Dead of Winter (Cold Case Psychic #15) - Pandora Pine Page 0,59

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.”

Cisco’s left eyebrow shot up. “Figuratively or literally?”

“Jesus, Ronan.” Ten elbowed his husband. “Figuratively. We spoke to him for about an hour. Kyle went to pieces after Skye was murdered. He’s finally got his life on track.”

“Did he kill her?” Cisco took a large bite from his wrap. His eyes never left Tennyson.

“I don’t think so. Ronan is still on the fence.” Ten hated throwing his husband under the bus like this, but he knew Cisco would be more interested in what Ronan thought about Kyle.

Cisco’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you on the fence?”

Ronan pointed to his mouth. His left cheek bulged as he continued to chew. In the time it took Tennyson to explain where they were in the investigation, Ronan had demolished his first piece of pizza. “After Skye was murdered, he lost himself in booze and