“Okay, fine. You’re not a perv. What the hell were you looking for?”
“Clues. Teenage girls are experts at hiding things. From what I understand, the theory at the time was that the cops thought your case was a stranger danger killing. Their work was sloppy and incomplete. Your room was never searched or examined. After what happened to Jennifer, we have a definite reason to believe it wasn’t a stranger who killed you. We think whoever did this is still here, watching and waiting.”
“Ooooh! Scary!” Skye laughed. “Do those ghost stories really work on people?”
Tennyson had reached his limit of what he was going to take from Skye. “Jennifer came by the Magick shop the other day to talk about you and the night you were murdered. She didn’t tell us anything that would lead to an arrest…” Tennyson trailed off. He’d been trying to figure out what Jennifer had said that day that would have made the killer come after her, and now he thought he knew what it was.
“Don’t stop now!” Skye leaned forward. If she’d been human, she would have taken a nasty tumble down the stairs.
“I need to talk to Ronan.” Ten was on his feet again.
“Wait! Tell me!” Skye was standing now and shouting down at Tennyson.
“I thought you didn’t care about your murder or how it affected the people around you?” Ten was really done with this ghost and the case. It was two weeks till Christmas, and he should be spending every minute with his daughter getting ready for the holiday. He still needed to shop for her Christmas dress and matching family pajamas.
“You thought of a clue. I want to know what it was.” Skye sounded like an angry child.
“Do you know who killed you?” Tennyson shot back.
“Yes, I know who killed me. I was stabbed like a hundred times.” Skye sat back down, looking defeated.
Tennyson took a deep breath. He knew he needed to dial back his emotions, or he wasn’t going to see Skye again. He wanted to coddle her and let her know that people still loved and cared about her all these years later, but knew kindness would send her running. “Jennifer mentioned you wanting to run away with some boy. What the hell was his name?” Ten rubbed his chin as if he were deep in thought.
“Kyle Danner,” Skye said, barely above a whisper. “He was my one true love.”
The change that Kyle’s name brought out in Skye was stunning. She was cool and calm now, but her dominant feature was her sad eyes. “I know I was only fifteen, but Kyle understood me like no one else ever did. Not my parents, my sister, or my friends got me the way he did.” She looked up at Ten, making eye contact. “He wasn’t the most popular boy in school, but after I started dating him, all of my friends wanted him too.”
“I hate to ask, but did they really want him or were you just being a dramatic teenager.” From what Ten remembered from high school, teenage girls were fickle with no sense of loyalty.
“No, they really wanted him. Or maybe they did it so I’d have to choose.” Tears trickled down Skye’s face.
“Have to choose what?” Ten knew damn well what the choice was. He wanted to hear her describe the situation in her own words.
“Between them and him.” Skye swiped angrily at her tears.
If Ten were a betting man, he’d say these were the first tears Skye had shed since she’d been murdered.
“Not the first,” Skye said softly. “I lied about not checking in on my family after my death.”
Ten released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. At least now he knew Jennifer had a heart. “Who were you checking in on?”
“Everyone. My family, friends, Kyle. The grief was too much. Theirs and mine.” Skye locked eyes with Tennyson. “I built a wall and stayed behind it. That’s all I’m going to say.” Before Ten could stop her, she vanished.
“Son of a bitch!” Ten muttered from behind gritted teeth.
“I was just coming in here to release you from time out, but it looks like you need a bit more punishment.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows. “I know just how to teach you a lesson.”
Ten hated to rain on Ronan’s parade, but now wasn’t the time. “Skye was here. We had a bit of a breakthrough.”
“What?” All signs of his arousal were gone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Maybe because Ronan looked like he was ready to pounce just listening to the highlights of the conversation. “She was skittish enough as it was. Skye almost ran off on me twice before I said the magic word.”
“What the hell was the magic word?” He sighed and took a seat on the stairs.
“Kyle Danner.” Ten understood where she was coming from. If he were an unwilling spirit, Ronan’s name would have been the one topic he would have been willing to discuss. Unless, of course, Ronan was the reason Ten was a spirit to begin with.
“The boyfriend?”
Ten nodded. “According to Skye, it was true love, and the other friends did what they could to muscle in on the relationship.” Ten hated that for Skye. There had been times during his relationship with Ronan where other men tried to muscle their way between them, most notably Corbin St. Pierre, who’d kissed Ten and had later been found murdered on the floor of West Side Magick.
Ronan’s hopeful look soured. “I’ll never understand why people do that.” He stood up, holding his hand out to Tennyson. “Let’s finish decorating the tree. We’ll discuss your punishment after Little Miss goes to bed.”
Ten rolled his eyes as if he were completely put out by Ronan’s suggestion, when in reality, he could use a good spanking.
23
Ronan
It was just going to be Ronan and Tennyson on the case today. Baby Aurora had the sniffles, so Kevin was staying with her in case she needed to go to the doctor. After hearing Fitzgibbon was out, Jude decided he was going to work on something with Cope. Ronan had a feeling Jude was going to work on Cope, but that was another story for another day.
They’d decided last night that it was time to speak with Kyle Danner. Instead of calling ahead and making an appointment with Skye’s ex-boyfriend, they’d shown up and surprised him. Ten had insisted on bringing a donation to the food bank with them. Ronan hoped Kyle would be more willing to talk to them after he’d been buttered up.
“What’s up with Jude?” Ten asked when he was settled into the front seat of the Mustang.
“I think they’re taking a sex day.” Ronan’s blue eyes darkened. He leaned over to press a hard kiss to Ten’s neck.
“A sex day?” Ten’s eyes widened.
“Yeah,” Ronan grinned. “It’s like a snow day, but instead of shoveling, you bone all day.”
Ten’s mouth opened but no words came out.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Ronan chanced a look at his stunned husband. “You’re thinking, ‘Ronan, we need to have a sex day. Several of them, in fact.’”
Ten snorted. “No. I was thinking you’d lost your grip on reality. Sex day.” Ten rolled his eyes. “Cope’s been working with a difficult spirit and asked Jude if he’d help out.”
“Right, then after that, they’re gonna go home and bone.” Ronan loved riling his husband up.