“I’m sticking by your side in case of trouble. Ronan’s coming along and Fitz will be here too. People have caught wind about your prediction for Cannonball and there might be some folks who take exception to your opinion.”
“I appreciate it, Jude.” To be honest, Cope had expected repercussions from his Cannonball prophecy to have come for him long before now. The same went for Everly and Ten. Ronan had done a good job of keeping his daughter safely out of the line of fire, but Ten was a different story, he was going to be front and center for the next two hours speaking with people, fan or foe.
Cope entered the ballroom to see a flurry of activity. Psychics were busy setting up their booths and getting their headshots ready to sign. Cope saw a few who were deep in meditation, and wished he was doing the same thing. He hadn’t had any real timeto himself over the last few days and could use a few moments of Zen.
When Cope arrived at their shared booth, Ten was already there. He’d set up the banner with their names and West Side Magick’s website as well as the tablecloth that covered the ugly fold away table. “Thanks for getting all of this done.”
“It was Ronan. He needed to burn off his nervous energy. I told him nothing had changed with Cannonball and he’s been in overdrive ever since.” Ten pointed to the opposite side of the room.
Cope followed Ten’s direction. He saw Ronan and Fitz helping two women set up their free-standing sign. Several other women were standing by, presumably wanting their help as well. “They’ve gathered quite the following.”
Ten laughed. “My husband is full of charm and is always willing to pitch in until he’s got to wash the dishes or fold laundry. Then he turns into a man-child.”
“Preach, brother.” Cope rolled his eyes at Jude.
“Well, if you’re going to besmirch my name in front of me, I’ll go hang out with my friends and their harem of lady psychics.” Sticking his tongue out at Cope, Jude hurried away.
“I’m glad he’s gone,” Ten said softly.
It wasn’t like Tennyson to have a mean word to say about anyone. “Why? What’s up?”
“Everly had another vision this morning. I wanted to tell you about it before we tell the others.”
“Wait, you didn’t even tell Ronan?” Cope asked. Not telling Ronan something this important wasn’t like Tennyson either.
“No.” Ten looked around, as if he were expecting someone to be eavesdropping. “Everly saw a way for Cannonball to survive the fall.”
“Holy shit! She did? How did he make it through alive?” Cope felt his heart begin to pound. He reached out to Cannonball again and saw the same old vision of him being stuck under the falls and drowning before help could get to him.
“The United States Coast Guard, or as Everly put it, hunky men in orange onesies.” Ten shook his head. “It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about.”
Cope snorted. He could picture the Coast Guard rescue swimmers in their bright wet suits. “How did she see the swimmers helping?”
“We already know from Cannonball that the tourist boats won’t be running in the hour before or after the stunt. All we’d need to do is get in touch with Coast Guard Station Niagara and see if we could get them to be standing by.”
“Wow, that’s an awfully big ask. Not to mention how much it would cost. I mean search and rescue charged Rooster’s widow thousands of dollars for the work they did to find her husband’s body. We know they’re going to do the same thing with Heidi.” How the hell would they even reach out to the Guard? Would they even take him seriously?
“Yeah,” Ten agreed. “Cannonball would be alive though. People might be willing to donate to a GoFundMe page if he goes public with the costs incurred.”
“What about Jace?” Cope asked. “I’d hate to even ask Fitz about him being willing to put up the money for something like this.”
“Jace would do it though. He’s a good man and would want to help.”
“Jace would want to help with what?” Fitzgibbon asked from behind Cope and Tennyson.
“Fuck me blue,” Ten muttered under his breath. By the time he turned to address Fitz, Ronan and Jude had joined them. “Okay, don’t be mad at me, but Everly had another vision about Cannonball.”
“Dammit, Ten. I hate that she’s having to see this moron die over and over again. What did she see? More importantly, why did you both keep it from me?”
Ten sighed. He motioned the detectives closer. “She didn’t see him die. Everly saw a way for him to live.”
“What?” Ronan’s eyes widened. “Now I really don’t understand why neither of you told us.”
“It involves the U.S. Coast Guard. Everly saw rescue swimmers with their bright orange wet suits in the water. They were able to get Cannonball out of the barrel in time to save him,” Ten explained. “The reason we didn’t tell you is that I wanted to figure out how feasible the idea was first, without getting anyone’s hopes up. I don’t even know how to get in touch with them in the first place.”
“Or if they’d even believe us, in the second place,” Cope added.
“Where does Jace come into this?” Fitz asked, wearing a skeptical look on his face.
