7 Jude
Jude hadn’t been this excited in a long time.
He was on his way back to work at long last. If he were being honest, Jude would admit that he’d needed most of the time off to recover not only physically, but mentally as well.
A lot of what happened to him the morning of the accident was a blank, but what he did remember was the fearful voices he’d heard when he was in his coma.
Nothing had scared Jude more than Wolf’s tears and Lizzie’s pleas for him to wake up.
If he lived to be a hundred, Jude would never forget the pain and fear in their voices.
Over the years, Jude had done a lot of stupid and reckless things, but after hearing first hand how his dumbassery affected others, he promised himself that he would use more common sense and less spontaneity.
“Hey, Jude!” Cole said when he walked into West Side Magick. “Welcome back!”
“It’s good to be back.” Jude felt like he was home again. He’d missed the day to day goings on at the shop. Missed Cassie’s baked goods and sandwiches. Most of all, he’d missed being part of the team. He hustled up the stairs and found Greeley sitting at the conference table. “Hi, man.”
“Good morning, Jude.” Greeley got out of his seat and hugged Jude. “I’m so excited to start working with you. Fitz explained everything that’s gone on over the last few days. I can’t believe I missed all the action at the theater because I had a therapy appointment.”
“I didn’t know you were in therapy.” Hearing that Greeley was in therapy might just be the boost Jude needed to schedule an appointment for himself.
Greeley nodded. “What happened with Rock really fucked me up. Walking into our bedroom and finding him screwing my training partner, sent me into a rage. I started hitting and punching both of them, screaming like I was insane. Christ, I’m damn lucky neither of them, or my neighbors, called the cops.
” Greeley paused and took a sip from his coffee.
Jude knew the young man was trying to regain his composure.
“You know how I grew up on the streets, selling myself to survive. I never had a lot of self-confidence until Fitz adopted me. That confidence grew when I entered the academy and started dating Rock. Everything I worked so hard to build over the years came crashing down that night when I walked in on my worst nightmare. I felt like I’d hit rock bottom again, no pun intended. ” Greeley chuckled.
“You’re an incredible guy, Greeley. Now that you’re here in Salem with us where you belong, you’re going to shine.
I’ll deny it if you ever tell Ronan or your father I said it, but the two of them saved me.
I was drowning in men and bad decisions.
Coming to Salem and working with them turned my life around.
I was able to deal with my own demons, and thanks to Everly, I learned how to love unconditionally, which allowed me to open my heart to Cope and to be a father to Wolf.
I think the same thing is going to happen here for you too.
You’ll be over Rock before you know it.”
“I hope so.” Greeley offered a weak smile.
“And if not, we’ll just take a drive into the city and kick his ass!
” Jude cracked his knuckles. After initially hearing what Rock had done to Greeley, he’d wanted to beat the shit out of that no good, lying, cheating, horse’s ass.
Yet another example of Jude being hot-headed and reckless.
Thankfully, Fitz and Ronan had calmed him down and kept him from doing something stupid.
Greeley shook his head. “Let’s figure out what the hell the story is with Alistair Hooke first. The last thing I need to do today is bail your ass out of jail. Besides, if Hooke comes for Cope, you’re going to need to be here to keep your family safe.”
Greeley’s words were like a bucket of cold water in Jude’s face. “You think that’s possible?”
“Yeah, I do,” Greeley said. “Hooke is a worldwide celebrity. He’s got the morning talk show, his podcast, plus the multi-city tour he’s in the middle of.
According to what I read last night, he’s worth ten million dollars and the sky is the limit.
If the ceiling caves in on his gift, then he loses everything.
The talk show and podcast are gone, along with the advertisers.
His fans will turn on him and we all know how vicious people can be online.
Then the lawsuits will start. The network will sue him for fraud, breach of contract and God knows what else, same with the advertisers, last will be the clients who are suffering from emotional distress over Hooke’s bullshit readings. ”
“Shit,” Jude muttered under his breath. “If Hooke loses everything because of what Cope started…” He didn’t want to finish the sentence.
Greeley was right. Hooke would come for Cope and everything his husband held dear.
Fear roiled in Jude’s gut, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.
“Okay, let’s get to it. I’ll work on the stage name Alistair Hooke and you can research Simon Jones, his real name, and we’ll meet in the middle. ”
“You got it, Jude.” Greeley slapped Jude’s back and headed for his office.
Jude grabbed a cup of coffee and took a minute to enjoy the quiet.
With Ronan and Fitz out of the office, you could hear a pin drop.
Jude turned on his computer. His first step was to gather as much information about Simon Jones as he could from the internet.
With such a common name, Jude wanted to make sure he had the right man.
When he Googled “Who is Alistair Hooke?” a ton of articles appeared.
Scanning through the results, Jude saw several fluff pieces published by local journalists when Alistair came to town.
The articles had praised his gift and let readers know tickets were still available for an upcoming show.
None of those stories offered what Jude was looking for.
Next up was Wikipedia. Jude knew the entries were written by ordinary people and there wasn’t a lot of fact checking going on.
If Jude wanted, he could edit Abraham Lincoln’s page to say that Ronan assassinated him and couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take for people to notice and change it back to John Wilkes Booth.
According to the search results, Alistair Hooke, aka Simon Jones, was born in Nashua, New Hampshire to parents, Joseph and Elena, both deceased.
Jude jotted their names on his legal pad along with their dates of birth and death.
With the allegation that he’d killed Endora, Elena’s sister, Jude needed to know if Hooke’s parents had died under mysterious circumstances.
According to Google, his parents had been killed in a tragic car accident when he was just a kid.
His next step was to log into the Salem Police Department’s criminal database. He typed Simon Jones name and place of birth and pressed enter. “Holy shit!” The man’s juvenile record was as long as Jude’s arm.
“What is it?” Greeley asked, running into Jude’s office.
“Simon Jones was in trouble with the law from the time he was twelve years old and stole his mother’s car, crashing it into a cornfield. There are charges of grand theft auto, breaking and entering, assault and battery. The list goes on and on, but that’s not the strange thing.”
“What is?” Greeley asked.
“The fact that his record is completely clean from his eighteenth birthday forward. Of course his juvie record is sealed, so there’s no way anyone outside law enforcement knows he spent three years in a juvenile detention center.
Christ, think about the advertisers who support Hooke’s podcast and his daytime show.
Not to mention all of the people who had private readings with him over the years.
None of them had any way of knowing he’s a criminal.
” Jude shook his head. “What did you find out about Simon Jones post juvenile detention? Does he have a criminal record?”
“Not really,” Greeley said, taking a seat across from Jude’s desk. “There are a couple of battery charges that were dismissed when it was learned that bar patrons had attacked him and he was only defending himself.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” Jude nibbled his bottom lip. “What happened to Simon Jones after his eighteenth birthday that turned him away from a life of crime?”
“That’s easy,” Greeley said with a wide grin. “That’s when Aunt Endora died.”
“What?” Jude asked, feeling stunned.
“According to Simon’s record, he was released into the custody of Endora Bartley, who lived in Derry, New Hampshire.”
Jude sighed. “How long after Simon was released from juvie did Endora die?”
“One year almost to the day.” Greeley shook his head in apparent disgust. “I also checked probate records and Simon inherited his aunt’s estate, which consisted of the house, cars, bank accounts, and a hefty life insurance policy. Wanna guess how much it was for?”
“Half a million dollars?” Jude guessed.
“Close, but it was a quarter of a million. Adding the value of the insurance policy to the rest of the estate, Simon inherited almost a million dollars. He sold everything and relocated to Las Vegas. It was also around this time that he changed his name and started doing psychic readings.”
“That wraps everything up in a nice little bow, doesn’t it?” Jude asked.
“Not even close!” Greeley’s green eyes glittered with excitement.
“You said earlier that Simon’s police record is mostly clear, so what else happened after he changed his name?”
“Alistair Hooke’s been married seven times, just like Elizabeth Taylor!” Greeley crowed.
“What?” Jude couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“From the records I was able to unearth, Alistair moved to California after leaving Las Vegas. He married a widow named Tinsley Anthony, 79, from Culver City. The marriage unexpectedly ended two years later when Tinsley died from a fall in her home.”
“Holy shit!” Jude’s mind was racing. “Was Alistair ever questioned or arrested in his wife’s death?”
Greeley shook his head no. “Just like with Aunt Endora, he was the sole beneficiary of Tinsley’s estate, which he liquidated to the tune of two million dollars, and then blew town.”
“Let me guess, the other six wives were elderly widows too?”
“Yup! Marilyn in Philadelphia was 81 when she died, in an accidental drowning, two and a half years after she married Alistair. Jeannie in Bozeman, Montana, tied the knot at 65 and was dead nine months later, from a massive heart attack. Kelly-Anne in Memphis was 74 when she married Alistair and died three years later from liver disease. She appears to be the only wife who died from natural causes.” Greeley rolled his eyes.
“Alistair is a textbook black widower. What about the other four women? How did they die?” Jude asked, not quite sure he wanted the answer.
“Molly from Boulder died when she slipped during a hike and plunged two hundred feet to her death. Cynthia from Little Rock died from acute ethylene glycol poisoning.”
“He poisoned her with antifreeze?” Jude couldn’t believe his ears.
“No, she drank it right out of a highball glass and left a suicide note. Alistair came home and found her dead in bed.” Greeley grimaced.
“That sounds a little too easy.” Jude could see a disturbing pattern forming.
“It sure does,” Greeley agreed. “Then there was Michelle from Orlando who died-”
“On the teacup ride at Disney World?”
“Close, not on the teacups, but on the ride home from a day at the park. Her brakes gave out and she rear-ended a semi-truck. She died at the scene. Last and by no means least, there was Jessica from Tucson. She was Alistair’s fiancé, who was bitten by a rattlesnake and died in the hospital.
She’d gotten the antivenom too late to save her. ”
“This is absolutely incredible. We need to get the autopsy reports for all these women.” Fitz and Ronan were gonna lose their minds when Jude and Greeley laid these suspicious deaths before them.
Greeley shook his head. “No can do. Since Alistair was the next of kin, all of the women were cremated without an autopsy.”
“What the actual fuck? Do we know if he’s dating anyone at the moment?” If so, Jude was going to need to order protective custody for this poor woman.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out. They could be in more danger than they know.”
“Eight elderly women who die somewhat suddenly and under tragic circumstances. Eight inheritances netting him millions of dollars and this guy isn’t on anyone’s radar?
” Jude knew exactly why. Each of the deaths had taken place in a different jurisdiction.
The deaths were ruled accidental by the medical examiner and the grieving husband cremated, then buried them.
There was no reason for anyone to look twice at Alistair.
“I couldn’t find anything current on Alistair in public records. He’s got no pending litigation against him and there are no warrants out for his arrest. What’s our next move?” Greeley asked.
“We need to get in touch with Fitz and Ronan and let them know we’ve got an even bigger problem on our hands.
Alistair Hooke might be a serial killer.
” Why the hell didn’t anyone sense what was going on with Hooke.
How the hell was it possible that Cope, Ten, and Everly couldn’t read this man at all, and where were his wives’ spirits?
Why weren’t they beating down Cope’s door?
One thing was for certain, Cope had cracked open one hell of a hornet’s nest. Jude couldn’t wait to give it a kick.