3 Ronan

The first thing Ronan felt when he stepped off the plane was the hot, humid air. Florida was an absolute dream in December with temps in the seventies, which kept the locals off the beaches due to the low temperature, but was perfect for his kids. He sat on the deck overlooking the beach, watching the kids run into the water and back out again.

“Hey, you,” Fitz said, handing Ronan a ginger ale.

“Thanks.” Ronan had wanted to grab a drink, but wasn’t going to leave the kids alone for even a second.

“Ten wanted me to tell you Ezra went down for his nap and Lizbet is nearly there. Jace is still out food shopping with Cope, which is weird, if you ask me.”

“Why is it weird? They’re friends.” Ronan wasn’t about to admit out loud that he thought it was weird too. He’d assumed Fitz would be the one to go with Jace on the Publix run. Ronan hated grocery shopping, so it sure as hell wasn’t going to be him.

“Jace never gets to do those domestic sorts of things. He loves the supermarket.”

“And Cope knows what all of us and the kids like to eat, so I suppose it’s a match made in heaven. Hell, we can’t eat pizza every night for the next two weeks. Can we?” Ronan asked, sounding hopeful.

“The kids would definitely love that.” Fitz looked like he would love that plan as well.

“Just the kids?” Ronan teased. He could eat pizza every day of the week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“Me too, but we have to set a good example.”

A screech from Aurora had Fitzgibbon on his feet and running toward the kids. Ronan was a step behind him. There were jellyfish and all manner of sea creatures Aurora could have gotten tangled up in, not to mention stray fishing tackle, which was dangerous.

“It’s icky! Get it off!” Aurora shouted. “Get it off!”

When Ronan reached the kids, he could see green seaweed attached to Aurora’s left foot. “It’s just turtle food, cutie,” Ronan said.

“Turtle food?” Aurora asked, sounding as if she didn’t believe what he was saying.

“Yeah, turtles love seaweed.” Ronan had no idea if it was true or not and had a feeling Aurora didn’t know either.

“I thought she was getting eated by a shark!” Wolf said, sounding a bit disappointed.

“I wouldn’t have screamed if it was a shark, Woofie.” Aurora grinned at her friend.

“Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if it was a shark?” Fitzgibbon asked, sounding as if he were afraid of the answer.

“I would have given him pets and cuddles. The only reason sharks look so mean is because they don’t have anyone to give them hugs and tell them how cute they are.”

“Is that the reason?” Fitzgibbon asked.

Aurora nodded her head. “I would have been the shark’s friend and loved him forever.”

“Or at least until he nibbled on your toes.” Fitzgibbon tickled Aurora, who ran toward Everly, who was picking up shells.

“There’s our first crisis averted,” Ronan said when they were settled back on the deck. “You’re gonna need to have a chat with her about sharks needing cuddles.”

“You know,” Jude said, stepping out onto the deck. “I think Jace and Cope went to Publix instead of having food delivered, so that we couldn’t go surveil Patrick Marsh.” He took the seat next to Ronan and waved at Wolf, who waved back.

“Damn, I didn’t think of that,” Ronan grumped. “They’re smart.”

“Would you have wanted to go out there today?” Fitz asked.

“Our husbands gave us three days, Cap. That’s not a lot of time, especially when you consider all the other things we need to do. We’re meeting River and his family for a cookout tonight. We’ve got that shelling trip coming up tomorrow and the swim with dolphins thing, which is still a secret from the kids.” There were several other things Ten had planned, but at the moment, Ronan couldn’t remember what they were.

“It was a secret from me too.” Jude laughed.

“Cope didn’t tell you?” Ronan asked. It wasn’t like Cope to leave Jude out of the loop on anything.

“He might have.” Jude shrugged. “I’ve had a lot on my mind with Running Eagle and Nana Kaye.”

“Wait! What?” Fitzgibbon asked. “There’s something going on with Kaye and Running Eagle?”

“Kaye went to Arizona to spend the holidays with Eagle,” Jude said. “That’s why she didn’t come down here with us.”

“I knew they got close last Christmas, but wow, that’s something. Kaye giving up the holidays with her grandkids to see Eagle. I wonder if he feathered a little love nest for the two of them.” Fitzgibbon snorted when Jude turned an appalled look on him.

“Don’t be such a prude, Jude.” Ronan grinned at his little rhyme. “They’re both consenting adults.”

Jude grimaced. “I don’t care what they’re getting up to or down with. I just don’t want to hear about it later.”

“Kaye is hardly likely to hit us with a blow by blow when she gets home.” Ronan giggled when Fitz rolled his eyes at the double meaning.

“Can we please stop talking about my grandfather’s love life?” Jude put his hands over his ears and started to hum.

“Fine, let’s talk about Patrick Marsh instead.” Fitz pointed to Ronan. “Get on his social media accounts. Find out everything you can about him and his wife and what plans they have for the week. With it being Christmas, they might not even be in town.”

Ronan nodded and pulled out his notebook. He wrote down what Fitz wanted him to do along with some questions of his own.

“Jude, look into Patrick’s business. Read reviews and customer testimonials. See if you can find out who works for him and what they’ve had to say about their boss.”

“You got it,” Jude agreed.

“What are you going to do?” Ronan asked.

“I’m going over the crime scene photos and autopsy reports again. There has to be something we’re missing, that all the other investigators missed before us, a connection I’m not seeing.” Fitz sounded frustrated over his lack of progress.

“Just a tip, but instead of looking for what might have been missed, try looking for what’s actually missing,” Ronan suggested. “It’s something my training partner taught me when I first came to homicide.”

“Shane Matheson?” Fitz asked, with a knowing look.

“Yeah, that’s him. I rode with him for my first month in the homicide unit. I learned a lot about detective work and how important details were from him. He was a meticulous and measured sort of a guy, not letting emotion get the best of him. Matheson was also big on details. He always said that cases were solved in the details.”

“Is he gone now?” Jude asked.

“No,” Ronan shook his head. “At least not that I know of. Last I heard, he’d hung up his badge and moved to Florida somewhere. That was about ten years ago now, give or take.” Ronan looked out over the crystal clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. “Can’t say that I blame him. This place is paradise.”

“Minus the killer seaweed,” Fitzgibbon chuckled.

“Can we get some help here?” Cope shouted from the front of the house.

“You guys go,” Fitz said. “I’ll stay here with the kids.”

“You got it.” Ronan got out of his seat and was halfway to the door when he turned back to Fitzgibbon. “I get that you want to solve this case, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of our own families.”

“I hear you, Ronan. It’s just that Jillian’s family hasn’t had a merry Christmas in a decade. It’s worth a little sacrifice on my end to help bring their daughter’s killer to justice.”

Ronan wasn’t about to say it out loud, but it would be worth the sacrifice on his end too, just so long as he didn’t end up sleeping on the beach as a result of pissing off his husband and disappointing his kids.