“Go on,” Ronan urged.
Kyle raked a hand through his short hair. “Like I said, I’d known all those girls since I was five years old. Just because I found myself falling in love with Skye didn’t mean the same was going to happen with her friends. At one time or another, all of those girls came on to me.” He paused, looking back and forth between Ten and Ronan. “I know you’re thinking I was just this hormonal kid who thought the world wanted me, but…”
“We don’t think that at all. Jennifer as much as admitted it to us.” Ten shot Ronan a questioning look.
Ronan knew exactly what Tennyson was hinting at. “Jennifer made mention that the two of you may have gotten together after Skye’s death.”
Kyle dry heaved. He bolted out of his seat and rested his face against one of the front windows.
“Are you okay?” Tennyson motioned the staff for a glass of water before going to Kyle and escorting him back to his seat. A volunteer with a nametag reading “Elle” brought him a paper cup filled with water.
“I’ve spent the last thirty-five years trying to block that night from my mind. I was drunk. I wasn’t sure at the time, but I thought Jennifer was feeding me as much booze as she could so I’d give in to her. Now that I’m older, I’m certain that’s what she did.”
“Are you saying she sexually assaulted you?” Ronan asked.
“No. Not at all. I might have been drunk, but I knew what I was doing. Well, until the end when I called out Skye’s name.”
Ronan cringed. “I’m sure that didn’t go well.”
“It didn’t. I think she hit me. I was too drunk and grief-stricken to care. I never saw Jennifer like that again.”
“Why did you call this place Skye’s the Limit?” Ten’s face brightened, looking like he was happy to change the subject.
Kyle smiled. His first real one of the interview. “I’d done so many bad things in Skye’s name, the food pantry was the one good thing I could do for her memory.”
The bell over the front door dinged. A group of people walked in and headed to the counter. Ronan heard them asking for hot lunches. His gut tightened. Homelessness and hunger were two things that always made him open his wallet. “Thank you for your time.” He shook Kyle’s hand.
Tennyson followed suit. “If there’s ever anything I can do to help you…”
Kyle nodded. “I just want to be happy.”
“You will be.” Ten smiled before walking toward Ronan who held the door for him.
“What was that about?” Ronan asked. The last thing Ronan needed was his husband cozying up to Skye’s possible killer.
“I let Kyle know that I was available if he needed anything.”
“Dammit, Ten, we don’t even know if this man killed Skye or Jennifer for that matter.” Ronan’s gut instinct wasn’t telling him Kyle was the killer, but he wasn’t infallible. Ronan had been wrong before.
“Yes, we do, Ronan. We both know Kyle had nothing to do with either woman’s death.”
Ronan frowned. “You might have a point, but there’s no one to prove or disprove his alibi.” Ten was probably right, and he knew it. “If Kyle isn’t the killer, then who is?”
“It’s got to be someone closer to home. Her parents or siblings.”
“What about strangers?” If this killing had come at the hands of a stranger, there was no possible way they would ever find him or her. Stranger danger also didn’t explain Jennifer’s murder.
“No.” Ten shook his head. “There is no way Skye walked out of the house that night without some kind of plan. If her murder occurred after the advent of the internet and chat rooms, then I would absolutely think she could have made plans to hook up with a mysterious online stranger, but in the 1980s? How would she meet someone like that? Chain letter?”
Ronan snorted. He’d gotten a chain letter from a camp friend back in middle school. He’d learned the hard way what a scam they were. He was still bitter over that lost dollar. “We’re going to need to figure out how to bring this up to Skye’s parents without sending them running to Cisco.”
“So then we beat them to the punch and go to Cisco first. I know you’re usually a fan of asking for forgiveness rather than permission, but in this case, I’d rather have Cisco’s blessing.”
“You text him. I’ll drive.” Ronan settled himself behind the wheel of the Mustang. His stomach grumbled in response. “Tell him to meet us at Greek Life. I’m starving. The smell of the bread in there was driving me crazy.” He turned to his husband. “I’m glad we gave them such a big donation. That money is going to help a lot of people.”
“I love this Ronan best of all.” Ten leaned over to kiss his husband.
“What are you talking about?” Ronan shot his husband the stink eye.
“Kind, happy, lovely Ronan is my absolute favorite. You might fool the world with your grumpy outer shell, but I know who you are deep down.”
“Yeah, well, don’t let the word get out. I have my reputation to maintain.” Ronan burst out laughing.
Tennyson was right. Tennyson was always right if Ronan were being honest with himself. His husband was the ray of sunshine to Ronan’s dark storm cloud. Thanks to Ten, Ronan’s life was full of light and love.
24
Tennyson
Cisco Jackson was waiting for them in a corner booth. Ten and Ronan placed their orders at the counter and walked back to join the chief of police who wore a sour look on his face.
“Hello, sunshine!” Ronan greeted with a shit-eating grin.
“Hello, my ass!” Cisco hissed. “I’ve been sitting here for five minutes, and everyone in the place has come up and asked me if there are any leads on the Jennifer Baldwin Blake murder.”
“Are there any—” Ronan began, but was cut off when Ten pinched his arm. “Ow!”
Ten ignored his husband’s outrage. “We have news for you on both cases, but you’re not going to like it.”
“What the hell else is new?” Cisco’s dark eyes bore into Tennyson.
“Here’s your usual, Chief.” A bubbly waitress set a chicken wrap in front of Cisco. “Caesar wrap?” she asked.
“That’s me.” Ten held up his hand.
“That leaves the Greek pizza for you.” She set two slices in front of Ronan.
“How the hell can you be your age and still eat like that?” Cisco stared at Ronan’s pizza with lust in his eyes.
“I’ve got good genes.” Ronan grinned again.
“He’s got good toilet paper.” Ten rolled his eyes.
Cisco’s eyes widened. He looked as if he was sorry he’d asked. “What were you saying about news on the two cases?”
“We spent the morning talking to Kyle Danner. He was Skye’s boyfriend at the time of the murder.” The more Tennyson thought about their interview with the man, the more he felt Kyle wasn’t Skye’s killer.
“Right. He’s got some kind of charity thing going, right?”
Ronan nodded. “He runs a food pantry. It was quite an amazing place. You can go in and shop for groceries and they offer hot meals as well. From what we read online last night, their community outreach is killer.”