12 Cope
The closer the clock inched to showtime, the more nervous Cope got.
He and Ten were in their seats, where they belonged.
Ronan was at the opposite end of the aisle.
Cope could see his lips moving, as he spoke to the team through their earpieces.
He should have insisted either he or Ten be on that call as well, especially with Jude not having taken his seat yet.
“Where the hell is Jude?” Cope asked Ten. “I’ve texted him several times, but haven’t heard back.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Ten waved to Ronan to catch his attention. “Where’s Jude?” he mimed.
Ronan shrugged. “He’ll be here in a sec.”
Not exactly a comforting response. Cope was sure Jude was in the bathroom or checking out something suspicious in the hallway. If there was something really wrong, Ronan wouldn’t be calmly sitting in his seat, so he had that little bit of knowledge at least.
Even that didn’t keep Cope from worrying.
Every time the stage right door opened, his head swiveled hoping Jude would stroll through it, but he didn’t.
He didn’t know a lot about police work, but did know that plans changed along with circumstances, which meant he shouldn’t be as nervous as he was, but something was wrong. How wrong, Cope didn’t know.
The stage lights dimmed several times, letting the crowd know the show was about to begin.
Turning around to check out the theater, there weren’t any people in the seats.
Cope wasn’t entirely surprised, but he figured people would want to be here to see the fight.
What happened the other night had been extensively covered in the Salem News and on local television.
He’d declined all interview requests. Alistair hadn’t, making sure to let people know that his comeback event would be the talk of the town.
Even with the debunked psychic’s bold proclamation, ticket sales had been in the toilet.
“Ladies and gentlemen, kids of all ages, I welcome you to Resurrection Night with Alistair Hooke.” The bright red curtain parted and out stepped the man of the hour.
Alistair was dressed in a black suit with a red tie.
No glittery pants or top hat for this event.
He looked like a serious man on a mission.
Cope’s stomach clenched as he made eye contact with Alistair. He felt like he was going to throw up. The fact that Jude hadn’t arrived yet only made him feel worse. Where the hell was his husband?
“Here we are, together again!” Alaistair said in a triumphant tone.
We have one of Salem’s finest, Cold Case Detective Ronan O’Mara here with us tonight.
It’s wonderful to see you. We also have his husband, psychic Tennyson Grimm.
I’m disappointed you left your daughter in the parking lot, Ten.
I’m sure she’d rather be in here where all the action is.
” He offered a syrupy smile. “Then there’s psychic and witch, Copeland Forbes.
It appears you too are missing some people this evening. ”
Cope’s hands fisted, but he kept silent. The last time he’d gone off the rails, it hadn’t ended well for himself and his family. He knew Alistair was going to come for him, but had he done something to Jude, is that why he wasn’t in the theater?
“Wherever could your beloved husband, Detective Jude Byrne be?” Alistair put a hand up to shade his eyes from the brilliant spotlight.
“Jude? Ohhhh, Jude? Are you here?” Laughing, Alistair zeroed back in on Cope.
“Well, thank goodness your son, Wolf, is home safe tonight.” He set a hand against his heart in mock thankfulness. “Or is he?”
Cope’s worry ratcheted up a notch. He turned to Tennyson, who’d gone white as a sheet. “Jesus, Ten what is it? Is it Jude?”
Ten shook his head and pointed to the stage with a shaking finger.
Alistair had stepped to the side of the spotlight.
Cope could see movement at the darkened back of the stage.
Someone was walking toward the light. He watched in growing horror as Wolf stepped into the spotlight.
Standing behind him, was someone else with their hands on Wolf’s shoulders.
They took one more step forward to reveal a woman, who was dressed in a bright red cloak, with the hood pulled up over her head.
She looked like Little Red Riding Hood brought to life, but who was this woman and how did she have Wolf?
“What the fuck is going on here?” Cope got to his feet.
His eyes were on Wolf’s who looked scared.
“Ronan! Go find Jude!” As he shouted, the woman behind Wolf stepped forward, her hood tipped backward to reveal a beautiful young lady with icy blue eyes and long, dark hair, which hung almost to her waist.
“It’s Amity,” Ten whispered.
Ronan was halfway to the theater doors when they all banged shut and locked. He ran toward the doors, yanked and pulled on them, but Ronan was unable to open them. From the other side of the doors, pounding and shouting could be heard, but the words couldn’t be understood.
Cope took a breath and assessed the situation.
Jude was missing, Greeley and Fitzgibbon were locked on the other side of the doors.
Wolf was being held captive on the stage and Cope had no idea what Alistair and Amity’s intentions toward him or the rest of them were.
He reached out to Everly with his gift, hoping she could hear him.
He’d warned her of the trouble they were in and to call Cisco and tell him to bring help.
“Your mind is a wonderland, Cope,” the woman said, digging her fingers into Wolf’s shoulders.
“You are correct, I am Amity Wellington. It is nice to meet you, although I wish it were under different circumstances. The Devereaux coven is known far and wide. I heard rumors of them when merchant ships arrived from France. Yes, I would like to have discussed our magick, but alas, there will not be time for that now.” Her hands tightened on Wolf’s shoulders.
The little boy squirmed to get away, but Amity held fast.
“What do you want from my son, Amity? Your name means friendship. Is that what you’re offering him?
” Cope’s entire body felt like it was made of gelatin.
His knees wobbled and his hands shook. He tried reaching out to Amity, but felt a wave of energy strike him like an ocean wave. Fuck, she was powerful.
“I want nothing with this ordinary boy. He’s of no use to me, nor to Alistair.” Amity looked down at Wolf, who yanked himself forward breaking her grasp on his shoulders. He kicked at Amity before Alistair stepped in, grabbing Wolf by the shoulder.
“Your son is here to make sure you listen to everything I have to tell you.” Alistair shoved Wolf forward. He stumbled and fell to the stage, hitting his head. He didn’t move after that.
Cope ran down the aisle toward the stage, shouting Wolf’s name.
“That’s far enough, Cope,” Alistair said. “One more step and we’ll be forced to hurt him worse than he is. You wouldn’t want that for your sweet Woofie, would you?”
Hearing Alistair use Everly’s nickname for Wolf made his stomach turn. He backed away from the stage, slumping into an empty seat in the front row. “What do you want, Alistair?”
“Everything, Cope. I want everything that’s yours.
Thanks to your stunt the other night, I’ve lost nearly everything I ever held dear to me.
My talk show will be hosted by some Hollywood actress again.
All of the good work I’d done to help people is all undone.
My podcast patrons and advertisers have all dumped me.
Those Debunked fuckers have plastered my face far and wide to make sure that other people aren’t duped by me.
No client will ever trust what I say again and it is all your fault!
” Alistair shouted, his voice echoing around the room. “You owe me, you son-of-a-bitch!”
“It’s my guess that no women will trust you or take you for a lover or allow you to trick them out of their money again, either,” Cope said, sounding much calmer than he felt. If Alistair wanted money, he could have it, but there was nothing Cope could do to restore Alistair’s reputation.
“What are you talking about?” Alistair sneered.
“You know our husbands are detectives and are very good at their jobs.” Cope offered an icy smile.
“We heard all about what you did to Aunt Endora, who I had a lovely chat with the other day. I had the pleasure of reuniting her spirit with her old friend Bertha Craig. Not only did Endora tell us how you killed her, with belladonna in the blueberry cobbler, she also told us to look into your past, and boy, what a ride it was and that’s not counting the time you did in juvie. ”
“Do tell,” Alistair arched a questioning eyebrow.
Cope felt like smirking and probably would have done that very thing if Jude wasn’t missing and Wolf was safe at home.
“Okay, we’ll just start with your seven wives, shall we?
Tinsley fell at home and died from a skull fracture.
Marilyn accidentally drowned in the hot tub.
Jeannie had a heart attack, which makes me wonder if you used belladonna on her too.
Kelly-Ann died from liver disease. We think she was an actual love match and died from natural causes.
With as sick as she was, it wouldn’t have taken much to end her suffering, but I digress. ”
“Is this true, Alistair?” Amity asked, her voice shaking.
Alistair’s nostrils flared in obvious annoyance, but he didn’t answer the question. He fisted his hands and continued to stare at Cope.
“Molly, fell into a gorge. Cynthia died from acute ethylene glycol poisoning that was ruled a suicide, but we both know no one is drinking antifreeze out of a highball glass voluntarily. Michelle died in an auto accident when her brakes failed. Then last but not least was your fiancé Jessica who was bitten by a rattlesnake.” Cope paused for a moment and watched the play of emotions across Alistair’s face.
In a matter of seconds he’d gone from cocky, to surprised, to shocked, to angry.
“And what, Cope, you think I killed these women; my soulmates?” Alister wore a who-me look, as if to say butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
“Yes, and I’m not the only one. Our husbands turned this information over to the Salem Police Department.
” Cope knew damned well that Cisco wasn’t going to make a move to arrest Alistair until there was more concrete evidence found or Alistair confessed.
Cope needed to ramp up the pressure and hope Alistair blurted out something unintentionally.
“What, and the fine men and women of the Salem Police Department are supposed to rush in at any moment and arrest me?” Alistair paused, as if he were waiting for the cops to do just that.
“Cops already would have come for me, but they know just as well as you that all of your evidence is circumstantial.”
“Circumstantial or not, you haven’t answered my question,” Amity said, stepping around Wolf to confront Alistair.
“And what if it is? What if I killed all of those stupid bitches? They deserved it! Every single one of them with their money and prissy attitudes thinking they were better than me. Well, I sure as shit showed them who was boss!” Alistair shouted, his voice booming.
“What are you going to do about it? Take your magic back? Hurt me? Kill me? Christ, look at you, with all your power and gifts, you couldn’t even save yourself from the gallows! ”
Amity’s lips began to move. Cope knew she was reciting some kind of spell, but couldn’t hear the words well enough to know what she was saying.
It was much easier to figure out what kind of spell she was working when Alistair started to scream.
He clutched the left side of his chest and collapsed to his knees on stage.
By the sounds of his screams, it sounded like Alistair was in absolute agony.
Cope dashed out of his seat and boosted himself onto the stage.
He knelt beside Wolf, found his heartbeat and scooped the boy into his arms. He ran down the stairs to the right of the stage toward Tennyson who held his arms open.
Cope handed him his son. “Get out of here. Find a way out. There are stairs to the balcony in the back. Maybe the doors out of the theater aren’t locked up there. ”
Ten nodded. “What are you going to do?”
Cope shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m gonna have to save Alistair’s life. Amity isn’t messing around. When I was on stage grabbing Wolf, I heard her reciting the death spell.”
“The one your ancestors used?” Ten asked, his mouth hanging open.
“Close enough,” Cope said. “Mine has a little bit of Cajun magick in it, but Amity’s version has something else. Something elemental from Salem itself.” He kissed the top of Wolf’s head. “Go. Get him out of here. Find Jude. Call Cisco.”
Ten took off running to the back of the theater. When Cope turned back to the stage, he saw Ronan standing near a foot or so away, watching in amazement as Alistair writhed and screamed.
“What the hell do I do?” Ronan shouted over Alistair’s screams.
“Let me try to reason with Amity. You go for Alistair if I can get her to release him.” Without waiting for Ronan’s approval, Cope ran back onto the stage.
He stood behind Amity, his hands twisted together and hoped he could find the right words to make her stop.
“Amity, let him go. He’s not worth the blood on your hands this would bring you.
Please. I’ll make sure he’s arrested and prosecuted for what he did to his wives, fiancé, and aunt. ”
Amity’s back stiffened but she didn’t turn around. Didn’t ease up on Alistair whose voice had gone hoarse from screaming.
“I know how to counter the death spell. Please don’t make me do it,” Cope said. He’d learned a lot from Camden Devereaux in the short time they’d had together the spell and its antidote were top of mind. He didn’t want to hurt Amity’s spirit, but he would.
Alistair screamed louder.
Amity wasn’t going to stop torturing him unless someone stopped her.
Cope went over the antidote to the death spell in his head and was about to speak it when the theater doors slammed open.
He watched as Everly ran into the theater.
Fitz was behind her. Greeley came last, helping a bloodied Jude, who looked barely conscious.
Amity’s body slackened and she stepped away from Alistair who stopped screaming and collapsed the rest of the way to the stage. Everly, who’d run onto the stage, took her hands and pulled her away from Alistair.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cope saw Ronan spring onto the stage to check out Alistair. Seconds later, he rolled the man to his back and started performing CPR.
“Medics and backup are on the way,” Fitz said. “We don’t have a lot of time until they get here. What the hell happened? Why is Wolf here? Is he okay?”
“Let’s talk to Jude. I don’t know how or why Wolf is here, but something tells me Jude knows.
” Cope sized up his husband as he got closer to him.
Dried blood was caked to the side of Jude’s face, while a lump had risen on the side of his head.
Cope hoped the obvious blow to the head hadn’t set his recovery back.
“Jude, are you okay?” Cope took the seat beside his husband and reached for his hand.
“My head hurts. I thought I saw Tennyson with Wolf. Is he okay?” Jude gripped Cope’s hand tighter. “I didn’t know this would happen. I swear to God. He just asked to go to the bathroom.”
“Who, Wolf?” Cope asked. “The last I knew, he was home with Jace and the other kids. How the hell did he get here?”
“That phone call I got when we got out of Fitz’s SUV was from Carson.
He asked to see me before we went into the theater.
When I got to his car, Wolf was sitting in the backseat with Everly.
He’d begged Carson to take him along so that he could protect Everly.
Carson said he figured that if Ronan thought it was okay for his daughter to be in the parking lot, that it would be okay for Wolf to come along. ”
“Jesus Christ. Carson brought Wolf and never told us?” Cope felt his head start to spin. With three kids of his own, Cope assumed Carson would be smarter than that.
“Carson asking me to come see him was his version of telling me. To be honest, I wasn’t that upset because the kids were going to simply stay in the car.
Carson had orders to drive away if things went crazy.
I didn’t want to tell you because you had your hands full with Alistair.
” Jude shook his head and grimaced. “Wolf told me he had to use the bathroom for a number two and I brought him inside. I had to go too. Wolf finished before me and I heard him washing his hands. I reminded him to stay in the bathroom to wait for me and he agreed. A few seconds later, the restroom door opened and closed. I called out for Wolf, but he didn’t answer.
When I left the stall, Wolf was gone. The last thing I remember was running for the door when I saw something black out of the corner of my eye and felt my head explode in pain.
The next thing I knew, Greeley was trying to wake me up. What happened to Wolf?”
“Alistair came on stage with Amity, who had Wolf under her control.” If Cope lived to be one hundred, he’d never forget the scared look on Wolf’s face.
“Amity? That’s who Little Red Riding Hood is?” Jude asked.
“You can see her?” Cope asked, not really surprised given how powerful Amity was.
“Clear as day,” Jude agreed.
“Alistair shoved Wolf to the stage, where he bumped his head. He threatened to hurt him worse if I didn’t cooperate with his plan to regain everything he’d lost when he was debunked the other night.
I remembered what you said about getting a confession, so I started asking him about his dead wives, which made Amity upset.
Alistair admitted to killing them all and Amity used the death spell on him.
It must have been a different or slower version because he didn’t die, he was being tortured.
” Cope couldn’t care less about Alistair.
He deserved to pay for killing eight women and hurting Wolf.
“Did you see Ten out in the hallway with Wolf?”
“I did. He looked a little woozy,” Jude said. “I think we both need to go to the hospital.” As Jude spoke, the paramedics rushed into the room with Salem Police Officers behind them.
“No argument there. I’ll go find him.” Cope got out of his seat leaving Jude with Fitz.
He could see Ronan speaking to an officer, while the medics attended to Alistair.
Everly stood to the left of the stage speaking with Amity.
Cope couldn’t help but wonder if the cops and medics could see her too.
Under other circumstances, Cope would have loved to have been part of that conversation. Looking around the theater, he didn’t see Ten, so he walked into the lobby, where he found Wolf sitting beside Ten at a table near the snack bar. A can of ginger ale sat in front of Wolf.
“Dad!” Wolf called, waving his arms in the air.
Cope ran to his son and took the seat next to him. “Hey, buddy. How do you feel?”
“I don’t feel so good. My head hurts from hitting the stage, but I don’t care about me, where’s Daddy! Did the man hurt him? I kept waiting for him to find me, and when he didn’t I tried to save myself, just like Daddy does all the time.” Wolf took a sip from his can of soda.
Cope’s heart broke for his son. “Daddy’s got a bump on his head, but he’ll be okay. Based on the fact that you’re drinking something, does that mean you’re feeling better?”
“My head hurts and I’m dizzy. Uncle Ten thought ginger ale might help.”
“Good plan,” Cope said as more paramedics came into the theater. He waved them over to take a look at Wolf.
Taking a step back, Cope watched as the paramedics examined Wolf.
As they did, Ronan and Everly ran out of the theater and went to Wolf’s side.
Moments later, Alistair was wheeled out of the theater on a gurney.
He looked barely conscious. Cope wondered if his reign of terror was over or if Alistair had more tricks up his sleeve.
Jude came out of the theater with Greeley and Fitz. Both men were holding him up, while exasperated-looking medics walked behind them. He went to Wolf, who was being helped onto a gurney of his own.
Cope hugged Tennyson. “Thank you for taking care of my son.” Following behind the gurney, he spotted Carson, who had been sitting a few tables away. His attention had been focused on Wolf and hadn’t noticed his friend.
“I’m so sorry,” Carson said. “I should have known better to let Wolf talk me into coming, but he was so worried about Everly.”
Cope gave Carson a quick hug. He knew how persuasive his son could be. “It’s okay. He’ll be just fine and raising hell soon enough. Same goes for Jude.” With a quick squeeze, Cope hurried after Wolf and Jude.
His family was a little banged up but safe. Cope needed to have his own Come to Jesus meeting with himself over the way he’d acted to get everyone into this mess in the first place, but that could wait until Wolf and Jude were back on their feet.