Reagan shook his head. “I don’t know. The fact that you all are investigating the Skye Washington case just adds to the mystery.”
“Well, this is interesting,” Jude said. “According to The Salem News, Lisa McRoy has been named as the interim host of the Jennifer’s Place gala.”
“Interesting,” Ronan said.
“I don’t give a fiddler’s fuck about galas,” Cisco was out of his seat and pacing. “This letter tells us nothing. There are no details about the crime. No indication of why Heidi allegedly killed her best friend. I sure as hell can’t take this letter to the Washington family. All it does is add to the mystery instead of solving it.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Ronan agreed. “We need to speak to the last surviving friend before the killer can get to her.”
“I can’t imagine Lisa is going to want to talk to us after the murder of her two friends within the last week.” Fitzgibbon was out of his seat and shrugging back into his jacket.
“What about you, Ten? What are you getting from all of this?” Ronan had stayed in his seat. His full attention was on his husband.
Ten turned to Reagan. “Can I touch the letter and envelope?”
Nodding, the attorney slid them down the table.
Ten set them beside each other and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and concentrated on the objects in front of him. His right hand lowered to the letter. He saw nothing. “It’s all blank—” Ten gasped as his stomach dropped and he felt a wave of nausea pass through him. In the distance he could hear screaming, faint at first but getting louder before fading out. As the vision swam into focus, he saw Skye Washington lying in the snow as a puddle of blood spread out beneath her. Heidi Lucas stood over her, holding a bloody knife. “Oh, Jesus,” he muttered.
“What is it? What did you see?” Ronan pushed Ten’s seat back from the table, turning the chair so it was facing him.
“I saw Heidi with a bloody knife and Skye lying in the snow. She was dead.”
“Was anyone else there?” Ronan asked.
“I don’t know. All I could see was Heidi and Skye.” Ten shook his head. He was pondering something Skye had said before, or rather, didn’t say. “I think there’s more to this.”
“What do you mean?” Cisco asked.
“If this was the end of the story, then there was no need to kill Jennifer or Heidi, right?” Ten looked around the table.
“What if Heidi killed Jennifer and then herself?” Reagan asked. “Stranger things have happened.”
“No,” Ronan answered quickly. “The pillow used to kill Heidi was thrown across the room. Heidi wouldn’t have been able to smother herself and then throw the pillow.”
“What if the EMTs moved it?” Jude asked.
“It was the neighbor who found Heidi,” Ronan wore a frustrated look on his face. “I suppose it’s possible she moved it, but it was flung across the room. Shit!” he muttered under his breath. “We’re still at square one.”
Ten knew exactly how Ronan was feeling. How was it possible to have a second murder, and a confession to Skye Washington’s killing, and still not have made any progress? He was sick and tired of this case and knew there was only one person who could answer the question of who killed Skye Washington. Ten was going to give the shy spirit one more chance to answer the question before he gave up on this case completely.
29
Ronan
Ronan sat alone in front of the Christmas tree in the dark, watching the lights twinkle. Everly had just gone down for the night, and Tennyson was upstairs changing into sweats and a tee. How fucking pathetic was it that Ronan was sitting alone in the dark while his husband was naked upstairs?
This case had him tied up in knots. Never in his entire career had Ronan ever felt this upside down before. Nothing about this case made sense. Not the dead teenager who refused to tell Ten who killed her. Not the two murdered friends. Not the death letter, which wasn’t very much of a confession after all.
“Are you still eating worms or is there a spot by the tree for me?” Ten asked from the midpoint of the stairs.
“I’m not eating worms,” Ronan grumped. He was so totally eating worms. He couldn’t help snorting.
“Ha! Finally, a smile!” Ten sat next to Ronan and rested his head on his shoulder.
“Today sucked, Ten,” Ronan half-whispered.
“Yes, it did, but tonight isn’t going to follow suit.” Ten picked up his head and pointed to the coffee table where his laptop sat with the lid closed.
“What’s your plan?” Ronan couldn’t help but be intrigued by his husband. Maybe he’d want to watch a little three-way action on PornHub.
“We’re not watching porn, Ronan.” Ten rolled his eyes. “I was thinking we’d order everything on Everly’s wish list and figure out what the hell to buy everyone else.”
“Everything on her list?” Ronan started to laugh. “This is her second Christmas, Ten, we don’t have to outdo ourselves every year.”
Ten gasped. A hand fluttered dramatically to his heart. “Who are you and what the hell have you done with my husband? You’re always the one insisting that we go overboard for Everly.”
Ten had a point, and Ronan knew it. Ronan sighed. “I thought this case would be an easy slam dunk.”
“We all did, Ronan. Me. Kevin. Jude. Obviously, there was a reason the case went cold almost immediately and stayed cold for thirty-five years.”
“Lisa never returned any of the messages I sent her.” Why would she? Not unless she had a death wish.
“After the deaths of two of her high school friends, can you blame her? I wouldn’t call you back either.” Ten gave Ronan’s hand a squeeze. “Do we go back to Kyle Danner, or to the siblings?”
Ronan sank his head into his hands. “I have no fucking idea where to go next with this case. Did you reach out to Skye Washington?”
Ten shook his head. “I’ve done nothing but reach out to her ever since we left Reagan’s office. Was it just me or did he seem just as bewildered by this whole thing as we were?”
“The thing about attorney-client privilege is that it ends when the client dies. Reagan was free to tell us anything and everything he knew about Heidi and the Skye Washington case. He knows we’ve been assigned to solve it. If he knew anything else, he would have told us.” Ronan turned to Ten. “Did you get the impression he wasn’t telling us all he knew?”
“No, nothing like that. He was angry that Heidi hadn’t confided in him. There were things he could have done to help her through this.”
“I bet there were. He was sure the hell willing to throw the kitchen sink at my little problem. Did he give any indication of how he thought he could have helped her?”
“No.” Ten sighed. “Since he didn’t know what she was hiding or why, he didn’t know exactly how he could have helped her. Reagan’s got a soft spot in his heart for Heidi. She was his first client. One who followed him to his own firm when he opened it. You don’t see a whole lot of that kind of loyalty these days.”
“Like between the four friends.” Ronan shook his head. “Here’s where I’m stuck. Are the friends dying because they were the ones who killed Skye, or because they know who did? Fuck, it’s possible they’re all one and the same, right?” Ronan had never come up against a case like this before, with or without Tennyson.