Chapter 10
Tennyson
After dinner at Jude’s house, spaghetti and meatballs, thanks to Kaye, Ten brought the kids home and got Ezra into the tub.
Ronan and Everly were in the master bedroom reading together.
They’d read to Everly every night since was born and loved listening to her read to them.
There were some nights when the three of them would read silently together after Ezra was asleep.
When Ezra was settled for the night, Ten walked into his bedroom excited to get back to the psychological thriller he’d started reading the night before. Everly and Ronan were waiting for Ten.
“We need to talk, Dad,” Everly said plainly and patted Ten’s side of the bed.
Ten felt like he was being ambushed. Was this some kind of an intervention?
“Let me brush my teeth and I’ll be right with you.
” He rolled his eyes in a perfect imitation of Ronan.
As he went through his nighttime routine, Ten’s mind wandered back to the letters.
Carson had promised to print out their client lists for the last three months and set a meeting for the morning to go over them.
He hoped they would be able to get to the bottom of the matter before any more letters showed up at home or the office.
“Okay, here I am.” Ten sat at the foot of the bed, his entire focus on his daughter. “What do you want to talk about?”
“There’s something wrong with you.” Everly’s eyes narrowed on Ten before turning to Ronan. “Both of you.”
Ten sighed. “Can you be more specific?” With the strength of Everly’s gift, she could be seeing just about anything.
“It’s about those weird letters you and Uncle Cope were talking about the other night at Greeley’s party.”
“I was hoping you didn’t know anything about that.
” Ten shook his head. Everly had already been exposed to so much over her young life.
He hated the fact that she was, once again, throwing herself into the mix, but since she knew about the letters, maybe she knew who was sending them. “Do you know who’s writing them?”
Everly shook her head. “It’s weird. I can’t see anything at all, but I can hear something. It sounds crackly like the radio in the Mustang when we drive to New Hampshire and can’t get your favorite oldies station anymore.”
“Oldies station?” Ronan gasped, clutching his chest. “You’re talking about classic rock. The soundtrack of my entire life. That music made me who I am today.”
“Okay, Boomer.” Everly giggled. “You gotta quit living in the past, Daddy. I’m not dancing to ‘Born to Run’ at my wedding.”
Ronan’s mouth hung open, making him look like a fish out of water. “I’ve obviously failed as a father. My favorite daughter doesn’t like Bruce Springsteen.”
“I’m your only daughter, Daddy. I’m automatically your favorite.” She pressed a kiss to his stubbled cheek.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” Ronan folded his arms over his chest and pouted.
“We can discuss the playlist for Everly’s wedding later. Right now, I want to get back to you hearing static when you try to get more information about the letters. Do you think the letter writer is using that sound to block us or does it have some other meaning?”
“I don’t know.” Everly frowned. “I keep trying to find a way through it, but I’m not having any luck.”
“Do you know who’s writing these letters?” Ronan asked, sounding like he was back on track with the conversation.
Everly’s eyes slid shut. “I don’t see anything, but I feel a presence.”
“A presence?” Ronan wore a stunned look. “A spirit or a person lurking around our house?”
“It’s a spirit.” Everly shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman, or even if it has anything to do with these letters. Do you feel it, Dad?”
Ten shook his head. “No. I’m not feeling or seeing anything.” Which wasn’t exactly true. Bertha Craig stood in the bedroom door motioning for him to go downstairs. “Why don’t you two get back to your books. I’m gonna go make myself a cup of tea.” Ten got out of bed and put his slippers on.
“Bye, Dad!” Everly called. “Bye, Mimi Bertha!”
“Smartass!” Ten muttered in a voice too soft for his daughter to hear.
“I heard that!” Everly laughed.
“Come on, Tenny, let’s get you some tea.” Bertha looped her arm around Ten’s.
Ten flipped on the kitchen light and filled the tea kettle. He grabbed a mug and his favorite peppermint tea and leaned back against the counter. “How much of this do you know?”
“Carson filled me in just now. He read me the letter this asshole wrote about my grandbabies, and let me tell you, they’d be in for a hell of an ass kicking if I were still alive.
” Bertha cracked her knuckles, like Jude always did.
“He also told me about your letters and what the SOB said about Everly.”
Ten grinned. “You know, it’s funny, what he said about Everly didn’t bother me.
I know what kind of a kid my daughter is.
She’s sweet, funny, and giving. It’s obvious whoever is doing this only knows us on the periphery.
No one would call Everly that name if they actually knew her.
Same goes for the Velociraptors. They’re great kids, but even great kids have bad days. ”
“I totally agree, Ten.”
When the kettle clicked off, Ten busied himself brewing his tea and cleaning up before coming to sit beside Bertha at the kitchen table. “Is your gift showing you anything about the letter writer or their intentions?”
“Not a blasted thing.” Bertha shook her head. “Like Everly, I feel a presence and am only getting static, but I don’t think it’s on purpose.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s definitely a spirit involved in this case, that I can tell you for a fact, but I think it’s someone newly passed over. Someone who hasn’t mastered the art of dead speak yet. I think this spirit is spending time with all of your families, and reporting back what they see and hear.”
“You realize that makes no sense, right?” Ten asked. “Why the hell would a newly dead spirit be looking for revenge against me, Carson, Cole, and Cope?”
“Oh, Tenny,” Bertha sighed. “For a million reasons. Maybe one of you failed to predict their impending death, or the death of loved ones. Maybe you couldn’t connect with the spirit they wanted to reach.
Maybe you did contact that spirit and this person didn’t like what they said or didn’t get the answers they were looking for.
It could be for almost any reason. I hate to say this, but there seems to be so many people in desperate need of mental health services.
This spirit could have been one of them and carried their real or perceived slights to the other side. ”
“Damn, I had a feeling you were going to say that.” Ten took a deep breath. “We need to figure out who this person is, so that we can reach out to the spirit or speak with their living relatives. I’ll start by looking at our complaints file.”
“You have a complaint file?” Bertha asked.
“Carson started it after I joined West Side Magick. He found some customers booking readings with me or Cole if they were dissatisfied with what Carson told them. He started adding flags to these frequent fliers, so we’d know what we were getting into if they booked appointments with us.
There are also people who think we’re frauds and conmen, you know, that usual kind of stuff.
If people have gone online and badmouthed us or the shop, we refuse to book repeat business with them. ”
“I wish to hell I’d thought of that!” Bertha cackled. “Life is too damn short to spend it in the company of assholes.”
“I’ll drink to that!” Ten took a sip of his tea and relaxed as the warmth worked its way through his body. “Keep your gifts open and let us know if you learn anything about the person writing the letters.”
“You got it.” Bertha pressed a kiss to Tennyson’s temple. “I know I don’t need to tell you this, but Ronan’s sober. In all the years you’ve been together, he hasn’t been tempted even once. Same goes for him and other men. Jude too.”
“I know,” Ten said. “That’s what makes me feel so awful about this damn letter. When I read it, I instantly thought the worst. How do I ever make that up to Ronan?”
“I hate to break it to you, but you’re human.
Ronan too. He flew off the handle when he read his letter.
So did Jude. You two should have a talk about this once the poisoned pen author has been revealed, but for now just know, Ronan doesn’t hold it against you.
I’m here if you need me. Toodles!” Bertha laughed and vanished.
Ten picked up his mug, feeling the warmth infuse into his hands.
Bertha was right, he and Ronan would need to have a chat when this nightmare was over.
In the meantime, Ten needed to focus his attention on the asshole who was trying to destroy their families.
He wouldn’t rest until the ghost was caught and made to account for his or her actions.