15 Ronan

The party was in full swing. Drinks were flowing and there was enough food to feed the entire neighborhood, which was a good thing, because it looked to Ronan like the whole neighborhood was in River’s house.

The party guests had spilled out onto the patio, where River and Fitzgibbon were grilling burgers and chicken. He loved that it was December twenty-fourth and they were cooking outside in shorts. The last time Ronan checked, the temps were in the low seventies. Perfect party weather. He’d checked the weather back home and Salem was sitting at a very brisk twenty-eight degrees with six inches of fresh snow. He’d take the sun over the snow any day. Ronan definitely wasn’t one of those nuts, like Fitzgibbon, who loved a white Christmas.

Ronan had stationed himself in the kitchen, knowing that’s where all the new guests to the party went to find Barb, who was manning the makeshift bar. An hour into the party and there was still no sign of Patrick Marsh. He was beginning to wonder if the man was coming. He spotted Tennyson coming toward him.

“Patrick Marsh is here and he’s got Mabel with him,” Ten whispered.

“Mabel? I thought she was staying with her parents?” At least that’s what Shane had said, but a lot had changed over the last twenty-four hours.

“I guess she figured her husband couldn’t poison her here, in front of all these people.”

Ronan shook his head. “I disagree. There are so many people here. Most of them are drinking. No one would notice if he slipped something into her drink, which is why Everly is never dating until she’s forty.”

“Good luck with that. Here he comes.” Ten angled his chin over Ronan’s shoulder.

“Hey, Barb!” a booming voice called out. “Merry Christmas!”

Ronan turned to see a man carrying a large potted palm tree. He had longish blonde hair and legs for days. He could see why women found the man so attractive, but he wasn’t handsome enough for Ronan to ignore a case of arsenic poisoning. Patrick Marsh smiled brightly at Barb and hugged her after setting the tree down on the counter.

“It’s gorgeous, Pat. Thank you.” Barb made eye contact with Ronan, who winked back at her. Their pre-arranged sign to stay calm and carry on like nothing was wrong. “River is outside manning the grill.” She pointed toward the door. “Oh, and the guy over there in the naughty list tee is his brother, Tennyson.”

“Tennyson, it’s nice to meet you.” Pat held his hand out to Ten and shook vigorously. “You must be the long lost brother River mentioned.”

“That’s me and this is my husband, Ronan.”

Patrick Marsh looked momentarily surprised, but held out his hand. “Good to meet you, Roman.”

Ronan would let the mispronunciation of his name go. It was loud in the kitchen and maybe Marsh hadn’t heard him right. He also supposed Marsh knew exactly who he was and was fucking with him. “Good to meet you too. So, you’re into plants?” Could Ronan have asked a dumber question? He didn’t thinks so, but thankfully Marsh laughed.

“Gee, how could you tell?”

“Let me get the door for you.” Ronan opened the screen door and led the probable killer outside. He noticed the kids were still in the pool, splashing and having a grand time for themselves. Jace and Cope were stationed at the shallow end, with their pants rolled up to their knees and their feet in the water. Ronan saluted Cope with his bottle of water, their prearranged signal that Patrick had arrived. He saw both men pull out their phones. Ronan knew they were texting Fitz and Jude to let them know Marsh had arrived.

“Hey, Pat!” River said, from the grill. “Glad to see you made it and I see you brought a date.”

Patrick laughed in response. “Barb’s been asking for a date palm for awhile now. This one’s just a baby. It will be a while before it bears fruit. I’ve got care instructions for you both to follow. I’ll email them in the morning.

It was on the tip of Ronan’s tongue to suggest Patrick send the email tonight, since he might be in jail come sun up, but he kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t going to be the one who blew his own cover. “Where do you want it, River?” Ronan asked, taking the potted tree from Patrick.

“Set the pot on the other side of the patio. No one’s sitting there. It should be safe.”

Ronan headed across the patio and set the baby tree down. It was gorgeous. Patrick Marsh obviously knew what he was doing. He would never understand how a man this successful at cultivating life could also cruelly take it away at will.

“He’s not what I expected,” Jude said from behind Ronan.

“What did you expect? Freddy Kreuger?” Ronan asked.

Jude shrugged. “Maybe, but certainly not someone like him. Look at the way Mabel is hanging on him, like he didn’t just try to poison her. What the hell is she thinking?”

Ronan had seen the couple come into the house together, but Mabel hadn’t followed him out to the patio. She must have come outside when his back was turned.

“I sure as hell didn’t expect that .” Fitz said with a sour frown, when he joined the group.

“What, Mabel acting like their happily married?” There was no way in hell Ronan would have come to a party with someone who tried to kill him. Maybe Mabel was built differently, but Ronan wouldn’t be able to shut his eyes worrying that Patrick would try again.

“She’s not Mabel,” Fitz said. “That’s Jenn.”

Ronan and Jude exchanged a confused glance. “Who the hell is Jenn?”

“She’s one of the woman who was engaged to Patrick. The one who hired Shane to see if Marsh was cheating on her. He was, with Mabel.” Fitz shook his head. “I hope to fuck they don’t start posting those pics on Facebook.” He pointed toward the grill, where Patrick and Jenn were taking cute selfies together.

“Oh, I guarantee they will.” Jude shook his head. “I’m betting that Patrick planned to get back with Jenn once the arsenic bumped off his wife.”

“Would you date a man who’s wife had been murdered under mysterious circumstances?” Ronan asked. He knew what his answer would be, a holy fuck no, but not everyone thought like he did.

Jude shook his head. “I wouldn’t marry a man who’d been married to a woman.” Jude offered a snarky grin. “But no, I wouldn’t even date someone who lost a spouse to murder. Too many types of too much baggage.”

“I can see the appeal, though,” Fitz said.

“What do you mean?” Ronan saw no appeal whatsoever in Patrick Marsh. Not even in his gorgeous blue eyes.

“Some women love to mother their men. Give them cuddles and tell them everything’s going to be alright.”

“Isn’t that what Jace does for you?” Jude asked.

“Eat a dick,” Fitzgibbon muttered. “I just mean there are women who’d find the danger of Patrick attractive. Women love bad boys. You did too, Jude, back in the day.”

“I liked to fuck bad boys, not marry them so they can kill me later for my insurance money.” Jude chuckled.

“Marsh got a lot more than insurance money,” Fitz said. “There was also all of Jillian’s family money, not to mention the house in Salem and the one in St. Thomas. According to public records, Patrick sold them all. He used the money to relocate to Florida and start his landscaping business.

“What do we know about Mabel’s financial situation?” Ronan asked.

“She’s as poor as a church mouse. Was the second oldest of five kids. Her mother owns a double wide across town that’s still got about fifty grand left on the mortgage and she has almost no savings. Bumping Mabel off won’t give Patrick the kind of windfall he got when Jillian was murdered.”

“He’s the one with the money this time,” Ronan said. “Florida is a no-fault divorce state. If Mabel divorces him, she gets half, which, according to the last financial statement Marsh submitted to his bank, is pretty damn sizable.”

“That just gives Marsh a different reason for killing wife number two.” Jude’s brow shot up. “Shit, Marsh is coming.”

Ronan had a feeling the man of the hour would eventually make his way back to him.

“Roman!” Patrick slapped his back. “River tells me you were born in good, old Taxachusetts. I was too. Where are you from?”

“I was born in Quincy,” Ronan said carefully. He didn’t know how much River had told his friend. They’d gone over what not to say to Patrick Marsh, but with River never having done undercover work before, Ronan hadn’t expected him to stick to the script.

“No kidding. I was raised in Salisbury, near the beach.” Patrick grinned.

“The beach up there is nice.” Ronan turned to the others. “These are my friends Jude and Kevin. Patrick does the landscaping work for River’s housing developments.”

“Ah,” Fitz said. ‘That explains why you walked into the party with a plant.”

“I’ve been a landscape architect for the last eight years. What do you all do back home?” Patrick asked with a knowing tone.

“We’re private investigators,” Fitzgibbon said with a bit of snark in his voice.

“Are you now?” Patrick’s gregarious smile fell from his face. “Just like the guy that was murdered at the mall last night. Heard all about it on the news this morning. Poor guy.” Patrick didn’t sound very sympathetic.

Ronan was saved from needing a comeback when Jenn approached their group and slipped an arm around Patrick’s waist. She whispered something in his ear that had him grinning again. “It was nice meeting you guys. Hope you have a safe trip home.” Without waiting for an answer, Patrick turned and walked away.

“Fuck a duck. He obviously knows who we really are.” Jude wore a sour look on his face.

“Dad!” Everly ran up to Ronan. She was dripping wet and her lips had a bluish tinge to them. “I have to talk to you.”

Ronan looked around and didn’t see Tennyson. “Go get your towel and we’ll talk, okay?”

Everly nodded and ran back toward the pool.

“Does she know something?” Fitzgibbon asked.

“Sounds like. Go find Ten and send him out to us. Jude, keep an eye on Patrick Marsh.”

“You got it.” Jude and Fitz headed back toward the house.

“Here you go.” Everly handed Ronan her dry towel.

Ronan wrapped his daughter up in it and scooped her up. He carried her to one of the nearby lounge chairs and set her on his lap. “What’s up?”

“There’s something wrong.” Everly nibbled her lower lip.

Ronan’s brow knit together. He wished Ten were here to help interpret what Everly was feeling. “Wrong with you or someone else?”

“Someone else. I think it’s one of Patrick’s women.” Everly wore a confused look as if she didn’t understand what she was saying.

“How do you know who Patrick is?” Ronan had a feeling he knew the answer.

“He’s Jillian’s husband. Jillian showed me what he looked like.”

Tennyson came toward him with Jude and Fitzgibbon hot on his heels.

“Marsh and his date are gone,” Fitzgibbon reported. “I saw the unmarked police car leave after Marsh drove away.”

Ten took a seat beside Ronan and Everly. “What did you see, honey?”

“Jillian told me one of Patrick’s women are in danger.”

“ One of his women?” Ten’s eyes widened.

Ronan knew his husband was trying to figure out how the hell he was going to explain to Everly that sometimes husband’s cheated on their spouses. “The blonde girl is Jenn, was Jillian talking about her?”

Everly shook her head. “I don’t know. Jillian came to see me and then she was gone. She doesn’t stay around for very long. I didn’t see a picture of who’s in trouble. Does Patrick have a lot of women friends?”

“I’m not sure, honey.” Ronan dropped a kiss on his daughter’s head. There were two women that Ronan knew of, Mabel and Jenn. Men like Marsh usually had more than one side piece, so in reality, there could be several more women who were in danger. “What you told us was a big help.” Ronan set Everly in Ten’s lap and gathered Fitz and Jude around him.

“I’ll call Captain Richmond and see if he can get a car to sit on Mabel’s parents’ house and another to keep tabs on Jenn,” Fitz said.

“That’s a good place to start. Ask him if the detective’s at Shane’s house found records of other women associated with Patrick Marsh. If there are, get Richmond to put unmarked cars on their houses too. The last thing we need is another murder on Christmas day.”

A shiver ripped through Ronan’s body. He turned to see Ten and Everly laughing together. Ezra sat at a nearby table with Wolf. Both boys were gobbling down cookies. He would protect his children with his very last breath, but how the hell did he protect someone else’s child when he didn’t know who was next on Patrick Marsh’s hit list?