Chapter 3
Ronan
Walking into work the next morning, Ronan’s eyes lingered on Jude’s desk and empty chair.
It had been over a month since Jude had been in the office, laughing, insulting Ronan and doing damn fine detective work on the Hienz case.
He and Fitz had put the rest of the pieces together and had arrested the killer three days after Christmas.
In the weeks that followed, Ronan threw himself into the cold case archives, reading case file after case file, trying to figure out which investigation to start next. He was killing time, hoping to hold off the next case until Jude was back at his desk.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Fitz said, as he walked out of his office straight to the coffee pot. “We need to talk.”
Ronan nodded. He knew exactly what his boss was going to say, that he needed to stop fucking around and pick a new case to work. Grabbing a mug, he poured himself some coffee and set his attention on Fitz, who was about to lash into him. “What’s up?”
“Got a call from Cisco this morning,” Fitz began, his voice more somber than usual.
“He’s not getting rid of Jude, is he?” Ronan couldn’t think of a worse scenario. It would kill him not to work with his best friend everyday and knew Jude would feel the same way. Well, most of the time, anyway.
Fitz shook his head. “No, Jude’s not going anywhere. His job will be waiting for him when he’s cleared to return to active duty.”
Feeling relief wash over him, Ronan began to relax. His mind turned to the obvious reason why Cisco had called Fitz. “What idiotic thing have I done this time?” If Cisco wasn’t getting rid of Jude, Ronan’s behavior, or lack thereof, was the only other thing Cisco ever called about.
“Shockingly, the call wasn’t about you. Not directly, anyway. He wanted to talk to me about bringing on another detective.”
“What?” Ronan felt his head spin. “I thought you just said Jude’s job was safe.”
“It is,” Fitz confirmed. “What I didn’t know was that Cisco had a meeting before the holidays with the city council.
He presented all of the work and cases that we’d successfully solved, while highlighting just how many unsolved cold cases remained on the books.
Cisco asked the council to approve budget money for another detective to join our unit.
Unbelievably, the council said yes. Even more unbelievably, was that the mayor’s budget passed unanimously. ”
“Wow, that’s huge news.” Ronan wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet. Would it be nice to have a fourth member of the team? Yes. Probably. The problem wasn’t finding someone to fill the position, but to find someone who’d fit in with the team and would work as hard as he, Jude, and Fitz.
Fitz raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound like you’re convinced this is a good thing.”
“It took years for you and I to work like the well-oiled machine we were when we were still with the Boston Police Department. When I first met Jude, he helped with investigations, but it took a while for him to gel with me.” God, Ronan sounded like a spoiled brat.
“What I’m trying to say is that we need to pick someone who’ll fit in with us, not someone who’ll clash and think they can run roughshod over you. ”
“You mean like the way you and Jude do?” Fitz asked with a grin.
Ronan laughed. Fitz had a point and also made Ronan’s in the process.
He knew a lot of captains who wouldn’t allow their officers to run investigations their own way.
Fitz had always been a fan of free-range detectives who do their job without him breathing down their necks. “You got anyone in mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Fitzgibbon’s lips twitched.
“Oh, fuck, don’t tell me it’s Faulk! I love the guy but he’s more the my-way-or-the-highway type.” A few years back, Ronan had worked a mafia case with Faulk, when he was still undercover with Vice, and he needed to be king of the hill with every decision.
Fitz shook his head. “It’s not Faulk. He’s loving every second of being the cold case captain in Boston. He’s not ready to give that up anytime soon.”
“Okay, so who is it?” Ronan ran through the names of his favorite detectives in major crimes, along with people he’d worked with in Boston. No one’s name stuck out.
“Greeley,” Fitz said simply.
“You’re kidding, right? Greeley loves working in Boston.
” Ronan loved Greeley like he was his own son.
Fitzgibbon had adopted the then fifteen year old after he’d come forward with information about a serial killer who’d been targeting gay men.
The killer had almost added Greeley to his kill list on two occasions.
It had been watching Fitz bond with Greeley that helped him feel ready to become a father himself.
“He wants out of the BPD. It’s a long time coming.
He hasn’t been happy there for a while now, plus that whole mess with Rock.
Greeley wants to come home. I want him home.
We’ve all worked with him in the past and he has too much empathy to work in homicide.
His personality is much better suited to cold case work. ”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Greeley was as tough as they came, but had a tender heart.
It wasn’t easy knocking on people’s doors and letting them know a loved one’s case was about to be reopened.
Ronan couldn’t count the number of times he’d been cursed out because the case had never been solved in the first place.
Greeley would be very adept at lowering the temperature of the conversation and getting the grieving family members on his side.
“Great! He starts tomorrow.” Fitzgibbon looked like he’d just won the lottery.
“Does Jude know?” Jude was another man who was tough as nails. Not being able to get back to work, drive, and do all his favorite things had really been weighing him down. It wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to let him know their Three Musketeers were turning into the Fab Four.
“Not yet. I wanted to let you know what was going on first. Jude trusts you and I want you there with me when I tell him. Jude loves Greeley too. It should be a smooth transition, but I know people hate change, even if it’s for the good.”
Ronan agreed completely. “We can grab pizza or tacos and tell him over dinner.”
“Works for me. The sooner we can get Greeley up and running, the better. He’s moving in today. He’s really excited to spend more time with Aurora.”
“That’s going to take a bit of getting used to.” Ronan chuckled. “What’s the princess going to do without her second bedroom?”
“Jace is taking care of that. I’m sure whatever bribe he’s forced to make will be money well spent.” Fitz snorted.
“I’m not so sure of that, Aurora and Everly were talking last night about wanting to have vacation houses next to each other on the beach in Hawaii.”
“Sounds good to me! I hate the snow and cold.” Fitz headed back toward his office before he stopped and turned around. “Thanks for being okay with bringing my nepo baby into the fold.
Ronan laughed. “There’s no place like home, Cap.
Greeley’s one of us. I can’t wait to watch him kick ass and take names.
” Greeley had quickly gone up the ranks as a member of the Boston Police Department.
He’d been one of the youngest officers ever promoted to homicide, thanks to his way with people and his investigative mind.
He’d be joining a cold case team with the three best detectives on the Salem Police force who would all be willing to teach him everything they knew.
Greeley was not just going to fly as a member of this team. He was going to soar.