Dead to the World (Cold Case Psychic Book 10) Read online

  There was no use crying over spilled milk now. What was done was done. Ronan was going to testify tomorrow and then Tony Abruzzi was going to walk into that courtroom hale and healthy and then Tennyson’s marriage, the one thing he’d fought long and hard to build, was going to crumble at his feet. “What else are you seeing, Bertha?”

  Her blue eyes looked up from her hands. “Ronan’s going to need time, Tennyson. That’s what I’m seeing now. There’s something else though. Something that isn’t so clear.”

  What the fuck else was new? There always seemed to be something on the horizon that affected what went on in their lives. “What kind of something are we talking about? Something to do with us? The baby? The trial?”

  Bertha nodded. “Yes.”

  “What do you mean, yes? I named three things. You can’t mean all of them.” Ten could feel frustration rising up inside him.

  “Why can’t I? I see what I see, Tennyson.” Bertha shrugged.

  He supposed she had a point. “I really don’t want to lose my husband or the opportunity to live here and raise my baby. I did this for her. I lied to my husband so I could be here for my baby. All of this, Bertha,” Ten gulped for air, “not wanting to help Ronan with the Salem witches, lying to him now, it’s all been for Everly. Am I forsaking my husband just to be a better father than my parents were to me?”

  “You might be, Tenny. You just might be. But you need to cut yourself some slack in this case. You were given two bad choices. Lie to your husband or tell him the truth and go to jail and miss the birth of your child. There are certain things in life that you can never get back, Ten. The birth of a child is one of those moments.”

  Ten nodded. “What good will it do me if I’m there, but Ronan won’t even look at me?”

  “Let’s get through one thing at a time.” Bertha patted his hand again. “Ronan knows how much you love him and Everly. Find a way to explain this to him calmly even though Ronan will be less than calm. Expect that he’ll be so angry that he might say things he’ll regret, Tenny.”

  Ten sucked in a sharp breath. He knew it was possible Ronan could leave him, but hearing Bertha say those words out loud hurt more than the dagger he’d taken to the shoulder a few months back. “I know he could leave me.”

  “Try to stay calm and explain it to him. Let him rage at you until he gets it all out. I’m going to be with him. I promise you that.”

  As much as Tennyson appreciated that, he didn’t know how much good that could do. Ronan couldn’t hear or see her.

  “Trust me, Tennyson. I have my ways.” Bertha stood up from the table. “I need to go. Stephanie is having a night terror. Think on what I told you. Prepare yourself for the worst. It can only get better from there. I love you.” Bertha was gone.

  “I love you too, Bertha,” Tennyson said to the empty kitchen. He trusted Bertha Craig more than anyone. It troubled him that she never came out and said what she would have done in his shoes. Jude said he never would have trusted Tennyson again after this. What would the others think when the truth came out? Fitzgibbon? Greeley? Truman? Would he lose them too? Would everyone side with Ronan?

  All Tennyson had ever wanted from the day he’d boarded that Greyhound Bus in Union Chapel, Kansas, was a family who loved him and accepted him for who he was. He’d found that love and acceptance here in Salem, but was he about to lose it all in a matter of hours?

  Pillowing his head in his arms, Tennyson began to cry for everyone he could possibly lose.

  15

  Ronan

  Ronan was sitting on the wooden bench outside the courtroom. Tennyson, Truman, and Carson had already gone inside to find seats. He was still a little unsure as to why they’d come along, but with as nervous as he was, Ronan wasn’t about to question their motives now.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Kevin Fitzgibbon sat next to him.

  “Cap, I had no idea you were coming too.” Ronan was surprised to see his boss.

  “Give me a break, Ronan. You’re not just my best detective, you’re my best friend too. I’ve seen what this case has done to you over the last few months. There’s no way I wasn’t going to be here for you today. Especially since I’m not on the witness list.”

  “Thank you, Kevin. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I’m not doing so well. Neither is Tennyson. He’s a wreck, barely slept at all last night and is more jittery than a tweaker on his fifth cup of coffee.” Ronan had woken up alone this morning. There hadn’t been any sign that Ten had even slept in their bed. He’d found his husband dozing on the sofa with an old rerun of Barney Miller on cable. When he’d asked Ten how much sleep he’d gotten, he’d responded with half a shrug.

  “I’ve noticed his struggles lately. I didn’t want to say anything in case the two of you were having trouble, but he looks like hell.”

  Ronan nodded. “We’re solid and he’s not worried about the baby. It’s something else that’s been eating away at him over the last few months. He says he can’t tell me what it is because it would put me and Everly in danger.”

  Kevin’s eyes narrowed. Ronan could see he was instantly in cop-mode. “I wish you’d come to me with this sooner. We could have done a little digging on the down low.”

  “Let’s get through this trial. If he still can’t come to me with his troubles than you can have a go at him. He trusts you, Kevin. Maybe he’ll open up to you if you come at him from the angle of wanting to protect me.”

  “Okay, yeah. Let’s do that. I’m going to head in there and get a seat near Tennyson, just in case this thing with Dragonni goes sideways.” Fitzgibbon stood up and set a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “Makes me wish we’d handled things differently when we’d had the chance…” Trailing off, Kevin headed toward the door to the courtroom.

  Ronan had to admit it wasn’t the first time he’d had a similar thought. It was Fitzgibbon himself who’d suggested that very thing when they’d been holed up in the Ritz Carlton like rats in a trap. Back then, it had been Ronan who’d wanted to see Dragonni face justice in a courtroom. Now, he was wishing he’d been a bit more bloodthirsty. There hadn’t been any cameras when The Dragon had arranged to meet them face to face. They could have taped a gun to the underside of that conference room table and just ended things then and there. Instead, they’d been the good guys, trusting that Dragonni had just wanted to meet with them and had nearly paid with their lives when a briefcase bomb had exploded after Dragonni and his men left the meeting.

  “Detective O’Mara?” The bailiff was waving him forward.

  This was it. He stood, straightening his black suit jacket and followed the man into the courtroom. There was a buzz when he walked into the room. He could see Dragonni smirking at him from the defense table. He quickly turned to his left trying to spot Tennyson and the others on the prosecutor’s side. Ten and Carson were sitting next to Cruz Clemente who he assumed had been the first witness to testify that morning. He winked at Tennyson as he walked past.

  As he was led to the witness box and was sworn in, he couldn’t help staring at Dragonni. The man looked none the worse for wear after spending the last five months back in prison.

  Vito Dragonni was dressed in what had to be a thousand-dollar suit, black with white pinstripes. It reminded Ronan of something gangsters of the 1930s would wear. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back and his blue eyes were as sharp as ever. Ronan imagined Dragonni was plotting his death as he sat there doodling on his legal pad next to his very expensive defense attorney.

  “Good morning, Detective O’Mara,” Lauren Dawes greeted.

  “Good morning.” Ronan took a deep breath and tried to focus on the prosecutor and not on Dragonni.

  “Would you please give the jury a brief rundown of your history with the defendant, Vito Dragonni?” Dawes leaned back against the prosecution table, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Ronan knew this question was coming. “Nine years ago, my former Homicide partner, Tony Abruzzi, and I arrested Mr. Dragonni o
n triple murder charges. I testified in that criminal case and that was the last I heard or saw of him until August of last year when I heard on television that those convictions had been overturned in the appellate court on an evidentiary ruling.” He looked over at Tennyson who was pale and looking like he could sleep for a week. When this trial was over, Ronan was going to take vacation time and get Tennyson the hell out of New England. He was going to take him someplace warm and sunny where Ten could relax and recharge his battery.

  “What happened when Mr. Dragonni was released from prison?”

  “Members of the original trial team started dying. The prosecutor and the judge who heard the case were both murdered and the attorney who had defended Dragonni was shot in his driveway, but survived. We later found out that Dragonni had compiled a hit list of people he was targeting. I was on that list, as was Detective Abruzzi.”

  “It turned out though that the hit list was just a ruse to lead investigators away from Mr. Dragonni’s real objective. Is that correct?” Dawes asked.

  “Yes, that is correct. A member of the Boston Police Department was bribed into telling Dragonni where certain people on the hit list were being held in Protective Custody. When we were cornered, Mr. Dragonni started speaking about how there was nothing worse in his family than a rat.”

  “A rat, Detective O’Mara?” Dawes raised an eyebrow in question.

  “It turned out that Mr. Dragonni was talking about Detective Abruzzi. According to statements made by each of them, Abruzzi had worked undercover for the Dragonni crime family.”

  “Were you aware of this undercover work by your former partner?”

  Ronan shook his head no. All of these months later, it still came as a shock to him that Tony had worked for Dragonni. “No. Detective Abruzzi had never let me into his confidence about his time undercover. As a matter of fact, that undercover assignment had taken place before I was a member of the BPD.”

  “Tell the jury what you heard the night Dragonni had you held at gunpoint, detective.”

  Ronan sighed. “Mr. Dragonni called Detective Abruzzi a motherfucking rat and stated that he wanted revenge for Abruzzi betraying him all those years ago. Detective Abruzzi admitted that he worked for the Dragonni family and then Mr. Dragonni shot him.”

  “Did Detective Abruzzi offer any kind of dying declaration in regard to Mr. Dragonni?” Dawes narrowed her shrew-like eyes on Ronan.

  That was a new question. They hadn’t gone over that during prep for his testimony. “No. Detective Abruzzi asked me to tell his wife Carlie that he loved her.” Ronan heard a cry from the gallery. He looked up to see Carlie Abruzzi sitting a few rows behind Tennyson. It struck him as odd that she would be here. Dragonni wasn’t being tried for Tony’s murder. Why would she be here today?

  “Thank you, detective.” Dawes took her seat.

  The leggy blonde defending Dragonni stood. She took off her glasses and offered Vito a reassuring smile. “Detective O’Mara, why are you here today?”

  Ronan did a double take at that question. That was another one that Dawes and Clemente hadn’t asked him last night during their hours of trial prep. “I was subpoenaed to testify.”

  “Yes. I understand that.” She leveled him with an unreadable stare. “If what you say is true that you knew absolutely nothing about Detective Abruzzi’s time working undercover with the Dragonni Corporation, then you have no material value here at all.”

  “Objection!” Dawes stood up. “Argumentative.”

  “Sustained,” the judge agreed.

  The Dragonni Corporation? Ronan had almost laughed out loud. He knew full well the attorney was trying to make the jury think that Dragonni was a reputable businessman rather than a mob boss, not to mention that what he’d witnessed that night on the Boston Common was irrelevant to this case. “I witnessed Dragonni crime family boss, Vito Dragonni, murder Boston Police Detective Tony Abruzzi in cold blood for doing his job, fifteen years after the fact. A job, I might add, that never resulted in a single charge being filed against Mr. Dragonni or any member of his corporation.” Ronan made air quotes over the word “corporation.”

  “Yet you know nothing about Mr. Dragonni’s alleged arms dealings or how Detective Abruzzi figured into those alleged deals, correct?” the blonde hammered home.

  “Correct,” Ronan agreed, feeling completely useless.

  “I have no further questions for this witness.” She grinned broadly at Ronan before taking her seat and patting Dragonni’s arm.

  Trying his hardest to keep his temper in check, Ronan got down off the witness stand and took a seat in the gallery next to Tennyson. “That sucked in spades,” he whispered.

  “Call your next witness, Ms. Dawes,” the judge ordered.

  “The prosecution calls Detective Anthony Abruzzi to the stand.” Lauren Dawes wore a shit-eating grin.

  Gasps filled the courtroom. Ronan’s was the loudest of all. Tony Abruzzi? How the hell was that possible. He stood up on legs that didn’t quite feel like they belonged to him. He watched in shock as the courtroom doors opened and two bailiffs escorted Tony into the room.

  His knees buckled. Ronan felt strong arms grab him and ease him back into his seat. Ronan couldn’t believe it when Tony walked past him, reaching a hand out to touch his right shoulder. The hand felt solid, like the hands that had, only moments ago helped him back into his seat. Ronan sat gobsmacked as he listened to the bailiff swear in his best friend. Tony swore to tell the truth. Hearing those words, Ronan turned to Tennyson, who was sitting to his left.

  Tennyson wore the guiltiest look Ronan had ever seen in his life. He’d spent the last fourteen years interviewing suspected murderers and if Tennyson had been sitting across from him in one of those interrogation rooms, he would have known the case was a slam dunk.

  In that moment, everything made sense, Tennyson’s sleepless nights, the weight loss, the secret he couldn’t reveal. It was written in guilt all over Tennyson’s face. The face of the man that Ronan had promised to love through good times and bad. The man that Ronan had married. The man who’d spent the last five months lying to his face. “You knew.” It wasn’t a question. It was a condemnation.

  Tears were flowing down Tennyson’s face. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. All he could do, it seemed, was nod.

  Ronan sat there frozen. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. In that moment all he could think to do was turn away from the man he’d pledged to spend the rest of his life loving. His gaze landed on Tony Abruzzi who was now answering a question about where he’d been for the last five months. Hawaii, was the answer. In Witness Protection.

  He’d spent the last five months grieving the loss of his best friend, former partner, and brother, and Tony had been sitting on the fucking beach with a Pina colada in his hand? Ronan was going to be sick. He felt a hand on the back of his neck. Turning around he saw that it was Fitzgibbon. Unshed tears were shimmering in the captain’s eyes too.

  At least there was one person who was on his side. One man he could count on when the men who he thought had loved him the most had both stabbed him in the back. Trapped in the courtroom until the judge called a recess, all Ronan could do was sit and bide his time. He needed to get out of here. Needed to run away as far and as fast as he could.

  For the first time in his marriage, he didn’t want to be anywhere near his husband.

  16

  Tennyson

  Tennyson knew from the look on Ronan’s face that their marriage was in deep trouble. He remembered what Bertha said this morning that his secret probably wasn’t going to cost him his marriage, but sitting here now next to Ronan, he could see that she might be wrong. He knew the only thing keeping Ronan in his seat was the fact that court was still in session.

  His attention was pulled to Tony Abruzzi looking like the picture of health on the witness stand. Ten knew Ronan must be feeling gut-punched at the mere sight of the detective. His emotions must be roiling inside of him and now tha
t he knew Tennyson’s role in the deception, Ronan had no one to turn to.

  He was scared to turn around and look at Fitzgibbon and Truman who were sitting behind them. Carson’s arm was wrapped around him, but he was afraid to turn to his friend or he knew he’d burst into tears and disrupt the proceedings.

  Only a few minutes into the silent treatment, he felt a hand on the back of his neck. Turning his head to the right, he could see it was Fitzgibbon. Kevin had his other hand on Ronan’s shoulder. He was doing his best to comfort both of them in what had to be a confusing moment for him as well. A second later, he felt Truman’s hand on his shoulder too.

  Ten wanted to reach out to Ronan with all of his heart, but knew his husband would just knock his hand away. With five months to get ready for this moment, Ten thought he would have been prepared for this, but he wasn’t. He could barely catch a breath and his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn’t keep them on his lap.

  “Abruzzi! You dirty fucking rat!” Vito Dragonni shouted. He was out of his seat and running toward the witness box. The soles of his pricy Italian leather shoes slapped loudly as he ran.

  Tony was out of his seat and had his fists raised, ready for the confrontation.

  There were screams and shouts in the gallery. Tennyson could see Carlie Abruzzi running toward the front of the courtroom. The judge was banging his gavel and uselessly shouting for order. The bailiffs rushed forward, grabbing Dragonni and bull-rushing him out of the courtroom through a side door. Dragonni was still shouting in outrage.

  The judge kept pounding his gavel until the crowd finally started to settle down. “We’re in recess until after lunch,” the judge ordered. He took his leave from the courtroom.

  Tennyson couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He sat stone-still while Carlie shouted her husband’s name and raced toward him. He watched numb to the bone as they had their joyous reunion. They held each other close and peppered each other’s faces with kisses.