11 Ronan

Ronan had outdone himself with the ribeye steaks he’d grilled for dinner. He and River had worked like a well-oiled machine with Ronan in charge of the meat and his brother-in-law in charge of the sides. The mashed potatoes were the creamiest he’d ever eaten and the kids had loved his roasted brussels sprouts, a miracle in Ronan’s eyes. He’d asked River for the recipe so he could make them at home for Everly and Ezra.

After dinner, they’d settled the kids in the family room with Frozen and bowls of ice cream with hot fudge, while the adults sat on the patio, enjoying the sultry southern breezes. “I hate to bring this up, River, but there are some things we learned about Patrick Marsh today.”

“Bad things, I assume?” River asked.

Ronan nodded. “Jude, Fitz, and I met with Shane Matheson earlier.”

“That’s the former Boston cop you worked with?”

“Right,” Ronan agreed. “He’s working as a licensed private investigator and mall Santa. One of his clients is Mabel Marsh.”

“Patrick’s wife?” Barb asked. “Why did she hire a PI?”

Ronan exchanged an uneasy look with Tennyson, who nodded. “She thinks he’s cheating on her.” Ronan paused for Barb’s reaction.

“Cheating? There’s no way Pat would do that. He’s an upstanding guy who…” Barb stopped in her tracks when Ronan, Fitz, Jude and Ten all shook their heads.

“Barb,” Ronan began gently, “Not only is Patrick cheating on Mabel, he’s also poisoning her.”

“He, what ?” Barb asked so loudly that she woke her sleeping daughter cradled in her arms. Delta let out an angry squeak, but soon settled back to sleep. “You know I love you, Ronan, but you can’t go around making up lies about people just because he had the misfortune of his first wife dying.”

Ronan was about to remind Barb that Patrick’s first wife hadn’t died, she’d been viciously murdered, but for the sake of family harmony, Ronan took a different tact. “Mabel came to Shane Matheson with a claim that her husband was poisoning her. She had several health ailments that her doctor couldn’t explain, so Shane sent her for a heavy metal toxicology panel. The results came back today and Mabel had higher than normal levels of arsenic in her blood.”

“Arsenic? How is that even possible?” Barb looked to River, who looked as confused as she sounded. “I thought the EPA banned it from rat poison.”

“They did,” Fitzgibbon said, “but arsenic itself is still sold commercially. You can order it online. It’s used to make bullets stronger and is also used in taxidermy. It’s regulated and monitored, so it should be easy enough to find a record of Patrick Marsh purchasing it.”

“Oh, God,” Barb gasped. “Patrick does taxidermy in his spare time to relax. Mabel always talks about how disgusting it is to have dead animals in her house as décor.”

Ronan felt his stomach turn, he never understood how people could shoot and kill wild animals for fun or prestige. He would rather starve to death that snack on Bambi’s mother. “If that’s the case, then it might have been a weapon of opportunity.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Jude agreed. “With arsenic in the house, Marsh will simply claim his wife getting sick was a case of cross-contamination.”

“Christ, make sure no one eats whatever potluck dish Patrick Marsh brings on Christmas Eve.” River wore a sour look on his face.

“Should we just uninvite them altogether?” Barb asked. “I don’t want to convict the man without a trial, but I also don’t want him in my house around my kids, nieces and nephews.”

“I know this is going to make me sound like a dick, but I’d prefer if you didn’t cross the Marsh family off the guest list. We were hoping to cozy up to him.” Fitz pointed between himself, Jude, and Ronan. “Ten would be able to read the man and Mabel to see if Marsh had been responsible for the death of his first wife.”

“And also to see if he’s the one poisoning the second wife,” Ronan added.

“Wait, hold on.” Barb put her hands in the air. “I thought you just said Patrick was poisoning Mabel.”

“Actually, I said that Mabel was being poisoned. Anyone could have slipped arsenic into her food or water.”

“And with Patrick dogging around town with every woman who’ll have him, it’s also possible he was the intended target of the poison,” Jude added. “I’m not a huge fan of potato salad, but I’ll eat it if Cope makes some. So if Ronan was trying to poison my darling husband, he’d end up killing me instead.”

“Why the hell haven’t I thought of that before?” Ronan asked, laughing. He sobered seconds later. “I suppose it’s possible one of Patrick’s girlfriends is the one poisoning his wife, which makes a lot of sense when you remember there’s nothing to tie him to the death of Jillian. Someone else killed her. What we don’t know was if that murder was directed by Patrick or by some lovesick fool he convinced to do his bidding.”

“What’s your plan to find out?” River asked.

“Shane was going to see Mabel Marsh after we left him this afternoon. She’s staying with her parents while she recovers from the arsenic poisoning and to keep her out of the line of fire. Shane’s got a shift at the mall tonight, but after that, he’s going to surveil the Marsh house and go through their trash. We’ll have more info in the morning , just in time to make decisions for the Christmas Eve party tomorrow night.” Ronan didn’t like the idea of Patrick Marsh being in the same space as his kids. He was willing to take the risk if it meant putting the murdering fucker behind bars. Ronan understood that not every set of parents would make the same decision. If River and Barb decided to uninvite Patrick Marsh or cancelled the party altogether, he’d go along with it and would need to find another way to get close to the alleged wife killer.

Barb sighed. “I suppose we can wait to hear the results of the surveillance before we make a final decision about the party. Do detectives really go through people’s trash?”

Ronan nodded. “They sure do. When you throw something away, it’s considered abandoned. When I was with homicide, we used to tail suspects and wait for them to pitch a cigarette butt or to throw out a drink from a fast food restaurant in order to collect DNA. This was especially helpful if we couldn’t get a court ordered DNA warrant.”

“What does Shane think they’ll find in the trash?” River asked.

“Hopefully proof that he poisoned his wife or something to indicate what he had planned next. You’d be surprised how many people write out their plan to check it for holes and weaknesses. They figure the information is safer if it’s not on their computer or online.” Ronan was always shocked how smart criminals were brought down by the smallest detail. A receipt in the trash. The indentation of a kill list on the pad of paper it was written on. “What time do you want us here to help set up for the party and to start cooking?” Ronan could talk about the Jillian Marsh case all day long, but he knew Barb and River had their limits.

“We told people to be here around five, so we’ll need to have the food ready by then. It will all go in chafing dishes so that people can help themselves. We figured letting people graze all night was a better idea that having a stuffy sit down meal.”

“Right,” Barb agreed. “How about we start cooking around noon?”

“Sounds great,” Ronan said. “We’ll bring by lunch and we can get to work after that. The kids can spend the afternoon in the pool.”

“I’m sure Jace or Cope wouldn’t mind watching them. Hell, I wouldn’t mind watching them either. I’m good with the grill but not so good with regular recipes.” Ronan’s cooking skills had gotten better over the years, but they still ordered a ton of takeout.

“We’ll give you something to do to help that won’t include treating out guests to salmonella.” River laughed.

“Whatever I can do to help.” Ronan loved how quickly River and Barb had accepted him into their family.

“Ten and I were talking about Christmas traditions my mom and I had when I was growing up. One of them was making Christmas cookies, which I hope all of the kids will join in on tomorrow.”

“All of the kids love to bake,” Ten said. “Except for Ezra. He just wants to eat.”

“We’ll definitely need a taste-tester,” Barb laughed.

“In that case, Ezra’s your man.” Ronan heard giggles come from the living room. He had a feeling Olaf had just appeared on screen. Ronan headed into the house to peek in on the kids. They’d finished their ice cream and had left their abandoned bowls on the coffee table.

Doing a quick clean up job, Ronan noticed that Everly, Brooke, and Aurora were bundled together in a blanket patterned with gingerbread cookies on a pink background. They looked and sounded like sisters. Wolf sat beside Lizbet, holding his sister’s hand. Ezra had zonked out, with his head on the arm of the sofa.

Nothing was more important to Ronan that the little people in the room. The last thing he wanted to do was put them in any danger. Same went for the adults laughing out on the patio. Usually Ronan was all about solving cold cases at any cost, but standing in the doorway, watching the kids laugh together, he had to admit nailing Patrick Marsh wasn’t important at all in the grand scheme of things.

Ronan hoped that while on stakeout tonight, Shane Matheson would find a clue that would lead to Marsh’s arrest and would allow everyone to enjoy a happy Christmas together.