Ghost Falls (Haunted Souls #22)

10

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 ten minutes 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 a police captain,”

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.

“I wanted to know what happened to you and your mother after Rooster died.”

Fitzgibbon folded his hands in front of himself, as if he were about to deliver a book report.

“Oh, well, that’s easy. All you needed to do was ask. We sold our house and moved in with my grandparents who treated my mom and me like shit. Then she married an asshole who couldn’t give two fucks about me and made my mother cry nearly every day. End of story.”

Cannonball looked as if he were becoming emotional himself.

Fitz nodded. “I read all of that, but there are some details you left out or don’t know about.”

“How so?”

Cannonball asked, sounding interested in what Fitz had to say.

“I assume you know there’s a fine for going over the falls on purpose?”

Cannonball nodded. “It’s about twenty-five grand, if memory serves.”

“That’s right,”

Fitz agreed. “Did you know that your mother was forced to pay that fine after your father died?”

“What?”

Cannonball’s mouth hung open. “I didn’t know that.”

“She was also sent bills from the search and rescue teams who looked for your father after the accident.”

“No,”

Cannonball shook his head. “That can’t be right. They can’t charge you for services they perform in the line of duty.”

“They can, and they did,”

Ronan said, picking up the story. “Do you have a permit for this stunt?” he asked.

Jude couldn’t help but think if the answer was no, they could simply have the cops show up and arrest him before he could get into the barrel.

“Yeah, my management team worked something out. The U.S. said no, but the Canadians were willing to give it a go since the Horseshoe Falls are more survivable than the American.”

Okay, well that idea was out, Jude thought. If Cannonball didn’t have a permit, they could have called the police and had them pick him up at the spot he planned to launch the barrel into the Niagara River. “You spoke to my niece last night. The tiny psychic.”

Cannonball rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s cute, for a con man.”

Ronan snorted and started to laugh. Under any other circumstance, he would have most likely thrown a punch, but Ronan was surprisingly calm. “That cute little con man, as you call her, is trying to save your life. Same with Tennyson and Cope.”

“After breakfast this morning, we sat down with Everly and asked her to go through what she saw, step by step. Fitzgibbon questioned her, Ronan took notes, and I asked follow up questions. When we were done, we printed it all out. We brought a copy for you.”

Jude reached into his back pocket and pulled out the sealed envelope. He slid it across the table to Cannonball, who looked as if he wasn’t going to open it at first.

With a sigh, he tore open the envelope and started to read. He wore an annoyed look on his face until he flipped to the second page, where the shit got real. Everly had described, in detail, what was going to happen to Cannonball and the state in which his body would be recovered.

“This isn’t funny. Not funny at all.”

Cannonball dropped the pages as if they were on fire.

The stuntman’s manager picked them up and began to read. Denbart gasped several times. He looked at Jude with a questioning look on his face. All Jude could do was nod.

“Look, I get that the idea of a six year old being able to see into the future sounds bananas. To be honest with you, when I first met Ten and Cope, I thought they were out of their minds. Over the years, I’ve seen things that you would never believe. I’ve been able to speak to both of my parents who’ve been gone for years. I’ve seen the white light and spoke to a spirit who died on the Titanic .”

Jude shrugged when Cannonball’s mouth dropped open. “I know, crazy, right? The other thing I can tell you is that Everly is never wrong. She might have a hard time describing what she sees, but when she tells us something is going to happen, we listen, and act.”

“Which is why we’re here today,”

Ronan continued. “I grew up without my father. I never realized how much that affected me until Everly was born. I felt totally unprepared and didn’t have anyone I could fall back on for advice.”

“The same thing happened to me when CJ was born. My father was gone and my stepfather was a piece of shit. Definitely not role model material. I think that might be part of the reason I kept going with my stunts. I wanted my son to see that I’d accomplished something. That I was worthy, I guess.”

Jude understood what Cannonball was saying. He’d spent a lot of years trying to prove himself to his father. “I hear you, but you can’t be a role model for your son if you’re dead.”

Jude paused to let his words sink in. “Maybe you don’t believe a word we’ve said today, but show what we learned to the people who are in charge of the barrel and the course you plan to take on the river. There’s a chance that if you alter your trajectory or the time of day, you could change your fate.”

“Of course, there’s the very real chance that any change you make could be even worse than the outcome my daughter saw today.”

Ronan got out of his seat and pushed his chair in. “You have my card. If you have questions or want to talk, we’re available day or night.”

Jude followed Ronan and Fitz toward the door.

“Has your tiny psychic spoken to my father?”

Cannonball called after Ronan.

Ronan shook his head. “She and the others have been trying to find him, but they’ve had no luck so far.”

Cannonball’s chin sunk to his chest.

“Do you have anything that belonged to Rooster?”

Jude asked.

Cannonball started to shake his head, but stood up instead. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. From an inside pocket, he drew out a coin, which he flipped to Jude. “This quarter was in his pocket when his body was recovered. I’ve kept it with me ever since.”

Jude looked down at the shiny Canadian coin in the palm of his hand. “Sometimes it helps to have an object that belonged to the spirit. If we can make contact, do you want to know?”

“Yes, and I need that back before Sunday.”

“You got it. See you this afternoon at the water park.”

Jude and the others turned and walked away.

“Do you think this chat helped?”

Fitzgibbon asked.

“I don’t know. My guess is that he might show his people our description what Everly saw. At this point, I think it’s the best we can hope for.”

Ronan sighed and pressed the button to call the elevator.

Jude agreed with Ronan. He didn’t think this conversation helped to move the needle. It would be up to Ten, Cope, and Everly to see if they could use the coin to contact Rooster. At this point, the dead daredevil might be the only one who could talk some sense into his determined son.