Page 2 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

April, present day…

Jude Byrne’s arms felt like they were going to snap off at the elbows. He and Cope had just returned from the local party store. He was loaded down with bags containing all kinds of paper dishware, decorations and whatnots for Lizbet’s second birthday party.

“What the hell were we thinking letting a toddler loose in the store?” Jude asked, depositing the bags and slumping into his usual seat at the kitchen table.

Cope walked into the kitchen carrying the toddler in question. “It’s her party, Jude. Lizbet should be able to pick out her own theme.” Cope set Lizbet down and she ran off into the living room when she heard Wolf turn on the television.

“No arguments here, but LizzyB picked out ten themes!” Jude snorted. “We all know Finding Nemo is her favorite movie. All we had to do was chuck Nemo stuff in the shopping cart and call it a day. But, nooooo, you had to set our mini Godzilla loose on humanity.”

“Lizbet is not a mini Godzilla!” Cope laughed.

“Oh, no?” Jude asked, sounding snarky. He reached for the bag in front of him, grabbing the first thing his hand landed on.

“ Little Mermaid cake plates.” He tossed them onto the table.

“ Sleeping Beauty napkins. Toy Story gift bags. Nemo toys to go in the bags. Lilo & Stitch cups. Princess table cloths. Snow White party hats.” Jude opened the package and strapped one to his forehead, making him look like a deranged unicorn.

Stop the insanity!” Jude shouted dramatically.

“Honey, you are the insanity.” Cope grabbed the items and the hat Jude was wearing and shoved them back into the bag.

“Not funny.” Jude wore a grumpy look. “I just want Lizbet to have a great time at her party. Make memories that will last a lifetime. Squeal when she sees my present. You know, all that kind of hippy dippy bullshit.”

Cope opened his mouth looking like he had a comeback loaded and ready to fire at Jude, but he shook his head and walked toward the laundry room with the party bags.

Jude knew the best place to hide things in their house was in the cabinets above the washer and dryer.

Jude could reach the storage spot easily, but Cope, who was half a foot shorter, had to stand on tiptoes just to reach the door knobs.

The kids couldn’t see the top of the dryer even if they stood on a stool with Lizbet on Wolf’s shoulders, like something out of an I Love Lucy episode.

The hiding place was safe until Wolf hit a major growth spurt.

When Cope walked back to the table he carried the party invitations and the books of stamps they’d picked up after the trip to the party store. He poked through the pens in the mug on the counter and came back to the table with two.

Jude didn’t like the look of this. Cope was going to ask him to pitch in with the invitations. He had worse penmanship than doctors.

“I’ll write the invitations. You can address the envelopes and add the stamp.” Cope opened the first package of invitations and divvied them up.

“Who are we inviting?” Jude asked, scrolling through his list of contacts on his phone.

“I’ve got like two hundred names here.” Jude wasn’t kidding.

Between all their friends, other private detectives, Salem and Boston Police officers, parents from Wolf’s school and Lizbet’s preschool, the contacts were legion.

“Our friends , doofus!” Cope chuckled. “I don’t think the septic tank guy would come anyway and I damn sure wouldn’t want him to be the one scooping ice cream.”

Jude burst out laughing. “Hard pass.” Instead of addressing the envelopes, he pulled up pictures from the day Lizbet was born. “She was so tiny.” He turned his phone around to show Cope. Lizbet was swaddled in a pink blanket and wore a matching hat.

“That was the first picture I took of her when I met her in the maternity ward.” Cope blinked rapidly. Jude knew his husband was trying to keep from crying.

“This picture was waiting for me when I woke up after I died.” Jude snorted.

“You did not die!” Cope protested.

“Oh, yes I did! I was flatlined. Ronan and Fitz both told me I was touched by an angel. Well, Ronan did, Fitz said the devil didn’t want me and sent me back.

” The night Lizbet was born, Jude had been attacked by a serial killer who’d been stalking their prey at Salem Mercy Hospital.

In the aftermath of the near fatal attack, Cope had received a call from the Department of Youth and Family Services asking if he and Jude were able to foster an infant girl.

While Jude was recovering from his death with Ronan and Fitz by his side, Cope was in the maternity ward meeting Lizbet for the first time.

“That little girl pushed me to get better.

From that moment on, I did everything the doctors and nurses said.

The only thing that mattered was getting home to you, Wolf, and our daughter.

“Da!” Lizbet shouted from the living room.

Jude knew what that tone of Lizbet’s voice meant. Snacks and drinks on the double. “Coming Doodlebug!” He grabbed and peeled a banana, before slicing it into Lizbet-sized pieces. Next he cut up an apple for Wolf and got each child a juice pouch. “Okay, here’s the grub.”

“’Nana!” Lizbet reached for one of the banana rounds. She offered Jude a big smile before taking a dainty bite.

“Thanks, Dad!” Wolf hugged Jude. “I can wait for Lizbet’s party. She’s gonna be so surprised when she sees her presents.”

“She sure is, buddy.” Jude poked each of the kids, making them giggle before heading back into the kitchen.

Taking a seat at the table, Jude got to work addressing the party invitations. “We need to talk about summer vacation. The kids get out in two months. What’s your plan for the kids and work?”

“I’m not sure. Kaye said she was willing to help out with the kids, but not full time. We’re gonna have to find a camp for Wolf. One that Aurora and Everly would enjoy too.”

“Isn’t it a little late for that? Is it gonna be like selling Halloween candy in August and all that’s left to buy in October are the things no one likes? I don’t want Wolf going to the Almond Joy of summer camps.”

Cope chuckled. “Registration doesn’t open until May fifteenth. They do it on purpose so that every kid has the opportunity to attend the camp they want. I printed out the list last night. We’ll get the big kids together and see which ones they like the best.”

“What are we gonna do with Lizbet?” Jude didn’t like the idea of splitting his kids up, but knew his daughter wouldn’t be old enough to attend the same camp as Wolf.

“Ten said there are going to be openings at the preschool Ezzie attends. They bring on more staff during the summer. I’ve got our name on the list. If we can get Lizzy B into that school, Ten and I can carpool the kids there.

We’ve started adding more reading times to the books for the summer months, but they’re going to be virtual, over Zoom.

We’ll alternate days so that when I have readings, Ten will have the kids and vice versa. ”

Jude frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you working so much during the summer. Yeah, we’re adults, but there should still be time for fun in the sun.”

“We have those two weeks in August coming up. Fitz booked us into this stunning hotel on the rocky coast of Rhode Island.”

“Since when did Fitzy become the tour director?” Jude asked, feeling glum. He knew exactly what Cope’s answer would be.

“Uh, maybe it’s because you booked us into a no-tell motel last summer?” Cope rolled his eyes.

“In my defense, I was misled and the kids loved it there.” Jude didn’t have much of a defense.

The Four Star Motel hadn’t been much for looks or amenities, but they’d had fun and no one had any permanent scars.

He was about to ask about the hotel in Rhode Island, but his and Cope’s phones dinged with an alert.

Jude picked his up. His heart sank as he read the headline from one of the Boston news stations. “Skeletal remains found in Salem Towne Forest.” He quickly scanned the rest of the story, but at this early stage, there wasn’t much to tell.

“Oh, fuck,” Cope muttered under his breath.

“What?” Jude asked.

“I know who the remains belong to.” Cope shivered in the warm room.

Jude had a horrible feeling he did too. “Francesca Adams?”

Cope nodded. “I could see the tattered remains of her Sea Witches tee.”

Francesca Adams was a wife and member of the Salem City Council.

She and her husband, Ollie, had just come back from a two week trip of a lifetime to Italy.

Two days after they returned to Salem, Francesca had been reported missing, along with a million dollars from the city treasury.

Neither Francesca or the money had been seen since. Until today.

“I’ll never forget the day we met Oliver,” Cope said, shaking his head sadly.

“Oh, Jesus, I’d forgotten about that.” It had been a normal Thursday at West Side Magick.

Ronan and Fitz had been in their offices on the second floor, while Jude was picking up sandwiches from West Side Sweets.

He just moved away from the counter when a desperate looking man walked into the psychic shop.

The man was dressed in crusty-looking jeans and a red t-shirt, with pit stains that soaked his shirt nearly down to his waist. He’d bellowed for help.

Begging everyone to help him find his missing wife.

“I’ll never forget the wild look in his eyes. ”

“I’ll never forget the way Ollie howled with grief when Ten and I told him we couldn’t locate his wife. Or the way he’d tried to take his own life two days later.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Cope, not being able to locate Francesca or knowing what Oliver did later.” Since Jude was the one who’d brought the grieving man into the conference room while he gathered the others, he felt responsible for Oliver and had visited the man in the hospital several times.

“I know,” Cope said, blowing out a hard breath, “but, I wasn’t able to help him the other times either. None of us were.”

After Oliver had gotten out of the hospital, he’d sent an email to Cope apologizing for his behavior that day in the shop.

Every year after, on the anniversary of Frankie’s disappearance, Oliver came in for a reading.

Cope was never able to connect with her spirit, which always gave Oliver hope.

If Cope couldn’t communicate with Francesca’s ghost, that meant she was still alive.

“What do we do now? Nothing? Or should we call Ollie?” Jude felt both moves were wrong, but he wanted to hear what Cope had to say.

“We wait.” Cope sighed. “It’s not going to take long for the remains to be identified. All hell’s gonna break loose with the media coming to town and the spotlight will once again be on Oliver as a suspect, no matter how she died.”

Jude rifled his hands through his dark hair.

“Yeah, the investigation heating back up was my first thought too, but you mentioning the media is a good call.” All of the major Boston stations had come to town when Francesca first went missing.

When word of the missing money got out, that brought the cable news vans, along with national network coverage.

There was so much media in town that it felt like Halloween, only the kidnapper wasn’t a teenager wearing a rubber mask, he was the real deal.

Jude knew the investigation was about to heat up. He didn’t need Cope’s gift to know that Oliver Adams was going to turn up at West Side Magick sooner, rather than later. When that happened, Jude would be ready.