“You met Elvis?” Ten’s eyes were blown so wide he was afraid they were going to fall out.
“Yeah!” Cope laughed. “Blue suede shoes and all. My mother took me to Graceland for my eighteenth birthday.”
“I didn’t know you were such a big fan.” Ten shook his head. “You think you know someone.”
“Iwasn’ta big fan; my mother was. She used my birthday as an excuse to go to Memphis. She had some coven sisters in the area she wanted to visit and wanted to try out a new spell on the king.” Cope rolled his eyes. “She tried everything in her power to connect with him, and nothing worked. In a way, I’m glad she didn’t. He was a wreck, so messed up from the drugs that even in the afterlife, he couldn’t find his true north.”
“Holy shit!” Ten couldn’t believe his ears. “Did you say anything to him?”
“I asked if I could help him cross over. Maybe his parents or someone else could help him find himself again, but he refused. He sang the chorus of ‘Kentucky Rain’ and vanished.”
Ten shivered in the hot afternoon sun. “That story is wild and unbelievably sad.”
“What’s the saying, never meet your heroes? It still goes in the afterlife too.” Cope shrugged.
“I’m just blown away.” River sat back in his chair.
“People think heaven is all about meeting Marilyn Monroe or Jim Morrison, but it’s really about finding your own way, making amends, and rebuilding bridges you burned in life.” Cope shrugged again. “I mean, I guess you could try to find Princess Diana, but she’s got her own path to walk.”
Ten couldn’t have said it any better himself. When he realized he could speak to the dead, he’d hoped to run across the ghost of Freddy Mercury, who was the only gay man Ten had ever heard of at that time. He’d hoped the dead rock star could give Ten words of advice that would help him along life’s journey, but looking back on it now, nothing anyone told him would have made being kicked out of his house any easier to live with. Not that it mattered because that moment was the catalyst in Ten coming to Salem, meeting Carson and Cole, and then eventually falling in love with Ronan. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Everly taking Ten’s hand snapped him out of his memories. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi, honey. Are you okay?” Everly wore a strange look on her face, as if she were having trouble figuring something out.
“Mr. Copter didn’t jump. He was pushed.” Everly climbed into Ten’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Who the hell was Mr. Copter? “Do you mean Kotter Brighthouse?”
“Yeah, the man with the red-and-white vest.”
“Did you see him just now?” Ten hadn’t sensed any spirit in the area. He turned to Cope, who gave his head a quick shake no.
“He sat next to me on the pool steps and said he didn’t jump, that he was pushed.”
Ten sat with the ramifications of what his daughter was saying. If Kotter didn’t jump, then he didn’t kill himself. He was murdered. Someone had spent the last twenty years in the clear. They’d gotten away scot-free. “Did he say who pushed him?”
Everly shook her head. “No, and I couldn’t see who it was either. I don’t think he remembers. I tried to go through his memories, but it’s like that time the shelf in the pantry broke, and there was cereal, rice, and flour mixed together all over the floor.”
Ten snorted. He could see the moment clearly in his mind. The pantry was a mess, and so was Kotter Brighthouse. Everly had perfectly explained what he’d experienced when he spoke with the spirit himself. “Thank you for telling me.”
“I’m hungry. Can we have a snack?” Everly looked back at the pool, where her friends were laughing together.
“You sure can. I’ll go see what Uncle Fitz is making.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Everly took Ten’s seat when he got up and headed toward the kitchen.
It had been a long time since he’d seen his daughter wiped out from speaking with a spirit. His first order of business was toget his daughter a snack. The second was going to be how to tell Ronan about the development in the case. After the rude welcome they’d gotten from Mary Lou and the way Baxter took her side, it was possible neither of them would even take his call. Ten found himself wishing that would be the case. River was only here for a few more days, and all he wanted to do was spend as much time with his brother as possible.
Kotter Brighthouse’s death had been thought of as a suicide for over two decades. What would a few more days hurt?
13
Ronan
Ronan hated rainy days. He’d checked the weather report on several channels, and they were all saying that it was going to rain most of the day. With the kids’ moveable sleepover at Cope and Jude’s house, he and Ten had taken advantage of the gloomy morning and slept in.
Around ten, Jude texted him to ask if it would be a good day to go to Uncle Chum’s. He said the kids were already driving him nuts. The idea of being cooped up with them in the house all day was making Jude twitch.
