Page 14 of Dead O’Clock

“Yeah, something like that. Tell me what happened this morning.” Cisco grabbed his water bottle and took several sips.

“I was in with a client when I heard shouting in from the shop,” Ten began. “When I left my reading room, I saw a man shouting at Carson and waving a piece of paper in the air. He was screaming about needing to speak with one of us because he was going to die at midnight.”

“That’s when Jude and I walked in. We took the man into the conference room in hopes of calming him down,” Ronan continued. “It wasn’t until he told us his name that we realized he was the former warden of Walpole Prison. I hadn’t seen him in a few years, and time has really taken a toll on him.”

Jude nodded. “When Ten and Carson joined us, Jones let Ronan read the letter. It sounded like some gothic novel bullshit to me. We asked him who he thought might be out to hurt him and Jones’s answer was his ex-wife’s new husband. He’s apparently trying to woo her back to him and the husband wasn’t very fond of that idea.”

“We went to see Janet and her husband Steve, who had a very interesting tale to tell about how Jones has been harassing them,” Ronan said. “At least once a month for the last year or so, he’s made false police reports against Steve Robinson. None of them stuck because they were all bullshit. Jones had also been sending people to threaten Robinson at his job. He told us that if these uniformed and armed men kept coming to the office, they were going to have to fire him, which would mean the loss of his benefits and pension.”

“We thought that was the motive for Robinson to come for Jones, which is why Ronan called you,” Jude finished.

“Jiminy Cricket on a cracker.” Cisco sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“We had no idea that the letter Jones received was related to the Crews murder. How was he killed?” Ronan asked, sitting back in his chair.

“The ME isn’t sure. His death was caused by acute cardiac arrest. There was no sign of heart disease. Crews’s blood pressure was in check.”

“If that’s the case, how do you know Crews was murdered?” Ronan asked.

“There’s a pin prick on his neck.” Cisco grabbed a pile of photographs and after flipping through them, handed one to Ronan.

“Something was injected into him that stopped his heart. Was there any sign of poisons or toxins?” He handed Jude the photo.

“The ME ran the standard blood panel, but it offered no smoking gun.”

“What poisons stop your heart?” Ten asked, having a feeling the list was going to be a long one.

“Cyanide, arsenic, oleander, foxglove.” Ronan said, ticking them off on his fingers. “Not to mention street drugs like heroin or cocaine.”

“Right,” Jude agreed. “There’s my old friend propofol, which nearly killed me, not to mention things the human body makes like insulin and adrenaline. If I were going to kill someone it would be with adrenaline because it has such a short half-life in the human body. That might be the reason nothing was found in Crews’s blood panel, because the hormone had already been metabolized.”

“I’ll get with the ME on that,” Cisco said. “In the meantime. I want the two of you sitting on Jones’s house tonight. I’ll send a car to watch the Robinson’s place.”

Ronan opened his mouth, looking like he was about to object.

“Save it, Ronan. I know you think they had nothing to do with this. Putting officers on the house will prove it.”

“What about me?” Ten asked.

“Keep your gift open and let Ronan know if you learn anything. I know you’ve got Aurora for the next few days while Fitz and Jace are out of town. Relax. Have fun being with the kids tonight.”

“Sounds good.” Ten could use a night like that at home, but with this case now looming over their heads, not to mention the strange client Ten read for, who said Ronan was the reason he couldn’t connect with his loved one, there would be no relaxing for Tennyson.

7

Ronan

After ordering out Chinese food for dinner and eating their fill, Ronan and Jude hung out with the kids watching a movie before they headed for Warden Jones’s house. They’d stopped along the way to pick up snacks and drinks for the long night ahead. Once they arrived on Jones’s street, they surveyed the houses and the block before parking on a side street with an unimpeded view of Jones’s front door.

“He’s got a Ring doorbell,” Jude said. “So if someone rings the bell, we should get a good view of who it is.”

“Cisco’s got homicide detectives working Roderick Crews’s neighborhood looking for neighbors who have Ring cameras or other surveillance.”

“Makes me think twice about those flock cameras,” Jude muttered.

“Are you kidding me? All they do is invade personal privacy. They’re against the Fourth Amendment, although the current regime doesn’t seem to be concerned with the Constitution.”

“I’m not saying they’re good under all circumstances,” Jude said. “It’s no one’s business where I go or who I see.”