7
Ronan
After ordering out Chinese food for dinner and eating their fill, Ronan and Jude hung out with the kids watching a movie before they headed for Warden Jones’s house.
They’d stopped along the way to pick up snacks and drinks for the long night ahead.
Once they arrived on Jones’s street, they surveyed the houses and the block before parking on a side street with an unimpeded view of Jones’s front door.
“He’s got a Ring doorbell,” Jude said. “So if someone rings the bell, we should get a good view of who it is.”
“Cisco’s got homicide detectives working Roderick Crews’s neighborhood looking for neighbors who have Ring cameras or other surveillance.”
“Makes me think twice about those flock cameras,” Jude muttered.
“Are you kidding me? All they do is invade personal privacy. They’re against the Fourth Amendment, although the current regime doesn’t seem to be concerned with the Constitution.”
“I’m not saying they’re good under all circumstances,” Jude said. “It’s no one’s business where I go or who I see.”
“Yeah, but with those cameras, there’s no way to separate information that would help law enforcement with video of everyday Americans going about their daily lives.
There was this one story out of Texas where a cop used the cameras to track his girlfriend out of state to get reproductive care.
Fucker.” Even as a cop, Ronan hated the idea of those cameras watching his every move.
“If there isn’t a search warrant, then it’s fruit of the poisonous tree. Inadmissible in court.” Jude reached into the backseat and rustled around in the snack bag.
“Yeah, but you’d be applying for the search warrant after the video footage was shot,” Ronan argued back. “It’s a slippery slope.”
“I agree with you. I’m just saying that it would make our lives easier if we had video to show where Crews’s killer came from and where he went after the murder.” Jude pulled open a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and started munching.
Ronan watched as Jude sat devouring his snack. “Do you think it’s true that the MSG in Chinese food makes you hungry an hour later?”
Jude snorted, sending a puff of Cheeto dust into the air. “Either that or it makes you crave more salt. So maybe you’re not hungry again, so much as your body needs more sodium. Or something like that.”
Ronan snickered and grabbed a handful of his own. “I thought Cisco was going to arrest us this afternoon.”
“Shit, was he pissed off.” Jude shook his head. “Which I don’t get. We’re good officers. We do our jobs. We don’t put in for overtime we didn’t work. Hell, we don’t even steal office supplies for personal use. Why the hell is he always so quick to think we’ve fucked up?”
“I don’t know,” Ronan admitted. He’d wondered the same thing himself.
“I used to think that was just part of my relationship with Cisco. Fitz and I met him when we were still working with the Boston Police Department. I was being a bit of a dick during a case I was working with the Salem Witches and Cisco arrested me. Maybe he holds a grudge because of that?”
“I remember when that happened.” Jude handed the snack bag to Ronan. “It seemed to me at the time that Cisco was more annoyed than angry at arresting a fellow officer. Made me wonder if he’s getting pressure from the mayor or the governor.”
“Could be,” Ronan said. “The money our budget comes from was a state grant the former mayor of Salem helped to secure for us. A cost measure for cold case was worked into the latest SPD budget, but it’s not enough to pay us our full salary.
We’re still working with the grant money, which I suppose could be pulled or altered at any time.
Maybe Cisco wants to make sure he’s able to keep our unit. ”
Jude nodded. “These last few years have been pretty amazing. Working for the city, making a good salary with benefits and a pension. We set our own hours, run our own investigations, and arrest killers. It’s a far cry from the days when we used to do stakeouts for a living.”
“Damn straight.” Ronan wasn’t going to say anything to Jude, who’d been a private investigator for over a decade when they’d met, but he hated PI work. Sitting around in a car all night waiting to take pictures of a cheating wife or husband, while his own husband and kids went to bed without him.
“You think Fitz and Jace are boning each other?” Jude asked on a laugh.
“I hope so.” Ronan thought about what a night away from the kids would look like for him and Ten. “The last time you took Everly and Ezzie for the night, Ten and I were in bed by nine and asleep by quarter past.”
“I hear that. When you’re young and you have the choice between sex and sleep you choose sex, but when you’re older, you choose sleep.” Jude laughed.
“You know, I was just thinking about how I hated working stakeouts before, but I forgot the best part of sitting in the car all night?”
“Peeing in an empty Coke bottle?” Jude snickered.
“No, dumbass, this! Sitting here just shooting the shit about everything and nothing.” Jude had a point about the Coke bottle though. Ronan could use one right about now.
“You’re right,” Jude agreed. “Usually when we see each other it’s in a group setting, with our husbands and kids around. It’s been a while since the two of us have had time to chat like this.”
Ronan nodded. “Yeah, it’s been even longer since we worked a case by ourselves. I miss those days.”
“Me too,” Jude agreed. “Look alive, it’s ten minutes to midnight. We’ve got to catch this asshole before he hurts anyone else.”
Ronan sat up straighter in his seat. His eyes moved between his rearview mirror and the houses in front of him. As far as he could see, there was no one on the road right now, with the exception of himself and Jude.
A quiet bark from up the street caught Ronan’s attention. “You hear that?”
Jude nodded.
The bark was followed by a jingle. Seconds later, a small dog, a pug by the look of it, walked by with its owner urging it to find a tree.
The woman, dressed in a caftan and a turban didn’t seem to notice Jude and Ronan sitting in the car.
A few minutes later, they passed by again.
Ronan saw her walk into a house further up the street from the warden’s.
“It’s midnight,” Jude whispered.
“Yeah, the street’s still quiet.” Ronan stayed vigilant. Things always seemed to happen on stakeouts the second you let your guard down. Ronan was about to say that to Jude when he heard a series of musical notes coming from down the street.
“Fuck, is that a doorbell chime?” Jude asked, his hand on the car door handle.
“Yeah, sounded like it, but there’s no one at the warden’s door. Let’s go check on him.” Ronan opened the car door and shut it as quietly as possible. “How is it possible to ring the bell with no one there to push the button?”
“Beats me. The chime might not have even been from Jones’s bell. Could have been someone else with a late night visitor or pizza delivery.” Jude didn’t sound convinced.
Ronan was one house away from the warden’s when he heard a sharp cry. It lasted only a second. He took off running for the warden’s door. Jude was right behind him. Leaping up the stairs, Ronan was about to pound on the door, when it opened. Warden Jones spilled out into his arms.
“Help me,” Jones whispered, and fell silent.
“Fuck, he’s not breathing. Call 911.” Ronan half-carried the warden down the stairs and laid him on the sidewalk.
He felt for a pulse and found it to be fast and erratic, but it quickly slowed, then stopped.
Ronan began CPR. He heard a siren from far away and kept going with compressions. The warden wasn’t responding at all.
“Here, switch with me.” Jude jumped in and started compressions in Ronan’s wake.
Ronan fell back on the sidewalk, trying to catch his breath. What the fuck had happened here tonight? He stood waving as the police cars approached with their lights twirling. The ambulance was behind them. Seconds later, Jude pulled away from Jones when the EMTs arrived and took over.
Both men stood back and watched the medics work. Ten minutes later, Paul Jones was declared dead.
“Come with me,” Cisco said, suddenly behind Ronan.
Ronan and Jude followed the chief until he stopped, half a block away from the crime scene.
“What the hell happened here?” Cisco asked, with no trace of anger in his voice.
“We got here at ten,” Ronan said. “Our eyes were on the house and the street the entire night.”
Jude nodded in agreement. “A woman walked her dog past us a minute or two before midnight. She didn’t see us. Both were back in their house when we heard the doorbell chime.”
“Why the hell didn’t you catch the person ringing the bell?” Cisco asked, looking dumbfounded.
“Because there wasn’t anyone there, Cisco,” Ronan said, trying to keep his emotions out of his voice. What the fucking hell? Cisco knew damn well that he and Jude would have been out of the car and running for the house if there had been a person on Jones’s doorstep.
“You’re absolutely sure you heard the bell chime?”
“Yes,” Jude answered. “There was no one at the door. That’s when we got out of the car.
We heard a cry, as if someone were in pain, and then nothing.
We ran for the house. That’s when the door opened and he fell out of the house into Ronan’s arms. Ronan dragged him to the sidewalk and felt for a pulse. ”
“Jones wasn’t breathing and his heartbeat was erratic and hard. It stopped quickly and I started performing CPR. After a few minutes Jude took over, then the EMTs, then you grabbed us.”
A uniformed officer approached. “Chief? You’re going to want to see this.”
Cisco went with the young officer, Ronan and Jude followed behind.
Jones’s body was where it lay when the EMTs arrived. A member of the crime scene team was taking photos of the body, while the medics stood by the ambulance.
Ronan noticed every light in the house was on as he entered Paul Jones’s house.
The door had two deadbolt locks and a safety chain.
None of the safety precautions had been able to stop what happened in this house.
The living room led to the kitchen and the back door which stood open. Something stuck out of the lock.
“It’s from a lock pick kit,” Cisco said. “Someone picked the lock and just waltzed in through the back door. Somehow the doorbell was rung and I’m guessing the killer snuck up behind Jones while he was looking out the peephole.”
“That’s what I think as well,” one of the detectives said. “I know how the doorbell was rung.”
“Neither Jude nor I saw anyone at the door,” Ronan said, feeling sick to his stomach.
“You wouldn’t have,” the detective said. “The doorbell was rung wirelessly.”
“Wirelessly?” Cisco said, his mouth hanging open. “How is that even possible?”
“It’s on Bluetooth. If you find the right frequency, you can ring the bell from anywhere within the coverage area.
It’s just like thieves who program garage door openers so they can steal the cars inside.
” The detective paused for a minute. “The crime scene team will get the video from the camera, but my guess is that you’re only going to see Detectives O’Mara and Byrne running up the stairs. ”
“Thanks, Doug.” Cisco turned to look at Ronan. “Two men with ties to law enforcement murdered in their homes on consecutive nights. What the hell is happening here?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with me.” Ronan felt his heartrate kick up.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cisco asked.
“Come to my house when you’re done here and I’ll have Ten fill you in on what happened with his client this morning.”
Cisco nodded. “I’ll be there soon. Make sure the two of you write up your reports on what happened during your surveillance.”
“You got it.” Jude motioned for Ronan to follow him across the street. “You really think this mess is connected with Ten’s weird client this morning?”
“I didn’t at first, but I do now. This killer is coming after law enforcement.
First the head of the parole board, now the former warden at a state prison.
Who else is on the hit list? Judges, lawyers, bail bondsmen, cops?
We need to get to the bottom of what’s happening here before this fucker pens his next letter. ”
Jude nodded. “Are you thinking you could be next?”
Ronan nodded. “Not one word to Tennyson.”
As Ronan got into the car, his mind spun. What would Ten and the kids do without him? How would Everly and Ezra deal with his loss? It was too painful to consider.
What Ronan needed to do now was to prepare himself for what came next. The killer had no trouble skirting the Ring doorbell camera and breaking into the house to kill Warden Jones.
Would the killer be bold enough to ring his doorbell? Would kill Ronan’s entire family? How the hell would Ronan ever sleep again?