“Is she gonna be okay?” Cope asked.
“She’ll be fine. When we hit the water, I’ll hold her up over my head.” Jude had a feeling the slide part would be fine, hitting the little water chute at the bottom could be a different story. Jude reached the platform at the top of the stairs in time to see Wolf hurtle himself down the tube. He could hear his son’s shrieks of joy echo through the slide. The attendant motioned Jude forward. He took a seat at the top of the slide and held Lizbet to his shoulder.
“You’re gonna want to keep her back to your front, so her head doesn’t bounce around on your shoulder,” the attendant advised.
“Got it,” Jude said, switching Lizbet around so that she sat on his legs. “Ready?”
“Meeeee!” Lizbet squealed.
Jude pushed off and they slid down the blue tube. Wolf had been right, colors whizzed by his eyes giving them a magical blurry quality. Lizbet screeched. From his position he couldn’t tell if she was scared or exhilarated. Seconds later, she started to laugh and didn’t stop the whole way down. They splashed into the water, with Lizbet laughing like a loon. Jude joined in with her. As he got himself and the baby out of the way of the next slider, he noticed his heart felt much lighter.
As Jude carried Lizbet back to their chairs, he noticed Cannonball looking a bit down in the mouth. He handed the baby to Cope and took the seat next to the stuntman. “You okay?”
Jude’s words startled Cannonball. “Yeah, I’m good. Heidi-” He stopped in his tracks, seeming to rethink what he was about to say.
“Is your wife okay?” Jude asked, already knowing the answer.
“That depends on your definition of okay. She’s pissed at me for being so selfish. I don’t think she loves me anymore.” Cannonball shook his head.
Jude debated if he should open his mouth at all, but knew Cannonball deserved to have all the facts at hand. “Heidi went Cope and Tennyson’s psychic group reading this morning. They didn’t read her during the event, but she stayed after everyoneleft. We went to check on our husbands after we left you and your manager. We were in time to hear Cope tell Heidi what was going to happen to her and CJ after your attempt at the falls. Did she tell you about that?”
“She tried to, but I wouldn’t listen. Finally, she grabbed my shoulders and shouted that she was going to end up dead by her own hand and CJ would end up in a psych ward.”
Jude nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Ten and Cope told us. It all starts with money troubles and devolves quickly from there with Heidi having no choice but to move in with her parents.”
“They’re not parents, they’re monsters. They never wanted anything to do with Heidi after she married me. They didn’t even come to visit when CJ was born. Heidi had to go through the birth by herself because I was in a hospital in Arizona after one of my stunts failed.” Cannonball looked as if he had more to say on the matter, but stayed silent.
“Heidi told us about what happened when your son was born. Do you think the stunt was worth missing your son’s birth over?” Jude knew he was straying into dangerous territory. Men didn’t like to be questioned about their motives by their wives, never mind from a complete stranger.
“No, I don’t think it was worth it. If it had been successful, that would have been another story. I’ve tried to apologize so many times over the years, but Heidi won’t hear me out. She says that if I’m really sorry then I’ll stop putting my life and our family at risk for some stupid stunt.”
“Do you think she has a point?” Jude asked, knowing how he would answer the question.
“I don’t know. We’re talking about my life’s work here.”
“It could be argued that building a family is your life’s work too.” Jude turned his attention to Cope and Lizbet, who screeched when one of the inground springs started to spray water on her. Coming off the waterslide again were Wolf and CJ, who were laughing together. “My mother died in childbirth. When I was thirteen, my father was murdered in front of me.”
“Jesus,” Cannonball muttered under his breath.
“I went to live with my grandfather on Navajo Nation. There were a lot of people who wanted to get close to me, but I wouldn’t allow that. I even pushed my grandfather away. I left home on my eighteenth birthday and drove to California, got my PI license and banged every willing guy I could find. I didn’t make friends, only had one night stands, because I didn’t want anyone to get close enough to hurt me when they left or died.” Jude paused, studying the daredevil, who wore a thoughtful look on his face. “After California I wandered east, worked for awhile in Colorado and Florida with the same results. I was a nomad, leaving jobs and towns when people started to matter to me.”
“How did you end up with Cope and two kids?” Cannonball asked.
“I’d landed a PI gig in Boston, working for a defense attorney who needed an investigator to help reverse incorrect verdicts and get his clients out of prison. I met Ten and Ronan a few months after that. We were working on this crazy case where a twin brother claimed he’d been wrongfully convicted of murder. Since they were identical twins, there was no way to tell their DNA apart, making it impossible to scientifically prove who actually killed the victim. That’s where Tennyson came into play.”
“I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
Jude snorted. “Ten was able to read the client and saw that he hadn’t killed the woman. Later he spoke to the spirit of the murdered girl, but she didn’t have a lot to offer, other than being able to identify the man who killed her, which did us no good because the brothers were identical.”
“Did you believe Tennyson?”
“Fuck no!” Jude laughed. “I thought he was a nutjob, Ronan too for believing the bullshit he was spouting. Since Tenknewthe convicted brother was innocent, Ronan insisted that we pay the other brother a visit. We were in for the surprise of our lives. It wasn’t that brother who killed the victim.”
“Who was it?”
“A triplet brother no one knew existed.”
“Seriously?” Cannonball’s mouth dropped open.
