“Good for you. I hate to break it to you, Detective O’Mara, but not every Italian family has mob roots.”
“You’re absolutely right, Sofia. First of all, I had no idea your family was Italian, secondly, you didn’t answer my question.” Ronan paused, trying to size her up. Sofia seemed like good people, but he would take her down in a heartbeat if she knew something about Head Doe and stayed silent. “I understand how vulnerable your aunt is at the moment, but there’s a family out there who has waited now for nearly fifty years for word of their father, son, husband, or brother. This family deserves answers.”
“I don’t know anything about the head. I’ve never seen it before. The first I ever heard of it was when I found it the other day. I left it where it was and started to scream. My brothers called the cops.” Sofia sighed. “That was the first and last time I was ever in the basement.”
“Why?” Ronan asked.
“Because the cement slab was cracked and it let in spiders and all kinds of other creepy crawlies.” Sofia shuddered. “I can assure you my aunt didn’t keep me away because there were human remains hidden in the freezer. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my aunt.”
“One more question before you go, Sofia?” Ronan asked, knowing he was pushing his luck.
She turned to Ronan looking as if he was dancing on her last nerve. “What is it?”
“What’s your aunt’s maiden name? You said your family was Italian.” Ronan asked, sounding as if the answer to the question was inconsequential.
“Marino. May I go now?” Sofia moved toward the door, not bothering to wait for Ronan’s response.
When Sofia opened the door, Ronan followed along behind her. Jude was in the middle of telling Maria a funny story about Wolf’s first karate class. He noticed Ten was sitting stone still staring off to space. On his lap was an open notebook. A pen was loosely clasped in his hand. What the hell was happening? He was about to grab Ten, but Jude shook his head.
“I was telling Maria about Everly and how much she loves to garden.” Jude shot Ronan a look that said to sit down and tell the story.
Ronan trusted Jude enough to see where things were going. He’d follow along for a bit, all the while keeping his eyes on Tennyson. Something strange was happening in this room. Ronan couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of it.
6
Tennyson
When Tennyson walked into Maria’s room, he was hoping the spirit whose head had been found in the freezer would be in the room with her, but he was not. Ten took a seat across the room beside the sink and watched while Maria flirted, first with Ronan, and then with Jude.
Reaching out with his gift, he could feel the pain Maria was in. It slammed into him, taking his breath away. Ten had never had a broken hip before, but had worked with clients at West Side Magick who had. They had never been inthiskind of pain. Maria was one week post-op, her pain should have been more manageable than what he was feeling.
Summoning all his strength, Ten tried to push past Maria’s pain. He caught glimpses of her life with her great-niece and nephews, but that was all he was able to see before having to shut his gift down to preserve what little strength he had left. There were other ways Ten could get the information he was looking for, he’d just need to take a different route.
He’d listened to Ronan try to question Maria, but it was obvious she was too hopped up on pain meds for her to take any of Ronan’s questions seriously, but Ten was getting the impression this was an act she used to keep people away. He watched as Ronan motioned Sofia into the corridor outside the room.
Jude had no better luck asking Maria about the head in the freezer and how it got there. He seemed to be running out of steam.
“Jude, show Maria the pic of Lizzie when she got stuck in the snow.” It had been crystal clear to Tennyson how much Marialoved her great-nieces and great-nephews. He knew she would be interested in seeing pictures of the kids. While Maria was busy looking at pics of Lizzie and Wolf, it might free her mind a bit for Tennyson to poke around.
“Oh, my goodness, Jude. Your daughter is absolutely darling.” Maria’s face lit up.
Ten shut his eyes and tried to calm his racing heart. He was worried that if he opened his gift again, he’d be hit with another onslaught of pain and wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Maria laughed, snapping Tennyson’s eyes open. A man, wearing all black, stood near the head of her bed with his back to Tennyson. From what Tennyson could tell, the man appeared to be about six feet tall and had dark, wavy hair. “Excuse me, sir?” Ten asked, reaching out with his gift.
The man turned and Ten gasped at what he saw. Silver duct tape had been placed over the man’s mouth and across his cheeks.
“You can speak with your mind and I’ll be able to hear you,” Ten said, trying to get over the shock of seeing the tape.
The man shook his head and turned back to Maria. A second man appeared a minute or two later. He was blonde with blue eyes and wore jeans, a Red Sox shirt, and had duct tape across his face as well. “Man in the Sox shirt, can you hear me?” Ten asked, using telepathy.
The man turned to Tennyson and set his right index finger against his lips, the universal gesture to shush. He moved to the left side of the first man.
Using his gift, Ten wasn’t able to get any information from the spirits. Not their name, an address, or phone number, leaving Ten at a complete loss. He pulled his notebook out of his coatand started taking notes on the two men. As he finished, Ten noticed a third man had arrived. This man was well over six feet and wore an expertly tailored suit, grey, with a crisp white shirt. He had salt and pepper hair slicked back and his eyes were dark. He also wore the duct tape.
“You look like a pretty tough guy to me,” Ten said to the third man. “How the hell did this tiny woman get the drop on you?”
The third man’s hands balled into fists at his sides. He looked like he wanted to take a swing at Tennyson, but stood still. The angry look stayed on his face as he turned back to Maria, which made Ten wonder if these men were here to comfort or confront her.
