Page 9 of Ghost of You (Haunted Souls #24)

Instead of heading back to the office, Fitzgibbon brought everyone home. He and Ronan were going to order pizza and would bring dinner to Cope and Jude’s house. Lizbet and Wolf had come running out of Ronan’s house when the detectives got out of the car. Everly and Aurora were right behind them.

Cope scooped up his son, while Jude held his arms out for Lizbet.

She smacked a kiss to his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck, before tucking her head under his chin.

Lizbet had done that very thing for the last few months when Jude had a rough day.

She seemed to intuitively know when Jude needed a little pick me up.

When they got inside the house, Jude and Lizbet sat on the couch, while Cope and Wolf went into the kitchen. “How was school?”

“Kenny P. threw up during our math test. He puked so hard that he blasted half-chewed chicken nugs on the kids sitting in front of him.” Wolf made puking noises. “The math test was canceled!”

Cope snorted and started to laugh. He’d had a rough day, but for whatever reason the idea of barfed up chicken nuggets getting the kids out of a math test was hilarious. Once Cope got rolling he couldn’t stop.

Jude and Lizbet walked into the kitchen. Lizbet laughed along with Cope and Wolf.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Barfed…nugs!” Cope managed, before laughing again.

“Someone blew chunks at school?” Jude asked, taking a seat at the table.

“Yup!” Wolf giggled. “Did anything funny happen at your work today?” His eyes moved back and forth between Jude and Cope.

“Nope,” Cope said, finally getting himself under control. “It was a boring day. I’m sure you had much more fun at school.” Before Cope could continue, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Wolf shouted, taking off like a cork out of a bottle. “Hi, Uncle Ronan! Kenny P. barfed in school today!”

“So I heard! I’m glad you, Everly, and Aurora weren’t in the splash zone.” Ronan carried the pizza boxes toward the kitchen. “Ten’s right behind me with Ezra. He’s got the salad.”

“Ugh! Salad!” Wolf made barf noises and pretended to faint.

“I sure hope Lizbet isn’t a drama queen. We’ve got all we can take from Wolf.” Cope went to the cabinets and pulled out paper plates for the food. As he was getting juice boxes, he heard Fitz, Ten and the kids walk in.

Fifteen minutes later, the kids were settled in the living room with a movie and pizza, which left the adults to talk about their day without fear of being overheard.

“We didn’t get much of a chance to debrief, Cope,” Fitz said before taking a bite of his pizza.

Cope knew this was coming, not thanks to his gift, but because he knew Fitz didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. “I didn’t get a whole lot that you’ll find helpful.”

“Let us be the judge of that.” Jude gave his husband’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Okay, well, the neighbors on the lawn with signs are out for Oliver’s blood.

It’s a good thing you’ve stationed officers at the house.

Angie was equal parts anguished and angry, which makes sense, she and Frankie had been best friends since middle school.

Reagan Pryce had his eye on the prize. All he was concerned with was keeping Oliver out of jail and the legal fees rolling in.

Oliver had been nervous when we showed up.

When you started asking questions about the night Frankie disappeared, he calmed down a bit, but that nervousness turned to stone cold fear when you asked if his wife had ever been pregnant. ”

“What kind of fear?” Ronan asked. “Was he afraid for himself? For someone else?”

Cope shook his head. “I’m not sure. It felt more like he was afraid that you knew something he didn’t.”

“Okay, that’s interesting,” Fitz said, reaching for the salad bowl. “When Pryce grabbed Oliver and practically dragged him out of the room, that made me think he had no idea there had been a baby. Attorney’s don’t like surprises. Did Oliver have any idea his wife was pregnant?”

“I couldn’t sense anything but his fear. It reminded me of those hot wings we had a few weeks back. The heat was so strong that I couldn’t taste anything else. All rational thought fled from Oliver’s mind and fear took over when Pryce took him away from us.”

“I didn’t think it was possible for this tragedy to get any worse.” Ten wore a sad look. “Frankie must have been so afraid for her child when she realized she was going to die.”

“She didn’t know it was coming,” Cope said, not sure he was ready for this part of the conversation.

Jude’s eyes widened. “What did you see, babe?”

“The last few seconds before the murder.” Cope pushed his plate away as the vision replayed in his mind.

“And you’re just mentioning this now ?” Ronan half-shouted.

“Take a breath,” Fitz commanded, flashing Ronan an angry look. “Tell me what happened.”

“My perspective was the killer’s. Francesca was walking ahead of me in the woods. I saw a hand come up with a gun pointed at the back of her head.”

“Can you describe the hand?” Fitz asked. “Could you tell if it was a man or a woman? Old or young? Any rings or bracelets?”

Cope thought what he’d seen wasn’t really relevant to the case, but now, after Fitzgibbon’s questions, he could see he’d been dead wrong. “There was no jewelry. I don’t know if it was a man or a woman, but the arm was raised perpendicular to the back of Frankie’s head.”

“You mean it was pointed straight ahead? Not up or down?” Ronan asked.

“Right,” Cope agreed. “Also, there wasn’t enough detail on the hand for me to tell age either. That’s all I saw, just a brief flash. I didn’t say anything sooner because there was nothing helpful I can tell you.”

“That’s not true,” Jude said. “You mentioned seeing the gun. Can you describe it at all?”

“It was black.” Cope shrugged he didn’t know anything about guns and he was about to start learning now.

“Was it a long gun, like a rifle or a shotgun? Or was it some kind of handgun?” Jude wore an anxious look.

Cope couldn’t tell what Jude was anxious about. Was it that Cope had kept his mouth shut about the picture in his mind or because Cope didn’t have a lot of detail about the gun. “It was a handgun.”

“That’s great,” Jude said. “Was it all black, or was there any metal.”

“All black.”

“Last question,” Jude offered his husband a smile. “Did it have a barrel with bullets in it or did it have a clip that loaded through the handle of the gun?”

“It had a clip. I could see it when the gun was raised. It reminded me a lot of the gun Ronan carried when you would go on cheating spouse stakeouts.”

Ronan’s demeanor brightened. “That’s really great, Cope. My personal weapon is a Beretta 9mm. We need to find out what were the makes and models of the guns Oliver and Frankie owned.”

“And if he still has both of them,” Fitz said, not sounding as optimistic as Ronan.

“I’m on that first thing in the morning. Do you want to have another go at Oliver Adams or do we head in a different direction?”

Fitz sighed. “We need to speak to Frankie’s parents. Find out if they knew their daughter was pregnant and anything else they might not have told the cops the first time around.”

“Why would Frankie’s parents not say anything about her pregnancy?” Cope asked. “If the cops had known she was expecting, wouldn’t that have made finding her a bigger priority?”

“If the baby belonged to someone other than her husband, Frankie might not have told anyone,” Ronan said. “She might have sworn them to secrecy. It’s possible she might not have even known she was expecting.”

“Maybe,” Fitz didn’t look convinced. “Granted, I don’t know anything about being pregnant, but at eight weeks, I have to imagine Frankie knew.”

“I hate to be the wet blanket,” Ten began, “but what if there was something wrong with the baby? Maybe the child wouldn’t have survived to term or would have a lifelong disability? Frankie might have even been considering terminating the pregnancy.”

“I don’t think that was the case.” Cope shut his eyes and recalled what little he’d seen in the morgue. “Frankie had already named the baby. She wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t planned on bringing the pregnancy to term.”

“What exactly did you see when we were in the morgue?” Ronan asked.

“I didn’t see anything. It was a feeling I got. I heard the names Ameila and Nonna whispered in my mind. There was joy and happiness attached to the name. I’m not sure if that makes sense.”

“It absolutely does,” Jude said. “Every time you hear Wolf’s name, it makes you smile. Same with Lizbet.”

“Right,” Cope agreed. “That’s almost exactly what I felt.

It wasn’t much to go on. Neither was the glimpse of Frankie’s murder.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about that earlier, but sometimes I get more of a complete picture as time goes on.

” He could feel Fitz and Ronan’s disappointment in him.

He felt like he was going to throw up like Kenny P.

and blast their friends with regurgitated mushroom pizza. Ten’s hand on his arm, gave Cope pause.

“No one’s disappointed or mad at you,” Ten assured Cope. “They both get very intense when they’re working on a case. You’re doing great, right Ronan?”

Cope snorted. He knew Ronan would agree with anything Tennyson said when he used that voice. It was Ten’s warning to Ronan that he’d be sleeping on the sofa if he didn’t answer the question correctly.

“Cope is doing great. So much of what you’ve told us is very helpful.” Ronan paused, his eyes on Ten. “Just in the future, it would be even helpful-er if you told us what you were seeing sooner.”

“Use the code word scone if it happens again, okay?” Jude asked with a bright grin.

“Jude, how the hell am I going to work scone into a conversation with a possible murder suspect? Excuse me, Mr. Killer, might you have a scone I could nosh upon?” Cope lifted his drink to his lips with his pinkie finger extended.

Tennyson burst out laughing. “When I would work these cases with Ronan, my safe word was cactus. It wasn’t easy figuring out a way to say it that didn’t sound completely ridiculous. Why don’t you guys figure out a better word that won’t tie Cope in knots when he tries to use it?”

“How about cow?” Ronan suggested. “Or horse. Chicken. Goat. Pick one.”

“What if I just moo?” Cope asked. He did just that. The entire table cracked up laughing.

“We want you to attract our attention, not alert us that you’re in crisis.” Fitz said with a shake of his head.

“I am in crisis,” Cope said, feeling sad he had to bring the mood of the room down.

“A woman and her unborn child are dead. I’m only picking up tiny threads of the story.

It’s frustrating that I can’t be more help.

Right now, Ronan’s thinking about going out for some Funyuns because they always put Ten in the mood.

Fitz is wondering if we’ve got any Pepcid because the sausage is spicy and Wolf thinks it would be fun if he were the next projectile vomiter in Miss Becca’s classroom.

” He turned to Jude. “Promise you’ll talk to Wonder Wolf about that. ”

“You got it.” Jude said.

“What I’m trying to say is that I can read so much about all of you right now. It wasn’t this easy today at Oliver’s house.”

“We’re all relaxing, having dinner,” Ten said. “No one has their guard up. Although I do wish Ronan would make more of an effort to keep some things about our relationship under his damn hat.” Ten rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you think Funyuns are an aphrodisiac.”

“Hey, I call them like I see them, Hot Pants.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“You sure do, Hunk of Burning Chub!” Ten flashed a so-there look.

Jude cackled. “Oh, my God!! Is that what you call him?”

“Don’t you dare.” Ronan cautioned, pointing a finger at his husband.

“God, no, it’s what he calls himself.” Ten rolled his eyes. “He puts on Everly’s Wicked Witch cape and dances around the bedroom singing ‘Burning Love’ in the worst Elvis impersonation I’ve ever heard.”

“Is that what happened to my cape?” Everly asked, sounding outraged. “You told me it got lost, Daddy!”

“It did get lost…in my closet.” Ronan smacked a loud kiss to Everly’s cheek.

“The King would roll over in his grave if he heard you ruining his songs like that.” Everly put her paper plate in the trash and walked back to the table. “Ollie is hiding something. I don’t know what, but he doesn’t want any of you to find out what it is.”

Jude held up a hand for a high five. “Can you tell if this thing is an object or if it’s a secret?”

Everly frowned and reached out for Ten’s hand. Cope knew she was sometimes able to get a clearer picture when her own gifts were amplified by Tennyson’s. “Both, actually. The thing has to do with the secret. I wish I could tell you more.”

“Thanks, little miss.” Ronan smacked a kiss to the side of her head. “You’re the bestest.”

“I know!” Everly ran back into the living room.

Cope was continually impressed by Everly’s gifts. He hadn’t been able to tell Oliver was hiding anything. He spent an hour with the man at West Side Magick earlier in the day and another half hour at his house that afternoon and Cope hadn’t gotten a whiff of what Everly was talking about.

“We’ll start tomorrow with Frankie’s parents,” Fitz said.

“Jude, do a deep dive on both of them. Check their financial situation. Did they come into any money? I want to be ready to take a run at them. It’s not likely they had anything to do with their daughter’s murder, but we all know it’s possible.

Find me something we don’t already know.

Hunk of Burning Chub, go back through all of their interviews, see if there’s a nugget of something no one picked up on.

” Fitz snickered and Jude started singing “Burning Love,” with Ronan’s lyric change.

Before long, the entire table was laughing their asses off.

With the exception of Cope. He was busy reaching out to his spirit guides to see if someone could give him any extra information about Sofia and Dante Conti.