by Pandora Pine
Ronan could see the boys shaking their heads no and one of them stood up and started heading for the door. Jace caught his arm and started speaking to him. Shit, this didn’t look good. Not to mention that Ronan didn’t like the way Jace kept touching each of the kids, but maybe that was just his own sensitive radar being on alert with this case.
Finally, after a few tense minutes, Jace brought all three boys over to the table. “Like you said, no names.” He indicated the boys to all sit down. Jace hovered behind them.
“I’m Detective Ronan O’Mara. I work cold cases, so you don’t have to worry about getting busted for working.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He flipped through it until he came to a picture of Justin Wilson. “Do you know him?” He turned the phone around to show them.
Each of the boys shook their heads no.
“He was murdered a few months back. He answered an out-call response to a hotel in Revere. The john hit him and knocked him out then spent hours torturing him before murdering him. How about this guy. Do you know him?” Ronan showed them a picture of Austin Roberts.
Ronan got blank stares from the first two boys, but got a shocked reaction from the third. “Fuck, he’s dead?”
“You know him?” Jace asked. He bent low over the boys to look at Ronan’s phone. “I’ve never seen him before.”
The dark-haired boy nodded. “We ran together for a few months. His name was Austin. He was a good kid. His uncle was a dick though. Hated kids like us…” The boy trailed off.
“Gay kids?” Ronan asked gently.
The boy nodded.
“Any of you guys have a run-in with someone like I described? He might be offering a lot of money.” Ronan met each of the boy’s eyes in turn.
All of the boys shook their heads no.
Ronan had a feeling this would happen. “Do you know of any other boys who’ve gone missing? Jace, that goes for you too.”
“Kids come and go from this place. It’s almost summertime and that’s when the kids are on their own the most. It’s warm enough for them to sleep under the stars most nights. I usually only see them when it rains or when they really need to eat.”
“Okay, well,” Ronan pulled out his wallet and handed each of the kids his card. “If you hear anything about this killer on the streets or if any of your friends go missing, call me, day or night. All I want to do is catch this asshole, okay?”
“What are you going to do when you catch him?” the brunette asked.
“Make sure he never hurts another kid.” Ronan said a silent prayer that he could keep his promise.
25
Tennyson
Tennyson fell asleep on the couch waiting to hear back from Ronan and Captain Fitzgibbon. When he woke up at 6am, he was stiff from sleeping on the sofa and the screen on his phone was still blank. He briefly thought about reaching out to both men, but figured it had been a long night for both of them and didn’t want to wake either of them up.
Being awake and alone gave Ten some time to think about Captain Fitzgibbon and Greeley. He had no idea Ronan’s boss had given any thought to fatherhood or that he was the kind of man who would just offer to take in a kid off the street.
Grabbing a mug out of the cabinet, Ten was about to make a cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. It was Ronan’s picture on the caller ID when he went to pick it up. “Hey there, sexy.”
“Hey, babe!” Ronan’s chipper voice answered.
“Christ, it’s too early in the morning for that cute shit.” Fitzgibbon growled.
“Picked up a hitchhiker?” Tennyson grinned.
“Can you meet us at West Side Sweets? I promised the captain some of Cassie’s kick ass passionfruit muffins and coffee.”
“These muffins had better be out of this fucking world. I got like ten minutes sleep last night.”
“How’s Greeley?” It didn’t bode well if the captain hadn’t slept.
“I’ll tell you all about it when I see you.” Fitzgibbon sounded a tad more chipper.
Ten opened his mouth to ask another question but the line beeped three times and went dead. He guessed Fitzgibbon was not a morning person.
Tennyson dashed into the bakery five minutes later. Thankfully he’d taken a shower the night before and still smelled clean. He found Ronan and Kevin ordering at the counter. “Morning guys. Hi, Cassie.”
“Hey, babe!” Ronan pressed a kiss to Ten’s lips.
“Oh, Christ,” Fitzgibbon muttered.
“Wow, it really must have been a long night, Kevin. I’ve never seen you in this bad of a mood, even when Ronan’s on your last nerve.”
The captain’s frown cracked into a smile. “You might have a small point. I don’t mean to be such a piss-ant, but last night sucked in spades.”
“Why don’t you boys have a seat in the reading room. Cole will be down in a minute and Carson’s gonna be here any second now.” Cassie’s smile was so bright, it was almost blinding.
“I get to meet the whole crew, huh?” He dug his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. “How much do I owe you?”
“On the house for Tennyson’s boys.” Cassie started folding a muffin box.
“In that case, throw in half a dozen of those giant mint chocolate chip cookies. I’ve got a friend who could use a little pick-me-up today.”
Cassie smiled and grabbed cups for their coffee orders.
“Who’s the friend, cap?” Ronan asked curiously.
“I’ll tell you when everyone’s here.” Fitzgibbon sounded exhausted.
Tennyson led everyone to the reading room at West Side Magick. His eyes were on Fitzgibbon the whole time, watching his reaction to the shop and the items in it.
“We’re here,” Cole said breathlessly, running into the room a moment later. Carson was right behind him. “Laurel said Daddy! I had to record her on my phone.”
“Congrats, Cole.” Tennyson hugged his friend. “Guys, this is Kevin Fitzgibbon, Ronan’s captain. Kevin, this is Cole and Carson Craig, my partners here at West Side Magick.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you both. I’ve heard a lot about you from Tennyson. Ronan insisted we come up here this morning so we could debrief everyone at once.”
“I had a feeling you were going to need someone to lean on, cap.” Ronan set a hand on Fitzgibbon’s shoulder, easing his boss into a chair when there was a knock at the door.
“Thanks, beautiful!” Cole called to his wife from the table when Cassie walked in with breakfast.
Ronan took the food from Cassie.
“The cookies are for Kevin, so don’t you cavemen eat them!” There was no heat in Cassie’s voice.
“Wow, you’ve got my wife wrapped around your little finger already, Captain Fitzgibbon,” Cole raised an eyebrow. “That’s Jedi master impressive.”
“Please call me Kevin.” The captain seemed to relax a bit when Ronan plopped a muffin in front of him along with the coffee cup that had his name written on it.
“Tennyson, why don’t you start?” Ronan kissed his head and handed him his coffee.
“Yesterday, Ronan and I split up. I went with Kevin to interview a young man we think might be the one of the killer’s first victims, while Ronan went to see Rod Jacobson, a writer for the Boston Globe who won a Pulitzer for writing a piece on the street kids of Boston.”
“What was it like for Batman and Robin to be apart for the day?” Carson giggled before taking a sip of coffee.
“God, you’re an infant.” Ronan grinned. “It sucked, but you knew that. Don’t pretend you didn’t read me when you walked in the door.”
“He missed you like crazy last night, Ten. Even snuggled up with your pillow so he could fall asleep.” Carson waggled his eyebrows.
“Hey, I thought you were working on those blocking exercises?” Tennyson shot his best friend the hairy eyeball. Not that he didn’t enjoy hearing about how Ronan fell asleep without him, but it wasn’t any of Carson’s business.
“Some
days they work and some days they don’t.” Carson winked at Ronan. “How was this kid?” he asked the captain.
“Scared out of his mind and withdrawing from crystal meth,” Kevin said quietly. “The man who attacked him promised to find him and finish the job. That sent him down the rabbit hole, so to speak and he turned to drugs to block out the attack and the threat, but of course meth just makes you more paranoid.”
“Do you think the man who attacked him is the man who killed Justin and Austin?” Cole asked.
Kevin nodded. “I do. Greeley said the guy offered him a thousand dollars for the night and when he got to the motel room, the guy tried to knock him out before the door was closed and locked behind him.”
“It was the same motel in Revere that Austin Roberts was lured to by his killer,” Tennyson chimed in.
“Well that can’t be a coincidence,” Cole said.
“It seemed sloppy to me. If you’re a regular somewhere then people remember you.” Fitzgibbon shook his head.
“What if he has several motels he frequents and it just so happens that Greeley and Austin were taken to this one?” Ronan asked.
“Do we know where Justin was taken?” Carson asked as he pulled his own muffin apart.
“No. We never got that far. I’ll try to channel him again later and ask him. At least now it will be easier. He can shake his head yes or no.” Tennyson turned to the captain. “What happened yesterday when you left with Greeley?”
Ronan looked like he was going to say something snarky, so Tennyson kicked him under the table.
“While Ten and I were talking to the kid, I noticed he was twitchy, underweight, and had severe acne. All three things are hallmarks of meth addiction. I told Greeley that I’d be willing to get him into treatment and give him a place to live if he got through ninety days of treatment.” Fitzgibbon’s eyes were on Ronan as he finished speaking.
“Damn, cap. That’s just what you said you were going to do after you found out Justin Wilson’s friends were going to be staying with Tony Abruzzi and his wife. I’m proud of you.” Ronan’s words were genuine.
“Yeah, well, the drugs might not be the worst of his problems. He let the bastard rape him without a condom. He wouldn’t tell me if he let any of his paying customers do the same thing.” Fitzgibbon shook his head. “I’m worried about what the doctor is going to tell me this morning. If he can tell me anything at all.”
“Is that what kept you up all night? You look like you haven’t slept at all.” To be honest, the captain looked like something the cat dragged in. He was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn yesterday which were badly wrinkled. Ten would bet the captain had slept in them.
“No, that’s not what kept me up. After Greeley and I left you at Castle Island, we went to the precinct so I could find a treatment facility for him. You’d think being in the middle of Boston that would be no problem, right? Well, there were no beds available anywhere in the city. Meanwhile, Greeley was really starting to detox. I’d frisked him once we got into my office and he didn’t have anything on him. He’s in the bathroom throwing up so hard, I’m waiting for his liver to land in the bowl and there I am patting his back and trying to dial treatment facilities outside the city. Fuck, it got so bad I wanted to break into the evidence locker to steal him drugs just to get him through the night.”
“I wish you’d called me,” Tennyson said, reaching a hand out to Kevin.
“Me too,” Ronan added. “I would have been there for you both in a heartbeat. We do for family.”
Fitzgibbon nodded, not making eye contact.
“Did you finally find a place for Greeley?” Ten asked.
“Yeah, it’s just down the road from here in Swampscott. A place called Hope by the Sea. That’s why I was so close when Ronan texted this morning. They’d just gotten him admitted around 5am. He was a mess, crying and begging for one more hit. Jesus, then when they took him away he was begging me not to leave him. I haven’t even known this kid for twenty-four hours and my heart already feels shredded. How is that possible?”
Carson and Cole looked at each other and started to laugh. “That happened to me the second I found out Cassie was pregnant with Laurel. I stared at that stupid pregnancy test with the two blue lines and cried like a baby,” Cole said. “One minute I was Cole Craig, psychic and husband. The next minute I was a father. Sounds like the same thing happened to you.”
Kevin grinned stupidly and nodded. “They’re supposed to give him a full physical, but they can’t give me the results. I don’t even know when they’ll let me see him again since I’m not his legal guardian.”
Ronan slipped his phone out of his jeans. “I’ll text Tony and get the name of the lawyer they used for their boys. But, here’s my two cents, for what they’re worth, you know so many judges, cap. Call one, get them to sign an emergency order naming you as Greeley’s guardian. I know you’re not the type to abuse your power in any way, but there has to be a friendly judge out there who owes you a favor.”
The captain smiled. “There are several. I’ll make some calls after you tell us about your day with Rod Jacobson.”
“Most of it was a waste of time. I didn’t get to talk to any street kids until the very end of the day. We finally ended up at the Tremont Street Mission. Met the guy who runs it, Jace Lincoln.”
Fitzgibbon whistled. “Money, money, money.”
“Daddy’s got the money. Jace seems content running the shelter. He had a touchy-feely vibe with the kids, but they trust him. He was the one who got the teenagers eating there last night to come over to talk to me. One of the boys recognized Austin. None of them have had a run in with our killer or knew of anyone else who had. That’s all I’ve got.” Ronan unlocked his phone and started to text.
“Damn, waste of time was right,” Tennyson grinned.
“Not all police work is glamourous like you see on television, babe. I thought you knew that.” Ronan pressed a kiss against the side of Tennyson’s head.
“Christ are these two always like this?” Fitzgibbon rolled his eyes. “I’ve had way too little sleep and coffee to watch you two lovebirds coo over each other.” The captain reached for another muffin. “These things are off the hook though. I’m gonna grab some more of these on my way out the door for the staff at Hope by the Sea. Cole, make sure your wife takes my money this time, would you?”
Cole held his hands out in a helpless gesture. “Good luck with that, especially if you tell her they’re for nurses. She’ll end up giving you double what you ordered.”
Fitzgibbon shook his head. He stepped out of the room when his phone started to ring.
“What’s our plan for today?” Ten asked.
“I’m not sure. Maybe we should go back to the list of John Does and start visiting morgues to see if any of them have numbers written on their chests.
“You’re going to the morgue all right, but not to check on bodies they’ve already got,” Fitzgibbon said as he walked back into the room. “We’ve got an active crime scene out on Rumney Marsh in Saugus. The male body has the number fourteen written on his chest.”
26
Ronan
Saugus was outside Boston’s jurisdiction, but Fitzgibbon had made sure all other cities bordering Boston were aware of the possible serial killer situation. Hell, as far as Ronan was concerned it wasn’t a possible serial killer. There were now fourteen teenage boys this man had killed. That made him a serial killer.
Before they’d left West Side Magick, Fitzgibbon had gotten his emergency guardianship order for Greeley. He was on his way to Hope by the Sea to meet with the teenager’s doctors. Ronan was still stunned by the captain’s seeming instant decision to become a parent.
“Do you think Fitzgibbon just decided to adopt a kid overnight?” Ronan asked, breaking the silence in the Mustang.
“I don’t think Fitzgibbon decides to do anything in the spur of the moment. He strikes me as methodical. Why do you ask?” Tennyson sounded curious.
“Kevin told Greeley he’d been married to his job since he graduated from the academy.”
“I believe it. He’s always in the office before I get in and he’s still there when I leave at night. If I text him to run something by him, he always responds, even if I’m writing in the middle of the night.”
Tennyson shifted in his seat to face Ronan. “What’s really on your mind, Ronan?”
Of course Tennyson could see right through him. He’d been wondering if he had what it took to make a decision like Fitzgibbon. “You ever thought about having kids of your own?”
“Yeah. You know I’m crazy about Carson’s babies.”
“I was too…” Ronan trailed off.
“You were? What changed your mind?” Tennyson sounded alarmed.
“Don’t get me wrong, babies are amazing. I can see little bits of Carson and Truman in those little ones even at their age, but we’ve met so many homeless kids over the last few weeks. Worse, we’re dealing with fourteen dead teenage boys whose parents forced them out of their homes because they were born gay.”
Tennyson set his hand on Ronan’s thigh. “You want to adopt too.” It wasn’t a question.
“I want to help, Ten. I can’t stand by and let another teenager die. I’ve seen too much. These kids have seen and done too much in order to survive. I just…” Ronan could feel his emotions bubbling up to the surface. He’d heard Tennyson say on several occasions that he could have ended up like one of their victims if not for his gift. Ronan could have been in the same boat if not for his mother’s love and understanding. He’d been lucky, no doubt about it.
“Okay, well, let’s find and lock up this monster and if you’re serious about helping these kids I’ll help you look into it.”