Page 29 of Dead Evil
“Sure they are, Bertha, and I’m the Queen of England.” Cisco rolled his eyes. “Shackleton, Barrymore, I’m Police Chief Cisco Jackson. Come with me and we’ll get you checked out by the medics who are waiting outside.”
Jude helped Barrymore to the side of the stage, while Ronan did the same for Shackleton. Both men were shouting about the white light. Cisco handed them off to two of his officers and walked back to Ronan and the others.
“Thanks, Cisco.” Ronan gave his boss a quick hug.
“Thank you. This could have been one hell of a shitshow and you two stopped that from happening.”
“Uh, excuse me, Uncle Cisco!” Everly crossed her arms over her chest. “I was the one who stopped the shitshow.”
“I’ll make sure you get a special medal and soap to wash that mouth out.” Cisco winked at Everly and followed his officers and the two stunned men out of the auditorium.
“Our time here is up,” Bertha said. “Sorry we can’t stay longer. Toodles!” Bertha disappeared.
Everly hugged Erin one last time. “I’ll see you soon.”
“You bet, Doodlebug!” Erin kissed her cheek and slowly vanished from sight.
“Uncle Fitz?” Everly called out.
“Yeah, honey.” Fitz headed for the front of the stage.
“You need to find Devin Forrest. Someone hit him and stole Agatha Louise. He should be in the ballroom.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ronan said, climbing down from the stage.
“Me too.” Everly picked up Agatha Louise. “Mr. Devin is gonna be really upset that she was kidnapped.”
Ronan scooped his daughter and the now harmless doll into his arms. “If anyone can make Devin feel better, it’s you.” Ronan pressed a kiss to Everly’s temple. “You and I are gonna have a long talk tomorrow about everything that happened here tonight.”
“Okay, Daddy. After that, we’re gonna go to the store and get me a new doll. I’m gonna name her Agatha Louise, junior.”
Ronan burst out laughing. If he lived to be a hundred, Ronan would never forget his daughter running toward the cursed doll who had nearly added two more victims to her kill list. His daughter was brave, no doubt about it, but if she kept throwing caution to the wind, Ronan was going to end up on high blood pressure meds, sooner rather than later.
For now, Everly was safe. Ten was too. Ronan might still be shaken from everything that had just happened in the auditorium, but he even still, he was the luckiest man alive.
EPILOGUE
Tennyson
One week later…
Tennyson had found his Zen. He stood in the master bedroom surrounded by four open suitcases and several piles of clean clothes. Doing laundry gave him a sense of calm. Packing all the suitcases for their vacation trip to Rhode Island, was the calm before the storm.
“Ten? Did you pack my headphones? Oh, and my allergy meds?” Ronan shouted from downstairs.
“Ahhh Choooo!” Ezra called, imitating Ronan when he sneezed.
“Headphones, yes. Meds, not yet. Aren’t you going to need to take it in the morning before we leave?” The last thing Ten needed was Ronan sneezing his brains out on the two and a half hour ride to the hotel they were staying at on Sakonnet Point in the Ocean State.
“Good point!” Ronan shouted back.
“Goooooo!” Ezra shouted his own seal of approval.
With calm restored, Ten grabbed Ronan’s packing list and added everything to his suitcase. He popped into the bathroom and left Ronan two allergy tablets, one for that night and one for the morning, and then added the box to Ronan’s suitcase before zipping it up. Lastly he tore Ronan’s list off the top of the stapled pile and focused on Everly’s list.
“Dad?” Everly asked from the bedroom door. “Can I come in?”
“Sure! Just be careful where you walk, I don’t want you tripping over piles of stuff.”
