Ghost Falls (Haunted Souls #22)

5 Cope

After the boat ride, everyone had gone back to the hotel to change out of their wet clothes. They’d had a quick lunch at Boston Pizza, which was nothing like the pizza back in Massachusetts, but the kids hadn’t seemed to care much. Their full attention had been focused on the video game arcade that shared space with the restaurant.

They’d spent two hours and unknown quantities of quarters in the arcade after lunch and when the money was spent, Fitzgibbon had treated everyone to ice cream. Aurora and Everly had been over the moon to get their bubblegum ice cream cones. Cope had some too and had to admit it was delish. He promised the kids they’d have it one more time before they went home, but Cope had a feeling they’d get the sweet treat several more times before they boarded the van back to the airport.

Back at the hotel, Cope had given the kids baths. Nana Kaye was going to stay with Ezra and Lizbet, while everyone else went to Cannonball’s press conference and then to the PsychicFest welcome dinner. Cope wasn’t as excited for the meal as he was for the opportunity to speak with the daredevil.

“I’m ready to go, Dad!”

Wolf said. He’d dressed himself in a pair of jeans and one of his striped school shirts, which was mis-buttoned. His hair stuck up in every direction and he still had a smear of toothpaste in the corner of his mouth.

“You’re almost ready to go. Let’s fix your shirt.”

Cope reached for his son.

Wolf pulled back from Cope. “It is fixed. This is the way Cannonball wears his shirt. I saw it on one of his videos.”

Cope wasn’t thrilled with his son’s answer. “Does he also go out with gobs of toothpaste in the corner of his mouth?”

“What?”

Wolf ran back toward the bathroom, nearly colliding with Jude on his way.

“Is he okay? If he’s got the runs he can stay here with Kaye.”

Cope snorted. “Wolf’s fine. He just had some toothpaste in the corner of his mouth and wanted to wash it off because his new idol, Cannonball, doesn’t go out with toothpaste on his mouth.”

“I was afraid that would happen. Wolf’s got a bit of hero worship which only seemed to grow after he met the man, the myth, the legend.”

Jude wore an amused look, but Cope was anything but.

“Wolf doesn’t know Cannonball’s destiny. I asked Everly not to tell him. She agreed, but is scared for Wolfie.”

“Scared? Is something going to happen to Wolf?”

Jude turned to look back at the still-closed bathroom door.

“No, nothing like that, but she knows how devastated Wolf is going to be when Cannonball…”

He trailed off, knowing Jude would get his drift.

“Fuck,”

Jude muttered under his breath. “We need to figure out a way to save Cannonball’s dumb ass.”

“Save Cannonball from what, Daddy? Is he gonna be okay?”

Wolf looked between his fathers.

“Of course he is.”

Jude scooped Wolf into his arms. “I was talking about saving Cannonball from the media at his press conference. I bet it’s pretty annoying to have people shouting questions at you from all different directions.”

“I bet he’s used to it,”

Wolf said, knowingly. “I need to get used to it too.”

“What? Why do you need to get used to reporters asking you questions?”

Jude asked, sounding as if he didn’t want to know the answer.

“’Cause I’m gonna be a daredevil too!”

Wolf announced. He scrambled off Jude’s lap and launched himself onto the other bed. Thankfully, there was only two feet or so that separated the king-sized beds, so the landing was soft and easy.

“A daredevil?”

Jude asked, sounding scared. “You can’t be a daredevil.”

“Why not?”

Wolf asked, a dark look in his eyes. “You said I could be anything I wanted, Daddy. Was that a lie?”

Wolf’s eyes widened. They’d had several discussions about lying before they’d left Massachusetts. Wolf had told a few tall tales and Jude and Cope wanted to make sure their son understood why that wasn’t okay.

“No, Wolfie, I didn’t lie. You absolutely can be anything you want.”

Jude wore a look that said there were several things he didn’t want his son to be.

“You can’t be a daredevil because there’s already one here in Niagara Falls. You don’t want to steal Cannonball’s thunder, right?”

Cope asked.

“Oh, right. Good point, Dad.”

Cope felt himself sag with relief at Wolf’s easy acceptance of his answer. When they got home, he was going to take Wolf to the Museum of Science in Boston so that he could fall in love with dinosaurs and astronauts, in hopes he’d forget all about being a stuntman. A knock at the door stopped Cope’s train of thought. “That must be Nana Kaye.”

“I’ll get it.”

Jude went to the door. “Hey, Ezzie!”

“Joooo!”

the little boy squealed. He ran past Jude and climbed onto the first bed where Lizbet was watching a princess movie on her tablet.

“Thank you so much, Kaye,”

Jude said. “We really appreciate the help tonight.”

“When I came back up here after a trip to the store, people were surrounding that stuntman. He was signing autographs like he was a member of The Beetles.”

“Nana Kaye, why would bugs sign autographs?”

Wolf asked, laughing.

“I’m just being silly, Wolfie. Have fun tonight.”

Kaye bent to kiss the top of Wolf’s messy head.

“We won’t be too late. I mean how long can it take for this one to suck down a couple of steaks at the dinner buffet?”

Cope pointed to Jude.

“Do you need us to bring you anything back?”

Jude asked.

“No, thanks, the kids and I are gonna get room service. Mac and cheese for them and a burger for me. Although, to be honest, I’m still kind of full from all that ice cream earlier.”

“Not me!”

Wolf announced. “I’m so hungry, I could a whole hippopotamus!”

“Well, then it’s lucky no hippopotami live in Canada!”

Kaye giggled with her grandson.

“We’d better go meet the others. Text if you need anything or if Lizbet won’t go down.”

Kaye raised an eyebrow at Jude. “Lizbet always goes to sleep for me like a little angel. It’s you she gives a hard time to because she knows you’ll relent and give her more cuddles.”

Jude snickered. “You know, a day is gonna come when neither of my kids want to give me cuddles, so I’ll take all of them I can get right now.”

Jude gave Lizbet a kiss and hurried out the door with Cope and Wolf behind him.

Ronan and the others were waiting in the hall. “Everything good with Nana Kaye?”

“Yeah, they’re gonna order room service,”

Jude said. “We don’t mind keeping Ezra for the night if you don’t want to risk moving him when we come back later.”

“We’ll see how it goes,”

Ronan said, heading down the hall toward the bank of elevators. “Sometimes he sleeps like the dead, others a pin dropping would wake him up.”

“Been there,”

Cope agreed. He was glad Wolf was out of that stage. Lizbet could sleep through anything.

“So kids, just a reminder,”

Fitzgibbon began, “we can sit at the back of the press conference, but we can’t interrupt. Got it?”

he asked, as the elevator doors opened.

“Got it,”

all three kid chorused, running inside.

Cope didn’t know how long a boring press conference about Cannonball’s attempt to do what his father couldn’t was going to keep the kids’ attention, but he and Jude needed to be there when it ended to try to speak with Cannonball and Heidi. If worse came to worse, Fitz could take the kids out of the room.

When the elevator arrived on the fifteenth floor, Cope followed the signs pointing in the direction of the media room. The room had a podium at the front. Several microphones were set up and ready to go. There were rows of chairs where members of the media were sitting and chatting with each other. Cameramen were at the back, fiddling with their equipment.

“CJ!”

Wolf shouted and bounded off toward his new friend. Aurora and Everly ran after him.

Cope spotted Heidi and her son sitting at the back of the room, trying to look invisible.

“Maybe the kids are the key to talking Cannonball out of this stunt?”

Jude asked.

Cope shook his head. “Nothing’s changed. At least not yet.”

Everly had shared her vision of Cannonball’s fate after she’d shown Tennyson. He could see the same outcome. Time was running out to save him.

“Let’s go sit near Heidi. Maybe Cope can have a little chat with her.”

Jude headed off in the same direction as the kids.

“I have no idea what to say.”

Cope wasn’t usually at a loss for words, but how did you tell a wife that her husband was going to die?

“We need to treat this situation differently,”

Tennyson said softly. “The usual clients we meet with come to us after the tragedy occurs, not before.”

Cope agreed wholeheartedly. “How do you suppose we handle this?”

“Let’s just have a regular conversation. Ask Heidi what she does for a living and then casually mention that we’re here in Niagara Falls for the convention. There are signs all over the hotel advertising PsychicFest, she must have seen them.”

Ten’s eyes were glued to the soon-to-be-widow, who was fussing with CJ’s hair.

Nodding, Cope headed in their direction. He took the seat beside Heidi, while Ten sat to his left. Cannonball’s wife was dressed in a cream pantsuit with a pink silk blouse. She looked as if she were about to head into a business meeting with captains of industry, rather than attending a press conference for her husband’s stunt. “Hey, Heidi, it’s great to see you again.”

The woman startled at the sound of her name. “Oh, right, we met you on the boat this morning. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your names.”

“I’m Cope Forbes and this is my friend, Tennyson Grimm.”

Ten offered the woman a bright smile and a small wave.

“Where have I heard your names before?”

Heidi wore a puzzled look.

“Maybe you saw them on some of the media around the hotel for the psychic convention that’s in town?”

Cope asked carefully. He didn’t want Heidi to think they were cranks or worse, con men looking to cash in on Cannonball’s success.

“Oh, right, yes. I’m interested in going to the group readings, but my husband thinks the paranormal is a bunch of bullshit that only gullible people believe in.”

Heidi offered an apologetic look.

“I get that. I really do.”

In the over twenty years Cope had been using his gifts to help people, there were plenty who thought he was a nutcase or a fraudster. “Do you still have the sterling silver heart necklace your mother gave you for high school graduation?”

Heidi’s eyes widened. She reached into her blouse and pulled out the small heart. “I wear it every day, but you must know that from all of the pictures of me posted on social media.”

“Maybe so,”

Cope shrugged, looking unaffected by Heidi’s response. “What’s not on social media was the fact that you’d wanted a new car, a red punch-buggy, but your mom couldn’t afford it, so she gave you a piece of her heart.”

“You can’t possibly know that,”

Heidi said, looking stunned.

“But I do,”

Cope said, leaning in closer. “I also know that Cannonball isn’t going to survive the falls.”

Heidi froze. A knowing look came into her dark eyes. “Oh, I get it. This is some kind of scam. You’ll only tell me how to save my husband if I pay you. Well, the joke’s on you. We’re flat broke. Carl spent all of our savings on his ridiculous stunts. I have nothing at all to give you.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t know how to save Cannonball.”

Cope wished the opposite were true.

“Because we have no money,”

Heidi shot back on a loud whisper.

Cope shook his head. “We’ve only seen the accident. I’m a psychic, not a physicist. I have no idea how to change the trajectory the barrel will take. All I can tell you is that the barrel is going to get trapped under the falls and by the time the rescue boat gets him out, it will be too late.”

Heidi looked back and forth between Cope and Tennyson with a speculative look on her face. It was obvious she didn’t fully believe what Cope had told her.

“Everly?”

Ten called to his daughter. He motioned her over to join them.

“Hi, Mrs. Cannonball.”

Everly held her hand out to the woman, who was quick to shake her hand.

“I was the one who saw Cannonball’s accident,”

Everly said gently.

Heidi looked as if she were ready to object, but stopped when Everly set a hand on her shoulder. “I also know that CJ’s missing a math test and show and tell today. I know you think my Dad and Uncle are crazy for talking to you about this, but all we want to do is help. To save Cannonball so that CJ doesn’t have to grow up without him.”

“What else do you know?”

Heidi asked, not sounding as skeptical as she had moments earlier.

“That your husband recorded a video for you on his phone. He sent it to Roger who wills end it to you after the accident. The last thing he says in the video is, ‘I love you more than spicy Kung Pao chicken-”

“And that’s saying something,”

Heidi recited along with Everly. Her eyes had gone misty. “There’s no way you could possibly know about our little joke.”

“I know it’s hard to believe because I’m only six years old, but I’m telling you the truth. All we want to do is save Cannonball.”

Everly looked behind her to where CJ and Wolf were laughing at something. “The only problem is that we don’t know how.”

Heidi sighed, sounding as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. “I’ve done everything I can to talk him out of this. I’ve brought up CJ growing up without him and how hard losing him would be on both of us, but he’s determined to do the one thing his father couldn’t. It’s as if he needs to be better than Rooster at something. Anything.”

Cope knew this was true. “My father was a businessman. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was follow in his footsteps. I wanted my life to be my own and not spent trying to attain something that was unattainable. I hate to say this, but with Rooster dead, there’s no way for Cannonball to prove anything to him. All he’ll have is that empty feeling because his father won’t be there to pat him on the back and say, ‘attaboy.’”

“Life would have been so much simpler if Rooster had been a better father. The only way Cannonball could ever get the man’s attention was by acting out. Rooster’s been dead for twenty years and my husband is still doing the same thing.”

Heidi’s eyes lit up. “Wait, can you talk to Rooster? Is he here?”

Heidi’s eyes landed on Everly, who sadly shook her head.

“I haven’t been able to find him. What about you, Daddy?”

Everly asked.

“Neither of us have been able to find him either. We’ll keep reaching out. Do you think Cannonball would listen to us or even believe what we’re saying?”

Cope asked, already knowing the answer.

“To be honest, I didn’t believe in your gift until Everly told the story about the video where Cannonball used our private joke. I’m sure he’ll be harder to convince than I was.”

Cope understood what Heidi was saying. Some people trust what he was saying instantly. For others, it took more time. There were some people who, no matter the evidence Cope presented, would never believe. He had a feeling Cannonball fell in the last category.

Unfortunately for Cannonball and his family, believing in what Cope was saying was a literal matter of life and death.