Chapter 9
Ronan
Jude had called out for pizza from Greek Life.
The kids had laughed and told funny stories from school.
Ronan had tried to eat, but didn’t manage much more than a slice of pepperoni.
His mind was a whirlwind going back and forth between worrying about Ten, the state of their house, and the kids.
Everly had given him some strange looks during dinner.
Ronan knew he needed to sit down and have a talk with her.
He’d never dreaded speaking to his daughter before. There was a first time for everything.
When Cope brought the kids upstairs for their baths, Jude motioned for Everly to stay downstairs with them.
“It’s about time we talk, Daddy.” Everly climbed into the seat beside Ronan, setting a hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re upset about Dad, but you need to tell me everything. Got it?”
Ronan snorted. “When did you become a good interrogator?”
“I learned from the best. Now, tell me what happened to Dad.” Everly paused, her eyes moved back and forth between her father and Jude. “Please.”
“Your father did a reading last year for a woman,” Ronan began.
“Autumn Miller,” Everly supplied. “This will go faster if you stop trying to protect me.”
“Your father did a reading last year for Autumn Miller.” Ronan paused to see if Everly would interrupt him again.
When she didn’t he continued. “She was in love with a doctor at Salem Mercy, Elijah Logan. Autumn asked your father if they would end up together. Dad told her that he saw a marriage in her future, along with twin daughters and a house. He didn’t say who the husband would be, because he didn’t know. ”
“Miss Miller spent thousands of dollars on the wedding that Ten predicted. She bought a house for them to live in.” Jude looked to Ronan, as if to ask if he should continue the story. Ronan nodded. “She was fired from the hospital last week for nearly killing one of her patients.”
“Jason Hughes,” Everly said. “I can hear his mommy screaming for help. All these sirens were wailing. She was terrified.”
Ronan imagined it would be a horrifying situation to witness.
“You need to talk to Jason’s parents, Rebecca and Mason.
They tried for years to have a baby and they called their son a little miracle.
It would be hard for any Mommy to almost lose a baby, but for this mom, it was doubly hard.
Rebecca can help Dad,” Everly paused, as if she were trying to figure something out.
“Autumn was out of control for a long time.”
“By out of control, are you talking about Autumn’s mental health?” Ronan felt awful asking the question, but knew that this case could very well hinge on Autumn’s mental state.
“Yup. Autumn was crazy for Dr. Logan. Like, crazy in love and acting crazy to get him to love her. Now that she lost her job and her doctor, she’s out for revenge.”
“Jesus,” Jude muttered. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
Everly nodded. “Autumn is coming for Dr. Logan next. She’s gonna have him arrested for hairy sex or something.”
“Christ, if hairy sex was a crime, I-”
Ronan slapped a hand over Jude’s mouth. He shook his head and turned back to Everly, leaving his hand where it was. “Do you mean sexual harassment?”
“Right, something like that,” Everly shrugged. “Autumn’s gonna tell the police that the doctor touched her in her no-no place and said he’d fire her from the hospital if she didn’t put her mouth on his-”
Ronan set his free hand over Everly’s mouth. “I get it, you don’t need to paint me a picture.”
Everly pulled Ronan’s hand away from her mouth. “That’s good, because I wouldn’t know how.”
Jude shoved Ronan’s hand away and chuckled. “We’ll have a talk about that when you turn thirty.”
“Hilarious, Uncle Jude. I’m never putting my mouth near a boy’s no-no place.”
“Praise, Jesus!” Ronan lifted his hands to the sky. “Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Autumn’s working with a crutch to hurt you, Dad, and Uncle Cisco.”
“A crutch?” Ronan got out of his seat and walked into the laundry room. He came back with the crutches Jude had used to get around after his knee surgery several years ago. “Like this?”
Everly looked puzzled for a moment before shaking her head. “No, crutch is a person.”
“Dutch?” Jude asked. “Are you talking about Dutch Vance?”
“He’s tall with short, spiky blonde hair.” Everly paused. “He hates you, Daddy. You and Uncle Fitz too,” Everly said to Jude.
“That’s Dutch Vance all right.” Ronan rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He felt like he could sleep for a week, but there was so much work to do.
“One last thing, they’re boyfriend and girlfriend now,” Everly said.
“Dutch and Autumn?” Jude asked.
“Yup.” Everly wrinkled her nose. “Some people have no taste.”
“Okay, Nana Kaye!” Ronan laughed. Ten’s mother was famous for saying that line during her afternoon soap operas when characters hooked up.
“We gotta go home, Daddy. It’s a mess and we don’t want Dad to see that when he comes home in the morning.”
Ronan felt his emotions threaten to overwhelm him again. The last thing Everly should see was their house torn apart by strangers. “I need to go home so that you don’t have to see what it looks like.”
Everly set a hand on Ronan’s. “You and Dad taught me to be strong. I know there were cops in our house. Uncle Cope can come with us and help me use sage. I would do it, but you don’t want me playing with that fire gun thing you use to light the grill.”
“I’m not gonna win this fight to keep you here, am I?” Ronan knew he’d already lost.
“Nope. I’ll go get my coat.” Everly hopped off her chair and ran into the living room.
“As much as I hate Everly giving us information about this case, she did a damn good job,” Jude said.
“It’s actual information we can work with.
We can find out if this woman has a history of mental illness and we can reach out to the doctor and let him know Autumn’s coming for him too.
I’ll call Fitz and let him know what you found out. ”
Ronan nodded. “I’m gonna let Everly use the lighter to sage the house. I’ll call if we need Cope’s help. We’ll sleep at home tonight. Are you okay keeping Ezzie?”
“We are. Cope’s plan was to put him and Lizzie on the bus to pre-school. Jace will keep the bigger kids so Cope can go to the arraignment with us and then help the cleanup at West Side Magick. When Ten’s free, we get to work.”
“Agreed.” Ronan hugged Jude and headed for the living room, where Everly was waiting for him. “Ready, spaghetti?”
Everly nodded and unlocked the door. Ronan followed her down the stairs and across the street. Thankfully, the door to their house was locked. Truman had been the ones to let the police in with his key so they didn’t have to bust the door down. He returned to lock up after they’d gone.
Ronan’s hand shook as he stuck his key into the lock. “Did I ever tell you about the time Dad and I had a fight and I spent the night at Fitz’s house?”
“We’re you being a dumbass?” Everly asked with a cheeky grin.
Ronan raised an eyebrow and Everly giggled. “That was the only other time I was nervous to come home. I didn’t know what I was going to get then or now.”
Everly turned the key in the lock. “It’s gonna be okay, Daddy. No matter what we find.”
“How’d you get to be so smart?” Ronan bussed a kiss to his daughter’s temple.
“I learned from the best.” Everly turned the knob and opened the door.
Ronan flipped on the lights and looked around. The living room seemed to be in perfect order. Walking into the kitchen, he could see the same.
“Uncle Tru cleaned up, Daddy. He put the cushions back on the sofa and all the food back in the fridge.”
“The cops took our food out of the fridge?” In all his years on the force, Ronan had never heard of doing that to a suspect’s house.
“I’ll go get my sage.” Everly walked into the laundry room.
Ronan heard her wrangling the stool in order to reach the cabinet where Everly kept her dried plants.
He’d gotten her a book last year that taught them how to dry and preserve kitchen witch plants.
Everly had taken to it like a duck to water.
With a little help from Madam Aurora she’d even grown and bundled her own sage.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Everly came back into the kitchen looking eager to start.
“Before we do this, I want to thank you. Your Dad and I both hate to involve you in adult problems.”
“I know. You want to keep me safe, but my gift gives me information I can use to keep you safe too.” Everly smiled. “Tonight we’ll sage the house and tomorrow, I’ll go back to being a regular kid, okay?”
“Okay.” Ronan got the fire starter out of the drawer and handed it to Everly. “Keep this part to yourself. We don’t want Dad knowing I let you play with fire.”
Everly grinned before taking a seat at the table. She took several deep breaths.
Ronan watched as his daughter prepared to cleanse their house. It shouldn’t be a seven year old’s job to do this, or to give critical information on police investigations, but if it was Everly who helped Tennyson out of the jam he was in, who was Ronan to complain?