Fitz raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound like you’re convinced this is a good thing.”
“It took years for you and I to work like the well-oiled machine we were when we were still with the Boston Police Department. When I first met Jude, he helped with investigations, but it took a while for him to gel with me.” God, Ronan sounded like a spoiled brat. “What I’m trying to say is that we need to picksomeone who’ll fit in with us, not someone who’ll clash and think they can run roughshod over you.”
“You mean like the way you and Jude do?” Fitz asked with a grin.
Ronan laughed. Fitz had a point and also made Ronan’s in the process. He knew a lot of captains who wouldn’t allow their officers to run investigations their own way. Fitz had always been a fan of free-range detectives who do their job without him breathing down their necks. “You got anyone in mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Fitzgibbon’s lips twitched.
“Oh, fuck, don’t tell me it’s Faulk! I love the guy but he’s more the my-way-or-the-highway type.” A few years back, Ronan had worked a mafia case with Faulk, when he was still undercover with Vice, and he needed to be king of the hill with every decision.
Fitz shook his head. “It’s not Faulk. He’s loving every second of being the cold case captain in Boston. He’s not ready to give that up anytime soon.”
“Okay, so who is it?” Ronan ran through the names of his favorite detectives in major crimes, along with people he’d worked with in Boston. No one’s name stuck out.
“Greeley,” Fitz said simply.
“You’re kidding, right? Greeley loves working in Boston.” Ronan loved Greeley like he was his own son. Fitzgibbon had adopted the then fifteen year old after he’d come forward with information about a serial killer who’d been targeting gay men. The killer had almost added Greeley to his kill list on two occasions. It had been watching Fitz bond with Greeley that helped him feel ready to become a father himself.
“He wants out of the BPD. It’s a long time coming. He hasn’t been happy there for a while now, plus that whole mess with Rock. Greeley wants to come home. I want him home. We’ve all worked with him in the past and he has too much empathy to work in homicide. His personality is much better suited to cold case work.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Greeley was as tough as they came, but had a tender heart. It wasn’t easy knocking on people’s doors and letting them know a loved one’s case was about to be reopened. Ronan couldn’t count the number of times he’d been cursed out because the case had never been solved in the first place. Greeley would be very adept at lowering the temperature of the conversation and getting the grieving family members on his side.
“Great! He starts tomorrow.” Fitzgibbon looked like he’d just won the lottery.
“Does Jude know?” Jude was another man who was tough as nails. Not being able to get back to work, drive, and do all his favorite things had really been weighing him down. It wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to let him know their Three Musketeers were turning into the Fab Four.
“Not yet. I wanted to let you know what was going on first. Jude trusts you and I want you there with me when I tell him. Jude loves Greeley too. It should be a smooth transition, but I know people hate change, even if it’s for the good.”
Ronan agreed completely. “We can grab pizza or tacos and tell him over dinner.”
“Works for me. The sooner we can get Greeley up and running, the better. He’s moving in today. He’s really excited to spend more time with Aurora.”
“That’s going to take a bit of getting used to.” Ronan chuckled. “What’s the princess going to do without her second bedroom?”
“Jace is taking care of that. I’m sure whatever bribe he’s forced to make will be money well spent.” Fitz snorted.
“I’m not so sure of that, Aurora and Everly were talking last night about wanting to have vacation houses next to each other on the beach in Hawaii.”
“Sounds good to me! I hate the snow and cold.” Fitz headed back toward his office before he stopped and turned around. “Thanks for being okay with bringing my nepo baby into the fold.
Ronan laughed. “There’s no place like home, Cap. Greeley’s one of us. I can’t wait to watch him kick ass and take names.” Greeley had quickly gone up the ranks as a member of the Boston Police Department. He’d been one of the youngest officers ever promoted to homicide, thanks to his way with people and his investigative mind. He’d be joining a cold case team with the three best detectives on the Salem Police force who would all be willing to teach him everything they knew.
Greeley was not just going to fly as a member of this team. He was going to soar.
4
Tennyson
One day after the strange letter arrived, Tennyson felt as if he were losing control of himself. He hadn’t slept well and he’d felt off during his scheduled readings at West Side Magick. His clients didn’t seem to notice his discomfort, but the spirits did. One widow chastised Ten for not having his head on straight to deliver her message to her beloved husband. All Ten could do was admit the spirit was right. He’d never been so happy to see the end of his workday.
Jace had gotten the kids off the bus, which left Tennyson free to do a little research. He Googled questions about anonymous letters, blackmail, and stalking. None of the search results yielded any answers to his questions, but he did learn that the type of missive he’d received was called a poisoned pen letter.
Poisoned pen, indeed.
Googling the term led him down rabbit hole after rabbit hole of cheating spouses, blackmail schemes that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one particular case from the Midwest, in which the letter writer kept up their targeted smear campaign for over a decade. Ten couldn’t help but wonder how the hell those people managed to function on a day to day basis. When would the next letter come? What would it say? He supposed the biggest question of all was why. Why had those people been chosen? It was also the question he’d asked himself hundreds of times since reading his letter.
Who the hell could possibly have an axe to grind with Tennyson? He was a good neighbor, never having raucous parties or leaving his trash bins on the street for days at a time. He was a well-respected member of Salem’s psychic community. He had adrove of repeat customers and had a five star Yelp score. Ten volunteered at Everly’s school, chaperoning field trips, being part of the summer clean up committee, offering his time and talents for fund drives. There were always people who disagreed with Ten’s “lifestyle” but being gay was never mentioned in the letter. Which brought Ten back to where he started; who the hell wrote the letter?
