10

Tennyson

It was strange sitting in someone else's living room. Ten was surrounded by the metaphorical ghosts of Maya and Sebastian Stark. Unfortunately, their actual ghosts were nowhere to be found. Bash's trophy and his friendship bracelet sat on the coffee table in front of him.

Ten couldn't help but think about Everly and Ezra. If anything happened to them, what would be the keepsakes Tennyson would cherish the most?

"Ten?"

Ronan's voice startled Ten. He jumped up and spun around to see his husband standing behind him. "You okay?"

Ten shook his head to dislodge his thoughts about their kids. Thinking about contacting Paul Stark's lost wife and son wasn't much better. "I will be when I can reach Bash and Maya. Neither of them are here."

"I don't want to add to your anxiety, but Paul's really hoping you'll be able to speak with one or both of them."

"Him and me both." Ten looked behind Ronan to see Fitz and Jude with Paul Stark. They took seats around the sofa, being careful to avoid the empty gaming chair favored by Sebastian. Taking his own seat, Ten reached out and picked up the bracelet. It had the name Simon on it. "Who's Simon?" Ten asked.

Stark shook his head. "I don't know. Well, not for certain anyway. The president of the local Sigma Chi chapter was Simon Westlake. From what I understand, he's now the regional president and lives here in Salem. Other than that, there were no boys named Simon at his high school. He's not gay, if that's what you're thinking."

"I wasn't thinking that at all," Ten said. He'd worked cold cases long enough with Ronan to know that the bracelet was a definite clue. Parents didn't always know the ins and outs of what their teenagers were up to, especially when they were out of the house and away at college. If they could find this Simon, it might get them a lot closer to finally finding out what happened the night Sebastian died.

Closing his eyes, Ten focused on the bracelet he held in the palms of his hands. He opened his gift and reached out for Paul Stark's lost son. "Sebastian, my name is Tennyson Grimm. Your father asked me to come here today to speak with you about what happened the night you died. If you can hear me, please let me know."

The house remained silent.

Ten took a deep breath. It wasn't uncommon for spirits to be shy, especially ones that had died violently at the hands of someone else. "Sebastian, can you let me know if your mother is with you? Your father would finally be able to find some peace if he knew you two were together."

Beside Ten, Paul Stark set his face in his hands. Ten could feel the man's despair and desperation. He wished there was more he could do for the bereaved father, but without Sebastian stepping forward, there wasn't a lot else he could do.

"I'm scared," a voice said.

"Bash, is that you?" Ten asked. "What are you afraid of?" Ten felt Paul Stark tense beside him. There would be time to explain what was happening to him later. Right now, Ten needed to focus all of his energy on the spirit.

"I'm afraid my father won't forgive me for drinking the night I died. I didn't want to see the look of shame in his eyes, so I stayed away. I stayed away from Mom too."

Ten gasped. "Bash is here. He's saying that he's afraid you'll be mad at him for drinking. He's also been avoiding your wife for the same reason."

"I'm not mad at him. I could never be angry with my son. Never." Pausing for a moment, Paul took a deep breath. "Can you ask Bash to prove it's really him? That you're really speaking to him?" Paul Stark sounded tired. As if he could sleep for a month and still wake up tired.

"Tell my dad I wanted to dress up like Captain America when I played one of the wise men in our church play."

Ten snorted. "Bash wants me to remind you about the time he wanted Captain America to be one of the wise men."

Paul gasped. "There are no pictures of that or mentions anywhere on social media or in the interviews I gave the press after Bash's death. I'm sorry to have doubted you, Tennyson, but I had to know my son was really here."

"I understand completely." Movement out of the corner of Ten's eye caught his attention. Bash had made himself visible and settled himself into his gaming chair. The chair swiveled so the spirit was facing the sofa instead of the television.

"Holy shit, is that you, Bash?" Paul asked, sounding as stunned as he looked.

"I'm not sure if I can make my father see me, but I'll try." Seconds later, a barely there Bash appeared.

Paul Stark started to cry.

"I don't have a lot of time. I can feel myself getting weaker by the second."

"Can you tell us what happened the night you died?" Ten asked.

"I'd managed to get through pledge week. The party I was at the night I died was the final step before I was initiated into the frat. I was assigned to be Simon's gopher. I had to get him cups of beer to drink and whichever girl he chose to… Well, you know."

"I know," Ten said. "Your autopsy said you had three times the legal limit of alcohol in your system."

"Yeah, for every drink I brought Simon, he made me drink two. It was his version of Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. Whoever was still standing at midnight would be initiated."

"Did you make it to midnight?" As Ten spoke, Sebastian began to fade from view.

"Love you, Dad," Bash called before disappearing completely.

"Wait! Come back!" Paul shouted. "Bring my son back. You have to bring him back."

Ronan wrapped an arm around Paul Stark and led him out of the living room. A few seconds later, Ten heard the sound of a can cracking open and knew it was beer and not soda. "Fitz, can you go help?"

Without saying a word, Fitz got up from the sofa and moved toward the kitchen.

"Is he gone?" Jude asked.

"Yeah. He is." With Bash having a hard time materializing, Ten had known they weren't going to be able to get a lot out of him. "I should have asked him who killed him. I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid, Ten," Jude said earnestly. "How were you supposed to know he would leave the house when he couldn't maintain his visibility? I assumed when he faded out that the two of you would keep talking."

"I thought so too," Ten admitted. "Not every spirit has the kind of mastery over themselves like Bertha Craig does. When she showed up in our kitchen last night, she was solid enough to hug Ronan and Everly. Obviously, Bash hasn't learned those skills yet."

"We've lost Paul Stark for the day," Ronan said, walking back into the living room. "He's on his second Bud in the last two minutes, and there's a lot more in the fridge. I left Fitz with him. To be honest, I think he's more distraught now after being able to see his son than he was before Bash's spirit made contact."

Jude sighed, stretching his arms over his head. "We should get back to the office and go through the documents Paul gave us. That way, in the morning, when he's sobered up, we can let him know what we've gotten done."

"Good idea, Jude," Ten said, feeling buried under the weight of guilt. He should have gotten straight to the point with Bash rather than lollygagging around.

"I'll go grab the file and will meet you back at the car." Jude left the room, leaving Ten and Ronan alone.

"Do you think you'll be able to contact Bash again?" Ronan asked.

"I hope so. It might not be for a while, but I have a secret weapon at home that might be able to help us out." After dinner, he'd see if Everly could reach out to Bash and ask him to tell the rest of the story. With any luck, she might be able to get Bash and his mother back together. It killed Ten to think that Maya had been dead for two years and hadn't been able to reunite with her son.

"Well, if our little miss is going to put in some work on this case, it's only fair we have ice cream for dessert." Ronan waggled his eyebrows.

"No arguments here." Ten picked up the friendship bracelet with Simon's name on it. "Do you think Paul will mind if I bring this with us?"

"With the way he's drinking, I'm sure he won't even notice it's gone."

"I was thinking the same thing. Let's get out of here." Ten slipped the bracelet into his pocket. He wanted to dive into the documents Paul Stark had given them. He knew Ronan would be interested in finding Simon and setting up an interview with him. When that happened, Ten would be ready for him.