Fitzgibbon raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me she wants us to get this clown out of trouble.”
“No,” Ten said, “nothing like that. Apparently, when he was in his jail cell back at the station, the man heard a voice asking him for help.”
“That’s nothing new.” Jude shook his head and reached for the red pepper flakes. “The city jail is a zoo on the best of days.”
“He was alone in the cell, and he was the only prisoner being held, Jude. The voice asking for help was a ghost.”
Relief barreled through Ronan’s entire body. He should have known Aurora’s problem had to do with a spirit. She most likely wasn’t able to make contact and needed Ten’s help. “Thank Christ, I thought this was something serious.” Ronan chuckled. This was just another instance of Aurora being Aurora.
Jude and Fitz laughed along with Ronan. The tension at the table eased.
“Itisserious, Ronan!” Ten’s fork clattered to the table. He shot Ronan an angry look. “Do you think I’d waste your time with something I could handle on my own?” Without bothering to wait for an answer, he continued. “The spirit told this man he’d been murdered in the jail by a member of the Salem Police Department. His exact words were,‘Can’t breathe. Killing me.’”
Ten’s words stopped Ronan cold. Looking at Fitz and Jude, he could see Tennyson had their full attention as well. “Start from the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”
“Aurora’s friend is a guy named Rhys James. He’s an accountant over in Peabody. He was at a retirement party last night and had too much to drink. He stupidly refused the offer of a ride and drove drunk. The Salem Police pulled him over and arrested him. Before you ask, he doesn’t have a criminal record.”
“Is it possible this man was still drunk in the holding cell and was hearing things?” Fitz asked.
“That was my first question as well,” Ten said, “but Aurora and I were able to rule that out when Rhys told us the ghost’s name was Jefferson McGrath.”
The detectives eyed each other from across the table, each of them shook their heads. “That name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Aurora Googled him and he’d been arrested for drunk driving back in 2015 and had been found dead in his cell the next morning. The news article we read said McGrath had fingertip bruising on his neck, but the autopsy was pending toxicology results.”
“Is that all you know?” Fitzgibbon asked.
Ten nodded. “Aurora only showed me that one article, but there’s one more thing you need to know.”
Ronan had a very bad feeling he wasn’t going to like what Ten was about to say. “What is it?”
“One of the arresting officers was a guy named Robert Oliveri.”
Ronan exchanged a look with Fitzgibbon, who shook his head. “We don’t know who that is. If this death happened fifteen years ago, it’s possible he’s retired by now.”
“You said Oliveri was one of the arresting officers, who was the other?” Jude asked, sounding curious.
Ten took a deep breath. His eyes stayed on Ronan. “Oliveri’s partner was Cisco Jackson.”
“There’s no way Cisco had anything to do with a death in the jail,” Ronan said. “We’ve known him for eight years and there’s no cleaner cop on the force. Hell, it’s why he was made chief.”
“I’m with Ronan,” Jude said. “There’s no fucking way Cisco killed this guy.”
“What were the final autopsy findings?” Fitzgibbon asked, sounding calm.
“What?” Ronan half-shouted. “You can’t actually think our boss had anything to do with this man’s death.”
“What we actually need, Ronan, are all the facts.” Fitzgibbon was all business. He turned his attention back to Ten. “What was the man’s cause of death?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, Aurora only showed me the one article from theSalem News.”
“Don’t you think you should have done a little bit of research before you accused the decorated chief of the Salem Police, and our friend, of murder?” Ronan felt his anger growing. What the hell was wrong with his husband? Cisco might be a pain in the ass, but he was one of the best cops Ronan had ever worked with, not to mention the fact that Cisco was a part of their family.
“Take a breath.” Jude set a hand on Ronan’s arm. “Ten isn’t accusing anyone of anything. He’s just telling us what he knows. Why did Aurora call you and not us, or Ronan at the very least?”
“Aurora knows how sensitive this information is. She’s hoping Ronan can get me into the jail to see if I can connect with this spirit. There was no need to call in the cavalry. To be honest, she’s as scared as I am about this situation.”
Ronan sighed. He’d been able to see how badly scared Ten was from the moment he’d walked into the kitchen. “I’m sorry I went off on you.”
