“Maybe,” Everly said softly.
“Sometimes spirits don’t want to be seen. Sometimes they don’t want to take advantage of our skills. Sometimes they’re scared. Spirits still have feelings and emotions, even though they’ve passed on. Maybe we caught Marie on a bad day.” It was even possible that Marie couldn’t speak to them because she was under someone’s influence or bound by a spell. Ten wasn’t ready to go there yet, at least not until he’d spoken with Bertha and got her take on the situation.
A knock at the door stopped Ten’s train of thought. “Come in.”
“Hey, what are you guys doing in here?” Ronan wore a worried look.
“We were talking about what happened today at the school.” Maybe Ronan would have a better time getting through to Everly. It was killing him that his daughter thought she’d failed today. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
“Okay.” Ronan walked into the room and took a seat in front of Everly. “How’s it going?”
“I still feel like a failure because I couldn’t speak to Miss Marie and because we didn’t find any clues about who hurt her.” Everly set her book down and turned to Ronan.
“That’s not true at all.” Ronan reached out a hand to Everly’s shoulder.
“Dad, you were there. If I’d been speaking to Miss Marie, you would haveheardme.” Everly’s voice had taken on a frustrated tone.
“I understand that, honey, but you were wrong when you said we didn’t find any clues.” Ronan’s blue eyes glittered.
“What do you mean?” Everly perked up.
“Well, you were the one who knew about the closed-off classroom. I never would have thought to investigate a fifty-year-old crime scene, butyoudid. Then, when we were in the room, you found the drawings made by Paul, Katie, and Tommy, and you found the love letter from Principal Whittaker to Miss Fairbanks. Hell, you found more clues in an hour than the police have found in half a century.”
“Really?” Everly’s eyes widened.
“Yes, really. Think about the kinds of cases that me, Uncle Jude, and Fitz investigate. They’re all years old—some are decades old. The cops and detectives who’d originally worked these cases couldn’t solve them. Did they feel like failures? No, they were assigned new cases, and they got on with their jobs. You didn’t fail at anything today. You know, Principal Preston told me how impressed he was with you.”
“He did?” Everly’s blue eyes widened. “That’s pretty cool.”
Ronan snorted a laugh. “It is cool. How many other six-year-olds do you think were out investigating cold cases today?”
“Just me!” Everly crowed. “And Woofie and Aurora.”
Ten couldn’t help thinking what a great support system they’d been for Everly. He hadn’t been sure how the other kids would respond to being in the middle of a cold case investigation, but they’d each acted mature beyond their years. Wolf had been calmer than usual, and Aurora hadn’t complained once about how dirty and dusty the room had been.
“That’s right. The things you can do are extraordinary, but there are limits,” Ronan said gently.
“What do you mean,limits?” Everly was completely tuned in to her father. Ten loved watching them interact like this.
“You can’t speak with spirits who aren’t there, right?” Ronan asked.
“I guess so.” Everly sagged against Ten’s side.
“Hey.” Ronan poked Everly’s left side. “I ate the last Twinkie while you and Daddy were looking for Riff Raff.”
“Dad!” Everly shot Ronan an angry look.
Ronan bit his lip to keep from laughing. “So if you wanted to eat a Twinkie, you couldn’t, why? Because there isn’t one to eat.”
Everly frowned but stayed quiet.
Ronan wrapped his arms around his daughter and pulled her into his lap. “I didn’t really eat the last Twinkie. I was just trying to make a point that you can’t eat something that isn’t there, just like you can’t chat with a ghost who isn’t there.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Everly wrapped her arms around Ronan and held him tight.
Ten got up from the floor. “While the two of you hug it out, I’m going to hunt for Riff Raff. Where is Ezzie, anyway?” Ronan hadn’t heard a peep from his son, which wasn’t a good thing.
“He’s asleep on the kitchen floor. The reason we couldn’t find his giraffe was because he’s lying on top of it.” Ronan laughed.
