Chapter 6
Tennyson
After Ronan left the house, Ten read and reread the new letter several times before taking a pic and stashing it in the box of bran flakes with the first letter. He’d spent the last hour or so pacing around the house and trying to figure out what his next move should be.
What the hell was the poisoned pen author after?
There was no mention of wanting blackmail or some other kind of bribe.
Was the endgame to simply hurt Tennyson and his family?
Why? What the hell had Ten or Ronan done to deserve this kind of treatment?
Was someone wanting revenge for not hearing what they wanted in a reading?
Was a parent angry because of his place on the PTA or because of something Everly had achieved that their child had not?
Were the letters coming from someone who Ronan had sent to prison or because their loved one’s cold case had yet to be solved?
Ten’s wildly accelerating train of thought was interrupted by the door alarm going off.
“Hey, babe!” Ronan called.
“I’m in the kitchen.” Ten took a deep breath and plastered on a smile.
“Are you okay?” Ronan asked. “You look like I startled you out of a nap.”
“I’m good. Just tired. Getting older is kicking my ass.” While that might have been somewhat true, worrying about the damn letters and their purpose was wearing him to the bone.
“I feel that,” Ronan agreed.
“How did it go with telling Jude about Greeley?” Ten was eager to change the subject before Ronan could probe his mood any further.
“It got off to a rocky start when Fitz and I overheard them shouting at each other to fuck off, but it turned out they were just playing a video game.” Ronan snorted.
“As long as I live, I will never understand why you guys act that way, insulting each other.” Ten shook his head.
“Yeah, it’s one for the theologians.” Ronan shrugged. “The good news is that Jude is excited to have Greeley on the team.”
“What’s the bad news?” Ten asked, afraid of the answer.
Ronan nibbled his bottom lip, looking as if he were trying to decide if he should tell Ten or keep his mouth shut. “There’s something wrong with Cope.”
“What do you mean? Is he hurt or sick?” Ten hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Cope today in their limited interactions at work. He’d kept his head down and stayed in his reading room during the day, even if he wasn’t with a client, so he hadn’t seen Cope as much as he would on a normal day.
“Jude said he’s been acting strange. Have you noticed anything wrong with him?”
Ten shook his head. “We both had really busy days today, so I didn’t have a lot of time to talk to Cope.
What does Jude think is going on?” Jude was the most secure man Ten had ever met.
He very much doubted he thought Cope was stepping out on him.
Cope would have come to see Ten if there was anything wrong with the kids or his gift, which didn’t leave a lot of other options available.
“He said Cope’s been on edge for the last two or three days. He’s been jumpy and out of sorts. Have you noticed anything like that?”
Ronan could have been describing what was going on with Tennyson. Was it possible his friend had been getting the same kind of letters? “No, I haven’t noticed that. If I do or if I read something from him, I’ll let you know, okay?”
“Sounds good. I told Jude Cope was probably just tired of dealing with his annoying ass.”
“I know the feeling well.” Ten laughed.
“Watch it or you’ll be sleeping in the garden with Jack Frost tonight!” Ronan kissed Ten’s cheek. “I’m gonna change and then we’ll head to Fitzgibbon’s for the party.”
The absolute last thing Ten wanted was to go to a party, even if it was for Greeley, but it would give him a chance to grab a few minutes with Cope to gently probe to see if he was getting anonymous letters as well.
Fifteen minutes later, Ten and Ronan walked out the front door into the frigid January air. When they reached Fitzgibbon’s house, Ten saw they were the last to arrive. The kids could be heard laughing from the den. Jude was sitting on the sofa surrounded by Fitz and Greeley. “Where’s Cope?”
“Kitchen. He’s placing the food order,” Jude called back over the din of voices.
Ten knew he wasn’t going to get a better opportunity to talk to Cope.
He walked into the kitchen just as Cope was finishing up on the phone with Greek Life.
As his friend confirmed the order, Ten took a minute to study Cope.
He looked okay to Ten, if not a little tired, but with January in full swing and the kids back in school, everyone was tired.
“Twenty minutes? Got it, thanks.” Cope hung up the phone. “Hey, Ten! I didn’t hear you guys come in.”
“We got here a few minutes ago.” Ten took a deep breath, still not sure if he should let Cope know what was going on. “Got a minute? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Cope studied Ten for a second before nodding. “Sure, just let me tell the guys when the food will be here.”
Ten took a seat at Fitzgibbon’s kitchen table. It was neat as a pin with the salt and pepper shakers, red pepper flakes and napkins arranged just so.
“What’s up?” Cope asked, taking the seat across from Ten.
“I’m not sure how to tell you this,” Ten began. Cope’s eyes widened, as if he were expecting Ten to spill some bad news. “Everyone’s okay. I promise.”
Cope’s shoulders lowered and he let out a breath. He looked Ten up and down. “You look scared. What’s going on?”
“I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone.
I figured it was just a joke and didn’t mean anything, but then Ronan came home this afternoon and said Jude mentioned you not acting like yourself over the last two days, so I’m taking a chance telling you about what’s happening because I’m worried that maybe the same thing is happening to you. ”
Getting up from the table, Cope walked toward the living room, as if he were checking to see that no one else was listening. He gently shut the door and walked back to Ten. “You’re getting ugly letters too?”
Ten nodded. “Thank Jesus.” He took a deep breath, feeling some of the building tension flow out of his muscles, before he realized Cope might take what he said the wrong way.
“Not that you’re getting the letters too, but that you’re not going to think I’m completely insane when I tell you what’s been happening to me. ”
Cope pulled out his phone, tapped several times and slid it across to Tennyson.
It was a picture of an envelope. “This is exactly what mine have looked like, block printing, with a Salem postmark, and no return address.” Ten felt his heart speed up when he swiped to see the next picture.
It was a letter that looked identical to the ones he’d received.
This was no joke. He focused on Cope’s phone and began to read the letter out loud.
“My dearest Copeland,” he read out loud.
“I know something you don’t know.” Tennyson felt his stomach drop.
“This is exactly how my letters started out. It reminded me of elementary schoolyard bullying.”
“Me too. Keep reading,” Cope urged.
“You don’t know me, but I know you. I also know your husband, the great cold case detective and man-whore, Jude Byrne.
I spy with my little eye, an angry man, who was fed up with his husband’s promiscuous ways.
One little push was all it took to show Jude just who rules the roost. Oh, well, your jealousy was bound to rear its ugly head at some point.
You’re lucky Jude survived or Wolf and Lizbet would have become orphans… Again!”
Ten looked up from the letter to see tears in Cope’s eyes. “Sweet Jesus.”
“Whoever this asshole is thinks I pushed Jude down the stairs. They think I tried to kill my husband.” Cope shook his head.
His eyes were wild, full of panic and fear.
“What happens if this person goes to the police? Or posts this poison on the West Side Magick social media pages. I’ll be ruined.
No one would ever trust me again. What the hell would I do, Ten? ”
“That’s not going to happen.” Ten reached for Cope’s hands.
“Ronan, Fitz, and Cisco were at your house minutes after Jude fell. It was clear from Jude’s position at the bottom of the stairs how he fell.
They also saw the boxes of scattered ornaments.
Don’t forget Wolf saw the whole thing. His first words to Ronan were, ‘Daddy fell.’ If you had pushed Jude, Wolf would have told Ronan. ”
“We both know that lies spread faster than the truth.” Cope gripped Ten’s hands like a life line.
“As for social media, we’ve got post approval turned on.
No one can post anything without one of us approving the post. Even if a venomous post or comment slipped through the cracks, there’s no one who would believe you were capable of hurting Jude.
” Tennyson had been at home with the kids when Jude had his accident.
He’d spent days sitting with Cope in the hospital, hoping and praying for Jude to wake up.
If Cope had pushed Jude, Ten would have been able to read it.
During that horrible time all Ten felt was Cope’s fear of losing his husband and having to tell Lizzy and Wolf that their Daddy was dead.
“Is this the only letter you’ve gotten?”
“Yeah, I got the mail today and there was no second letter.” Cope took a deep breath and seemed to relax. “What about you? How many letters have you gotten?”
“Two,” Ten said, feeling his panic begin to rise. He grabbed his phone, scrolled to the picture of the first letter and handed it to Cope.
“Jesus!” Cope gasped. “Whoever wrote this letter better make sure Ronan doesn’t find him after what he wrote about Everly.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” To be honest, Ten wasn’t as upset about the letter writer calling Everly the b-word, as he was at the thought that Ronan could possibly be drinking again.
“Ten?” Cope paused, looking unsure if he should say what was on his mind. “Do you think Ronan has…”
“No.” Ten shook his head. “I haven’t seen any signs at all of Ronan drinking. He hasn’t had booze on his breath, hasn’t acted erratically or come home smelling of a barroom. I know Ronan would never cheat on me. As for the second letter, maybe this letter writer saw him on a stake-out?”
“I just read him,” Cope said, looking worried. “I don’t feel any guilt or fear coming from Ronan. He’s excited about Greeley joining the team and can’t wait to put on his leather thong and be your good little boy later tonight.” Cope started to giggle.
Ten burst out laughing. He’d bought the leather thong, collar, and riding crop for Ronan for Christmas, not knowing how his husband would react. Oddly enough, Ronan had been more than willing to play slave with Ten as his master.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Ronan asked, walking into the kitchen carrying several boxes of pizza. Fitz was behind him with large bags most likely containing salads and dressings. “We could hear the two of you laughing like hyenas from the front door.”
“Cope told me a joke he’d heard from a client today.” Ten grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket.
“Pizza!” Wolf shouted, barreling into the kitchen. Everly and Aurora were right behind him.
Within seconds, the kitchen was mobbed with kids shouting out what kind of slices they wanted.
Ten busied himself putting salad in bowls, making sure Aurora’s had no tomatoes.
Through the chaos, Ten couldn’t help feeling relieved that he’d told Cope his secret.
He was grateful, in a strange way, to have someone who understood what he was going through.
Even with that support, important questions still remained. Who was writing the letters? Why? More importantly, who was next?