Page 13 of Ghost of You
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 thisnow?” 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 namesAmeilaandNonnawhispered 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.
