Ghost Falls (Haunted Souls #22)

8

Jude had slept like the dead. When he and Cope got back to their room the night before, both of their kids were asleep, Wolf in their bed, and Lizbet in her portable crib. He’d set Wolf in the second bed and slid under the covers ten minutes after Tennyson scooped up Ezra. Surprisingly, neither of the kids had woken up during the night, which was something they usually did when they were somewhere new. Everyone had been bright eyed and bushy tailed when they woke up around seven.

“I want pancakes,”

Wolf said, once he was dressed and had brushed his teeth.

“Cake!”

Lizbet said, seconding her brother’s statement.

“Me too!”

Jude said. He slipped into his shoes and chased Lizbet around the room so he could put her shoes on too. With only one foot done, Jude’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “It’s Ronan. He says they’re ready to eat too. I’ll text Fitz and let him know we’re-”

A knock on the door stopped Jude in his tracks. “Is it Cannonball?”

Cope shook his head. “No, it’s Fitz and Aurora.”

Jude had hoped that a night of sleeping on Cope and Everly’s prediction would have brought the stuntman to his senses, but apparently not.

Ten minutes later they were standing in line for the breakfast buffet. Jude could smell maple syrup and sausages. He hadn’t eaten a lot last night after the scene with Cannonball and was starving now. When it was his turn, Jude grabbed two plates, one for himself and one for the kids to share. Cope had Lizbet’s bowl in his bag. They’d learned the hard way not to give the baby real plates, when she’d thrown one at Ronan’s head when they’d been staying in Florida.

Locating an empty table for a large family, Jude set down the plates and went in search of a high chair for Lizbet. When he found one, he brought it back and got the baby into it. “Okay little love, time for pancakes!”

“Meeee!”

Lizbet said, reaching for a pancake before Jude could cut it up for her.

“Look, there’s Cannonball and Heidi,”

Cope said, getting Wolf settled. “Neither of them look like they got much sleep.”

“Even without your prediction, I doubt they would have slept much.”

Jude couldn’t imagine the helplessness Heidi must feel over her husband’s decision to try this foolish stunt. As he watched the young family try to find a seat, CJ looked up and spotted them.

“Woofie!”

the little boy shouted and took off running toward his new friend.

“Hey, CJ. Are you getting pancakes too?”

Wolf asked, with his mouth stuffed full of them.

“Yup! My Daddy says pancakes are the breakfast of champions.”

An exhausted-looking Heidi approached the table carrying two plates. She turned back to the buffet line, presumably looking for her husband. “ Good morning. I’d like to talk later. I’ll text Jude. Come on, CJ, let’s eat.”

“Later, gator!”

CJ offered a wave and followed his mother to a nearby table.

“I hate to say it, but she looks terrible,”

Ronan announced when mother and son had walked away.

“Yeah, she does. I really hope she does get in touch with me.”

Jude had seen the terrified look in Heidi’s eyes and had no doubt, she wanted to do everything she could to save her husband, but would he listen to her? Jude very much doubted it.

“When we go to the meet and greet, do you have a plan for how to speak with him?”

Ronan asked.

“Maybe we start with what Fitz said last night about what happened to Cannonball’s mother after Rooster died. If appealing to his sense of family and to his family don’t work, then I say we go in guns blazing with a guilt trip. Maybe finding out that his wife is going to be left to cover the fines and bills associated with the trip over the falls and that his insurance won’t pay out, will knock some sense into the man.”

“I hate to be a wet blanket,”

Fitz began, “but what if that doesn’t work either? We need a backup plan.”

Jude agreed completely. “Do you have one?”

“Sort of,”

Fitz said, looking unsure of himself.

“Lay it on us,”

Ronan urged.

“If we can’t stop him from going over the falls, we need to figure out a way to help him do it safely.”

“You’re crazy,”

Cope shook his head. “There’s no safe way to go over Niagara Falls.”

“Everly,”

Fitz said, seemingly ignoring Cope’s comment. “While Daddy and Uncle Cope are doing their readings today, we’ll need you to go through the stunt step by step with us. We need to know everything that went wrong. Can you do that?”

Everly nodded. “Yup, you can count on me.”

“I know we can, honey. I just want to make sure you’re okay reliving the event.”

Fitz eyed Ronan, who nodded his agreement.

“I don’t mind seeing it all again so long as we can use my vision to save Cannonball. CJ deserves to have his Daddy. There’s so much they can teach each other.”

“Each other?”

Wolf asked. “What can a kid teach a parent?”

“Lots of things. CJ is good at math, like really good. He’s gonna design things that make crashes safer, in cars, footballs helmets. He’s a real genie!”

Jude snorted. “A genius, you mean?”

Everly rolled her eyes in a perfect imitation of Ronan. “Yes, whatever, Uncle Jude.”

“I was asking because if he was a genie, we could get three wishes and use one of them to save Cannonball.”

Jude grinned at his niece. He didn’t mind her sassy answer in the slightest.

“What would we do with the other two wishes?”

Wolf asked. “I’d wish for more pancakes.”

“That’s why you don’t get to make the wishes.”

Aurora giggled. “I’d like a real unicorn.”

“I want to feed people,”

Everly said. “Everyone should go to bed with a full belly.”

Aurora gasped. “I’d like to change my answer to Everly’s. We don’t have a big enough yard for a unicorn. They need space to run wild and free.”

“Good point, honey,”

Fitz said, wearing a proud look.

“Do you really think we can save Cannonball using what we already know?”

Ronan asked. “I’m not a mathlete or anything, but maybe there’s someone we can call who is?”

“What worries me,”

Cope said, “is that if we change something in his trajectory, not only do we avoid the future Everly saw, but we possibly add new complications. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

“I’ve been with you all these years and I never knew you were Bill Nye, The Science Guy, in disguise.”

Jude chuckled. Leave it to Cope to remember high school physics class twenty something years after the fact.

“He’s right, Jude,”

Ten agreed. “Everly saw him getting stuck under the falls after he went over them. If you change the course of his route, then who’s to say he won’t slip over the American Falls and crash on the rocks below.”

Ten’s eyes were on the falls which they could all see from the windows.

“Can you see different scenarios?”

Ronan asked his daughter.

“What’s a scary crow?”

Everly asked.

“It’s like a movie scene. If we change Cannonball’s course on the river, can you see what would happen to him as a result of the change?”

“Maybe,”

Everly said with a frown. “All I can see now is what I’ve seen since yesterday. We haven’t changed anything. If you, and Dad, and Uncle Fitz change something, I might see it then, but my gift doesn’t always work the way I want it too.”

“There are so many variables. Maybe the wind kicks up or a bird craps on the barrel and that changes the weight distribution, or CJ wants one more hug.”

Ten shook his head. “I’ve been telling you for seven years that the future is fluid. This is a perfect example of that idea.”

“We’re going to try to talk some sense into Cannonball this afternoon. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try to figure out how we can alter the trip over the falls, so that we get a more favorable result.”

Jude dug into his pancakes.

“Fitz, you’re the one who’s done all the research on Rooster. I know you said search and rescue was there to recover the body after the fact, but were any boats on the river before and during the stunt to be able to rush in and help the minute the barrel hit the water?”

Ronan asked.

“No, I didn’t read anything about that. In fact, in all of the trips over the falls, there was never a rescue boat standing by.”

“Not even the Maid of the Mist?”

Jude asked. From his hotel room window, Jude could always see two boats on the river, one Maid of the Mist vessel, which operated from the American side of the river, and one from Hornblower Tours, which operated on the Canadian side.

“No, there was never any mention of those boats coming to the rescue. I would imagine there’s something in their charter prohibiting helping out. It could put other passengers and their insurance coverage at risk. When we took the tour yesterday, there had to have been at least two hundred people on board. Imagine putting all those lives on the line to rescue a dumbass who’d chosen to go over the falls to prove how big his dick is.”

“Well, I don’t know about the three of you, but my dumbass dick is pretty damn big,”

Cannonball said, approaching the table.

“Morning, Mr. Cannonball,”

Everly said sweetly.

“Morning, baby psychic,”

Cannonball returned with a little bow.

Jude was relieved that Cannonball hadn’t called Everly a “psycho”

like he’d done the night before. If he had, there’s a good chance he and Ronan would have put the man in the hospital, which of course would solve their problem of Cannonball going over the falls, but could also land them in jail. He had a feeling Heidi wouldn’t press charges, but Cannonball would be as mad as a herd of wet hens.

“We’re taking CJ to the indoor water park this afternoon, when my meet and greet is over. You’re welcome to come along, he really enjoyed spending time with you kids yesterday.”

“Water park!”

Wolf shouted with his hand fisted in the air.

“Parrr!”

Lizbet chorused along.

“Sounds like fun,”

Jude agreed. It was on the tip of his tongue to talk to Cannonball about the stunt, but knew the best course of action for now was to bide his time. “See you later.”

Cannonball held up a hand to wave before he walked back to his table. Seconds later, CJ waved wildly at Everly, Aurora, and Wolf.

With Jude and the others attending the meet and greet and then going to the water park, they had two more chances to change Cannonball’s trajectory. He hoped the daredevil was smart enough to listen to reason.