Page 5 of Ghostmaker

“I have the best friends!” Ten waved and walked out of Cope’s office.

Carson stayed put. “Is everything okay? You look worried. Are you upset over Lizzie’s first day of pre-school?”

Cope shook his head. “She loved going to daycare and spending time with her friends. Lizzie will be fine. Wolfie too. We made sure he was in the same class with Everly and Aurora, so they’d always have each other to lean on.”

“So if it’s not the kids, what’s up?” Carson took the seat across from Cope.

“Something weird happened with Jude this morning.” Cope shook his head. He was glad Carson was here to listen. Ten was equally worried about Ronan, but Carson would be impartial.

“I imagine something weird happens with Jude every morning.”

“True, but this was about work.” What if Cisco wanted to rotate them out of cold case and assign them to homicide or parking meter enforcement?

“What happened?” Carson leaned in closer.

“When the kids got on the bus, Fitzgibbon mentioned that Cisco wanted to see Jude, Ronan, and himself this morning.”

“What the hell did Ronan do this time?” Carson asked.

“Nothing, so far as I know. Though I’m sure he could stretch the pope’s patience to its breaking point.” Cope found a small smile. “I think the thing that’s worrying me is how worried Fitzgibbon looked. He said he didn’t know what the meeting was about, but I’m not so sure.”

“What is your gift telling you?”

“Nothing. You know Jude is a blank wall for me, but Fitzgibbon leaks information constantly. This morning there was nothing but a feeling of resignation.”

“It’s September and we’re coming to the end of the fiscal year. What if this has to do with next year’s budget for the department? People aren’t so hot on the idea of socialism lately, although I suspect that will change when they’re bleeding to death and need an ambulance.” Carson rolled his eyes.

“I suppose that could be it.” Honestly, Cope wasn’t sure at all.

“Let me know when you find out. Maybe there’s something we can do to help, like holding a fundraiser or something that would help donations pour in.”

Cope nodded. “Okay.”

“In the meantime, have a good day and I’ll see you later when we go visit Jonas Crawford.”

“Thanks, Carson.” Cope shut the door behind him and sat back at his table.

Cope’s first client of the day would be there soon and he needed to get his head out of his ass and focus on the work ahead of him. He was certain that as soon as Jude got out of the meeting, he’d be in touch.

As for the future, Cope was going to have to wait a bit to see how it was going to play out. A new psychic in town, plus a possible problem at the Salem Police Department, could spell doom. Sighing, Cope pulled up his big boy pants and got to work.

3

Jude

Jude paced outside Cisco Jackson’s office. Ronan sat nearby, his left knee bouncing. Fitz sat beside him looking as if he were about to have a litter of kittens. Checking his phone for the third time in the last few seconds, he saw that the chief was ten minutes late to start this meeting. Jude could hear voices coming from inside the office, but couldn’t make out who Cisco was meeting with.

Five minutes later, the door opened and out walked the head of the Homicide Division. He looked as if he could breathe fire. This didn’t bode well for the cold case team.

“Fitz?” Cisco called out sounding as if his patience was already stretched to the limit.

“Stay calm. Let me do the talking.” Fitz looked as grim as he sounded.

Jude watched as Fitz walked into Cisco’s office. Ronan was right behind him. He couldn’t help thinking they were dead men walking. Shutting the door behind him, Jude took a seat beside Ronan. It was Fitzgibbon’s turn to pace.

“Good morning, guys,” Cisco began, folding his hands in front of himself. “As you can guess, I’ve gotten a bit of unexpected news this morning.”

Fitzgibbon took a deep breath. “What is it?”