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

  “I guess Tony isn’t the only dirty rat in the room, is he, Ten?” Ronan’s voice was pitched low.

  Ten heard him all the same. He looked up to see Ronan staring down at him with contempt burning in his blue eyes.

  “This isn’t the time or the place, guys. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Fitzgibbon was tugging on Ronan’s arm.

  “No! This is exactly the time and the place! Carson is wearing the same exact guilty look on his fucking face as my beloved husband. So is Carlie.” Ronan’s arm shot out to point at Tony’s wife, who was frozen with a horrified look on her face. “I want to know who the fuck else knew about this and I want to know now!” Ronan’s bellow echoed off the courtroom ceiling.

  “Ronan, I think I should be the one to explain here.” Cruz Clemente stepped around the front of the prosecutor’s table. “Why don’t we all go into an anteroom so I can explain.”

  “Now, Clemente! Explain this to me before I really lose my shit!” Ronan shouted.

  Tennyson stood up and faced his husband. If it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to be the one who explained this to Ronan. Then he would be the one who went home and packed his things. “I’ll explain it to you, Ronan. I’m the one who knows the story from the beginning. We were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital when Faulkner Hayes came in and announced Tony was dead. A few seconds later, he asked me to come with him out into the hall.”

  “Faulkner Hayes? He isn’t a fucking doctor!” Ronan fisted his hands on his hips.

  “I was a little too upset to think of that at the moment. I followed him and he told me that I couldn’t tell anyone beyond the room what I was about to see or hear. I had no idea what he was talking about. If I had, I would have refused to go into the room. When I walked in, there was Tony propped up in bed being fed Jell-O or something by Carlie. I was in shock.” Ten shook his head. All of the memories came back to him from that day. The fear, the grief and the anger. “Clemente was there too, telling me that I could never tell you what I was about to witness.”

  “And what was that?” Ronan asked. His hands were fisted at his side.

  “My confession.” Tony Abruzzi said from in front of the prosecution table. “They needed witnesses to my confession about my time working undercover for the BPD and what I did for the Dragonni family. The guns. The money.” Tony blushed. He broke eye contact with Ronan to stare at the floor.

  “You said there were other people in the room. Why were you there?” Ronan demanded of Tennyson.

  “Someone told Clemente about me being psychic. They brought me in since they figured I knew he was alive anyway. I didn’t know. I had no clue Tony was alive.”

  “Shut up, Tennyson! Of course you knew!” Ronan shouted.

  “Hey! That’s enough of that, Ronan!” Carson challenged. “Your husband has never been anything but loyal to you. You’re going to regret saying that when you find out what Clemente said about Everly.”

  “What about my baby?” Ronan growled, taking a step toward the FBI agent.

  Clemente took a step back. Both of his hands came up in front of him. “Tennyson didn’t want any part of this. He didn’t want to keep this secret from you. He swore up and down that you’d never do anything to compromise Tony’s safety. I couldn’t take that risk. I warned Tennyson that if he told you about Abruzzi, I’d arrest him and keep him in jail, not allowing him to be there for the birth of your daughter and would not allow him to even see a picture of her until his sentence was served.”

  Ronan turned a rage-filled look on his husband. “Is that what he told you?”

  Ten nodded. He was too scared to say anything to Ronan at the moment.

  “You can’t be that fucking stupid.” Ronan started to laugh. It was filled with bitterness.

  “What?” Ten squeaked. He was hoping this would be the moment when Ronan turned his volcanic rage from him to Clemente for threatening Everly.

  “What fucking charge would that be, Tennyson?” Ronan roared. “Did you even bother to ask what charge you would be arrested on? Did you ask for a lawyer? Did you threaten to call me? Or Fitzgibbon?” Ronan shook his head.

  “That’s enough, Ronan. You made your point.” Fitzgibbon tugged his arm, pulling him away from Tennyson.

  “I hope you’re fucking happy. You ruined everything!” Ronan shouted. “All the promises Clemente made, I’m keeping. You won’t be there for the birth of my daughter. You’ll never see her. Understand me?” he shouted.

  “I’m so sorry, Tennyson. I never meant for any of this to happen. If you want to be mad at someone, Ronan, be mad at me. This is all my fault.” Tony looked truly remorseful.

  Ronan held a hand up to Tony. “I can’t even look at you right now!”

  “Let’s go, Ronan.” Fitzgibbon grabbed him and manhandled Ronan out of the courtroom.

  Tennyson watched in stunned silence as the door swung shut behind them. He felt Carson and Truman wrap their arms around him. Everything else was numb. He wanted to lash out at Tony and Carlie who were standing there staring at him, their arms loosely wrapped around each other, but he didn’t have the strength.

  What the hell was he going to do now? What came next? Ronan was Everly’s biological father, did Ten even have any rights when it came to her?

  Ten supposed the more pressing concern at the moment was where the hell he was going to sleep tonight. If he could close his eyes at all, that was.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Ten whispered.

  “We’ve got you,” Truman said. “He’ll come around. Just give him some time. We won’t let any of what Ronan said come true.”

  “I don’t know how you can stop him.” Tennyson wasn’t even sure if anyone should try.

  17

  Ronan

  The anger was pounding so hard through Ronan’s body he couldn’t hear Fitzgibbon calling after him until his boss was yanking on his arm.

  “Damn it, Ronan. Slow down.” Fitzgibbon was out of breath.

  “I need to get away from here, Kevin.” Ronan turned around to see the captain bent over with his hands on his knees.

  “I get that, but if you keep going like this, you’re going to walk to Dorchester. Just hold up a minute.” Kevin blew out a harsh breath, which crystalized in the cold January air. “Shit, I’m not as young as I think I am.”

  Usually Ronan would have had an instant comeback for Fitzgibbon. Right now, all he wanted to do was punch out the window of the ancient Pontiac he was standing next to in the parking lot.

  “Let me take you home. I don’t think you should be driving right now. Hell, I don’t think you should be walking right now either.” Kevin managed half a smile.

  Ronan was pacing around with his hands balled into fists. One of those hands came up.

  “Try it and I’ll knock you on your ass. I might be old, but I’ve still got enough moxie left in me to put you down, Ronan.” Kevin grabbed his balled-up fist and forced his arm down. He pulled the fingers apart and held Ronan’s hand. “Look, I get that you’re about three words away from going nuclear on me, but I also know that the crash is coming. All of these other emotions are going to come down on you when the anger starts to ebb. Your husband’s words are going to sink past the rage and you’re going to regret those words you said in the heat of the moment.”

  “No, I fucking won’t. Kevin, he-”

  Fitzgibbon held up a hand to stop Ronan in his tracks. “Listen to me, we both know how much you love Tennyson.”

  “Don’t say his fucking name. I mean it. Do not say his name right now.” Ronan’s teeth were gnashed together. He could feel them grinding against one another.

  “Fine, I won’t say his name. How about this one, Everly Erin? Can I say that innocent little girl’s name?” Kevin shut his mouth.

  Hearing his unborn daughter’s name stopped the rage flowing through his veins momentarily.

  “I knew that would get your attention. Your husband isn’t a student of the law, Ronan. He barely kno
ws enough about Massachusetts’ statutes, never mind federal laws. If someone from the FBI told him they’d throw him in jail and keep him from seeing that baby, you know he was going to believe them. There was so much emotion in that day.” Kevin shook his head. “He read Mark’s spirit, then Dragonni’s men were shooting at us with automatic weapons, then Dragonni shot Tony in front of us. We were off to chase him while Tennyson rode alone in the ambulance with Tony. Then he gets word that your best friend is dead. Come on, Ronan. It was a lot for him go through in course of a few hours. You know that.”

  Fine. Ronan knew that. It was a lot for anyone to go through. “I went through all of those things too, Kevin. So did you.”

  “You’re right, Ronan. I went through all of those things and if a member of the FBI told me that I had to choose between Greeley and Jace, I would have chosen Greeley. Hands down. I don’t even have to think about it. I would have chosen my son.”

  “Five fucking months he watched me suffer. I mourned for Tony. I cried. I didn’t sleep. Didn’t eat. He watched it all and knew it was a fucking lie.” Ronan was yelling again. His throat was raw from it.

  “All of those things you said, Tennyson suffered too. You said to me earlier that he looked like shit. That he wasn’t sleeping or eating. Keeping this secret from you was killing him.”

  Ronan couldn’t deny that. His husband looked like death warmed over and that wasn’t him being an asshole, that was an accurate description of Tennyson. The man whose name he couldn’t bear to hear at the moment.

  “Imagine his fear, Ronan? Walking into that hospital room and seeing Tony alive and then being told that he had to choose between you and Everly. He did what he thought he had to do.” Kevin shook his head.

  “He should have known it was all bullshit!” Ronan was yelling again. His throat ached along with his heart.

  “How?” Fitzgibbon shouted back. “Because you would have known if you’d been standing in his shoes? None of this would have happened if you’d gone to the hospital instead of racing off after Dragonni. I had it in hand, you know!” Kevin’s green eyes were blazing, his Irish temper was out in full force.

  “Now you’re taking his side?” Ronan roared.

  Fitzgibbon grabbed Ronan’s arm, giving him a shake until he was looking him in the eye. “No one was at the hospital to protect Tennyson. He did the best he could in a very bad situation. Sometimes you don’t get to choose between good and bad. Sometimes you have to choose between bad and worse!” Fitzgibbon let Ronan’s arm go and took a deep breath. “I have no doubt that Clemente would have trumped up some kind of bullshit obstruction of justice charge. They would have hauled him away and kept him from his one phone call. You know how the feds work when you don’t agree to play ball, Ronan.”

  Ronan knew all right. “What about Carson? It was obvious Carson knew about this too. What about Truman? Did everyone know but me? Did you know?” Ronan’s voice broke on that last word. He couldn’t take it if he were the only one who didn’t know Tony was still alive.

  “Come here.” Fitzgibbon pulled Ronan in for a rough hug. “I didn’t know. I swear on Greeley’s name. I didn’t know Tony was alive. I would have found a way to tell you if I’d known. Truman didn’t know either. I saw the look on his face when the attorney called Tony’s name. Carson knew. He’s a psychic, Ronan. That’s how he knew. It wasn’t this big conspiracy to tell everyone but you. If you want my honest opinion, I think Ten let it slip by accident and recently too.”

  Pulling back from Fitzgibbon, Ronan searched his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Ten talked about Madam Aurora showing him how to block people so they couldn’t read him. I think he’s been doing that exact thing since the day Tony died. That’s part of the reason he’s worn to the bone. I think he must have let the block slip and Carson caught wind of the secret. You know they’ve all been after him. Asking him what’s wrong and how they can help, right? Greeley’s asked and so have Jace and I. He wouldn’t tell anyone what was wrong with him. The only person I could see him letting his guard down with is Carson. You know it had to be a serious thing if Carson didn’t tell Tru. After what they went through on the cruise, neither one of them was any too anxious to keep secrets from the other again, but Carson did it for Tennyson.”

  Ronan felt his head sink to his chest. This was all too much to handle. He felt like he was being hit with a tsunami of emotions that was sucking him back out to sea with the undertow. “Kevin, I…” Ronan didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

  “Let’s get you into the car and warmed up. We’ll figure out what to do next from there, okay?”

  Nodding, Ronan let Fitzgibbon lead him in the right direction. He had no idea what the hell was going to happen next. All he knew for certain right now was that his best friend wasn’t dead. What was going to happen next with Tennyson was anyone’s guess.

  18

  Tennyson

  Tennyson was sitting on his side of the bed when he heard the door alarm go off. Dixie started to bark but made no move from the bed where she was sitting. Ten’s suitcase was sitting open, but unpacked at the foot of the bed. He had gotten as far as unzipping it when he’d started to cry again. That was an hour ago.

  “You’re still here,” Ronan said. His voice sounded hoarse.

  Ten didn’t bother to respond. He stayed where he was on the bed, spinning his wedding ring around his finger with his left thumb.

  Ronan sat down on the other side of the bed. Ten felt the mattress dip with his weight. He had no idea what came next. If he should say something or if he should just keep his mouth shut. What the hell did you say to the husband, who only hours ago looked like he wanted to kill you with his bare hands.

  “The trial was stopped for the day after Dragonni went after Tony,” Ronan muttered.

  Again, Tennyson didn’t say a word. It was that fucking trial that put them here in the first place. Back to back. At odds with each other and if Ronan’s earlier rage-filled speech was to be believed, possibly on the verge of divorce. He stood up from the bed and went to his closet, which was on Ronan’s side of the room. It was the first time in the year plus that they’d lived here that he’d even noticed that his closet was on the opposite side of the room from where he slept.

  Pulling the doors apart, he just stared at his things. Shirts hung by sleeve length and color on the top row, pants hung by color on the bottom. His shoes were on a rack to the right and his ties were on one of those “As seen on TV” gadgets that organized them. His ties were arranged by the colors of the rainbow. It seemed pretty ridiculous now to have wasted his time on something so frivolous. He had no idea where to start. It was so much harder with Ronan watching him.

  He moved away from the closet to the bureau they shared. It would be better to start with underwear. Ten jerked open his drawer, his eyes catching on the framed pictures that sat on top. The first was a picture of the two of them on the beach in Bermuda. The second was a 4D ultrasound picture of Everly. Her little face was perfectly captured, with one hand up against her cheek. Ten felt tears stinging his eyes again. All of this had been done for her and now…

  Ten felt his knees give way, felt himself falling, but he didn’t care. Ronan caught him just as he was about to land hard on the polished wood of the bedroom floor. He lowered them both to floor. Tennyson sat sobbing, staring up at the picture of their unborn daughter.

  After a few minutes, Ten was able to get himself under some sort of control.

  “You have one opportunity to explain this to me. Take a shower. Get your shit together. I’ll be in the kitchen.” Ronan stood and walked out the door.

  Tennyson didn’t know whether to throw up or feel relieved. What he did know was that he wasn’t going to accomplish anything sitting on the bedroom floor. Climbing back to his feet, he found that he could stand on his own. That was a good first step.

  Stripping out of his clothes, he did what Ronan said to do. He got into the shower. The hot water helped him to
calm down and find some bit of peace. One thing Ronan had said to him in the courtroom had stuck with him. It was about how fucking stupid he’d been to listen to Cruz Clemente about being jailed for telling Ronan about Tony.

  He wasn’t going to make that same mistake with Everly. Now that he was calmer, he’d had some time to think things over. They were legally married in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which made him just as much Everly’s father as it did Ronan. Just because he wasn’t the sperm donor didn’t make him any less entitled to custody of that baby. If Ronan thought he was just going to walk away from his daughter, he was dead wrong.

  Shutting off the water, Ten dried himself off and got dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans and tee-shirt. He left his suitcase unpacked. This was his house too. If Ronan didn’t want to spend the night here with him, then he could pack and leave.

  Tennyson had spent the last five months doing everything in his power to protect his family and now it had blown up in his face. All he could do was explain himself to his husband again. He had no idea how the same words he’d said to Ronan hours earlier could make any difference in his husband’s opinion of the situation. Taking a deep breath, Ten headed downstairs. He could hear Dixie following behind him.

  When he reached the kitchen, he could see Ronan was sitting in his usual spot at the table. The seat Bertha Craig had been sitting in last night when she’d told Ten that he wasn’t going to lose his husband. He sighed and went for his favorite mug. He made a quick cup of tea before turning to acknowledge Ronan.

  His husband looked like shit. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who’d shed a tear or two over the events of the day. Pulling out his chair, Ten took a seat.

  “Tell me what happened from the very beginning. Don’t leave one detail out. I’ll stop you if I have questions.” Ronan snapped his pen. It was poised over his notebook.

  “This isn’t a police interrogation, Ronan.”

  “It’s whatever I say it is. You’re on thin ice as it is. Don’t fucking push me.” He slammed his free hand down on the table.