Ten grinned. “I sure can.”
“No one’s going to talk about our daughter that way. I can guaran-damn-tee you that.” Ronan gunned the Mustang’s engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
Ten knew Max’s eyes were going to just about fall out of his head when he found out what Miss Stanton said about Everly. He couldn’t wait for the fireworks to begin.
3
Ronan
Ronan was still fuming as he drove through Salem on the way back to West Side Magick. He knew he was biased, but Everly was the absolute sunshine in his life. Her laugh made everything better. When her gift and the things it revealed tormented her, Ronan was always there to hug her tight and help fight back the visions and nightmares. When people maligned her character, he was going to be the first one to stand up for her.
Ronan was about to tell Ten as much when his phone rang.
“It’s Cisco,” Ten said, after glancing at the screen. “What the hell have you donethistime?”
“Nothing that I know of.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but after the meeting with Miss Stanton, Ten didn’t need to know the details. “Answer it, please.”
“Hey, Cisco, this is Ten. We’re driving. Let me put you on speaker.” Ten tapped the button.
“Hi, boss, what’s up?” Ronan prayed that whatever Cisco was about to say wouldn’t get him in trouble with Tennyson.
“I’ve called a meeting about Head Doe,” Cisco said, not bothering with small talk.
“Who?” Ronan asked, relieved he wasn’t about to get his ass handed to him by his bossandhis husband.
Cisco sighed heavily. “The frozen human head that was found in a freezer last night.”
“Ah, yes, I got you. Let me drive Ten back to West Side Magick and I’ll be right there.” Ronan had a feeling Cisco was going toask them to take the case, but he hadn’t thought it would have been this soon.
“No need, Ronan, bring Ten along with you, if he’s got the time to spare. We could really use him on this case.” The smile in Cisco’s voice was apparent.
“I sure do, chief,” Ten said. “See you in a few minutes.” Ten tapped the phone to end the call.
“Sounds like the case has developed since this morning. I wonder if this means he wants us to partner with homicide?” Ronan hated the idea. Homicide had egos as big as Texas and thought Cold Case was the junior varsity squad. The last thing he wanted was to play second fiddle to a bunch of amped up assholes who thought they were kings of the world.
“I think he’s gonna give the investigation to cold case.” Ten sounded pretty certain.
“What do you think of working it with us?” Ronan knew what Ten’s answer was going to be. It was written in Ten’s glittering eyes.
“It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to investigate something from scratch. The only work that’s been done was last night at Maria Cullen’s house.” Ten grinned. “I’m excited. I’ve been in the office for too long.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Ronan had gotten used to working cold cases which always started with reading and familiarizing himself with the prior work that had been done on a case by the original detectives. This time, Ronan and the cold case team were gonna get to do the heavy lifting themselves.
Fifteen minutes later, Ronan and Ten walked into the Salem Police Department. Fitz, Jude, and Greeley were in a conference room waiting for them.
“How did things go with Everly’s teacher?” Jude asked.
“She suggested we take Everly to a shrink to diagnose childhood-onset schizophrenia because she talks to people who aren’t there in class.” Ronan couldn’t believe he was actually saying those words out loud.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jude cracked his knuckles.
Ronan loved it when his bestie was on Everly’s side. “Ten set her straight with one of his little demonstrations, which was particularly savage. Deservedly so.”
Ten grinned and patted himself on the shoulder. “We invited Max Preston to dinner next week if you all want to come. I’m making parmesan wings.”
“Sold!” Fitz said, practically drooling.
Cisco breezed into the room, shutting the door behind him. “Glad you’re all here.” He set a folder on the table and took a seat. “I assume you all saw the story in this morning’s paper about the frozen head?”
