After breakfast, the kids had been content to watch movies in Fitz and Jace’s room with the connecting door wide open, while the adults sat in Ten and Ronan’s room. Cope explained everything that happened the previous night with Cyrus.
Tennyson looked dumbfounded. “He actually told you heknowswho killed him, and he won’t tell anyone? That makes literallynosense.”
“What if it was an accident?” Cope asked. “Like if you were carrying a knife, blade out, and Ronan spun around and sort of stabbed himself.”
“Good job, Cope. Teach my husband how to kill me and make it look like an accident.” Ronan rolled his eyes.
“It’snot Tennysonyou have to worry about.” Fitzgibbon offered Ronan a cold smile.
Jude had noticed a bit of tension between Ronan and Cap over breakfast, but he’d been too busy trying to get Lizbet to eat instead of throwing her food at Wolfie, who caught it midair and gobbled it down. The kids had a great time, but Jude could use a nap. “Okay, before we go any further, what the hell is up between the two of you? It seems like one wrong word could get you guys swinging on each other.”
Ronan snarled at Fitzgibbon, while Fitzy kept his face impassive. It was a dumbass standoff. “Jace, do you know what turned these besties into frenemies?” Seriously, Jude didn’t have time for this shit. The sun was supposed to come out that afternoon, and he wanted to take the kids to the amusement park. It would suck if Ronan and Fitz weren’t speaking to each other. Everly would certainly pick up on the tension if she hadn’t already.
“I do, but I’d prefer not to wade into the middle of this. Unless, of course, you want me bunking in your room tonight.” Jace’s usual easygoing grin was long gone.
“Our room’s crowded enough with the four of us and the weird ghost of Cyrus Longfellow.” Jude turned to Ten. “Spill it. We’ve got shit to do. As soon as we compare notes about what Fitz and Ronan learned yesterday, we need to reach out to Chet Hines.”
Ten sighed. He looked up at the ceiling as if he were praying or asking for more patience. Probably both. “Fitz is mad at Ronan because the love of my life”—Ten rolled his eyes dramatically—“has a big fucking mouth.”
Jude looked back and forth between Ronan and Fitz, who wore stubborn looks. “Thanks, Ten. Now, would one or both of you knuckleheads like to explain further.”
Ronan cleared his throat. “I did as my boss asked and called Carson to find out if Chet Hines has ever been a client of WestSide Magick or if they’ve served customers from Old Orchard Beach. The answer was no to Chet’s name being in the customer database, and there aren’t any recent customers from this part of Maine. There were people from Bangor who met with Bertha in 1991, but as far as I can tell, they have no connection to Hines.”
“That’s good news. At least Hines isn’t trying to manipulate Cope through the shop.” Jude felt relief sweep through him. No one fucked with his husband and got away unscathed. “Okay, what about accounts of people being haunted in room 13?”
Fitzgibbon sighed. “There are several newspaper articles about tourists who felt cold spots in the room and thought they heard ghostly whispers in the night. I assume those people could hear their neighbors next door. What a novel concept,Ronan, that people on the other side of the paper-thin walls in this dump can hear entire conversations!”
Jude had a feeling that was a huge clue in what the hell was going on between Cap and Ronan. “What did Ronan say that has you so upset?”
“I might have maligned Fitzgibbon’s parenting skills,” Ronan said uneasily, “and maybe, possibly, said that Aurora had been acting like a spoiled brat at dinner, whining about wanting more lobster like a hungry baby goat asking for its mother’s tit.”
First off, Jude didn’t realize goats had tits, but now wasn’t the time or place for a lesson in female goat anatomy. Secondly, and more importantly, Ronan was right. Aurora had been a bit too much to take at dinner, although Jude would have categorized her more along the lines of a hungry baby bird who opens its mouth wide and screeches until its mother stuffs a fat, juicy worm down its ungrateful throat. Thirdly, Jude was in enough hot water as it was with the motel being a complete dump and wouldn’t say those thoughts out loud for a million dollars.“Okay, well, I’m glad to have gotten this all out in the open. Ronan, why don’t you apologize to Fitz, Fitzy will accept said apology, and we can get on with the business of the day.”
“Don’t you want to know what Fitzy said aboutEverly?” Ronan asked calmly with anger burning in his eyes.
“Fuck a duck, Fitz. Did you really say something about Everly? She’s my goddaughter, and I don’t want to have to kill you on vacation. Please don’t make me.” Jude was done with this shit. If it was up to him, he’d pack up the van now and be home in two hours. He could spend the last official weekend of summer dipping his piggy toes in Wolf’s little paddling pool.
Fitz raised a challenging eyebrow at Jude. “You and what army?”
“Okay,enough!” Cope shouted. “I got about fifteen minutes’ sleep last night. Between the faucets dripping, Wolf having the scariest night terror I’ve ever heard, and dealing with the oversexed ghost of Cyrus Longfellow, who won’t tell me who killed him and loves being more famous in death than in life, I really don’t have the fucking patience to deal with your bullshit.” Cope looked between Fitz and Ronan, who, instead of looking angry at each other, looked stunned. “I’m sure Ronan didn’t mean what he said about Aurora. Yesterday was a long-ass day with the drive, finding out this place is Dante’s ninth circle of hell, and being besieged by the southern Maine media. I’m also sure that Fitz didn’t mean what he said about Everly. Agreed?” Cope’s eyes were on Fitz.
Fitz stared back at Cope, his nostrils flaring. “Fine. I forgive Ronan for saying my sweet little girl was a spoiled brat who whined like a farm animal. I also forgive Ronan for saying I’m a shit father.” Fitzgibbon’s angry countenance broke. He looked more heartbroken than anything.
“Ronan?” Cope prodded.
“Okay. I forgive Fitzgibbon for saying my daughter is a nosy little busybody who always has her nose stuck in his business. I also forgive him for saying I’m the worst father on Earth.” Ronan looked as if he were about to burst into tears.
What the fuck was happening to his friends? Jude was completely out of his element here.
“I think I know what’s going on.” Cope began looking between the now overly emotional men. “Before Cyrus Longfellow revealed himself to me, he had Wolfie speaking in tongues. Then, he gave him some kind of nightmare that made him start to scream like he was being tortured. Unless I miss my guess, Cyrus is more Loki than Casper the Friendly Ghost. I think he moved through each of you and started this fight.” Neither man looked overly pacified. “We all know Auroraisn’ta brat. We also know Everlyisn’ta busybody. Lastly, you both areexcellentfathers. Can we all agree on that?”
Ronan and Fitz nodded. Both men stood up and hugged each other. “I’m sorry I was an asshole!” Ronan wailed.
“I’m sorry I was a bigger asshole!” Fitz said, his voice thick with emotion.
“Now that we agree Ronan and Fitz are assholes, can we get back to Cyrus Longfellow?” Jude asked. “What the hell did you learn about the hauntings?”
“I watched the YouTube videos the different ghost hunters posted. It was the usual schtick where they tried to get the ghost to answer questions and had objects that allegedly belonged to Cyrus that might help them connect to his spirit. One of the videos had a voice recording saying, ‘help,’ but there’s no way of knowing if it was real or manufactured.” Fitzgibbon shrugged.
