Page 10 of Dead Calm (Cold Case Psychic #38)

Ronan woke up feeling like a new man. All of the symptoms of his seasickness were gone.

Everly spent the night with Aurora and Ezra had been with Jude.

With the hotel suite so quiet, Ronan had gone out like a light and had only woken up when the sun rose.

He hadn’t slept like that since before Everly was born.

After Ronan’s shower, he rounded up the bigger kids and took them to the breakfast buffet and then to the kiddie arts and crafts class.

It looked like they were going to paint a picture of the hotel at sunset.

Ronan asked if he could join in and unbelievably, the instructor allowed him to stay and paint.

Before the class started, Ronan put in a room service order for Tennyson. Peppermint tea, French toast, bacon, and fresh fruit. Ten deserved breakfast in bed every day for how hard he worked taking care of their family.

Just as Ronan was finishing the hotel itself, Jude and Fitzgibbon walked into the classroom. He caught Jude’s attention and motioned them over.

“Look at you, Picasso!” Fitz said, looking impressed by Ronan’s work.

“Painting looked like fun, so I asked if I could join in. To be honest, it’s kind of relaxing. Maybe I’ll take it up when we get back home. Me and Everly could paint our garden like Monet used to do.”

“Don’t forget to sign the bottom right of your masterpieces,” the instructor said. “We’ve got to leave the paintings here to dry all day, so adding your name will help to identify which painting belongs to which artist.”

Ronan added his John Hancock and stood back to admire the final results. It wasn’t half bad, if he did say so himself. Maybe they could hang it in the laundry room or in his office at work.

Jude snapped pictures of the kids with their art. He did the same for Ronan.

“Daddy!” Everly ran to Ronan. “I didn’t know you stayed to paint.”

“What do you think?” Ronan crossed his fingers hoping his daughter liked his painting. He’d painted the background with oranges, purples and pinks, representing the setting sun. Around the hotel were all kinds of flowers and ivy creeping up the side.

“I love it, Daddy! You get a sticker for your hard work.” Everly showed off the one she’d been awarded by the art teacher.

“I don’t want a sticker. I want a snack!” Wolf said. “I’m starving!”

“Come on, you little Hobbit. Let’s go get a second breakfast.” Jude wrapped his arm around Wolf and led him out of the ballroom.

“Do you girls want a snack too?” Fitz asked, looking as if he already knew the answer to the question.

“I want more craps!” Aurora said, looking excited at the prospect.

“You might need to add a little fiber to your diet, honey,” Ronan said, barking out a quick laugh. He had no idea what Aurora was talking about.

“Not craps, crepes!” Everly said with a giggle.

“Right. They’re filled with hazelnut spread and are the best things I’ve ever eaten. We should learn how to make them at home, right, Daddy?” Aurora batted her eyes at Fitzgibbon.

“We’ll check it out when we get home.” Which of course was shorthand for, Aurora’s getting a crepe griddle when vacation was over.

The dining room was full of hotel guests when Ronan walked in with Everly and Aurora. He couldn’t see any empty tables, but he could smell the bacon. It called to him like a siren’s song.

“Where are we gonna sit, Daddy?” Everly asked.

“I bet there are places to sit in the Taproom. It’s not open at this time of the day, but I bet we can use the tables.

” Ronan ushered his daughter through the line.

Everly got a hazelnut crepe and fresh strawberries.

Ronan followed her lead and added a stack of crispy bacon to his plate.

He was about to usher them out of the room and down the short staircase to the bar, when Ronan heard a raucous laugh.

He turned around to see a large man wearing a fedora.

He seemed to be holding court over his table.

“That’s him,” Fitzgibbon whispered. “That’s the mobbed up beachmaster.”

Ronan studied the man. He was everything Fitz and Jude had described.

He looked to be about sixty and was built like a bulldog with a perfect tan and slicked back dark hair, which was obviously a dye job.

With his Irish skin that got sunburned after being outside for thirty seconds, Ronan couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy over his deep tan.

He couldn’t hear much of the conversation the man was having with the people at his table, but his thick New York accent was apparent. “What’s his deal?”

“When we saw him on the beach the other day, he was talking about working for John Gotti in New York City back in the day.” Fitz rolled his eyes.

“That’s bullshit,” Ronan shook his head.

“People who worked for Gotti keep their mouths shut. Even still, let’s steer clear of him.

” The last thing Ronan wanted was to get tangled up with a guy like that.

He’d dealt with a few mobsters over the course of his career, Vito Dragonni, most notably, and the number one thing with those guys was loyalty.

Lose that, and you sleep with the fishes.

The Taproom was empty, just as Ronan thought it would be. Fitz and Jude pushed two four-top tables together and got the kids settled in.

“What are we gonna do today?” Wolf asked, before shoving a huge bite of pancakes into his mouth.

“We’re gonna drive into Newport and do a little shopping and have lunch,” Cope said. “They also have an arcade with games and rides. After that we’ll come back to the hotel and spend the afternoon at the beach.”

“Maybe they’ll have cute sundresses we can wear on our dates!” Aurora clapped her hands together.

Wolf groaned out loud. “I don’t want to shop for dumb clothes.”

“There’s a shop that sells shark things, tee-shirts, hats, toys. Maybe we’ll go in there while the girls are looking at dresses?” Jude asked.

Wolf’s eyes lit up. “That sounds cool, Daddy!”

Ronan was about to say he wanted to come along too, when loud voices caught his attention. They sounded like they were coming from inside the bar kitchen. “What’s that?”

“It’s Lainie, she’s really upset.” Everly’s voice trembled as she spoke.

As Everly spoke, Lainie’s voice got louder. “Stop, Kurt! Just stop. I can’t take this anymore. We’re over.”

“We’re over when I say we’re over, got it, bitch?” Kurt shouted. A loud smack came just after.

Ronan and Jude were out of their seats and heading toward the bar when Lainie burst through the swinging doors. She held her right hand up to her cheek. Kurt was right behind her. He grabbed her ponytail and yanked her backward.

“Take your hands off her, now!” Ronan said, his voice low and menacing. His entire focus was on Kurt’s left hand, which was balled into a fist.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kurt snarled.

“Detectives,” Jude said. “Now do what my partner said and let her go.”

Kurt shoved Lainie into the bar. Several glasses clinked together and fell, crashing to the floor. He came around the bar, straight at Ronan. “Mind your own fucking business, pal. You don’t want a piece of me! I guarantee it!”

“Fitz, call 911,” Jude said, never taking his eyes off Kurt.

“No, don’t!” Lainie called out. “I’m fine. Really, I’m okay.” She rushed around the bar and came to Kurt’s side. She grabbed his balled up fist and tried to pull his fingers apart. “This was just a little disagreement.” She turned to Kurt. “I have prep work to do. You need to leave.”

Kurt took half a step toward Ronan, who didn’t budge. “You heard the lady. Get. Out. Now.”

“Suck my cock, fuckwad!” Without waiting for a response, Kurt turned and stormed out of the bar.

Ronan had several come-backs lined up, but remembered the kids were sitting a few feet behind him and didn’t want to traumatize Lainie any more than she already was. He heard Fitz on the phone with the police. He’d let them handle things from here. “Are you okay?” Ronan motioned toward her cheek.

Lainie pulled her hand away and there were raised, red finger marks. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“The police will be here in a few minutes,” Jude said. “We all heard him slap you.”

“No, it’s okay.” Lainie offered a pleading look. “I just want to get back to work. This is the last full week I have left here. My tip money pays for books and things my scholarship doesn’t cover. After the summer ends, I’m going my own way when we get back home.”

“Was Kurt like this before you came to Hurricane Pointe?” Ronan asked, thinking about the research he and Tennyson had done the night before.

“No. Before we got here, Kurt was sweet and kind to everyone. A lot of guys flirted with me and asked me out, and it never once bothered him. In fact, he said that made him even prouder to be my boyfriend. I actually thought he was the one, you know?” Lainie wore a wistful look.

“I do know,” Ronan agreed, “but there’s something Tennyson and I learned last night that might change things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ten and I suspected your relationship with Kurt was exactly mirroring the relationship between Vivienne and Walt in 1933. We looked into arrest records for the years since the hotel reopened as Hurricane Point in the 1960s and found that once a year or so, there’s a report of domestic violence taking place on hotel grounds. ”

“Unfortunately, domestic violence happens every day,” Jude said.

“Yeah, but here’s the thing, the relationships are always between members of staff and the arrests all take place the week before Labor Day, which lines up with the 1933 hurricane and Vivienne’s death.”

“You’re serious?” Jude asked.

Ronan nodded. “Ten called it a residual haunting. In other words, its history repeating itself every year. We think Walt’s spirit is influencing what’s happening here at the hotel. Not only did he die in the hurricane, like Vivienne did, but they are both buried in unmarked graves.”

Jude looked as if he had something to say about that when Lainie interrupted him.

“There’s a rumor about unmarked graves here at the Angel of Hope Cemetery.

People say that the spirits can’t rest in peace until their remains are found and properly laid to rest with their names being restored.

I always thought it was an urban legend, something to scare people. Do you know where these graves are?”

“I don’t, but I have a feeling I know someone who might.” Ronan tilted his head toward Everly, who was munching on a piece of bacon.

“You’re not gonna get her involved are you?” Jude asked, looking concerned.

“No, I’m gonna talk to Ten about this and see what he thinks we should do next.

” Ronan turned back to Lainie. “You’re not out of the woods here.

I read the police reports and there’s a pattern of violence that grows over the course of the summer and climaxes over the last weekend of the summer.

Make sure you tell the police everything.

What Kurt did to you is not okay.” As Ronan spoke, two uniformed officers stepped into the bar area.

Lainie nodded. She looked absolutely miserable. “I will, thank you, Ronan.” Without another word, she turned and headed toward the cops.

Fitz pulled one aside and began speaking to him in low tones. Ronan assumed he was filling the officer in on what they’d all witnessed. When the chat was over, the cops led Lainie out of the Taproom.

“We should talk to Ten and see what he thinks about finding these unmarked graves,” Ronan said. “If we can put Walt’s spirit to rest and have Ten cross him over, that would break the residual haunting, theoretically keeping Lainie safe.”

Jude sighed. “I’m not sure that’s the right decision. I agree that we need to get together with Ten and Cope and figure out our next step, but I also think that if Kurt isn’t here then he can’t hurt Lainie. We’re leaving in a few days. Problem solved.”

“I disagree, Uncle Jude,” Everly called from the table behind him. “Someone else will try to hurt Lainie in his place.”

“Are you sure?” Ronan asked, knowing damn well Everly was.

“I can feel how mad Walt is. He wants to hurt Vivienne the way she hurt him. It makes him happy that Kurt is treating Lainie this way. He whispers in Kurt’s ear and tells him things that make him angrier and angrier.” Everly shivered.

“That settles it. Let’s go talk to Tennyson.” Ronan needed to know if Ten was getting the same vibe from Kurt that their daughter was getting. He’d also know what to do next to keep everyone safe and end this haunting once and for all.