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“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Fitz shot back.

“Aurora’s been spending the night at our house for years. What we’ve done with the kids has never been a problem before.”

“That’s because you never took my child to a crime scene before!” Fitz shouted back.

“Okay, guys, that’s enough.” Jude said, sounding exhausted. “There’s obviously a reason Cisco wants the three of us and Tennyson at this particular scene. We haven’t been called to a crime scene in the middle of the night like this before. I have to imagine that homicide or vice or property crimes would have been called had the situation warranted it. I assume this case has something to do with psychics or ghosts or things that are in Tennyson and Everly’s realm of expertise.”

“Bullshit,” Fitz muttered. “Cisco’s just trying to get my ass out of bed and back to work.”

Ronan had wondered the same thing, but doubted Cisco would use a witching hour call out to achieve that end.

Jude turned onto Washington Street and approached the cross with Essex. The car was bathed in blue and white lights from the Salem Police units on scene. He parked the car across from The Hawthorne Hotel and hopped out. Ronan got out through Fitzgibbon’s door. “Listen, I know you’re in a tough spot at the moment. Let’s just see what’s up and go from there.”

“Don’t you dare try to mother me, Ronan.” Fitz shoved off from the side of the car and hurried across the street.

“Fuck me blue,” Ronan said, when he joined Jude on the other side of the car. “We’re going to need to keep an eye on him.”

“Yeah, I know. Let’s just do this and get it over with, hopefully with all three of us still working for the SPD by the time it’s over.”

Jude’s words shocked Ronan. The thought had never crossed his mind that Fitzgibbon would leave the cold case unit, either voluntarily or at Cisco’s insistence. He hoped that they could get through this investigation with their entire team intact.

One thing was for certain. Something needed to change with Fitzgibbon and fast.

4

Tennyson

Tennyson parked behind Jude’s Thunderbird. Before he shut off the engine, he eyed the girls in the backseat. “I don’t know what’s going on here. Or what you’re going to see. I need you both to promise me that if I ask you to leave the museum, that you’ll listen. No talk back. No sass. Got it?”

“Got it, Dad.”

“Me too, Uncle Ten,” Aurora said solemnly.

Ten got out of the SUV and helped the girls across the street, which was lit up with police lights. As he approached Essex Street, he saw three cruisers and an ambulance, with its lights off. Never a good sign. Lifting up the crime scene tape, Ten flashed his badge and hurried toward the museum, where Ronan, Jude and Fitz were standing with Cisco.

“Oh, good, you’re here.” Cisco grinned at Everly. “I wondered when we’d get you out to work your first case.”

“What happened, Uncle Cisco. How can we help?” Everly pointed back and forth between herself and Aurora.

Cisco grinned at Tennyson. “Well, girls, it seems we had a bit of an incident here tonight at the museum. I want you all to hear the story from Doom first.”

“Doom?” Everly asked.

“Yeah, that’s the name of the young man who was working at the museum tonight.” Cisco knelt down beside Everly. “I need you both to promise me that if you start to feel uncomfortable or sick that you’ll tell me, okay?”

Everly nodded. “Dad told us the same thing.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Cisco opened the door to the museum and ushered everyone inside. Eli Dixon stood by the door.

The museum was one long room, painted red. Dozens of witch boards adorned the walls and sat inside glass display cases along with an assortment of planchettes and other memorabilia. An empty Lucite box sat, upside down, near the front door, looking completely out of place. Spotlights illuminated several featured boards. Ten opened his gift and felt a swirl of emotions; fear, anger, desperation, along with joy and happiness. He couldn’t decipher if those feelings were coming from the people inside the room or from the boards themselves.

“Wow,” Everly said, walking across the room to where a young man sat at a small desk. She nodded at the man, whose head was swathed in bandages, like a mummy, and continued on to where a board lay, upside down on the floor. She knelt beside it and put her hand over the top, without touching it. Aurora stood behind her. “You should have listened, Mr. Doom.” Everly got back to her feet and gave the man a stern look.

“Listened to what?” Ronan asked, coming to stand behind his daughter.

“To Jeremy Daniels. He was the man who brought the board to the museum, isn’t that right, Mr. Doom?”

Doom nodded and groaned. “My head aches.