11 Cope
After Jude’s car had been found, Ronan and Fitz brought Cope back home to pack some bags. They’d decided Lizbet and Wolf would spend the night with Tennyson, just in case. Cope didn’t want to think too hard about possible “just in case”
scenarios. He was scared enough without his imagination adding to his terror.
The house felt cold and empty without Jude and the kids. Cope had been home alone before and usually relished time to himself without the kids to interrupt him or Jude kissing the back of his neck. Being in the house alone now, with Jude only God knew where, he felt like he was living in some kind of strange suspended animation. Like one of those dreams where the faster you run, the further away your destination gets.
The kids sleeping bags were still set out in front of the television. Cope could see Lizbet’s favorite unicorn stuffy lying in a tangle with her blanket. He bent down to retrieve both items. His daughter would need them when it was time to go to bed. Walking into the kitchen, Cope saw the remains of breakfast. Used pans sat unwashed in the sink. Jude’s half eaten plate sat at his spot at the table with the now congealed maple syrup gluing his fork and knife together.
If Cope were just an observer, it would look like the family who lived in this house had popped out to run an errand. Maybe they’d gone on a trip to the grocery store or to spend the afternoon at grandma’s house. There was nothing blatant or obvious that shouted this was a family in turmoil, but that’s exactly what Cope was facing.
Climbing the stairs, Cope quickly packed an overnight back for each of the kids and one for himself. He stayed the longest in his and Jude’s bedroom. The bed was still unmade with all the covers pulled over to Cope’s side. Jude’s dirty underwear lay on the bathroom floor along with the jeans and tee he’d worn before they’d gotten dressed for the policeman’s ball.
If Cope had a nickel for every time over the last seven years he’d told Jude to put his dirty clothes in the hamper, he’d be the richest man in the world. Ordinarily, Cope would be annoyed or even angry at Jude’s sloppy behavior, but today, seeing Jude’s discarded clothes made him smile. He’d never complain again if Jude could just come back to him safe and sound. Grabbing his husband’s tee, Cope stuck it in his bag and headed out the door.
Taking one last look at their house, Cope walked outside and locked the door behind him. It would remain frozen in time until Jude came home. Cope didn’t want to think about what would happen if Jude didn’t.
Cope slipped and slid his way, thanks to the three inches of fresh snow, across the street to Ten and Ronan’s house, which was brightly lit. It seemed like every light in the house was on, serving as a beacon for Jude to find his way home. Ten opened the door after Cope rang the bell.
“Daddy!”
Wolf ran to Cope and wrapped his arms around him. “Where’s Dad? Is he coming for dinner? Uncle Ten made lasagna! It’s Dad’s favorite.”
Cope felt his emotions starting to rise. He knew he needed to tell Wolf and Lizbet what was happening with Jude, but didn’t know how. “Why don’t we all sit down and talk for a minute?”
Ronan hit the mute button on the television as everyone gathered in the living room. Lizbet climbed into Cope’s lap and looked up at him expectedly.
“So,”
Cope began, feeling a lump in his throat. “We can’t find Dad right now.”
“Did you look for him in the shower?”
Wolf asked. “Dad always takes super long showers.”
Cope barked a quick laugh. “Yeah, buddy, I looked in the shower, and in the pantry, and in the bakery section of the supermarket.”
He offered Wolf a bright smile, but knew the worst was yet to come. “Uncle Ronan and Fitz think that someone took him.”
“Took him where? To get ice cream?”
Wolf asked. “Happy Meals?”
Everly wrapped an arm around Wolf and gave him a hug. “A bad man took him, Woofie. We don’t know why or where Uncle Jude is.”
Tears streamed down her face. “I’ve been trying to find him all day and just when I think I’m close, poof! My vision vanishes.”
“A bad man has Dad?”
Wolf asked, looking lost.
Cope nodded. “Yeah, buddy. We’re doing everything we can to find him, I promise.”
“Dada!”
Lizbet wailed. “Want Dada!”
She wrapped her little arms around Cope’s neck and held on tight.
Cope could feel the heartbreak coming off his kids in waves, like heat off a summer sidewalk. Their pain crushed him, feeling as though someone wrapped a fist around his heart and squeezed tightly.
“Why would someone take my Dad?”
Wolf asked, trying to fight back tears. “The bad man should get his own father. He can’t have mine!”
Wolf piled onto Cope’s lap, wrapping his arms around his little sister as if to protect her.
“We don’t know, Wolf. I can’t think of anyone who would want to hurt our family. Dad didn’t mention that someone was angry at him. I have no idea what’s happening or why.”
Cope turned to Everly. “Were you able to see the bad man, honey?”
He hated asking the little girl for help, but his gift wasn’t giving him anything.
Everly nodded. “He’s got blonde hair and bright green eyes. Like a cat’s eyes. He’s shorter than Uncle Jude, but is skinny and he’s got holes in his face.”
“Holes?”
Cope asked. “You mean from a piercing?”
“No. Kinda like when I scraped my knee and got a groove in my skin. Like that, but healed.”
Everly wore a confused look.
“Acne scars?”
Fitz suggested.
“Sounds like,”
Ronan agreed.
“Could you see what the man was wearing?”
If Cope thought his heart was being squeezed by an icy fist before, now he felt like it was caught in a vice with the screw continuing to tighten.
“Black. A black hoodie, with a black hat and black jeans with black boots.”
“Honey,”
Ronan said. “Do you know his name?”
Everly shook her head. “I think it might start with a J, but that’s all I’m getting.”
Fitz sucked in a rough breath. “If you saw a picture of him, do you think you’d recognize him?”
Everly nodded. “I think so.”
Cope watched as Fitz pulled out his phone and flipped through images. He stopped on one of Jude and Jerry from the policeman’s ball. He hadn’t noticed before, but the man’s face did have acne scarring.
“I took this last night because Jude was being a…”
Fitz trailed off, looking as if he didn’t want the kids to hear what he was about to say.
“A dickhead, Uncle Fitz,”
Everly offered her uncle a solemn look. “We already know that.”
“Right, that.”
Fitz shook his head. “Anyway, I took these pictures to show Jude today what a dickhead he was being last night. Can you tell me if this is the man you saw?”
Fitz passed his phone to Everly.
The little girl pinched out the picture, filling the entire screen with Jerry’s face. “That’s him, but-”
Everly’s eyes slipped shut. Cope could see them moving back and forth, as if she were in REM sleep. “He’s a puppet on a string.”
Everly’s voice had taken on a dreamlike tone. “There’s someone else. Hidden. Laughing. Loving every moment of Uncle Jude’s pain. Wanting more.”
Everly’s bright blue eyes popped open. “He’s on a hospital bed, but not in a hospital. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Cope was about to ask a follow up question, when Ten shook his head, indicating Cope should stay silent. He obeyed.
“There’s so much anger. Rage. At Uncle Jude and Dad.”
Everly’s voice was barely above a whisper, her detached tone chilled Cope to the bone.
“Me?”
Ronan asked.
Everly nodded. “I don’t know why. I smell earth.”
“What do you mean, earth ?”
Ronan asked, looking as confused as his daughter.
“Like last spring when we dug up the yard to plant my garden. It smelled like dirt and rotten leaves.”
“Maybe he’s underground,”
Fitz said. “An old bomb shelter or a basement. An abandoned railway tunnel, or something.”
“I don’t know, Uncle Fitz. Everything in my head is a jumble, like when you dump a puzzle out of the box.”
Everly angrily brushed back tears that had started to fall. “I’ll keep working, Woofie. I promise.”
Wolf climbed off Cope and hugged Everly. Aurora joined in. Soon after Ezra and Lizbet all had their arms wrapped around the little girl.
“I need to go check on dinner.”
Ten angled his head toward the kitchen and the adults followed him.
“Is she going to be okay?”
Cope asked, when they were out of the kids hearing.
“Yeah,”
Ten said. “She’s angry and frustrated that she’s not seeing this in linear fashion. Like she said, it’s all jumbled and she’s not sure how to put the pieces together.”
“To keep with the puzzle analogy, I imagine it’s even harder for her when she doesn’t know what the picture is supposed to look like.”
Ronan’s hands were fisted at his sides.
Cope could feel the frustration and anger building in Ronan. He and Jude were closer than brothers and it was killing him that there was nothing he could do at the moment to bring Jude home to his family.
“What do we know about this Jerry guy?”
Fitz asked.
“His name is Jerry Dunkirk,”
Cope said. A bolt of nausea hit him hard just saying the man’s name. “He and Jude had hooked up on several occasions before he met me and he didn’t like it when Jude didn’t want to see him again.”
“Was that the last time Jude saw him before last night?”
Fitz asked gently.
“According to Jude, yes, and I have no reason to doubt him.”
Cope might have been angry last night at the way Jerry had been hanging all over his husband, but he knew for a fact Jude would never cheat on him and wouldn’t lie about a past lover. He’d always been more open about his past exploits than Cope wanted him to be.
“Fuck me blue,”
Ronan muttered. “According to Google, Jerry Dunkirk is a physician’s assistant at Salem Mercy hospital.”
“Salem Mercy?”
Fitz’s eyebrows shot up. “Where the killer angel worked?”
Ronan nodded. “Yeah, and believe it or not, that’s not the worst part of the story.”
Shaken to his core, Cope was afraid to ask what Ronan thought was worse than this jackhole working in the place where Jude had nearly been killed two years ago. “What is it?”
“Jerry is Courtney Wilcox’s half-brother.”
Cope’s mouth dropped open. “He’s related to the woman we left our kids with the night of the policeman’s ball?”
If this was a bad dream, Cope wanted to wake up now. How the hell was this possible? He’d never been a big believer in coincidences. “There’s no way this wasn’t a coordinated attack.”
“I was going to say the same thing.”
Ronan got up from the table and paced around the kitchen. “Everly said there were two people involved in the kidnapping, Jerry and the person working his strings. Do we think it’s this babysitter?”
“I don’t know,”
Fitz admitted, looking defeated. “But there might be a way to find out.”
He angled his head toward the living room.
Wordlessly, Ronan nodded and walked into the living room. He returned seconds later with Everly holding his hand.
“I told you I didn’t know anything else about Jerry, Dad,”
Everly said, her eyes glued to the floor.
“We need to ask you about someone else, honey.”
“Okay, who?”
Everly’s eyes met Ronan. Cope could see dark circles under her eyes.
“Courtney, the babysitter from last night,”
Ronan pressed a kiss to his daughter’s left temple.
Sighing, Everly climbed into the chair Ronan had vacated. “She was funny. We ate pizza and watched movies.”
Cope knew that wasn’t all Everly had to say about the babysitter. He took a deep breath and bided his time.
“I couldn’t read much about her. Just that she was happy about her classes and becoming a teacher.”
Everly looked around the table. “I mean, like super happy. It was the only thought revolving around in her mind.”
“I don’t understand why that’s important,”
Fitz said.
“Most people’s minds jump from thing to thing. Right now, Dad is thinking how hungry he is and he’s praying for Uncle Jude’s dumb ass and he’s wondering what the Patriots will do without Tom Brady.”
“Okay, that’s enough of that.”
Ronan blushed, obviously ashamed that he’d been caught out by his daughter.
“That’s what I’m trying to explain to Uncle Fitz. It’s not normal to be that focused on one thing. Even when we’re angry or sad, our minds still hop from topic to topic.”
“You think Courtney was purposely keeping school on her mind so that you wouldn’t be able to read what was really going on behind the scenes?”
Ten asked.
“Yeah, but that’s not all. There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
Everly sat up straighter. Her eyes looked misty. “Courtney took pictures of us that night.”
“Pictures?”
Ronan half-roared. “What kind of pictures?”
Cope knew exactly what Ronan was thinking. Inappropriate pics, the kind that land you in prison and on a sexual offender registry. Jesus, this nightmare just kept getting worse.
“Pics of all five of us on our sleeping bags in front of the television. They were fun sleepover pics like I make Daddy take when everyone stays at our house.”
“You guys take pics like that at our house too,”
Fitzgibbon said. “I always send them to Jude and Ronan after all the kids go home. Did anyone get pictures from that night?”
The adults at the table shook their heads no.
“I’m so sorry, Dad.”
Everly turned around to face Ronan. “I should have told you sooner, but I forgot with Uncle Jude being gone.”
Ronan wrapped his arms around his six-year-old. “It’s okay, honey. No one’s mad. Is there anything you can tell me about Courtney now? Where she is or what she’s doing?”
“She’s at the library. A big one. Not the one went go to for story time. There’s a lot of people her age around.”
“The library at Salem State.”
Cope was out of his seat.
“Can you see anything around her, like tables or desks or couches?”
Ronan asked.
“She’s sitting at a table near big windows and she’s eating chips.”
Everly smiled up at Ronan who’d started to laugh. “Does that help?”
“It sure does.”
Ronan smacked a kiss to Everly’s cheek. “There’s only one section of the library that allows food and it’s near the floor to ceiling windows at the back of the building, which looks out over the quad. Thank you, honey!”
“Welcome.”
Everly hopped off his lap and ran back into the living room.
“Go,”
Ten said. “I’ll be here with the kids. Stay in touch. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Ronan agreed. “Call if Jude comes back or if Everly sees anything else.”
Ten nodded. “Don’t you dare go easy on that bitch. We welcomed her into our lives and all she did was hurt us.”
Ronan grinned at his husband. “Have I told you lately that you’re the best husband ever?”
“Not lately, but I already knew that.”
Ten waggled his eyebrows. “Go get her.”
Cope followed Ronan and Fitzgibbon into the living room where they were putting on their heavy winter coats and boots.
“Bring Daddy home,”
Wolf said from the sofa.
“Dada. Home!”
Lizbet echoed.
“I’ll do my best.”
Cope shrugged into his coat and walked out the front door. Seeing the sad looks on his kids’ faces was devastating. What would happen to their little family if he couldn’t find Jude? Both kids had already lost so much. Cope couldn’t bear the thought of them losing Jude too.
“Hold on, Jude. I’m coming,”
Cope vowed.