Dead of Winter (Cold Case Psychic #15) - Pandora Pine Page 0,53
the case yet, but the good news is that we’re going to a ball.” Ronan grabbed a brownie and split it, offering half to Everly and keeping the rest for himself.
“’Um! ‘Um!” Everly dove into her treat with relish. Her mouth was outlined in chocolate after the first bite.
“A ball? What are you talking about?” Ten finished making the hot chocolate, adding an ice cube to Everly’s sippy cup to cool down her hot “choccy.”
Ronan got up from his seat and rifled through a pile of mail on the kitchen island. “This!” Ronan shook the pale-cream envelope over his head.
“Oh no.” Ten had forgotten all about this invitation. It had arrived a few days before Cisco asked Ronan to work on the Skye Washington case. “Jennifer’s Place,” he said quietly. “While we were interviewing her yesterday, it never occurred to me that she was the namesake Jennifer.”
“It didn’t cross my mind either,” Ronan admitted. “She said she had somewhere to be yesterday, and according to the husband, she’s also a member of the Ladies Auxiliary. Their Toys for Tots drive is wrapping up this week. Jennifer had her hands in a lot of charitable events…” He trailed off.
“What happened in the meeting with her husband today?” Ten took a sip of his hot chocolate. It was delicious. Just what he needed after a long, non-productive day.
“It went like I thought it would at first. Charles is obviously in mourning for his wife, but things changed when we asked about Skye Washington.” Ronan’s eyes glowed like he was on to something.
That made no sense. “He was upset at being asked about a thirty-five-year-old cold case, but not about being accused of his wife’s murder?”
“We didn’t actually accuse him of killing Jennifer. Cisco asked about the last time he saw or spoke to his wife, and then we talked about how the two of them met. It was a sweet love story. Charles stopped to help Jennifer in the rain when her car broke down.” Ronan’s serious look turned into a sappy smile.
Ten slapped a hand against Ronan’s forehead. The sappy smile was Ten’s clue that something was wrong with his grumpy husband.
“What the heck is wrong with you? Smacking me like that in front of our daughter.” Ronan shot Ten the stink-eye.
Everly was drinking her cocoa, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil between her parents.
“I needed to see if you were running a fever.” Ten moved his hand from Ronan’s forehead to rest against his cheek. Ronan wasn’t hot. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe that two seasoned cops didn’t ask the husband of a murder victim if he killed his dead wife.”
“It’s true. Cisco wanted to go easy on him. We don’t have any of the forensics back yet. No DNA, fingerprints, phone records, computers, or things of that nature. Since we didn’t have any evidence to back up our claims, we took the slow road and acted like we were on a fact-finding mission.” Ronan turned his face into Ten’s hand, pressing a kiss against his palm.
“What did you learn?” Ten loved it when Ronan made romantic gestures, just not in the middle of discussing a murder case.
“Charles was perfectly calm and collected until I asked him about Skye Washington.” Ronan bounced his eyebrows as if to signal he was building up to something big.
“What did you ask him?” This was interesting. Why the hell would a grieving husband be upset about the Washington case?
“If he thought Jennifer killed Skye.” Ronan snickered and bit his bottom lip.
“Jesus Christ, Ronan!” Ten slapped a hand against his forehead. Ronan couldn’t possibly be that dense. Charles Blake’s wife wasn’t even twenty-four hours dead yet, and Ronan was accusing her of Skye’s murder?
“Bad Dada! Tie ow!” Everly pointed to the living room. Her little face morphed into an I-mean-it frown.
Ronan burst out laughing. “Our sweet, sweet child has a point, Dada. You did say a bad word. It’s only fair you head to time out.”
“Seriously! You say bad words all the time. I don’t see you sitting on the time out step.” Ten perched Everly on the first step for her time outs. If he sat there, his knees would come up to his ears.
“Now, Dada! Go!” Everly was now pointing with two fingers.
“Yes, ma’am.” Ten bowed to his daughter and headed off to the living room. He could use a few minutes to himself to figure out what the hell was going on with this case. It got crazier by the minute.