Page 21 of Ghost Falls
Stu shook his head. “Herb was never a rival, at least not in his eyes. He’d wanted to partner with my father for at least a decade before my father died. Hank knew it was smart business sense to have a partner, but he never gave up hope that partner would be me.” He paused for a minute to wipe his dripping eyes. “Anyway, I sold everything to Herb and the business is flourishing. He kept the same name and reveres my father and his tools.”
“Hank?” Ten asked. “Are you angry that your son sold your tools to your rival or that he sold them at all.”
“That he sold them at all. I gave my son all I had and he gave it all away.” Hank’s anger was completely gone. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
Ten quickly relayed what Hank said.
“The business and the tools weren’t all my father gave me. He taught me the difference between right an wrong, to always offer people a hand up. Hank loved to work on projects with me, like building go-carts and diorama’s for school. I do all of those same things now with my son, Jason Hank Montgomery.”
“My grandson is named after me?” Hank’s sullen mood was gone, excitement was left in its place.
“Your father is surprised you named your boy after him,” Ten relayed.
The man smiled. “Dad never got to meet my wife or our son. When we found out the baby was a boy, my wife suggested naming him after my father. I went to his grave to show him the ultrasound picture and to tell him the news.”
“I wasn’t there to see that. I had no idea.”
“Usually spirits don’t hang around their grave sites. If you want to speak to your father, do it at home. He’ll know when you’re thinking of him.”
“Is there anything else you want to say, Hank?”
“Tell my boy I love him. My grandson too. Tell him I’m sorry for wasting all those years wanting my son to be something he didn’t want to be.”
“That’s a great message, Hank,” Cope said and repeated what the man had said.
“I love you too, Dad and thank you for everything.”
A round of applause broke out. Cope quickly checked his phone. There were forty minutes to go in the group reading. All he wanted to do was take Heidi aside and speak with her, but first, he had a job to do.
Hopefully, Heidi would stick around until the end of the session.
10
Jude
While Cope and Ten did their thing at PsychicFest, Jude and the detectives stood in the background at Cannonball’s meet and greet. For the last hour, he’d signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans. All of the people who’d met with him were thrilled with their experience of spending a few minutes in his presence.
Jude wished he could say the same. Cannonball had noticed him standing at the back of the room and had shot Jude a dirty look, as if to say, “Don’t fuck this up for me.” Jude had no intention of causing a scene or anything of the sort. All he wanted was tenminutes at the end of Cannonball’s time on stage to speak with him and tell him what they knew.
After breakfast, they’d taken Everly back to Ten and Ronan’s room, where she went through the events of Cannonball’s attempt to beat the falls. Ronan took painstaking notes, while Jude and Fitz asked follow up questions. Her descriptions has been so exact, that Fitz had been able to draw small diagrams of what she’d explained to them. Ronan had used a computer in the hotel’s business center to type out what Everly told them and to print the document out. One copy for them, one for Cannonball, and one for Heidi. The copy for Cannonball sat in Jude’s back pocket. Ronan had the one for Heidi, since she’d mentioned texting them when she was free to talk.
They stayed at the back of the room until the last picture had been signed and the last selfies taken.
“What are you guys doing here?” Cannonball asked, when they were alone.
“We had a few things we wanted to talk to you about, without your family listening in.” Jude shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He hoped his casual posture would help put the daredevil at ease.
Cannonball looked resigned to his fate. He motioned the others, and his manager, to follow him to a table and chairs set up the back of the room. “Okay, what now?” he asked, after everyone was settled.
“Captain Fitzgibbon did a lot of research about your family last night,” Jude began, hoping Fitz’s title would lend a bit more seriousness to the situation.
“Captain?” Cannonball asked, sounding surprised. “Captain of what? The Mind Your Own Damn Business club?”
“I’m apolicecaptain,” Fitz said. “I was with the Boston Police for thirty years and now I’m working cold cases with the Salem Police. Ronan worked under me as a detective in both places and after I retired, became a captain himself. Jude went from being a private investigator to coming on board with our cold case team.”
“When it comes to seeing families in their worst moments, we’ve been there through it all,” Jude added.
Cannonball seemed to think over what he was hearing. “What kind of research did you do on my family?” Thankfully, most of the bluster had gone out of the daredevil.
