Page 22 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

Sitting in the backseat of Fitzgibbon’s SUV, Cope couldn’t believe how calm he was. They were going to Oliver’s house to confront the man about killing his wife. Cope figured he’d be a bundle of nerves, but, in fact, he’d never been more at peace.

After Ronan and Fitz left the night before, he and Jude sat at the kitchen table going over possible questions to ask Oliver, along with ways to get Angie to turn on her lover.

He didn’t want to say or do anything that could hurt Angie’s child, but at this point, the bigger danger came from Oliver.

If he could kill his pregnant wife, it wouldn’t bother him to kill a pregnant girlfriend.

“Cope?” Fitz asked from the driver’s seat. “You good to go?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Cope offered Fitz a tentative smile in the rearview mirror.

“The last time we did this together, we were on our way to rescue Jude.” His mind flashed back to that awful day.

With Cope’s emotions running high, his gift had been useless.

It had been Ronan and Fitz who’d found and saved Jude from his tormentor.

“My gift is working and I’m ready to catch a killer. ”

“Angie’s car is in the driveway,” Ronan said as Fitz parked down the street from Oliver’s house.

“We knew she would be here.” Jude hopped out of the SUV and walked to the other side to help Cope out.

“Thank goodness the media has died down.” Where there had been media vans and glammed up reporters with microphones, now the street was quiet with neighbors going about their daily business which didn’t include picketing Oliver’s house.

Cope was glad too. He knew that sometimes the Salem Police Department got pushback from residents when Ten was involved in solving cold cases.

The notoriety usually gained West Side Magick more customers, which Cope loved.

Today, though, he wanted to fly under the radar.

Use the bit of knowledge his gift provided and bring Frankie’s killer to justice.

“Do you ever feel like you get to know the victims?” Cope asked when he met the detectives at the head of Oliver’s driveway.

Ronan nodded. “All the time. I use that as fuel when I feel like we’ve run out of evidence and suspects. From everything we’ve learned, Frankie was a giver. Now it’s time we return the favor and give her some long overdue justice.”

“Damn right.” Jude bumped fists with Ronan. He started for Oliver’s front door, shoulder to shoulder with his partners.

Cope found himself glad he was on their side. If these three detectives showed up on his doorstep while working an active murder case he would have shit a solid gold brick. Probably two.

Oliver opened the front door and wilted at the sight of the detectives. “My lawyer’s not here. I’m not speaking to you.” He moved to shut the door in Fitzgibbon’s face.

“We’re not here to speak with you.” Fitz pushed past Oliver and into the house.

Cope watched Oliver’s look of shock turn to fear. The last thing he wanted was for his girlfriend to speak to Salem Police detectives. With Oliver’s attention on Angie, that would give Cope the perfect opportunity to get inside Oliver’s head.

“Good morning, Angie,” Fitzgibbon greeted, walking into the kitchen.

Angie whirled around from the sink, where she’d been washing dishes. “What the hell are you all doing here? You know you can’t speak to Oliver without his lawyer.”

“Well then it’s a good thing we’re here to see you.” Fitz offered a bland smile.

“Me?” Angie sounded outraged. “Who the hell do you think you are bursting into Oliver’s house? I don’t have to say a word to you.” Grabbing a nearby dish towel, Angie dried her hands.

“You’ve got two choices,” Ronan began, “have a seat and answer a few quick questions about your best friend, Frankie, or we perp walk you out the door and take you downtown. I’m sure the video of you being shoved into a police cruiser will be all over Facebook before we even leave the neighborhood. ”

Rolling her eyes, Angie took a seat at the kitchen table. Oliver sat beside her. When the three detective’s sat opposite, Cope took the opportunity to sit at the head of the table closest to Angie.

“What do you want to know about Frankie?” Angie asked. “I would have thought by now that you’d have gotten all the information you needed.”

“We just want you to tell us about your friendship with Frankie.” Ronan sounded almost gentle.

“We met in middle school and had been best friends for life.” Angie shrugged. “We were the maids of honor in each other’s weddings, hung out every weekend, and Frankie was there for me when my husband left me for another woman.”

“Sounds like a great friendship,” Fitz said, offering a kind smile. “In the week leading up to Frankie’s disappearance, had you seen her at all?”

Angie nodded. She took a deep breath and appeared to be relaxing.

She obviously believed Fitz when he said he just wanted to talk about her friendship with Frankie.

“We had yoga on Monday at noon. We always went across the street and got milkshakes when class was over.” Angie barked a quick laugh, turning her attention to Oliver who was silent, but smiling.

“We had plans on Friday to have lunch, but she’d already been taken. ”

Fitz nodded, scribbling notes on his pad. “Did you talk on the phone or text between milkshakes on Monday and Frankie going missing on Thursday?”

“We texted each other every day, but we didn’t talk. Frankie was busy with her charities and an upcoming vote on some city council bill.”

“This is all very helpful, Angie.” Fitz tapped his pad with his pen. “When was it that you started sleeping with Oliver? Before or after her death?”

Cope’s full attention was on Oliver as Fitz asked his question. Fear rolled off him in waves. Scared people made stupid decisions. Oliver’s guard was dropping. Cope also sensed a feeling of relief that the detectives were going at Angie, not him.

“What the fuck business is that of yours?” Angie asked, red in the face.

“Oliver ruled over his wife with an iron fist. He monitored her phone, tracked her whereabouts. How the hell did he have time for you, when stalking his wife seemed to be his favorite hobby?” Jude asked, sounding benign.

Cope knew better. He was about to drop the hammer.

“When Oliver was with me, neither of us were thinking about Frankie,” Angie said, her eyes tearing up.

“Yeah, he was my best friend’s husband, but I was in love.

My marriage was a disaster. Dom didn’t want to work, fucked around with other women and drank too much. Oliver was the exact opposite of him.”

“Actually, he wasn’t,” Fitz said. “We have it on good authority that Oliver was seeing other women besides you, both before and after Frankie disappeared.”

“What are you talking about?” Angie’s bravado faltered. “Oliver has always been faithful to me.”

“If he’ll cheat with you, he’ll cheat on you,” Ronan said. “A smart woman like yourself should have known that.”

Angie stammered. Cope watched as her entire world crumbled around her. Everything she thought she’d known about Oliver was a lie.

A lie Cope was going to use to his benefit. “Who is Jenn French? Misty Harrington? Deb Collins? Joy Prince?” Cope asked, slapping on a dazed look, as if his gift had just shocked him with what it had revealed.

Angie’s mouth dropped open. “I work with them? Why?”

“I think you know why,” Cope said. He could feel the anger building inside Angie. It wasn’t going to take much more for her to explode at Oliver. Then it would be game on.

“Oliver knows them too, but not in a professional manner like you do.” Jude paused, obviously giving Angie a few seconds to understand what he was saying.

“You used to think it was cute when Oliver would come see you at work. Bring you flowers. Take you to lunch.” Cope could see those afternoons in his mind’s eye.

“Only while you were finishing up your work or freshening your make up in the ladies room, he was charming all of your coworkers. He was a real fox in the henhouse.”

“That’s not true,” Angie said, looking back and forth between Oliver and Cope. When Oliver said nothing, she slammed her hand on the table. “Tell me this isn’t true,” she demanded.

“Angie, baby, I-” Oliver began.

“Don’t you baby me!” Angie shouted. “Tell me what the fuck is going on, Ollie. When Frankie disappeared you promised it was us against the world.”

“Is that what he told you, Angie? That when Frankie was out of the picture the two of you could be together forever?” Jude asked, his voice full of sympathy. “You poor thing.”

“That’s enough!” Oliver thundered. “You said you were here to question Angie about her friendship with Frankie. This has gone way beyond what you promised.”

Ronan chuckled. “I’ve been friends with Jude for going on seven years. Not once in that time have I fucked his husband.”

“Good to know,” Jude deadpanned. “But you did just that, Angie. Is that why you killed Frankie? Because you knew Oliver would run to you for comfort?”

Angie looked like she’d been struck by lightning.

“Oliver promised he would be all mine if Frankie was out of the picture. I believed you. I loved you so much that I was willing to do anything to have you.” She looked as if she had more to say when Oliver interrupted.

“Angie, shut up!” Oliver commanded. “Shut the fuck up. You don’t have to say another word without your lawyer present.”

Oliver’s fear was palpable. The man was terrified that Angie would keep talking, but with as scared as he was, Cope couldn’t reach the truth Oliver was so desperate to protect.

“I don’t have a lawyer. You said I didn’t need one.” Angie looked askance. Her gaze landed on Cope. “He was cheating on me? For real?”

“For real. I’m sorry Angie, but the women I mentioned to you are just the tip of the iceberg.” Cope wasn’t the least bit sorry. All that mattered was finding Frankie’s killer.

“You son of a bitch!” Angie shouted.