10
Cope
Cope had been dreading Alistair Hooke’s comeback show all day long. He’d tossed and turned for most of the night, his mind filled with dread. What sort of dread, he couldn’t name. Something was coming. Something bad. He knew this like he knew his own name. Same went for Tennyson, Carson, Cole, and all of Salem.
Ticket sales for the redemption show were dead in the water, even when they were offered at no cost. Everyone, over the age of eighteen, who’d been in the theater the other night had been contacted via email and were offered free tickets to the Fridaynight show. Most people never responded at all, while the ones that did were not interested in wasting their time.Again.
It had been agreed that Jude, Cope, Ten, Ronan, Greeley, and Fitz would attend the show. Everly would be allowed to sit in the parking lot with Carson, in hopes that she would be close enough to read the situation. She would be connected to Ronan through his phone with his ear buds. Wolf, Aurora, Lizzie, and Ezra would stay home with Jace, who had planned a pizza party and movie night.
Jude’s job would be telling Wolf that he wasn’t allowed to come. Cope knew his son wasn’t going to take the news well. He would want to be there to protect Everly, but Cope couldn’t allow that to happen. He’d been the one who put his family in Alistair Hooke’s bullseye and the fewer people in the line of fire, the better. Plus, Wolf being home would allow Cope to fully concentrate on the matter at hand; taking down a monster.
Cope had read the police reports Greeley and Jude had compiled on Endora Bentley and Alistair’s other alleged victims. It had been a cunning plan on Hooke’s part. He’d moved around the country courting, marrying, and killing women who had no family or close friends to talk sense into their heads. On paper, the deaths seemed to be tragic events, but taken together, they formed a diabolical pattern. A pattern that Cope planned to stop. All he needed to do was get Hooke to confess to just one of the eight alleged murders. Ronan and Fitz would be ready and waiting to arrest him, which of course would be the best case scenario. He didn’t want to think about worst cases.
“Are you ready to do this?” Jude asked, pulling on his jacket.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Cope put on his coat and zipped it on the way out the door, where Fitzgibbon, Greeley, Ten and Ronan were waiting in the SUV.
“Hey, guys,” Fitzgibbon said, before pulling out into traffic. “I had a meeting with Cisco about Alistair Hooke. I showed him all the evidence we’d gathered over the last few days. He called it all circumstantial. We knew that going in, but I thought he would take a little more interest when I was able to show the pattern between Hooke and the dead women. Cisco isn’t sending backup because he doesn’t think Hooke would be dumb enough to confess to one, never mind eight murders, and also not to tip him off before Cope had the chance to wring a confession out of him. You’re good to go, right Cope?” Fitz asked, eyeing the psychic in the rear view mirror.
“Right,” Cope agreed easily, while his stomach churned with nerves. “Before we get to the theater, I just want to apologize to you all again. If I’d just sat in my seat the other night and shut my stupid mouth, none of this would be happening. I hope you all can forgive me for putting you all in needless danger.”
“First of all,” Ronan began, turning from the front seat to face Cope, “you have nothing to apologize for. You were standing up for the psychic community of Salem by calling out fraud when you saw it. Both of our professions run on credibility and our reputations. If you break the public trust, you’re done for.”
Cope listened to the passion in Ronan’s voice. This was the kind of friend Ronan was. Always there when you needed him. Steady as a rock. Just like Jude, who was barely recovered from his near death experience.
“Secondly,” Fitzgibbon continued. “What you did the other night was the catalyst that made us look into Alistair Hooke/Simon Jones. If he was responsible for even one of the eight possible deaths, that’s worth it alone. It will be even better when you get this asshole to confess so I can arrest him.”
“You have a point about catching Alistair. I never thought of it that way.” Cope found himself feeling marginally better.
“These kinds of assholes don’t stop until they’re caught,” Greeley offered from the second row of seats. “Just think of how many vulnerable women Hooke has in sights at the moment? How many more women would be hurt or killed if you hadn’t done what you thought was right the other night?” Greeley paused. “In my book, you’re a hero.”
“Thanks, Greeley. I really appreciate the pep talk.” Cope meant every word. He needed to get his head out of his ass and come up with a game plan for the evening.
“Jude, how’d it go telling Wolf he wasn’t coming tonight?” Ronan asked.
“Christ, I’ve never seen Wolf so upset over anything before.” Jude scrubbed his hands over his face.
“What happened?” Cope had been so wrapped up with his plan for the night that he hadn’t thought to ask Jude about their son.
“When I told him he was staying with Jace, to help protect Aurora and his little sister, Wolf got quiet. I expected him to start yelling or worse, crying and begging me to come. Instead, he was composed and offered a well-reasoned argument for why he should be allowed to come tonight.” Jude snorted. ‘I have to tell you I was impressed. He wanted to be there for Everly to keep her safe and to be my backup. It broke my heart listening to Wolf tell me that he owed me because he didn’t have my back the day of my accident. I promised to take him to buy Lego sets tomorrow, but he couldn’t have cared less. He felt like he was letting us down.” Jude sniffled.
Cope had never been more proud of their son. He set a hand on Jude’s knee. “We’ve raised one hell of a kid, huh?”
“We sure have!” Jude said as Fitzgibbon pulled into the theater’s parking lot. There were some cars, but not as many as there had been the other night. “Now, let’s get in there and kick this fucker’s ass. I want to eat cold pizza and watchFinding Nemofor the hundredth time with the kids.”
Just the thought of pizza, hot or cold, made Cope’s stomach turn. He wasn’t going to be able to keep anything down until Alistair Hooke had been locked in a jail cell. “Let’s go over the plan one more time, before we run in there like Rambo.”
“You and Ten are gonna sit in the same seats you were in the other night,” Ronan began. “Same goes for me and Jude. Fitz will man the theater exit, stage left, while Greeley will man stage right. When we get out of the SUV, I’m going to call Everly, and bring the detectives in on the call. I got a text from Carson a minute ago letting me know he and Everly are here and in position. We’re all going to wear Bluetooth ear buds. After we’re settled in the theater, what happens next is between you and Hooke, Cope. Ten will be reading everyone in the theater trying to find any bit of information that will help keep us safe or to use to get Hooke to confess.”
Cope nodded. Ronan had the plan mapped out exactly the way they’d done the night before night.
“Just as an FYI, I’m not getting anything right now. I still can’t read Hooke,” Ten said, sounding frustrated.
“Same here,” Cope added. He climbed out of the SUV and took several breaths to steady his shaky nerves. He heard Ronan call Everly and conference everyone onto the call. As much as he wanted to run home and hide under the covers, it was show time.
Cope hoped he’d be able to bring the curtain down without anyone getting hurt or worse.
11
