Page 6 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

“Not very much, I’m afraid.” The doctor motioned them forward to an autopsy table covered by a crisp white sheet.

He pulled it down to what would have been the middle of Francesca’s torso.

“You can clearly see the gunshot wound to the head, as well as the exit.” He turned the skull over and Cope gasped, not at the size of the hole, but his gift had shown him what happened.

The shot came from behind Frankie at close range.

He couldn’t tell the make of gun or if it was a man or woman who fired it.

“You okay?” Jude whispered.

Cope nodded. He took a deep breath. Keeping a cool head was key. As much as he didn’t want to see anything else, he knew whatever his gift showed him could be vital to the case. When they got back to the car, he’d tell the detectives about his vision.

“There are no other marks of human violence on the bones,” the doctor was saying, when Cope tuned back in.

“Does that mean there’s other kinds of violence?” Cope asked, once again scared of the answer.

“There was a lot of animal predation,” the doc said, pointing to gouge marks on Frankie’s ribs.

“A coyote made these marks.” Moving to the other side of the table, he pointed to Frankie’s left shoulder.

“You can see where the arm was detached. It has not been found. Most likely it was carried off by a predator. Possibly a coyote or a black bear. Their numbers have started to rise in Massachusetts over the last few years.”

Cope reached his hand out, as if he were going to touch the remains, when he felt dizzy. Stumbling back a step, he backed into Jude who thankfully caught him.

“Are you okay?” Jude pulled Cope away from the autopsy table.

“She was pregnant,” Cope whispered. “I saw a vision of her cradling her baby bump and singing her daughter a song.”

“Let’s keep that to ourselves for now. Okay?” Jude wore a worried look.

Cope nodded. He followed Jude back to the table, where the doctor was about to remove the sheet from the lower half of the body.

“The one big surprise was that Mrs. Adams was pregnant. About seven weeks by the size of the fetus.”

“You found remains of the baby?” Cope asked, feeling like he was about to vomit.

The only thing worse than looking at the skeletal remains of a friend, would be to see the tiny bones of a baby who never drew its first breath.

The name Amelia came into Cope’s mind, no doubt what Frankie planned on naming her daughter.

“We did,” the doctor said. He pulled the sheet back to reveal a tiny, but intact skeleton.

“With the level of predation damage to the body it’s exceedingly rare for these remains to be intact.

There are no signs of violence on the body.

The baby died as a result of the gunshot wound to Frankie’s head.

I can tell you that based on measurements, and the pelvis, the baby was female. ”

“I don’t remember there being any mention of Frankie being pregnant when she disappeared, do you?” Jude asked Fitz.

“There was no mention of a baby anywhere in the case file. I have to think that people might have gone easier on her if they’d known she was going to be a mother.” Fitz shook his head and stared down at the child’s remains.

Ronan took a sharp breath. Cope knew he was thinking about Everly. “Is there anything else you can tell us that will help find the person who did this?”

“Not at this time. I received word from Cisco Jackson that he’s sending a cadet class from the local police academy to scour the area for more of the remains and for the bullet. It’s possible that it struck a tree and is still embedded there.”

“What about DNA,” Ronan asked.

“We’ve got a sample of Frankie’s DNA on file. We’ve identified her through dental records, so there was no need to try to sample Mrs. Adams’s DNA.”

“That’s great,” Ronan said. “But I was asking about the baby. Were you able to get a sample of her DNA?”

The doctor paused. His giant eyes blinked several times as if he were trying to figure out why Ronan would ask such a question. It was glaringly obvious who the child’s mother was.

Ronan took a step closer to Doctor Dobbs, as if he were about to tell the man a secret.

“We need to know if the father was Oliver Adams or someone else. Murders are committed over a lot less, but finding out your wife is pregnant with another man’s child could have been the catalyst that started the events in motion. ”

“Understood. I’ll try to get a sample of the child’s DNA as well. I’ll copy Captain Fitzgibbon on the results.”

“Much appreciated,” Fitzgibbon said. “Any other questions?” He’d asked the group, but Fitz’s eyes were on Cope.

“I’m good. Thank you,” Cope said. Without waiting for the others, he walked out of the autopsy suite and headed for the elevator where he braced his hands on his knees and took great gulps of air.

“Are you sick?” Jude asked, running up to Cope.

“No.” Cope stood up straight. “Just the thought of what Ameila went through. It was too much for me.”

“Who’s Amelia?” Ronan asked, looking as if he didn’t want to know the answer.

“Frankie’s baby. It was her grandmother’s name. She was so excited to name her daughter after her beloved Nonna .”

“Were you able to connect with Francesca?” Ronan asked.

“No. I think we’ll have more luck when we go meet with Oliver. I have a feeling we’ll find Frankie with her loving husband.”

“Are you being sarcastic?” Fitz shot Cope a confused look.

“Yeah,” Cope agreed. “When we met with Oliver this morning, I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely upset about Frankie’s remains being found or if he was love bombing us so we’d think he was broken up. Seeing Oliver face to face will tell the tale.”

“Let’s go talk to him.” Ronan grinned. “Do you need to stop and eat something in order to refuel?”

“Yeah, I could go for a big greasy burger and fries.” Cope’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

“Me too,” Fitz agreed. “First food. Then we’ll go have a little chat with Oliver Adams.”

Cope followed the detectives back to the SUV.

He hoped for Frankie’s sake that Oliver wasn’t the one who’d murdered her.

He’d spoken to his fair share of spirits who weren’t able to let go of the love they had for the partners who killed them.

Was Frankie another in that long line? Or was her killer someone else?

A lover. A jealous coworker. A friend. A parent.

Cope didn’t know the answer, but he wasn’t going to rest until he did.