Page 5 of Dead O’Clock

Ronan shook his head. “No way. We did that last time and nearly got caught. We’ve gotta use Fitz’s computer to check his Ring camera. When we see him leave on camera and actually drive away, then we split!” He knew Fitz didn’t care when the detectives left the office, but Ronan and Jude liked to feel like they were pulling one over on their boss.

“You see that article in the paper this morning?” Jude asked, as Ronan got up to put his plate into the dishwasher. “The one about some guy dying on his doorstep.”

“I was just reading about that when you walked in. Sounds like he laid there for hours before a nighttime Amazon delivery driver saw him and called 911.” Ronan shook his head. He loved living near his best friends and knew if anything like that happened to him, Carson or Cope would be on the phone calling for help before he hit the floor.

“It’s crazy none of his neighbors saw him fall.”

“Maybe the guy was a drunk and they were used to seeing him passed out on the front stoop?” Just one more reason Ronan was glad to have put his drinking days behind him. “Or maybe his neighbors hated him or aren’t nosy fucks like ours are.”

Jude snorted. “Isn’t that the truth? I can’t sneeze in this neighborhood without five people blessing me through text messages.”

“Let’s get to work.” Ronan headed for the front door. “The sooner we clock in, the sooner we can clock out.”

“Cope got a funny feeling about it,” Jude said, said as he walked down the front steps.

“Funny feeling about what?” Ronan’s mind had already turned toward the five cases he was going to follow up with that morning. “One of the cases we’re following up on?”

“The dead guy on his front steps.” Jude paused. “Did Ten say anything about it?”

Ronan shook his head. “No. I didn’t mention it to him.”

“Milton’s Auto Repair on Grosvenor Street. I’ll see you there in a few.” Jude waved and jogged across the street to the Thunderbird. He listened as Jude shifted the car into drive and heard the screech he’d mentioned. That repair was going to cost a pretty penny, not to mention how hard it would be finding parts for a sixty year old car.

Ronan started the Mustang and listened to the horses purr under the hood. His mind turned back to the dead guy. Ronan wished he’d asked Jude what kind of funny feeling Cope had that morning. Like Ten, Cope’s hunches were always dead on.

He made a mental note to ask Jude about it later.

2

Tennyson

After Ten dropped the kids off with Cope, he headed to West Side Magick. He had originally planned to be off during the first week of August to get a handle on back to school shopping. Everly needed new clothes and school supplies. Ezra needed shirts and shoes. He outgrew his faster than Everly ever had at that age.

Carson had called after dinner the night before to ask Ten if he would come in to see a new client named Dan Rogers. When Carson told him Ten wasn’t available for the rest of the week, Rogers had offered to double Ten’s fee. It was a true emergency and he needed Ten’s help desperately. When Carson explained the situation, Ten had agreed to come in and do the one reading.

Arriving twenty minutes early, Ten turned his mind toward the reading to come. “Morning everyone!” He waved to Matteo, the summer intern manning the cash register, and to Carson, who was standing with Cole at Cassie’s bakery shop counter.

Once inside his office, Ten took several deep breaths to calm himself. He opened his gift and reached out to Dan Rogers. In return he got nothing back. Sometimes spirits who were waiting to meet with a relative would show up early and introduce themselves to Tennyson. Either there wasn’t a spirit Rogers wished to speak with, or it was shy and holding back.

There was a folder sitting on Ten’s reading table marked Dan Rogers. Ten opened it and began reading the client intake form. Usually people filled out the form with all sorts of details, such as the name of the person they were hoping to connect with or a problem or question Ten could help solve. All this intake form had on it was Emergency Reading Needed. There were no other details and most of the information the form asked for was missing. It only had Dan Rogers’ name, not his address, phone number, or email address.

Ten wasn’t overly concerned. There were a lot of skeptics out there who wanted to walk into a reading cold, so Ten had no way of doing research on them before they arrived at the shop. Not that he looked into clients online, but there were people who thought that was one trick psychics used. He would bet Dan Rogers wasn’t the client’s real name at all. No matter. Ten would learn what he could when the man arrived.

“Ten?” Carson opened the door to the reading room. “I have Mr. Rogers for you.”

His lips quirked into a quick smile. Ten loved that show as a kid. “Please send him in.” He stood, ready to greet his client.

A short, stocky man walked into the room. He had dark eyes and a short military haircut. “Mr. Grimm.” The man took a seat at the table without shaking Ten’s outstretched hand.

Feeling a tad on his back foot, Ten took his usual seat. He tried to read Rogers, but wasn’t getting a lot from him. Just a bit of fear mixed with excitement. The kind of thing Ten expected he would feel if he shoplifted a candy bar from the grocery store. “It’s nice to meet you, Dan. How can I help you today?”

“You mean you don’t already know?” Rogers smirked at Tennyson, as if this were some kind of game.

Ten took a breath to calm himself. It wouldn’t do any good to show his frustration with the client. He was obviously getting off on his attitude. Ten wasn’t about to add to his ego. “Most people come to me to speak with lost loved ones. Is there someone you’d like to connect with?”

Rogers leaned forward, his eyes narrowed on Tennyson. “As a matter of fact, there is someone I’d like to reconnect with, but your husband made that all but impossible.”

“My husband?” Ten asked. Was this guy a relative of someone who Ronan put behind bars? Someone his husband killed in the line of duty? “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”