11

Ronan

Back at the office, Ronan quickly made copies of the information Paul Stark had given them. After Fitz brought up sandwiches from Cassie's shop, they'd dug into the file. Ronan couldn't decide if he wanted to plow ahead and read everything or to get into Bash's phone and go through his text messages and pictures.

Fitzgibbon made the decision for him. He slid Bash's phone across the table to Ronan. "It's all yours. Figure out who he was messaging with the night he died. Look into his social media apps. See if there are any hidden files or emails he's stowed away. See if there were any messages from the frat. How did Bash know what was expected of him. And then—"

"Hold on, Cap. I've got it. We've done this a hundred times before." Ronan studied his boss, noticing Fitzgibbon seemed to be on edge. "Are you okay?"

Fitz sighed. "I saw that boy this morning. They don't usually show themselves when I'm there. I guess seeing the ghost of an eighteen-year-old kid really shook me. I started thinking about Greeley and Aurora, and my mind just sort of imploded."

"I get like that, too, when kids are involved. Last week, Everly fell off her bike and skinned her knee. I was right there with her when it happened, but I couldn't get to her in time before she hit the ground. Part of me knew it wasn't serious and a Little Mermaid bandage would fix her up, but the other part of me, the tiger father, was out of my mind that my cub was hurt. There isn't anything worse in this world than losing a child. Witnessing Paul Stark come to terms with the fact that his son was really gone took ten years off my life. When Bash appeared, his entire demeanor changed. He smiled, and I could feel the hope and love flowing through him, but the minute his son vanished, he crashed back to Earth like Icarus after his wings were melted by the sun."

"Part of me didn't want to leave him home alone to drink himself into oblivion." Fitz sighed.

"I hear you." Ronan had definitely identified with Paul Stark's pain. Ronan's ex-husband leaving him for another woman and filing for divorce had been what tipped him into a battle with alcohol. Ronan hadn't had a drink in eight years, but he'd seen his old self in Paul Stark. When this case was over, he'd have a chat with the grieving father about possibly getting himself into rehab and therapy.

Stark might not want to hear what Ronan had to say until Bash had been reunited with his mother and his killer had been identified. Ronan found himself praying that Sebastian was murdered rather than dying in a freak accident. He wasn't sure Stark would believe his son had died without foul play being involved, even if he was presented with ironclad proof. Ronan hoped his little ace in the hole would be able to contact Sebastian later tonight so they could hear the rest of what happened that tragic night three years ago.

Grabbing a fresh legal pad, Ronan turned his attention to Sebastian Stark's phone. He keyed the passcode and was faced with a picture of Bash and his parents. They were standing in front of the library at Salem University. He couldn't help thinking Bash would have been better off enrolling at UMass, like his parents had done.

Tapping the photo app, Ronan swiped through the last images Bash had ever taken. There were selfies he'd taken with a girl, both of them with their arms around each other. There were also a couple of pics of Bash serving one of his frat brothers at the party that last night. Ronan wondered if that brother was Simon Westlake. The friendship bracelet with the name Simon was visible on his wrist. Ronan assumed it was part of the pledge week festivities.

His next stop was to scroll through Bash's contacts. He found a cell number for Master Simon and called it from his own phone. He'd thought for a moment of using Sebastian's phone but didn't want to freak the man out. There would be time for that later if he was the reason Bash was three years cold in his untimely grave. The line rang several times before a voicemail picked up, with Simon Westlake identifying himself in the greeting. Ronan left a quick message, letting the man know they needed to speak with him as the Salem Police were about to close the case for good, with him needing to dot his i's and cross his t's.

"Pants on fire!" Jude said when Ronan ended the call.

Ronan grinned at his friend, who'd called him out with Everly's favorite line. "If I called you and said I wanted to interview you in the suspicious death of one of your pledges three years ago, would you call me back?"

"I don't call you back when you leave a message about going for hot wings." Jude waggled his eyebrows.

"Asshole," Ronan muttered.

"Boys," Fitzgibbon cautioned before going back to a packet of papers he'd been looking through. "Paul Stark printed out the roll call for the Salem University chapter of Sigma Chi. It has names, phone numbers, and has home addresses, not their campus mailbox numbers. Why the hell wasn't this done by the Salem Police?"

"You know why," Ronan said, shaking his head. "No one thought there was foul play, so the detectives assigned to the case did no investigating or any follow-up. They just let the case go cold, all the while refusing to return Paul Stark's calls and not seeing him when he came by the station. I hate to say this, but all of this happened on Cisco's watch."

"Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing." Fitzgibbon frowned as he spoke. "We're not bringing that up. All I want to do is find out what really happened that night. We'll deal with the fallout later."

"Do you want to set up interviews with the frat brothers?" Ronan asked as his phone rang. "Hold that thought. It's Simon Westlake." He tapped the button to take the call. "Detective O'Mara."

"Hey, this is Simon Westlake, president of Sigma Chi. You called earlier about interviewing me." Simon didn't sound cagey or nervous in the slightest. Ronan's ploy to catch the man off guard had worked like a charm. "You mentioned wanting to talk to me about Sebastian Stark. There's not a lot to tell, but I'm happy to help." He didn't sound happy in the slightest.

"Hi, Mr. Westlake. Thank you so much for getting back to me. I'm hoping you're free to meet sometime tomorrow so we can wrap up this case and get it off my desk once and for all."

"Sure thing. Does one work for you?" Simon asked, sounding almost bored with the conversation.

"Uhh, let me check my schedule." Ronan fluttered papers in front of him to make it sound like he was actually checking. "That works for me. I can swing by your office. Give me the address." There was no way Ronan wanted Simon to pick the meeting place. He planned on walking into his office flanked by Fitz and Jude, all three with their guns and badges visible to everyone they passed in the building.

"I'll text you the address. Please be on time. I've got meetings lined up all afternoon." Without waiting for a response, Simon ended the call.

"What a dick." Ronan rolled his eyes. Seconds later, the text with Simon's office address came through. "Well, what do you know. His office is near Lobster Charlie's. Let's interview this fucker and then grab lobster rolls."

"Sounds good to me," Ten said, walking into the office. "I'll bring the friendship bracelet with me."

"You stole Bash Stark's friendship bracelet?" Jude asked in mock horror.

"There's no way Paul will miss it. When we left the house, he was three beers into a case of Bud, with another on standby. I'll bring it back the next time we see him. I just hope we'll have better news for him than I was able to give him today."

"Don't say that, Ten. Thanks to you, Paul Stark saw his son for the first time in three years. He told Bash that he wasn't angry at him for drinking. That's going to be what gets Bash to cross over, find his mother, and to forgive himself. He's suffered in purgatory for the last three years, and you're the one who'll bring him into the light." Ronan knew Ten's abilities when it came to helping families heal. He had no doubt whatsoever that Ten would do the same for the Stark family.

"I hope you're right. I—" Ten paused when his phone began to chime in his pocket. "It's Corny," he said without bothering to take the device out of his pocket.

"You should get that," Ronan said.

With a sigh, Ten grabbed his phone and answered. "Hello?"

"It's Corny. I need you to meet me." Carson and Cole's father sounded slightly panicked.

"What do you mean you need to meet with me?" Ten wore a worried look on his face.

Ronan leaned over Ten's shoulder and tapped the speaker button.

"…want to talk to you about my surgery and my family. You're the only one who can help me." Corny sounded earnest.

"Why do you think I can help you? Your wife called me out as a witch." Ten made the jack-off gesture with his left hand.

"Destiny is sorry she said that. She has the tendency to be a bit dramatic. She was shocked by how accurate your gift is. Can you meet us at this sushi joint across from our hotel?"

Ronan nodded, pointing to himself.

"Pregnant women shouldn't eat sushi. Ronan and I will meet you at Casa Blanco, the Mexican place just down the street from the Hawthorne. We'll be there at five."

"I don't want no cops there," Corny said with a snarl in his voice.

"You don't have a choice," Ten said matter-of-factly. "If you want to speak with me, Ronan comes too, or you can forget about it."

There was no way in hell Ronan was going to let Tennyson meet the con artist duo alone.

"Fine. We'll be there at five." Corny disconnected the phone.

"Fuck me with a chainsaw." Ten sunk into the seat beside Ronan.

Jude snorted. "Tell us how you really feel."

"I wanted to go home and have dinner with my kids. Now, I'm stuck with this asshole." It wasn't like Ten to swear like a sailor unless he was really riled up about something or someone.

"You shouldn't talk about Ronan that way." Jude laughed again.

Ronan snickered along with him. "Why does he want to talk to you?"

"I assume he thinks I can somehow get through to Carson and Cole about donating a kidney." Ten sighed. "Make no mistake, I'm firmly with our friends. If there's pertinent information to share with them, I'll do that, but I'm not going to be taken in by Corny's agenda, that's for damn sure."

"Aside from not wanting to die and living to meet his daughter, what other agenda could he have?" Fitzgibbon asked.

"That's what we're going to find out." Ten shrugged. "He doesn't know yet about Jace's offer. Do you want me to mention it?"

Fitzgibbon sighed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I'm coming along with you. I'll only mention Jace being willing to assist if he seems willing to be reasonable. We're sure as hell not just handing him a bucket of money. Anything Jace pays out will be through proper channels with receipts for our taxes and responsible shit like that. I refuse to let my husband be taken for a ride by some slick-ass con man."

"Preach, Fitzy!" Jude held his hands in the air as if he were at a tent revival. "Should I come too? I feel kind of left out here." Jude pouted.

"Since the three of us will be having Mexican, why don't you and Cope make tacos for the kids. Everly loves putting her own tacos together. I bet the other kids will too."

"That sounds like fun. I'll make sure to load your kids up on refried beans before I send them home." Jude waggled his eyebrows.

"Karma's a bitch, you know," Ronan shot back. If memory served, the last time Jude had Mexican food, he'd stunk up the house so bad that Cope told him to sleep in the yard. It would serve him right if the same thing happened again tonight.

Pulling his mind away from Jude's relationship with spicy food, Ronan got back to the task at hand. The clue to how and why Sebastian Stark died that night three years ago was contained in his phone, and Ronan was going to find it.