The next morning, Jude stood on the beach bathed in hues of red, courtesy of the sunrise. He remembered the line from the old rhyme, “Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning.” It felt apt, not just in this moment, but for the entire trip. Jude had been uneasy from the moment he’d arrived at the Four Star Motel. Usually, he hated the idea of going home from a vacation in the sun, but if it had been up to him, he would have hit the road last night after dinner.
“What a creepy sunrise,” Ronan said from behind Jude.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” Jude turned to Ronan, who wore an angry scowl. “You okay?”
“No, I’m not. I’m angry that Cyrus Longfellow won’t tell us who killed him.” Ronan crossed his arms over his chest. “Nothing pisses me off more than letting a killer walk free.”
“I thought nothing pissed you off more than milk that goes sour the day after you buy it,” Fitzgibbon said with a snort as he clapped a hand on Ronan’s shoulder.
“Yeah, well, that’s a close second,” Ronan grumped. “I can’t believe walking away from this case isn’t bothering you both.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t bothered,” Fitzgibbon said, pulling out his phone to snap shots of the eerie sunrise. “We can’t compel this spirit to tell us what we want to know. Cyrus told Cope that the killer wasn’t going to strike again, and all we can do at this point is believe him.”
Ronan shot Fitz an incredulous look. “Who are you, and what have you done with Captain Kevin Fitzgibbon? I thought wewere on the side of law and order. I thought we were the good guys.”
“Are you suggesting I should have browbeaten the spirit of a murder victim into telling me who killed him?” Cope asked, joining the group on the beach. “Not only is the idea unethical, but how the hell would I have done it? Should I have stalked Cyrus to the ends of the Earth? Begged? Pleaded? Cursed him? I know we haven’t worked together very much, Ronan, but I really thought that you knew me better than that by now.”
Ronan sighed. “I’m an asshole, Cope.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Cope snorted.
“All we can do is pack up and go home,” Jude said, relieved that Cope and Ronan’s argument hadn’t intensified. “We have to face the fact that some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.”
“Daddy!” Everly called from the direction of the motel. “I’ve got a new friend.”
Jude turned to see his niece holding the hand of an older woman, who was painfully thin. Her white hair was cut into a sleek bob, and she was dressed in a pair of designer jeans and a blue sweater that looked to be two or three sizes too big. He didn’t need Cope’s gift to know he was looking at Alexandria Longfellow.
Jude rushed to the older woman and gently led her to one of the nearby beach loungers.
“Thank you, Jude,” the woman said, taking a seat.
“How do you know my name?” Jude asked, taken aback.
“My dear little Everly told me who you all were. I am Alexandria Longfellow. I wanted to meet all of you before you headed backhome. This is the last chance I’ll ever have to find out who killed my son, and I thought that if I came here, maybe I could somehow convince you to tell me.”
“It’s not a matter of convincing,” Cope said. “Cyrus won’t tell me who killed him. I can’t force him to divulge that information.”
“Can’t you sense the answer from him?” Alexandria asked, a flash of anger crossing her face.
“I’ve tried, and I wasn’t able to read the information.” Cope wore a disappointed look on his face. Jude knew it was going to take his kindhearted husband a long while to recover from this perceived failure.
“What about you, Tennyson?” Alexandria turned to look at the psychic, who’d come out to join the group.
“I’ve tried to communicate with Cyrus as well, Mrs. Longfellow, and he won’t speak to me.” Ten shook his head. “Cope and I have been able to speak with the dead since we were teenagers, and this is the first time either of us has met a spirit who knew who killed them and refused to tell us.”
“What will you do now?” Alexandria looked between the three detectives.
“Checkout time is at eleven,” Fitzgibbon said. “I’m hoping we’ll be checked out and on the road by nine at the latest.”
Ronan nodded along. “I don’t like the idea of leaving a murder unsolved. I wanted to continue to work on the case, but Cope convinced me to leave it be. None of us are going to browbeat Cyrus into telling us what he knows about the night he died. If he’s satisfied with leaving his killer unpunished, then so am I.” Ronan grimaced, as if his words tasted bad.
“I know you wanted the case to be solved before you passed,” Cope said gently. “It’s just not going to be possible.”
“Yes, it is,” Everly said, with her eyes on Alexandria.
“I don’t understand,” Alexandria said.
“Everly has gifts too,” Ten said, moving to stand behind his daughter. “Her abilities are much stronger than mine and Cope’s.”
