Chapter 6
Tennyson
When Tennyson walked into Maria’s room, he was hoping the spirit whose head had been found in the freezer would be in the room with her, but he was not. Ten took a seat across the room beside the sink and watched while Maria flirted, first with Ronan, and then with Jude.
Reaching out with his gift, he could feel the pain Maria was in.
It slammed into him, taking his breath away.
Ten had never had a broken hip before, but had worked with clients at West Side Magick who had.
They had never been in this kind of pain.
Maria was one week post-op, her pain should have been more manageable than what he was feeling.
Summoning all his strength, Ten tried to push past Maria’s pain.
He caught glimpses of her life with her great-niece and nephews, but that was all he was able to see before having to shut his gift down to preserve what little strength he had left.
There were other ways Ten could get the information he was looking for, he’d just need to take a different route.
He’d listened to Ronan try to question Maria, but it was obvious she was too hopped up on pain meds for her to take any of Ronan’s questions seriously, but Ten was getting the impression this was an act she used to keep people away.
He watched as Ronan motioned Sofia into the corridor outside the room.
Jude had no better luck asking Maria about the head in the freezer and how it got there. He seemed to be running out of steam.
“Jude, show Maria the pic of Lizzie when she got stuck in the snow.” It had been crystal clear to Tennyson how much Maria loved her great-nieces and great-nephews.
He knew she would be interested in seeing pictures of the kids.
While Maria was busy looking at pics of Lizzie and Wolf, it might free her mind a bit for Tennyson to poke around.
“Oh, my goodness, Jude. Your daughter is absolutely darling.” Maria’s face lit up.
Ten shut his eyes and tried to calm his racing heart. He was worried that if he opened his gift again, he’d be hit with another onslaught of pain and wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Maria laughed, snapping Tennyson’s eyes open. A man, wearing all black, stood near the head of her bed with his back to Tennyson. From what Tennyson could tell, the man appeared to be about six feet tall and had dark, wavy hair. “Excuse me, sir?” Ten asked, reaching out with his gift.
The man turned and Ten gasped at what he saw. Silver duct tape had been placed over the man’s mouth and across his cheeks.
“You can speak with your mind and I’ll be able to hear you,” Ten said, trying to get over the shock of seeing the tape.
The man shook his head and turned back to Maria. A second man appeared a minute or two later. He was blonde with blue eyes and wore jeans, a Red Sox shirt, and had duct tape across his face as well. “Man in the Sox shirt, can you hear me?” Ten asked, using telepathy.
The man turned to Tennyson and set his right index finger against his lips, the universal gesture to shush. He moved to the left side of the first man.
Using his gift, Ten wasn’t able to get any information from the spirits.
Not their name, an address, or phone number, leaving Ten at a complete loss.
He pulled his notebook out of his coat and started taking notes on the two men.
As he finished, Ten noticed a third man had arrived.
This man was well over six feet and wore an expertly tailored suit, grey, with a crisp white shirt.
He had salt and pepper hair slicked back and his eyes were dark. He also wore the duct tape.
“You look like a pretty tough guy to me,” Ten said to the third man. “How the hell did this tiny woman get the drop on you?”
The third man’s hands balled into fists at his sides. He looked like he wanted to take a swing at Tennyson, but stood still. The angry look stayed on his face as he turned back to Maria, which made Ten wonder if these men were here to comfort or confront her.
He quickly jotted the third man’s description and waited to see if anyone else would show up. None did. Ten tuned back into the conversation Jude was having about adopting Lizzie.
“Your husband knew this little girl would need a family? What an incredible gift.” Maria said, with tears in her eyes. “Who would ever want to give this beautiful girl away?”
“Since I was in the ICU recovering from my death, I never met Lizzie’s biological mother.
She signed all of the paperwork to set aside her parental rights and let the Massachusetts Division of Children and Families know that Cope and I wanted to adopt the baby.
” Jude chuckled. “Even though I died for about three minutes, it was still the best day of my life.”
Maria laughed with Jude. With that, her guard dropped and Ten saw exactly why he’d felt such horrible pain when he tried to read Maria. It wasn’t the broken hip causing her pain. It was something worse. Much worse.
Over the next several minutes three more well-dressed men came into the room. All wore duct tape. None spoke when Ten asked for their names. Frustrated, Ten tried one last time to get some answers. “Are you here to escort Maria into the light or to keep her from entering it?”
All six men turned back to Tennyson. Blood blossomed through the left side of their shirts near their hearts. The duct tape was now missing, possibly indicating it had nothing to do with their deaths. “Who are you? I can help you find peace if you’ll let me.”
Just as the man in the grey suit looked about to speak, the door to Maria’s room opened and in walked Sofia, followed by Ronan, who’d started to tell a story about Everly. When Ten turned his attention back to the spirits, they’d all vanished.
“Thanks for your time, Sofia,” Ronan said. “Feel better soon, Maria.” He motioned Ten and Jude into the hall.
“I’m so glad we had the chance to get to know each other, Maria.” Jude called back with a little wave.
“Are you okay?” Ronan asked, when he’d shut the door behind them.
Ten shook his head. “We have so much to talk about, but not here. I have to get out of this place now.” Without waiting for Ronan, Ten headed for the elevator bank, not quite sure how he was going to tell the others what he’d seen.
If Maria knew anything about the identity of the remains in the freezer, she needed to spill what she knew sooner, rather than later.
Time was of the essence.