Page 15 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

Jude, Fitz, and Ronan sat in the SUV waiting for Cope to drop Lizbet off with Nana Kaye.

There had been a change of plans. According to his secretary, Ambrose Watson was out of town and would be returning the next day.

After dropping in to see Dr. Vince Holbrook, the team would pop in on Oliver later that afternoon to ask about the baby.

Fitzgibbon was pissed to find out that Frankie’s husband had known she was pregnant and never said a word to any of the cops who’d interviewed him when his wife went missing.

When they’d asked about a possible child, his lawyer wouldn’t let him answer the question.

Jude knew that was because Oliver’s answer could later be used against him.

It spoke volumes to Jude that Oliver kept news of the baby a secret from everyone.

“Sorry that took so long,” Cope said, getting into the car. “Lizzy B was a little clingy this morning. She was happy to see Kaye and Ezzie, but didn’t want to let me go either.”

“She’s been like that a lot lately. Do you think it’s a phase or should we be worried?” Jude asked, as Fitz pulled out of his parking space.

“I’m not sure,” Cope said. “With everything going on with her birthday party plans and now with this case, Lizbet’s behavior isn’t at the top of my worries for today.”

“Everly went through something similar when we’d leave for work. She was older than Lizbet though, by about six months. It was just a phase for Everly. We gave her a little extra love each night by adding the Goodnight song into our bedtime routine.”

“And that worked?” Cope asked.

“It distracted Everly long enough for her self-confidence to grow.”

“We’ll give it a shot. Thanks, Ronan.”

The car was silent for a few minutes. Jude was studying Cope. He’d been a little off his game for the last few days thanks to the Frankie Adams case. Unfortunately, the Goodnight song wasn’t going to help bring Cope back to his old, happy self. “Are you okay?” Jude asked, reaching for Cope’s hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Cope offered a smile. “I don’t know how you all do this every day, face the worst of humanity and still come out smiling.”

“It’s not as easy as I make it look.” Jude waggled his eyebrows at his husband.

“It’s just a matter of putting my head down and powering through.

I feel good when we get a killer off the street, but that feeling doesn’t last long because there’s always the next one and the one after that.

” It was exhausting to think about the Salem Cold Cases that were still in their boxes untouched.

“Have you heard or sensed anything else from Frankie?”

Cope shook his head. “No, it’s been quiet since she left my reading room yesterday.” He paused, giving their joined hands a squeeze. “Are you feeling better after talking to Bertha?”

Jude sighed. He knew Cope was going to ask him about his and Bertha’s epic hug-fest, it was just a matter of when.

“Bertha feels so guilty for not being able to help me more when I was taken.” Guilty was an understatement.

Bertha had been absolutely beside herself.

Unbeknownst to Ronan, Everly had been the one to gently walk her back from the edge of the cliff.

Neither she, nor Ten or Cope knew where Jude was.

It wasn’t until they all worked together that they’d been able to locate him.

“We’ve had a couple of chats about what happened and how to move forward,” Cope said. “I tried to explain that our gifts are not all-encompassing. It’s not like we’re Avengers riding in to save the day every time something goes wrong. We have extraordinary gifts, but we’re all still human.”

Jude knew Bertha hated those conversations, not because she’d told him, but because the two of them were built the same way. Never stop. Never surrender. “I hear that and speaking of, let’s talk about Dr. Holbrook.”

“Okay,” Fitz agreed. “What were you able to find out about him?”

“He was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1982. Got his undergrad at UMass Amherst in 2004 and went to Tufts for his DVM, graduating in 2008. He worked for a couple of vet clinics around Boston before opening his own practice in Salem in 2009. That clinic thrived until Oliver Adams came to town. His practice opened in 2016 and within six or seven months Holbrook’s business was on the verge of closing. ”

“Why?” Cope asked. “What the hell was Oliver doing that robbed Holbrook of his patients?”

“That’s a good question, but I’ve got a better one,” Ronan bounced his eyebrows at Jude, “what was Holbrook doing that made his patients flee his practice like rats off a sinking ship?”

“You’re right, that is a better question.” Jude agreed.

“Are you getting anything about him, Cope? Is he a cheat? A gambler? A drinker?”

“I’m not seeing anything at all.” Cope shook his head.

“Ronan wants to grill kabobs tonight and Fitz is wondering about buying a new SUV, so I know my gift is working. I’m guessing that Holbrook knows we’re coming.

Not because anyone told him, but because he was on the original list of people interviewed when Frankie vanished four years ago and figures the SPD will get to him at some point. ”

Jude hoped that was all it was. He needed Cope’s gift to be running on all cylinders today.

He’d spent the night before going back through the Yelp reviews for Holbrook’s clinic and eighty percent of them were positive.

Even the ones that were less than five star reviews didn’t offer a reason why most of Holbrook’s clients jumped ship to Oliver Adams.

“This is it, up here.” Ronan pointed to a strip mall sign. “Doggie Divas.”

“A licensed veterinarian is working as a pet groomer?” Jude asked, feeling as stunned as he sounded. “This makes no sense.” Why the hell had this man fallen so far careerwise?

“Let’s go make it make sense.” Fitz parked the car and climbed out of the SUV.

Jude followed behind him. All they had so far in this investigation was questions. It was time to get some answers.

The bell on the door jingled when Fitzgibbon entered. Several dogs began barking. One perky dust mop charged toward Jude. He bent to scoop up the little dog, who instantly began to lick his face.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” A tall man wearing a damp Doggie Divas apron asked. He was in the process of soaping up a tiny dog. “The barbershop is three doors down.” The man pointed to his left.

“We’re not here to be groomed.” Fitz offered a fleeting smile. “I’m Captain Kevin Fitzgibbon from the Salem Cold Case Unit and we’re here to speak with Vince Holbrook.”

“That’s me,” the tall man said. “Mandy, can you finish up with Killer for me?”

“Sure thing, Vinny.” Mandy winked at him and approached the small dog, who began barking like a ferocious squeaky toy.

“Follow me,” Holbrook waved Fitzgibbon forward. He opened a door leading to a conference room. “Can I get you anything? Water? Soda? Coffee?”

Fitz shook his head and took a seat. “No, thank you, Dr. Holbrook. Like I said, we’re from the Salem Police. I’m Captain Fitzgibbon and this is Detective O’Mara and Detective Byrne. Cope Forbes is our consultant.”

“My mother is a huge fan of all the psychics at West Side Magick. I could have used your services several years ago, Cope. Maybe you could have clued me in that the business I worked so long and so hard to establish was about to collapse.” Holbrook sighed and took a seat across from the detectives.

He folded his hands in front of him, looking resigned to his fate.

“Even with my gift, I’m not able to see what went so wrong for your business. I can feel your resentment and frustration, but I’m not getting any clues as to what went so wrong. Can you tell us what happened?” Cope asked.

“Oliver Adams did this to me because he thought I was after his wife. He told everyone who’d listen that I was the scum of the earth because I was trying to break up their marriage.

” Holbrook shrugged. “I’d been so busy with school and getting my veterinarian practice off the ground that I hadn’t taken a lot of time to date.

About six months before Adams came to town, I’d figured it was time to get myself out there.

I got on a couple of the dating sites and met several women, but no one that I could see myself settling down with. ”

“Where do Oliver and Francesca come into the picture?” Ronan asked, looking as if he didn’t want to hear another word about Holbrook’s dating life.

“They came into my clinic to meet me. Oliver said he was looking to start a vet practice here in Salem, which I thought was a great idea. I had more patients than I could handle. He seemed like a great guy, at first, but as time went on I started to hear rumors about the way he treated his wife. People were saying he was controlling and jealous, among other things, which I took with a grain of salt. Gossip is almost never true, although most of my customers believed the worst in me.” Holbrook paused, before focusing his attention on Jude.

“It wasn’t until Frankie showed up on my doorstep that I realized all the rumors about her husband were true. ”

“Frankie came to your house?” Jude asked. He looked at Cope for confirmation that the former veterinarian was telling the truth. Cope nodded, confirming Holbrook’s claim.

“It was New Year’s Day and I was off, but Oliver was on call.

We’d agreed to be on call for alternating holidays, so that we could each enjoy some downtime.

Like kids, pets don’t know it’s a long weekend.

They get sick when they get sick. Anyway, according to Frankie, Oliver had been called in for an emergency with a Great Dane.

Bronx had been hit by a car and needed emergency surgery.

Being the wife of a vet, Frankie knew Oliver would be out of the house for hours.

I couldn’t have been more surprised to see her standing on my front porch. ”

“Why did she come to see you?” Fitzgibbon asked.

Holbrook shook his head. “I’m not sure I should tell you. Frankie deserves her privacy.”

“Frankie’s dead, Holbrook,” Jude said with a sneer. “She doesn’t care about privacy. We care about catching her killer. Right now, we’re just having a little chat, but if you refuse to cooperate, we can continue this conversation downtown.”

Holbrook worried his bottom lip with his teeth. “Frankie was afraid Oliver was cheating on her.”

Jude frowned at the news. “Why would Frankie come to you with this accusation instead of chatting with her best friends or her mother?” Frankie and Holbrook barely knew each other. “It makes no sense that she’d confide in you, unless-”

“She wanted to sleep with me to get back at her husband,” Holbrook finished with a shrug. “Yeah, that was exactly why she’d showed up at my house.”

“Did you, uhh?” Ronan began, looking as though he wasn’t quite sure how to finish.

“Did I do it? No,” Holbrook said with a roll of his eyes.

“If you didn’t sleep with Frankie, why did Oliver come after your practice?” Ronan asked.

“Because he was tracking Frankie’s phone and knew she’d been at my house for several hours that day. We didn’t have sex, but we did talk and had lunch together as friends. Once Oliver found out where his wife had been, he started to come after me and my business.”

“How did he do that?” Fitz asked. “We went through the reviews of your clinic and for the most part, they all raved about you and the services you provided.”

“That’s right, but Oliver had a lot of rich and powerful friends thanks to his time at Tufts. He told anyone who would listen that I was screwing his wife. The person who did the most damage was a member of the Salem City Council.”

Jude had a feeling he knew exactly who Holbrook was talking about. “Ambrose Watson?”

“Yeah, that dirty bastard. Not only did he do his best to bring me down, he did the same thing to Frankie, making it look like she’d been the one embezzling money from the city’s treasury.

I’d bet my last nickel that Watson was the one who stole the money and set it up to look like Frankie was the embezzler.

I probably shouldn’t say this to three detectives, but if I were out for revenge, I would have killed Oliver, not Frankie.

He ruined everything, while she was one in a million. ”

Jude didn’t need Cope’s gift to know Holbrook was telling the truth. “During your chat with Frankie, did she bring up anyone who had an axe to grind with her?”

“The only people she had issues with were her husband and Watson and my money is on the husband. If he’s capable of bankrupting my business, then he’s definitely capable of killing his wife.”

Fitzgibbon stood up with a nod. He grabbed a business card from his wallet and set it down in front of Holbrook. “Call me if you think of anyone else who would have wanted to hurt Frankie.”

“You got it,” Holbrook said, with a helpless look.

“There’s nothing Americans love more than a comeback story,” Jude said on his way out the door. “If I were you, I’d start the wheels in motion.”

“Thanks.” Holbrook shook Jude’s hand and ushered him out of the conference room.

“Thank you for your help with the Francesca Adams case, Vince!” Jude said with a grin. He knew the other employees would talk about why Holbrook had been sequestered with members of the Salem Police Department. With one sentence, Jude made sure they all knew what happened in the back room.

With Holbrook crossed firmly off the suspect list, Jude turned his attention back to the two remaining suspects, Oliver Adams and Ambrose Watson.

He had a feeling Oliver would show his true colors at Frankie’s funeral, which left Jude with Watson.

Holbrook mentioning his views that the city councilman had stolen the money was in line with Jude’s thoughts as well.

The first thing he was going to do when they all got back to the office was to put in a request for the grand larceny case to be reopened. He had thirty-six hours to gather as much information on the councilman as possible.

Make no mistake, Jude was coming for Watson.