Page 12 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

Cope knelt in front of the Conti’s toilet, afraid he was going to get sick again.

He’d projectile vomited so hard that what was left of his scrambled eggs had crashed into the bowl and splattered up at him.

More than anything Cope wanted to wash the regurgitated egg off his skin, but was afraid to move from the floor.

The cold tiles felt heavenly against his hot face.

A soft knock solved Cope’s most imminent worry, that he’d been forgotten and left on the floor to die alone. “Jude?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Jude opened the door and shut himself inside the small room. He went to the sink and wet a washcloth, which he used to gently clean up Cope. “Are you okay to stand up?”

“I’m not sure. I think I’m safer here for the moment.” What Cope wanted to do was run out of the house and not look back, but knew that was the last thing he could do.

“What the hell happened back there?” Jude asked, cupping Cope’s face in his hands. “Did you have more of your vision?”

Cope shook his head. “No, it was worse.”

“What could possibly be worse than seeing Frankie’s last moments on Earth?”

“I saw her spirit, Jude.” Cope felt his stomach threaten to rebel again. He took several deep breaths through his mouth, hoping to calm the rising storm.

“You see ghosts all the time. What was different about seeing Frankie?”

“She was sitting like this in the chair across from her father.” Cope crossed his arms over his chest, like a corpse in a coffin.

“Frankie’s hands were bound at the wrists in a figure eight.

She was fighting against the duct tape with all the strength she had.

More tape was secured over her mouth. Jude, I could hear her muffled screams for help. ”

“Jesus.” Jude gulped for air. “I can understand why you bolted from the room. Was that all you saw?” Jude sounded as if he were afraid there was much more to come.

“Yeah. Frankie couldn’t speak to me. Spirits are no longer bound by what ailed them in life.

Blind spirits can see, the deaf can hear.

It shouldn’t have mattered that she couldn’t speak with her physical body, she should have been able to speak to me through telepathy.

” Tears streamed down Cope’s face. “Frankie was terrified, Jude. I’ve never seen fear like that in another person’s eyes before.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on her face.

” Cope dashed his hands against his eyes.

He tried to stand and faltered. Jude grabbed his shoulders to help steady him.

“I’ve got you.” Jude wrapped his arms around Cope. “I hate to ask, but if we walk back into the living room, will she still be there?”

“I don’t know.” Cope shivered against Jude’s shoulder. “I’m almost afraid to find out. On the one hand, Frankie’s parents deserve to know what I saw. It’s going to break them all over again. On the other hand, it’s possible Frankie is gone or there’s more she has to show me.”

“Let’s find out, okay?” Jude held Cope tighter. “I promise we’ll get you out of here as soon as we can, but what do we do about Frankie? Is there any way we can get her to appear to you at the shop or at our house?”

“I can try.” Cope took a deep breath and steeled his spine.

He needed to be strong for Dante and Sofia.

God knew they’d been through enough. He pulled away from Jude and washed his face in the sink before cupping water in his hands to rinse out his mouth.

“Okay, I’m ready. I don’t know how steady on my feet I’m going to be. ”

“I’ve got you, babe. I promise.”

Nodding, Cope opened the bathroom door and walked back into the living room, which was dead silent. All eyes were on Cope as he resumed his seat.

“Are you okay?” Sofia asked. “Can I get you some tea or ginger ale?”

“Thank you, but I’m okay. I’m so sorry for what happened a few minutes ago.” Cope’s eyes moved between Frankie’s parents. He could feel their grief as if it were as tangible as the glossy magazines on the coffee table. What he was about to tell them was only going to intensify their pain.

“Did you see our daughter?” Dante asked. He was holding Sofia’s hand in what looked like a death grip.

“I did,” Cope confirmed. “She appeared in the chair across from you.” He pointed. “She isn’t there now.” It was a minor relief for Cope not to have to see Frankie restrained and terrified, but he knew that any information he could get from her could be the clue that would lead to her killer.

“Was she hurt?” Sofia asked. Tears cascaded down her face. The grief-stricken mother didn’t bother to wipe them away.

“Sort of. Frankie’s hands were bound in duct tape in front of her.” Cope held up arms to demonstrate, like he’d done for Jude earlier. “The tape was wound around her hands, so she wasn’t able to free herself. Her mouth was duct taped shut.”

Sofia gasped. She looked as if she was going to lose complete control of her emotions, but a steady look from Dante seemed to give her strength. “What else? I can see in your eyes there’s more.”

Cope felt his stomach twist. If there was anything left in it, he would have been sick again. “Frankie was terrified. I could see it in her eyes. I could hear her muffled screams but she couldn’t speak to me.”

“Why not?” Sofia’s devastated look turned to panic.

“I’m not sure. It could be that she was too scared to realize she wasn’t connected to her physical body anymore.

” Cope took a breath. He’d give anything not to reveal the other reason Frankie might not have been able to communicate.

“It’s also possible that she’s stuck in that moment in her afterlife. ”

“Stuck?” Sofia asked, her eyes pleading with Cope for an explanation.

“Sort of like a record skipping over the same lyrics or like that movie Groundhog Day , where the main character relived the same day over and over again.”

“Oh, sweet, Jesus,” Sofia said, on a sob. “Is there any way you can communicate with her so that she stops living in that one horrible moment?”

“I hope so.” Cope rifled a hand through his hair. “Do you have anything that belonged to your daughter? Something special that she had a strong connection with?”

“I do.” Sofia left the room. Cope her climb the stairs.

“I can’t tell you boys how much I appreciate you being here today,” Dante said. “I was afraid the Salem Police wouldn’t pay a whole lot of attention to Frankie’s case since it was so old and there’s not a lot of evidence to go by.”

“I knew your daughter and son-in-law,” Jude began.

“One of our cats got very sick, on a Saturday, of course. We called Oliver’s vet clinic and were told to bring Sabrina right in.

It was Cope and I, along with our son, Wolf, who was two at the time.

He was so upset that the cat was sick. She slept on his bed and they were the best of friends.

” Jude grinned at Cope. “Frankie was with Oliver at the clinic that day and comforted our son. It turned out the cat needed some antibiotics, but I never forgot the care Oliver provided or the way Frankie helped our son.”

“That’s Frankie and Oliver in a nutshell.

” Dante offered a wistful smile. “When Frankie went missing, the cops assumed Oliver had done something to her. When we backed him up, they thought we couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

We knew Frankie wouldn’t have walked away from her life and we knew Oliver wouldn’t have done anything to harm her. ”

“Here we go.” Sofia walked into the room carrying a well-loved stuffed animal.

It was so worn down that Cope couldn’t tell what kind of an animal it had been when it was new.

The fur was yellow and matted and one eyeball was bigger than the other.

“This is Snowball, Frankie’s favorite stuffed cat.

She needed to have her tonsils out when she was four-years-old.

We knew how hard the surgery would be for her and we wanted to make it easier for her to handle.

Dante bought the toy and I left it on Frankie’s bed before we left for the hospital, so it would be waiting for her when she got home.

From that day on, Snowball went everywhere with Frankie.

On vacations, sleepovers, follow- up visits to the doctor.

The only time she left it behind was when she married Oliver. She left him sitting on her bed.”

“Do you mind if I take Snowball with me?” Cope asked. “I promise I’ll get her back to you as soon as possible.”

“Sure,” Sofia agreed.

Cope looked around the room and saw how exhausted everyone looked. He was about to give Jude the code word to wrap up the interview, when Fitzgibbon started to speak.

“I’ve got one last question for you.” Fitz took a deep breath. “Did either of you know Frankie was pregnant when she disappeared?”

“What?” Sofia shrieked. “Pregnant?” She turned to Dante. “Did you know?”

Dante shook his head. “I knew she and Oliver were trying. I didn’t want to badger her about how things were going. Frankie would have told us, Sofia. She would have told Ollie and then us.”

“Do you know how far along?” Sofia asked.

“She was about eight weeks,” Cope said. “When we were at the morgue, I heard the name Amelia.”

“That’s my mother’s name,” Dante said, his eyes filling with unshed tears.

“Can we see her?” Sofia reached for Dante’s arm. “Amelia? Can we see our granddaughter?”

“I’ll call the medical examiner and set something up for the two of you.” Fitzgibbon’s eyes had gone glossy. He stood up and offered Dante his hand. “We’ll be in touch when we have further information to share about the case, or if Cope is able to connect with Frankie.”

“Do you think the pregnancy is what put Frankie in danger?” Dante swiped at the tears coursing down his face.

“It’s a possibility.” Fitz turned to Ronan and Jude, who both stood. Fitz handed Dante one of his business cards. If there’s anything else you think we need to know, don’t hesitate to call, day or night.”

The couple nodded.

“There is one last thing,” Sofia said. “Vince Holbrook had a thriving vet practice in Salem. When Ollie opened his office, Vince’s clients started transferring their pets to Oliver.

Within six months of his clinic opening, Vince was out of business.

He came to the clinic one day and threatened to get Oliver where it would hurt the most. Dante and I told the police about Vince when Frankie went missing, but they dismissed us. ”

“I promise we’ll look into Vince.” Ronan held out his hand for Sofia, who stood and hugged him instead.

“Thank you for listening to us,” Dante said, leading Fitzgibbon to the door. “We’ve waited four years to find out what happened to our darling girl. I feel like you’ll be able to get justice for Frankie and her daughter.”

Looking too emotional to speak, Fitz nodded and headed out the door.

Cope cradled Snowball in his arms. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Make sure Frankie knows she can always come home, Cope.” Sofia hugged him, as well.

“I will,” Cope promised.

Over the course of the twenty plus years he’d been able to speak with the dead, Cope had only come across a few spirits who were stuck in a moment.

He wasn’t certain that was what Frankie was dealing with, but he would do whatever he could to speak with her.

Cope didn’t know a lot about murder, but if a stranger wanted to kill Frankie, they would have shot her in her home and been done with it.

A friend or a loved one would have been let into her home with no questions asked.

He was convinced the killer knew Frankie, which made the crime an even bigger betrayal.

The killer bound Frankie and took her out of the house for a reason.

It was up to Cope to figure out what that reason was.

Cope wouldn’t stop until he figured out who did this to Frankie and her unborn daughter.