“I’ll give the guys a call after dinner. I’m curious to see how Aurora is feeling, and what the hell Jude was off doing with Cope today.”
Ten snorted. “We know what they were doing, just not which position they were doing it in.”
“TMI, Ten.”
“Ten?” Everly asked, holding up ten fingers.
“That’s right, Queen E. You’re so smart.” Ronan peppered the baby’s face with kisses.
Tennyson pulled out his phone and started taping father and daughter. Dinner could wait.
27
Ronan
The ringing phone pulled Ronan out of a deep sleep. “O’Mara,” Ronan answered with a scratchy voice.
“Rise and shine. It’s crime-solving time,” Cisco Jackson’s voice burst through the phone.
“Jesus, Cisco, it’s,” Ronan narrowed his sleep-crusted eyes to look at the clock, “quarter past six.”
“Yeah, well, death waits for no one.” The tone in Cisco’s voice sobered.
“Who’s dead?” Ronan asked. He gave Ten’s shoulder a shake. How his husband slept through the ringing phone and Cisco’s booming voice, he’d never know.
“Heidi Lucas,” Cisco said grimly.
“What is it Ronan?” Ten asked, still sounding half asleep.
“Heidi Lucas is dead.” Ronan hit the button for speaker phone. “Was she murdered?”
“Not sure yet. Her neighbor checks on her every morning around five. Says Heidi is always an early riser. When she got no answer at the door, she used her spare key and found Heidi sitting dead in her recliner surrounded by her cats.”
Ronan shivered. Christ, not the cats again. “What do you mean you’re not sure if she was murdered?”
“According to the neighbor, Heidi had a month or so to live because of advanced lung cancer. She was weak as a kitten, and it wouldn’t have taken much to speed the process along. Get here as soon as you can. Bring the whole gang. Just watch out for the roads, it’s snowing.” The phone beeped three times and Cisco was gone.
“Oh my God,” Ten muttered. “Did we do this? Is this investigation the kiss of death?”
“Jesus, I was just thinking the same thing.” Ronan rested his head in his hands for a brief moment. “Hop in the shower. I’ll call out the troops.”
Thirty minutes later, they were all driving to Heidi Lucas’s house in Fitzgibbon’s SUV. The ride was silent with everyone being half asleep or in shock from the news of her death.
“Did either of you consider this is our fault?” Jude asked. He shifted in the front seat to face Ten and Ronan in the back.
“Repeatedly,” Ronan answered. It’s all he’d been able to think about. If Cisco hadn’t asked them to look into this case, Jennifer and Heidi would still be alive. Probably.
“None of this is our fault,” Fitzgibbon said, parking the SUV near the yellow crime scene tape roping off Heidi’s house and a portion of the street. “If Jennifer and Heidi’s deaths are related to the Skye Washington case, it’s the killer’s fault.”
“Obviously, we’re getting closer to the truth than the killer wants us to be.” Ronan had been pondering this exact thing when Jude interrupted his train of thought. “Here I’ve been thinking all we’re doing is spinning our wheels, but we must be close, or people wouldn’t be dying.”
“Christ, a thirty-five-year-old cold case, and now two bodies drop inside a week.” Jude was shaking his head.
“We don’t know if Heidi’s body dropped,” Tennyson said. “She had end-stage lung cancer. It might have been a natural death aided along by her endless supply of Virginia Slims.”
“She looked very fragile when we met her yesterday.” Ronan brightened at the idea that Heidi’s death could have been caused by cancer rather than by a mad killer on the loose.
“Fragile enough to buy the farm only hours later?” Jude popped his seatbelt and opened the door. “I should have taken the T-bird. Being seen with the two of you could be hazardous to my health.”
“Talking like that is hazardous to your health.” Ronan growled after him.
“Let’s get to it, before the two of you get any deeper into your own heads.” Fitzgibbon climbed out of the SUV, opening Ronan’s door as he passed it.
The house looked just like it had yesterday with Heidi’s wreck of an Oldsmobile in the driveway. The only difference was the bevy of cops and patrol cars lining the street and Chief Cisco Jackson walking toward them.
“Body’s still in the living room,” Cisco said by way of hello.
“Where’s the neighbor?” Ronan wanted to go interview her instead of going back into Heidi’s house but knew that wasn’t an option. He would have to pull up his big boy pants and get to work.
“I’ve got an officer sitting with her at her house.” Cisco pointed to the grey cape next door. “You can go speak with her later.”
Ronan couldn’t help wondering if her house was in the same condition as Heidi’s. “I’m ready to go in there before I lose my nerve,” Ronan muttered.
An officer behind them sneezed loudly. “You’re going to need masks, Detective O’Mara.” He held four of them in his hands.
“Thanks, Paul.” Ronan took the respirator mask from the young man, whose eyes were bloodshot and watering. “Allergic to cats?”
Paul nodded miserably. “I’ve got Benadryl in my patrol car.” He sneezed again.
“Go take it before you end up in the ER.” Ronan patted his shoulder. When he turned to the others, they were all wearing masks. They were barely recognizable, even his husband. “Is everyone ready?” Without waiting for an answer, Ronan headed toward the house.
Cisco led them into the kitchen, which was now being treated as a crime scene. So far as he could tell, nothing had been moved since yesterday afternoon when they were here. One thing was very obviously missing. “Where are the cats?”
“Animal control took them, for their safety and ours.” Cisco snickered.
“Your safety?” Fitzgibbon asked, sounding perplexed.
“Yeah, they bit two of the medics when they tried to examine Heidi’s body.” Cisco shook his head. “They were going to come in to remove the cats anyway. We just asked them to do it sooner to keep everyone safe.”
“Another reason we’re not getting Everly a kitten.” Christ, that’s all they needed was to worry about a monster cat attacking their child. The mark on his face from Ginger the cat was a reminder of how dangerous cats could be.
“Calm down, Ronan. They were protecting their mistress the same way Dixie would protect you if there was an intruder in the house.” It was hard to tell with Tennyson wearing a mask, but it seemed to Ronan that Ten was laughing at him.
“Not if the murdering burglar had a pork chop in his pocket,” Ronan muttered.
“We’re thinking of getting Aurora a kitten for Christmas. Wouldn’t it be fun if her cat and Everly’s were sisters?” Fitzgibbon’s eyes lit up.
Ronan growled again but otherwise stayed silent. He wasn’t a stupid man. He knew at some point in the future Everly would get her damned cat.