“Oh no!” Everly giggled again. “Miss Stanton’s cheer squad put it in her shampoo bottle and her hair melted off?”
“Something like that. I think it looked more patchy than anything. She had to get a super short haircut to fix the damage.” Ten used all of his willpower not to laugh at Miss Stanton’s high school mishap.
“That’s mean,” Everly said, her tone gentle. “I’m sorry that happened to her, but she shouldn’t have told you that I was crazy either.”
“Good point, but keep that between us, okay?” Ten and Ronan had raised Everly to be sweet and kind no matter how people treated her. Those morals were paying off now. He knew nothing he said to Everly about Miss Stanton would be repeated at school.
“Okay, so now tell me about the other thing. I know it’s bad.”
“You’re right. It’s really bad. So bad that I’m not really sure how to tell you.” As Ten spoke, Ronan walked into the bedroom. He’d been in Ezra’s room, reading him books. With the way his hair was sticking up, it looked like Ronan had fallen asleep with their son.
“A body part was found in someone’s freezer across town,” Ronan said.
“I know. Kids were talking about it at school today. Did you see the head?”
Ronan nodded. “We did. The medical examiner is running tests to try to figure out how this person died.” He sat beside Everly on the bed. “Do you know?”
“No, Daddy. I shut my gift off. I didn’t want to know anything about it. I was scared. What if there’s a head in our freezer?” Everly’s bottom lip trembled.
“There isn’t. After you left for school, I checked.” Ronan grinned at Everly.
“You did? Really?” Everly reached out to hug Ronan.
“I did,” Ronan agreed. “We also need to have a discussion about how many bags of chicken nuggets we own. The situation is out of control!”
“I guess that means we need to eat more nugs! We can have a big sleepover on Friday and have all the chicken! We can do the chicken dance and sing chicken songs and watch chicken movies!”
“It will be a chicken-palooza!” Ronan laughed along with Everly.
“Okay, you’re all set,” Ten said as he pushed the last bobby pin into place.
“We can design the decorations together, Daddy!” Everly smacked a kiss to Ronan’s cheek and did the same for Ten. “I’m gonna read a chapter of my book before I go to sleep.”
“I’ll come tuck you in. You can read to me. You know I don’t like to miss a night of whatever awesomeness Ramona is up to.” Ronan climbed off the bed and followed Everly out the door.
Ten had been so angry when Miss Stanton told him why he and Ronan had been called in for a meeting. He’d gotten his gift when he was thirteen. Everly had hers from birth. He’d never had to deal with seeing ghosts in his second grade class or teachers who’d thought he belonged in the psych ward. It was obvious Ten needed to do more to keep his daughter safe from people who would hurt her. He couldn’t wait to speak to Everly’s principal, Max Preston, and get his thoughts on how they could work together.
9
Ronan
Ronan was back in the office early the next morning. Now that he had a bit more information about Maria, namely her maiden name and a possible connection to a notorious mob family, he needed to dig up as much information as possible before he, Jude, and Ten went back to the rehab after lunch.
“I knew you’d be here early,” Jude said, walking into the office, carrying a cup of coffee.
“I feel like an asshole,” Ronan said.
“Any particular reason, or is this just any other Tuesday?” Jude flashed a cheeky grin.
“When Sofia mentioned Maria’s last name was Marino, I recognized it instantly, but then there was something wrong with Ten, and Fitz called to remind us about Everly’s cheer practice and I never did any research on the name. I almost forgot to tell Fitzgibbon in the first place.” He felt like he’d dropped the ball.
“None of us did any research, Ronan. Not even Cisco. He never mentioned the name Marino. I think he was so caught up in the drama of taking this case from Homicide and giving it to us, that he didn’t look into Maria at all. When he assigned tasks for yesterday, he told Fitz and Greeley to search the missing persons database to find Head Doe and wanted us to get a statement from Maria. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I hate to say this, but with the information Ten gave us about Maria’s health, I think she’ll be more willing to talk to us.”
“Or knowing her private medical condition will push her off the deep end and then her father shows up at our houses withguys who’ll make us sleep with the fishes.” Christ, that was the last thing he needed. Ronan’s interactions with mob boss Vito Dragonni were enough to last him a lifetime. He didn’t want to deal with another mobster, past, present, or retired.
“Okay, guys, huddle up,” Fitzgibbon said, walking into the office. Greeley was behind him. “I know I said I wanted you to go see Maria Cullen today, but change of plan. I don’t want to get caught flat-footed again. Let’s work on Maria’s history. Guys, look into her life; criminal record, marriages, kids, public records, and gossip. What does the internet say about this woman? Once you have all this information, then we’ll make a plan of battle.”
“I asked in the beginning if this might be a mob hit. Maybe it is,” Ronan said. “It’s the kind of thing they do to send a message.”
