2
Cope
The smell of freshly brewed coffee hit Cope full-force when he stepped through the front door of West Side Magick. He hadn’t eaten anything that morning, what with getting the kids ready for their first day of school. He headed for Cassie’s bakery and ordered a coffee and a cinnamon roll.
After asking how Laurel, Brady, and Lexi’s first morning on the bus went, he headed to his reading room to prepare for the day.
Cope had three in-person readings and one on Zoom.
He loved that clients of the shop who’d visited while on vacation were able to get readings online. It kept money flowing into the shop.
Cope looked over the latest news headlines while he drank his coffee. There was never any good news, just more bullshit; crime, politics, and war. What he needed was something to get his mind off the current state of affairs. Maybe a day trip to the beach would be just the thing, as Jude suggested.
He got out of his seat intent on going to see Ten, when there was a knock at his door. It couldn’t be his first client, she wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another half hour. When Cope opened the door, Ten and Carson stood on the other side. “Hey, guys.”
“Have you heard the news about Jonas Crawford?” Carson asked, taking a seat at Cope’s reading table.
“What, is he going solo?” Cope asked.
“He’s not one of the Jonas Brothers,” Carson rolled his eyes. “He’s the new psychic who moved into the storefront on Essex Street that used to sell homemade soaps.”
“Poor Lindon, business was booming until the fraud squad showed up on his doorstep and arrested him for his part in a multi-national Ponzi scheme. I think he got forty years for that. You never really know your neighbors, huh?” Ten shook his head.
“The name doesn’t ring a bell. Who is he?” Cope hadn’t heard anything about a new psychic coming to town. Usually that sort of information lit up the Salem grapevine faster than school teachers with OnlyFans accounts.
“I have no idea and his online bio doesn’t help much,” Carson said. He tapped on his phone and turned it around to show Cope.
“Wow!” The image of Jonas Crawford reminded Cope of Bela Lugosi in Dracula. Crawford was all charm, dressed in an immaculate, black bespoke suit, with his dark hair slicked back from his face. Dark mysterious eyes stared back at Cope through the image.
“He looks like Count Dracula,” Ten sighed dreamily. “I vonder if he vants to suck my blood?”
Carson snorted. “All his bio says about him is that he’s originally from Denver and had his gift from a young age. He’s doing free readings today at his new store as a way of opening himself up to the people of Salem and the tourists.”
Cope shook his head. “More like he’s helping himself up to our clients.” He’d never heard of a psychic giving away free readings as a way of attracting business. Even when he and the others worked street fairs, they still charged for readings, even if it was at a lower cost than in the shop.
“Oh, well,” Carson said. “There’s more than enough room in Salem for one more psychic. Plus, the Halloween season will be starting up in two weeks or so. We’ll all be busier than we can handle after that. Maybe we should go see this guy later. I’m free from noon until three.”
“Me too,” Ten said. “Just promise you won’t let me make a fool of myself in front of this guy. I’ve had the biggest crush on Dracula since I was a kid. I think it was the cape.”
“For me it was the accent.” Cope’s friends had spent the summer they turned twelve watching old black and white horror pictures.
While his friends were scared of The Mummy, Frankenstein, and Count Dracula, all Cope could think about was fucking the monsters.
Those Golden Age of Hollywood stars really floated his boat.
“What about you, Cope? Are you free this afternoon to go see this guy or are you gonna be busy fantasizing about fucking the Wolfman?” Carson snickered.
“All that yummy fur.” Cope was practically drooling. “And the fangs and claws and that giant furry monster cock!”
Ten eyed his friend. “I don’t know what movies you were watching, but I’ve never seen a giant furry monster cock.”
“Would the Wolfman’s cock be hairy?” Carson asked. “I mean for practical sake wouldn’t it have to be bare? Otherwise the fur would be matted and dripping in juices and god knows what else.”
“How is this my life?” Ten asked. “I’ve got a client coming in. I’ll let the two of you haggle over monster dicks.” Ten paused at the door. “If Dracula came inside you would his monster jizz turn you into a vampire or does he have to bite you? Asking for a friend.”
“For that matter, is the Mummy allowed to unwrap his dick his to get his freak on?” Carson shot back. “Or would it crumble to dust in your mouth?”
“Okay, where does the Creature from the Black Lagoon keep his package? Does it drop down like airplane landing gear when the moment is right?” Cope giggled.
“I have the best friends!” Ten waved and walked out of Cope’s office.
Carson stayed put. “Is everything okay? You look worried. Are you upset over Lizzie’s first day of pre-school?”
Cope shook his head. “She loved going to daycare and spending time with her friends. Lizzie will be fine. Wolfie too. We made sure he was in the same class with Everly and Aurora, so they’d always have each other to lean on.”
“So if it’s not the kids, what’s up?” Carson took the seat across from Cope.
“Something weird happened with Jude this morning.” Cope shook his head. He was glad Carson was here to listen. Ten was equally worried about Ronan, but Carson would be impartial.
“I imagine something weird happens with Jude every morning.”
“True, but this was about work.” What if Cisco wanted to rotate them out of cold case and assign them to homicide or parking meter enforcement?
“What happened?” Carson leaned in closer.
“When the kids got on the bus, Fitzgibbon mentioned that Cisco wanted to see Jude, Ronan, and himself this morning.”
“What the hell did Ronan do this time?” Carson asked.
“Nothing, so far as I know. Though I’m sure he could stretch the pope’s patience to its breaking point.” Cope found a small smile. “I think the thing that’s worrying me is how worried Fitzgibbon looked. He said he didn’t know what the meeting was about, but I’m not so sure.”
“What is your gift telling you?”
“Nothing. You know Jude is a blank wall for me, but Fitzgibbon leaks information constantly. This morning there was nothing but a feeling of resignation.”
“It’s September and we’re coming to the end of the fiscal year. What if this has to do with next year’s budget for the department? People aren’t so hot on the idea of socialism lately, although I suspect that will change when they’re bleeding to death and need an ambulance.” Carson rolled his eyes.
“I suppose that could be it.” Honestly, Cope wasn’t sure at all.
“Let me know when you find out. Maybe there’s something we can do to help, like holding a fundraiser or something that would help donations pour in.”
Cope nodded. “Okay.”
“In the meantime, have a good day and I’ll see you later when we go visit Jonas Crawford.”
“Thanks, Carson.” Cope shut the door behind him and sat back at his table.
Cope’s first client of the day would be there soon and he needed to get his head out of his ass and focus on the work ahead of him. He was certain that as soon as Jude got out of the meeting, he’d be in touch.
As for the future, Cope was going to have to wait a bit to see how it was going to play out. A new psychic in town, plus a possible problem at the Salem Police Department, could spell doom. Sighing, Cope pulled up his big boy pants and got to work.