Dead of Winter (Cold Case Psychic #15) - Pandora Pine Page 0,2

Next would come the detectives and the lumbering white Suffolk County coroner’s van. If they were lucky, all of this would happen before the news media appeared on-scene.

The flash of blue and white lights pulled Ronan out of his inner monologue. He stood and waited for Silver to approach. All the while, the fire in his gut burned brighter and hotter.

Ronan only applied to the Homicide division as a means of getting out of patrol. He hadn’t been interested in Vice or Special Victims. Maybe his applying to Homicide wasn’t a whim or him taking advantage of the opportunity to grab for an open position so he could get rid of his ticket pad.

Maybe, just maybe, Homicide was where he was meant to be. Where he could make a difference.

Maybe.

1

Ronan

“Bill ‘no-man,” Everly Erin O’Mara sang at the top of her lungs. She ran to her father, Ronan, who was mounding snow together in what looked less like a ball and more like something scraped out of a concrete mixing drum. “Bill ‘no-man, Dada!” Everly smiled brightly.

The toddler was dressed in a bright-pink snowsuit, a gift from Carson and Truman. She wore matching pink mittens and a hat that tied under her chin and had dangling pom-poms on either side of her head. Everly loved to bounce like a kangaroo so her “pony-ails” flew around dramatically.

Ronan laughed at his almost two-year-old daughter. “We are building a snowman.”

Everly shot her father a dubious look. “’No-man!” she shouted before executing a perfect pirouette and falling into the snow, which cracked under her weight, leaving a divot. She tried to make an angel, but the snow was too frozen.

“I’ve got coffee and cocoa,” Ronan’s husband, Tennyson Grimm, called from the deck. Ten was dressed in his black ski parka, matching “pony-ail” hat, and gloves with warmers inside them. Tennyson hated being cold. His snow boots also contained rechargeable heat packs to keep his feet warm, all courtesy of Ronan.

“What do you say, lovebug? Do you want to go have a snack with Daddy?” Ronan hoped to hell his daughter said yes. He was frozen to the bone. It was so cold out that his body heat wasn’t melting the snow he was kneeling in. He rolled backward to get his feet under him but skidded and landed flat on his back.

“Dada!” Everly ran back to Ronan and jumped on his stomach. Her little legs kicked perilously close to Ronan’s danger zone.

“Oof! My jewels, kid. Watch the jewels.” If Ronan had a nickel for every time the fruit of his loins accidentally kicked or elbowed him there, he could buy a private island in the Caribbean and make snowmen out of white sugar sand while in his bathing suit.

“It’s getting cold!” Tennyson called out on a giggle.

Knowing his husband as well as he did, he knew the warm bastard was filming his agony. “Come on, Everly.” Ronan squeaked out, sounding like Mickey Mouse. He got to his feet and hauled the baby over his shoulder.

“Da!” Everly shrieked. Her tiny laugh was music to Ronan’s ears.

“I don’t think we’re gonna make it,” Ronan huffed and puffed at the foot of the stairs.

“Hmm,” Ten snickered. “Maybe Santa Claus should bring Dada a treadmill for Christmas.”

Everly laughed harder and squirmed to get loose. Ronan set her on the steps.

“Tell Daddy I loved him,” Ronan said dramatically.

“Byeee!” Everly climbed the stairs without a look back.

“Hello, beautiful!” Ten scooped the little girl into his arms. He rubbed their noses together. “Ooh, you’re cold. How about some hot chocolate?”

“’Lo, boo-ful!” Everly pressed a wet kiss to the side of Ten’s face. “Cookies!” She twisted in Ten’s arms toward Ronan, who was climbing up the stairs. “Cookies, Dada!”

Ronan stood at the top of the stairs, feeling like he’d climbed Mount Everest. “I could use a cookie.” He bent to kiss Tennyson.

“I’m not so sure about that. You’re gasping for air like you smoke two packs a day.”

“I’ve been playing in the snow for an hour with our daughter while you were warm and toasty inside, doing only God-knows what. The snow’s frozen, so it’s hard to move.” Ronan slumped into the closest patio chair, remembering better summer days when he’d relaxed out here with the newspaper in shorts and a tee.

“So I saw. That’s a pretty pitiful snowman.” Ten laughed.

“Bill ‘no-man,” Everly sang. Her head moved from side to side, swinging her “pony-ails.”

“We need to show her a different movie. If I hear that song one more time…” Ronan trailed off. He