Page 3 of Dead Clucked
“They don’t make those costumes in your size, Uncle Fitz!” Everly said, walking into the kitchen. She went to the fridge and grabbed an armful of juice pouches.
Ronan snorted. “From the mouths of babes. Even Everly thinks you’re a chubby hubby!”
“No, Idon’t, Daddy.” Everly rolled her eyes in a perfect imitation of Ronan. “I meant Uncle Fitz is too tall! He’d have to walk around on his knees if he wanted the dinosaur feet to touch the floor.”
“No dessert for you, little miss!” Ronan growled.
“You’re the one who should skip dessert,” Everly said, under her breath.
“How dare you!” Ronan challenged, as Everly walked back into the living room.
Jude cackled like an old hen. “She’s not wrong, you know.”
Ronan opened his mouth, looking as if he was going to hit Jude back with both barrels, when Tennyson kissed him.
“Why don’t you guys just see what this calendar thing is all about in the morning? Once you know what the deal is, then you can tailor your insults accordingly, okay?” He pressed another kiss to Ronan’s cheek. “Can you drain the potatoes and mash them with those big muscles?” Ten fluttered his eyelashes.
“At least someone thinks I’m hot,” Ronan grumbled.
Jude had to admit Ten and Fitz had made good points. There was no sense getting his feathers ruffled over this calendar until they’d gotten the details from Cisco. It was possible the idea would be so ridiculous none of them would want to pose in the first place.
It had been quite a long time since Jude had been catcalled or eye-fucked. He knew he was getting older. Maybe this calendar was his one last chance to be forever young. Immortalized by a work of art that would stand the test of time.
3
Fitzgibbon
Bo-HEN-ian Rhapsody
Jace hadn’t been any more impressed by the idea of Fitz posing for the beefcake calendar than Tennyson and Cope. Not that Fitz minded. The idea of a man his age posing for anything with his shirt off defied the laws of gravity and good sense, but if Cisco wanted him to participate, he would. Fitz had always been a team player, even when it was to his own detriment. He supposed the meeting with the Chief of the Salem Police was the chickens coming home to roost.
When Fitz, Ronan, and Jude arrived for the meeting, Cisco was behind closed doors with the captain of homicide. Jude paced the hallway, while Ronan sat beside Fitz. He appeared to be doomscrolling on his phone. “What’s Jude’s deal?”
Ronan looked up from his phone. “He’s convinced this is all a put up job. That there is no calendar and that Cisco has something far more serious to talk to us about.”
Fitz frowned, the idea that the calendar might not be legit never crossed his mind. He shook his head. “No way. If Cisco wanted to talk to us about something important, he’d just call a meeting.”
Jude hurried toward Fitz. “Cisco knows we tell our husbands everything and even if we didn’t, Cope and Tennyson would read you and Ronan and know instantly what was going on.”
Ronan nodded, seeming to warm to Jude’s theory. “Ten’s always saying that you leak information like a sieve, so it makes sense Cisco wouldn’t tell us what was really going on.”
Thankfully, the door to Cisco’s office opened and Heath Collins, head of homicide, walked out the office. “Hey, guys.” Heath grinned at Fitz and headed off on his merry way.
“Come in, Fitz!” Cisco shouted from his office chair.
“Keep calm, no matter what Cisco tells us. Let me do the talking.” Shit, now Jude and Ronan had Fitz nearly convinced the calendar shoot was a ruse for something bigger, and undoubtedly more dangerous. He walked into Cisco’s office with Ronan behind him. Jude shut the door.
Fitz studied Cisco as the others took a seat and Ronan pulled out his ever-present notebook. There was nothing on the chief’s face or in his voice that gave anything away. Fitz wished Ten had been invited to the meeting, he would have known exactly what was about to happen.
“Good morning, cover boys!” Cisco grinned as he appeared to study his detectives. “Why the long faces? I thought you’d all be bursting with pride over being chosen to represent the Salem Police Department.”
“Wait,” Fitz said, leaning forward, “this calendar thing isreal? It’s not some put up job to keep us, and our husbands, from knowing what this meeting is really all about?”
“Put up job? Who came up with that dumbass idea?” Cisco asked, his eyes on Ronan.
“Not guilty, your honor!” Ronan pointed to Jude.
Jude chuckled. “I’ve got a buddy who’s with the Massachusetts State Police, who said independent investigators are going through their shift hours line by line. We all know about the overtime scandal plaguing the state police and I wondered if something like that was happening here.” Jude looked at Fitz.“The entire department knows how much you trust the three of us, and I just figured if there was something going down within the department, a fox in the henhouse, so to speak, we’d be the ones you’d turn to for help.”
