whore, you never saw this coming, did you? I’m guessing this is why your husbandfailed to call for paramedics when you had your little tumble down the stairs. He’s already got your replacement picked out.”
Jude gagged. Greeley rubbed his back before grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the corner of the room.
Ronan opened his mouth to start questioning Tennyson, but a sharp look from Fitzgibbon shut him up.
“Cope, are you meeting someone on Wednesday nights?” Fitz asked.
“My shrink,” Cope said. “Kaye suggested I see someone when I couldn’t get over the guilt I felt over Jude’s accident. Dr. Briggs walks me to my car at the end of every session and hugs me, but there’s nothing else going on between us other than therapy, Jude. I swear.”
Fitz didn’t give Jude a chance to respond. “Ten, are you keeping secrets from Ronan?”
“Just the letters,” Ten admitted. “I wasn’t sure how to handle the contents. I hadn’t noticed any signs Ronan was drinking or messing around on me. I wanted to talk to Cope about what was written to see if he or Jude knew anything about the accusations made against him.”
“Ronan, can you shed any light on the letters claiming you were in the parking lot at Bob’s?” Fitz’s eyes stayed on his detective.
“I was staking the place out when we were investigating the Miller case. His widow, Emma, worked at the store. I was keeping an eye on her comings and goings and following her after the end of her shifts. I’d been working the stake-out with Fitz every night but one, when Aurora was sick. All the kids had that stomach bug just after Christmas. Fitz had caught it too andI told him to stay home. As for the guy in the bar, I have no clue what that’s from. I can’t tell you the last time I was in a bar.”
“I can,” Jude said. “It was during the Chris Jones case. We thought the wife had killed him, but weren’t getting anywhere with her. Fitz and I had been the one to interview her. Ronan had been back in the office that day and hadn’t met the widow, so we used him to get close to the son, who worked as a corporate lawyer in Boston. That’s why he was in a suit. Turned out that Ronan got nothing from the son that night. The case is still open.”
“Jude and I were in the van that night with Ronan, Ten. He left the bar alone and drove home with us.”
“I knew Ronan wasn’t cheating,” Ten said softly.
“But you wondered if I’d started drinking again?” Ronan asked, trying to control his temper.
“I didn’t know at first.” Tennyson stared at his hands as he spoke. “As for the drinking, I wasn’t totally sure. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and spoke to Cope the other night. He said he hadn’t noticed any signs of drinking.”
“When the hell were you going to tell me about these letters?” Ronan asked.
“Soon,” Ten said, finally meeting Ronan’s eyes. “I showed Cope my letters last night and he showed me the one he’d gotten. We both wondered if Carson and Cole were getting them too, which was why I scheduled this meeting for today to ask them. Our next step was to bring you all in.”
Cole got out of his seat. “I need to get to Cassie and tell her what’s going on before she gets home and finds a letter of her own.”
