Not that Jude wasn’t a great father, but add in Ezra and three extra big kids, all girls—princesses, to be more precise—and Ronan understood exactly why his friend was reaching the end of his tether.
An hour later, they were off. Piled into Ten’s SUV were Ezra, Everly, Brooke, Aurora, and Wolf, which left room for Fitzgibbon, while Ten and Ronan manned the driver’s and navigator’s seats. Jude and Cope had River and Barb with them. Kaye was staying home with Lizbet. They were going to bake brownies for dessert tonight. Kaye promised an extra batch just for Ronan.
During the forty-minute drive, the kids watched a movie while the adults talked about what to do tomorrow in case it was still raining. The consensus had been to go to the video game arcade at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Ronan hadn’t playedMs. Pacmanin ages and wouldn’t mind a rematch.
“Okay, we’re here.” Ronan pointed to the building, which had a great white shark head bursting through the front wall.
“Wow! Look at that!” Wolf shouted from the back seat. “He could gobble me up in one bite!”
“You’d be like eating a cocktail weenie,” Fitz laughed. “All of you kids would be.”
“What would you be, Daddy?” Aurora asked.
“I’m so old and chewy it would be like eating a tire.” Fitz laughed.
“You just need a little tenderizing, Cap.” Ronan snorted.
Piling out of the car, all of the kids wanted to take their picture with the giant fiberglass shark. Ronan took one with Ten, Everly, and Ezra. He had a feeling that would be their Christmas card this year.
Walking into the bowling alley was like taking a trip under the sea. Colorful fish hung from the ceiling. Murals with bright coral and sea creatures covered every available wall space, while each of the alleys was lit up to look like fish were swimming toward the pins.
“This place is too cool, aside from the rented shoes.” Ten grimaced as he laced the blue-and-red shoes for Everly while Ronan helped Ezra.
Ten minutes later, after a quick lesson from Wolf, who was an expert bowler, being that he was the only one of the kids who’d ever done it before, everyone was ready to go. Everly grabbed a pink ball with a whale shark on it and approached the lane. She threw the ball like Wolf instructed, and it hit the two leftmost pins.
“Great job, honey!” Ronan called out, his attention turning to Ten and Ezra. The little boy threw the ball, which bounced twice before rolling down the lane. It didn’t strike any pins, but Ezra cheered for himself.
“What’s this I hear about Kotter Brighthouse’s death possibly being a murder?” Fitz asked, taking the seat beside Ronan.
Shit, Ronan should have known the news would have gotten back to Fitzgibbon. Ten had told him after they’d gotten back from dinner. “Apparently, Brighthouse appeared to Everly and told her he hadn’t jumped but was pushed out of the Ferris wheel car.”
“That changes things,” Fitz muttered, his eyes on his daughter. “It’s Aurora’s turn. Be ready to duck in case the ball flies back toward us.”
Aurora stood behind the line with a serious look on her face. She took two steps forward and sent the ball down the alley, dead center. The spinning green ball smacked into the headpin, setting off a chain reaction. All ten pins fell over. “I did it! I got a strike!” Aurora jumped up and down. She was mobbed by the other kids as if she’d hit a game-winning home run in the World Series.
Fitz was out of his seat to congratulate his daughter, which left Ronan alone with his thoughts about Kotter Brighthouse. He wasn’t sure there was anything that could be done about the manner of death twenty-plus years later. The police report would have been minimal, with the death being an apparent suicide. No forensics would have been collected. There would be no hair, DNA, or fingerprints to compare. Ronan wasn’t an amusement park expert, but he rather doubted that each of the cars was sanitized or even wiped down before the park closed for the night. There would have been hundreds of fingerprints on the Ferris wheel cars, not to mention DNA from frisky teenagers. It had always been Ronan’s teenage dream to get blown in the top car by the hunky quarterback of the football team, and hehad to imagine that fantasy held true today for the thousands of other teens who visited the park.
“What’s with the goofy grin?” Fitz asked, returning to his seat.
“I was thinking about how impossible collecting forensics would have been at the Ferris wheel between all of the fingerprints and teenage DNA.”
“Christ, don’t tell me you added your own sample the other day.” Fitz grimaced.
“Not with the kids in the gondola with us.” Ronan rolled his eyes. “But I was remembering that’s exactly what I wanted when I was a teenager, at an all-boys high school, still in the closet without a chance in the world of scoring.”
“Yeah, none of my teenage fantasies came true either, but I have to say being an adult and making my own family is much better. I’d rather have a shitty childhood and an amazing family life than the other way around.”
“I hear that,” Ronan agreed. He wouldn’t trade Ten and the kids for anything. “Back to Brighthouse. I’m guessing there’s nothing to go on to prove it was murder.”
“Probably less than nothing.” Fitz shook his head. “I worked a couple of suicides when I was with the homicide division, and once manner of death was preliminarily decided by the coroner, the detectives packed up and left the scene. The evidence techs took photographs and collected the weapon or blood and tissue samples, but that was it. Came back to bite us a time or two, if memory serves.”
Ronan had no doubt Fitzgibbon was right on the money. In his opinion, every unattended death should be treated like a homicide. He’d rather collect all the evidence and not need itthan need it and not have it. “I don’t even know where to start. Brighthouse’s widow and son kicked us out of their office the other day. Neither one of them has gotten back in touch with us. Ten and I spoke to Brighthouse’s spirit the other night, and he was lost. Reminded me of talking to guys with severe concussions. They don’t know what year it is or even their own name sometimes.”
“But he spoke to Everly,” Fitz said carefully.
Ronan sighed. “Yeah.”
“After she told Ten what happened, he came into the kitchen to get snacks for the kids, and that’s when he told me what happened. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. There’s a murderer out there who’s gotten away with this for the last ten years. It’s not in our nature to sit back and just let it go.” Fitz raked his hands through his hair.
