by Pandora Pine
Tiptoeing down the stairs, the boy made his way to the laundry room. The washing machine was empty. The dryer was not. He opened it up and found a full load in the dryer. His clothes were in the dryer. Pulling out his Converse shirt, he saw brownish stains on it. “What the fuck?”
The voice didn’t answer.
He pulled his cargo shorts out of the dryer, but thankfully didn’t see any marks on them. He brought the shirt back into the kitchen with him. Looking at the fabric in the bright morning light near the sliding glass door, he thought maybe the stains looked like coffee or even hot chocolate.
While he was standing there with his ruined shirt in his hand an odd piece of the dream came back to him. He remembered hiding the gun in a shoebox under his brother’s bed.
I wonder if it’s there or if that was just really part of your dream?
But that was just ridiculous, wasn’t it? Looking down at his Converse shirt, the boy wasn’t so sure.
Sneaking quietly back up the stairs, he stopped just outside the door to his brother’s room. Pushing it open, he could see a lump under the covers and could hear soft snores. Getting down on his hands and knees, he crawled over to the bed and reached underneath. His hand connected with something solid, which he dragged out.
It was a Nike shoebox. Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, he lifted the lid. The box was empty but for a black handgun. Time stood still. The boy stared at the lethal weapon sitting in the box.
The voice started to laugh.
29
Tennyson
When Tennyson woke up the next morning, Carson was sitting in the chair Fitzgibbon had been sitting in earlier.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” Carson grinned at him. “I brought Ronan’s favorite muffins and coffee.” He pointed to the bags on the table next to the head of Ronan’s bed. There was also a small bouquet of miniature sunflowers in a bright yellow vase.
“You realize he’s not really in a muffin-eating state now, right?” Ten sat up and stretched his tired muscles. He felt like he hadn’t slept at all.
“Obviously, but we can use all the good Karma we can get.” Carson set Ronan’s hand down and got out of his chair. “You look almost as bad as he does.” He sat next to Tennyson on the couch and gave his friend a hug.
Ten looked over at Ronan, who looked the same as he did a few hours ago when Fitzgibbon tucked him in. “Is there any news?”
Carson shook his head. “A nurse was in every fifteen or twenty minutes checking on him. The cop outside the door was popping his head in the door every so often too. I remember when I was in ICU after I’d been shot, it was the least restful place I’d ever been. I had a feeling I would have gotten more rest on a bench in Grand Central Station during rush hour.”
Ten twitched his lips. He didn’t want Carson to think his humor was unappreciated. “Did he move or open his eyes at all?”
“No. I just held his hand. When I got here, that’s what Fitzgibbon was doing too. Truman will be here in a few hours to spell me so that I can go home and get a few hours’ sleep. I’m taking you with me. Between the Salazar sisters and Cole, we’ve got childcare covered so that the four of us are free to stay with Ronan until he wakes up. The cap says we’ll revamp the approved visitor list when Ronan wakes up. He thinks maybe Ronan saw who shot him.”
“I know he did, Carson. Remember I told you that he was about to tell me who it was when you and Cole pulled me out of my vision?”
“Shit, Ten, I’m sorry.” Carson bowed his head. His elbows were resting on his knees. “I wish there was a way you could go back inside the vision.”
“That might not be necessary,” Fitzgibbon said walking back into the hospital room.
“What do you mean?” Tennyson stood up and walked over to Ronan. “Good morning, sweetheart. I love you.” He dropped a kiss on Ronan’s forehead and turned to Kevin who was holding a manila envelope.
“I had the lab rush the ballistics report last night. You’re not going to believe this.” Fitzgibbon handed the envelope to Tennyson.
Ten sat down in the chair Carson had previously been sitting in and slid the single sheet of paper out and scanned the results. Most of what the report said was way over his head. He didn’t understand lands and grooves, but he did understand the name of the registered gun owner near the bottom of the report. “Ronan was shot by a gun registered to the Boston Police Department?”
The look on Fitzgibbon’s face was grim. “Keep reading.”
Ten narrowed his eyes on the captain and looked back at the forensic report. The next line of the report identified which officer the weapon was assigned. “No!” Tennyson blinked hard. Just in case he misread the name of the detective at the bottom of the report. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. “Tony Abruzzi? Jesus Christ, Kevin! How is this possible?”
“I don’t know, Ten. I’m not saying that Tony was the one who shot Ronan. I’ve got a call in to Captain Sullivan. He’s Tony’s boss. He’ll be able to tell me what duty rotation Tony was on. We’ll get those details in order first. Obviously, there are four minors and his wife who also live in that house. They’ll all need to be questioned and their whereabouts ascertained for yesterday afternoon.”
Tennyson was speechless. He looked up at Kevin and felt his mouth drop open. He didn’t know how many more surprises he could take. Tears stung the back of his eyes, but he’d be damned if he’d let them fall. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. It was the time to fight. “I’m so glad you narrowed down the list of people allowed in to see Ronan. I had Tony and Carlie on the original list of people able to see Ronan.”
“We don’t want to jump to conclusions here, Ten, but at the same time, keeping Ronan safe until he can tell us what he saw is our top priority.”
Ten nodded. He picked up Ronan’s hand and threaded their fingers together.
Kevin grabbed the spare chair in the room and pulled it close to Ronan’s bed. “Morning, big guy.” He gave Ronan’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Damn, warn a guy next time, Cap. If I’d known you were gonna do that I would have snapped a picture. Ronan would have gotten a kick out of seeing the tender side of you.” Carson laughed.
“He’s the best detective I’ve got.” Kevin rolled his eyes and sat down. “When was the last time Ronan saw Tony and Carlie?”
“We had dinner with them and the kids a few nights ago.” Tennyson thought back to why they’d been invited to dinner in the first place.
“What is it, Ten? I can see your brain working to put the pieces of something together.” Kevin reached out a hand to him. “I know this is hard, but I need to know everything.”
Ten nodded. He took a deep breath and looked up at Fitzgibbon. “They invited us over to dinner last week because they wanted our take on the behavior of one of the boys.”
“Which one?” Fitzgibbon narrowed his eyes.
“Mark.”
“The one with the Pretty Woman fetish?” Fitzgibbon asked.
Ten nodded. “The boy was really full of life when Ronan and I first met him. It was like he needed to be the center of attention. When we saw him the other night though, he was trying to fly under the radar.”
“That’s not so unusual for boys who’ve been through what these kids have been through. Greeley’s therapists warned me he could go through mood swings like that too.”
“There was something else, Cap,” Ten said quietly.
“What?”
“Carlie had come home a few weeks ago and found a cross that Tony’s mother had given him snapped in half. It wasn’t just some flimsy crucifix, it was about eighteen inches high and wood was a couple of inches thick. She said she’d asked each of the boys who’d broken it and none of them confessed.”
“Come on, Ten.” Fitzgibbon shook his head. “They’re scared teenagers. I can’t imagine a scenario where they would confess to breaking something in their new home.”
“Yeah, though, that’s just the thing, none of them broke it.”
“Is the house haunted?” Carson piped in.
Ten turned to look at Carson. “It didn’t seem that way at first.”
“What do you mean, at first?” Fitzgibbon asked.
“Malevolent spirits can hide, Kevin. They know they are unwelcome, so they do what’s necessary to keep from being detected,” Carson said.
“I didn’t sense anything as being off the night that Ronan and I were there. Carlie got in touch with me the next day and asked me to come over and do a more thorough sweep of the house since Tony and kids would all be out.”
“Let me guess, Tony isn’t the biggest believer in ghosts and paranormal activity?” Kevin asked.
“Right,” Tennyson agreed. “I went over there and things felt fine while we were going through the house until we got to Mark’s room.”
“Jesus, Ten. What did you find?” Carson asked.
“The vibration was heavier in Mark’s room. It was cooler in there too. I couldn’t put my finger on what the actual problem was until I walked around toward the far end of the bed. I started to feel nauseous, like I was going to hurl at any second. Under the bed was a shoe box filled with newspaper clippings.”
“Of what?” Fitzgibbon asked.
“The Rod Jacobson killings and that final night at the Beach Inn.” Ten shivered. He pressed a kiss to the back of Ronan’s hand.
“What else was in the box, Ten?” Carson asked.
Ten frowned at his friend.
“This only works when you tell me everything,” Kevin said patiently.
“There was a hair cutting, tied with a ribbon,” Ten admitted.
“What, like a from a baby’s first haircut?” Kevin looked confused.
“No.” Ten shook his head. “Keegan was teasing Mark at dinner the night before about his crush on Rod Jacobson. The hair belonged to him.”
“What?” Carson’s mouth hung open. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that, Tennyson? You know how powerful hair magic can be.”
“Hair magic? Now you’ve really lost me.” Fitzgibbon sounded as confused as he looked.
Carson sighed. “If you can get the hair of the person you’re in love with, it can be used to make a love potion or cast a spell.”
Kevin snorted. “A love potion? Come on, guys. That sounds like the plot of a cheesy rom-com.”
“Actually, Cap, it’s very powerful magic.” Ten shook his head. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. I was hoping it didn’t mean anything.”
“Didn’t mean anything? This boy has a hank of hair in his bedroom from a serial killer and you hoped it didn’t mean anything?” Carson was almost shouting.
“Carson.” Fitzgibbon held his hand up. “It’s not going to help Ronan to shout at Tennyson.” Kevin turned to Ten. “Right now, we’re in a holding pattern until my guys get back to me with any information they can find about Tony. Is there anything we can do with your gift in meantime?”
“There are no spirits in the room at the moment.” Ten hadn’t heard anything from Erin or Bertha since before he’d fallen asleep.
“What about talking to Ronan?” Carson asked. He got up from the couch and walked over to the bed.
Ten’s eyes popped open wide. “What are you talking about? Ronan is alive, he isn’t… Isn’t…” Shit, Tennyson couldn’t bear to say the word.
“I know that, Ten!” Carson grinned. “Ronan was able to somehow send you the vision. You said yourself that he was able to talk to you. What if you were somehow able to get into his coma and visit him?”
“Is that really possible?” Tennyson asked. He’d never heard of a psychic trying to reach out and speak to a person in a coma before.
“Have you tried reaching out to him with your gift? I know you’re using five of your senses here with him now, but have you opened up the sixth one?” Carson asked gently.
Ever since Tennyson learned how to open and close the door to his gift, he’d been careful to shut it down in large crowded places so that his personal time wouldn’t be interrupted with Ronan. Ten had also been careful to make sure to shut the door when he went to places where he knew unhappy spirits were likely to hang around, like the morgue and hospitals.
The first thing Tennyson had done when he’d run through the doors of the emergency room yesterday was to close the door to his gift tightly. He hadn’t tried to open it since. “No, I haven’t reached out, but it’s worth a try.”
30
Ronan
Ronan had been listening with interest when Tennyson was talking about opening his gift to try to communicate with him. He had no idea if it was possible to speak with Tennyson like this either, but he was certainly hoping it would work.
At this point, he was in the same boat with Tennyson, neither his mother nor Bertha Craig had been in touch with him since he’d gotten out of surgery. On the one hand that was fine with him because it meant he was still alive. On the other hand, it didn’t bode well for Tennyson being able to reach him here. Wherever here was.
When he’d spoken to his mother, she’d said they were in some anteroom of heaven. Maybe this was some anteroom of consciousness. He snorted at his own stupid joke.
He hoped that whatever was going on with his healing happened quickly, he wasn’t meant to be alone like this. He missed Tennyson and their friends.
“Ronan?” Tennyson’s voice called out. It sounded far away.
“Ten!” Ronan shouted back. Had Ten figured out how to contact him here?
“Oh, thank God. Ronan?” Ten called out. This time his voice sounded clearer. Closer.
“Ten, I’m here.” Ronan tried to be patient. He knew Tennyson was doing everything he could to improve their connection. He wanted to laugh. It reminded him of that cell phone commercial where the actor kept wanting to know if the person on the other end of the phone could hear him. Ronan could hear Tennyson, but not as clearly as he’d like.
“Ronan!” Ten sounded like he was in Ronan’s ear.
“Got you loud and clear, Nostradamus!” Ronan was all smiles. He just wished Tennyson could see that.
“I see the bullets didn’t hit your sense of humor!” Tennyson laughed.
“Thank God for small favors.” Ronan sobered. “Are you okay, Ten?” he asked.
“I’m fine, Ronan, but I’m more concerned about you.”
“Of course you are, babe. That’s why I love you so much.” Ronan meant it. There wasn’t another man on the face of the Earth that Ronan could ever imagine loving more than Tennyson. “I’m alive, right? I can hear the damn beep-beep of my heart on the monitor, so I guess it’s all systems go. Unless you know something I don’t and the beeping is the sound of some big old heaven bus backing up.”
Tennyson laughed. “No, the beeping isn’t a heaven bus.”
“Shit, it’s not a bus to hell, is it?” Ronan knew he wasn’t an angel, but surely hadn’t been bad enough to deserve a one-way ticket to hell. Had he?
“No, Ronan. It’s the heart monitor. Your surgeon came in after he finished with you early this morning. He told us the next few hours were critical and that he was having you sent to ICU. That was after midnight. We haven’t heard from any medical staff since then. It’s only 8am, so it’s still early.”
“How much damage was done? Am I gonna make it?” Ronan was scared shitless to ask the question, but he was even more scared of the answer.
“You got really lucky. All three bullets hit the right side of your chest. Your right lung took all the damage, but your heart is fine.” Tennyson sounded relieved.
“Of course it is. How could my heart not be fine? It belongs to you. You were the one keeping it safe.” Ronan wished he could hold his lover, but for the moment, he’d settled for being able to hear his voice.
Tennyson sniffled. “Don’t you get sappy with me, you big lug. We’ve got some serious stuff to talk about. I don’t know how long we’re going to be able to talk like this.”
“Okay,” Ronan sobered. He had a feeling he knew what Tennyson was going to
ask him.
“Tell me what happened. Do you remember it all?” Ten asked gently.
“Yeah. I was going to call you after the press conference but my phone was dead. I figured that was no problem since I had my charger in the car. When I got out to the car though, it wasn’t there.”
“We brought it in the house when we were unpacking.” Tennyson’s voice sounded devastated.
“I remembered that too when I was halfway home. I figured that didn’t matter either because I would just call you when I got the phone on the charger at home.” Ronan took a deep breath. “I had our entire night planned out. I was going to make reservations at your favorite Italian place and order a rose bloom to be left at your spot at our table and I was going to look into times for that yoga class Truman was on his way too, so that we could go together. We had so much fun when we did yoga together at Sand Dollar Shoal. I was also going to look up bikes for us on Amazon. Our neighborhood is the perfect bike riding neighborhood.”
“You were going to do all of those things for us?” Ten sounded surprised.
“Yeah,” Ronan laughed. “Our lives are so crazy-busy, Ten, with our jobs and the move and we’re going to start planning our wedding soon. I realized that if we don’t make time to do what matters, it won’t get done.”
“You are so amazing.”
“That goes ditto for you, Almost Mr. O’Mara.”
Ten giggled. He cleared his throat and was silent for a few heartbeats. “What happened when you got back to our house?”
Ronan knew he had to tell Tennyson this part of the story, but that didn’t make it any easier. “I parked the car in front of our house. I was thinking about how I was going to go inside and grab the phone charger and Dixie to take her out for her walk. Truman called out from down the street. He was leaving for his yoga class. I stood on our sidewalk and watched him drive off. That’s when I started thinking that when I was done walking Dixie, that I would get some information about that class and find out how much mountain bikes cost for the two of us. When I turned around, I practically ran into Mark Abruzzi.”
