What interested him more than anything was the impression Everly got from Fairbanks. His daughter had the worst Uno face on the planet. Even without his gift, Ten knew when Everly had the wrong-colored cards to win the game. He also knew when she was about to nail him with a Draw Four. He was curious to know if she was able to maintain her composure no matter what she learned.
With Ezra down for a nap, Ten had settled himself on the sofa and was watching an episode ofReal Housewiveswhen he heard Ronan’s heavy tread on the front steps.
“We’re home!” Everly announced when she came in the front door. She pulled off her pink coat and let it fall where she dropped it. “Daddy! You’ll never guess what happened today.”
“Hmm, let me give it a try.” Ten shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Ohhh, I see. You’re going to hang up your coat and take off your boots before you climb on the sofa with me.”
Everly’s effervescent attitude wilted like discarded lettuce in the hot sun. “Ha. Ha.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her coat from the floor with a dramatic sigh.
“I’ll remind you of this day when your daughter does the exact same thing and you’re complaining that she makes you wait on her hand and foot.” Ten’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Uh, no. I’ll doeverythingfor my kids when I’m a mommy, so there won’t be any complaints. I’ll be the best mother in the whole wide world!” Everly set her hands on her hips as if she were daring Tennyson to challenge her idea of a picture-perfect life.
“What about laundry?” Ten asked with a snicker. “If memory serves, a certain little miss hates doing laundry.”
“Stop killing my dreams!” Everly stomped out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, Ten heard the refrigerator door open.
While their daughter was picking up after herself, Ronan kissed Ten. “How was your day, dear?”
“Ezra and I had fun at the library and picked up some new books.” Ten pointed to the stack on the coffee table in front of him.
“Did you get some for me?” Everly asked, climbing onto the sofa to settle next to Ten. She carried a bottle of water, which she handed to Ten to open for her.
“I sure did. They’re upstairs on your book table. You and Dad can decide which one you want to start tonight.” Ten opened the bottle and handed it back to her.
“I love reading with you guys.” Everly wrapped her arms around Ten’s neck and gave him a hug. “Do you want to hear about our morning with Mr. Fairbanks?”
“Please. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
“Oh, please. You already know what happened.” Everly folded her arms over her chest.
“Actually, little miss know-it-all, I don’t. I only used my gift to make sure you were safe. I have no idea what happened at all. Mr. Fairbanks could have a hundred cats, and I would have no idea.”
Everly laughed. “I didn’t see any cats or dogs. It was a pretty house with lots of tulips in the yard. Me and Uncle Jude took pictures with them.”
“What was Mr. Fairbanks like?” Everly had been right; it would have been easy for Ten to pluck the details from her mind, but he wanted to hear her ordered thoughts and what things she wanted to tell him. He knew Ronan could fill in the rest.
Everly took a sip from her water bottle. She seemed to be thinking over how she was going to answer Ten’s question. “He thought I was a cute little girl playing grown-up. At least until he thought I talked to his wife.”
Ten bit his lip to hide a smile. Fairbanks wouldn’t be the first, nor the last person, who’d underestimate Everly or her gifts. “Did you?”
“No. I didn’t see her at the school, and she wasn’t with Mr. Fairbanks. His new wife doesn’t like when he talks about her.” Everly wore a sad smile.
“I’m sure thinking about Marie and what happened to her makes him sad.” Unless he was the one who killed her, Ten added to himself.
“I don’t think he hurt Miss Marie, Daddy.” Everly nibbled her bottom lip. “But there was something he didn’t want me to know about. He seemed scared of me finding out.”
“Do you know what that thing was?” Ten asked.
“No. I feel like I failed. I need to help the kids, and Miss Marie and I didn’t do either.” Everly buried her face against Ten’s chest.
“You didn’t fail at all, honey. I promise.” Ten wrapped his arms around his daughter. “Just because you have special gifts doesn’t mean working on cold cases is easy. I’ve interviewed a lot of people working with your father, and I didn’t always know what they had to do with the crime.” Most notably, the time he and Ronan thought Jace was a suspect in the serial murder case they’d worked several years ago.
“When I work cases, I think of them as great big puzzles,” Ronan said. “Each person we speak with, each clue is one piece. We learned a lot of good things from Fairbanks today, namely that Marie got a lot of angry responses from the town after the kids died. He said their house had been vandalized and they’d gotten hate mail. We still have to talk to the old principal, and Fitz got in touch with Tommy Sullivan’s older brother, Michael. We’ve got a meeting set up with him later in the week.”
“Did you call Principal Preston?” Everly asked.
Ten raised an eyebrow at Ronan. This was a wrinkle no one had mentioned yet. “Did you think of someone to set the principal up with on a date?”
