“If someone were able to front the cost of the rescue, maybe the Coast Guard would be more willing to help,” Ten said, chewing on his lower lip.
Fitzgibbon nodded along as Ten spoke. “Well, then, I guess it’s a good idea I know a high ranking member of the Coast Guard.”
“You do?” Ten and Cope asked together.
“Yeah, a guy by the name of Milton Forsythe. I met him during my first year as a homicide detective. The Coast Guard had found a body floating in Boston Harbor near Georges Island. Since they were the ones who hauled the corpse on board their boat, the BPD had to work the case in connection with the Guard. Milt was the one who’d spotted the body. He was a petty officer then. Now he’s the commander of Coast Guard Station Chatham, on Cape Cod. I could put in a call to him and see if there’s anything he can do to help.”
“Do it,” Cope said. “I’m sorry that we didn’t come to you with this sooner and that my first thought was that Jace’s money might be able to save Cannonball’s life.”
“It’s okay, Cope.” Fitz set a hand on his shoulder. “The same idea would have occurred to me as well. We all know how accurate Everly’s visions are, so I’ll see what I can do.” Fitz grabbed his phone and walked away. Moments later, he left the ballroom, most likely looking for a quiet place to make the call.
“Are you angry with me?” Ten asked Ronan.
Ronan took a deep breath. “No, I’m not mad, but if you’d told me this morning, Fitz could have reached out to his friend sooner.
“You’re right.” Ten wrapped his arms around his husband and gave him a hug.
Jude grabbed Cope’s arm and pulled him away. “Did you see this too?”
Cope shook his head. “No, only Everly did, which makes sense, since she was the one who saw him die in the first place. The onlyreason I was able to see what happened to Cannonball is because she transmitted the vision to me. I should have know she’d be the one to see any changes in the timeline.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that.”
“I know.” Cope sighed. “I just hope that Fitzgibbon’s friend can help us out here, otherwise CJ is gonna grow up without his father.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Jude pulled Cope into his arms.
Holding on for dear life, Cope prayed Jude was right.
14
Jude
Jude was bored off his gourd. Cope’s meet and greet had been going on for nearly an hour and the people stopping by to see him and Tennyson were a snoozefest. It was the same old story, wanting to know if their mothers forgave them for a small slight, wanting to know where the family silver was hidden, hint, try the local pawn shop, and wanting to make sure loved ones were safe and pain-free on the other side. He’d been hoping for moredrama or at least an interesting case he and Ronan could help solve with their stellar detective work.
“This is boring. Can we go yet?” Ronan whined for the third time in the last ten minutes. “Where the hell is Fitzgibbon anyway. It figures he’d leave us here to deal with these dull Canadians. They’re just too nice.”
“That’s because you’re an asshole,” Jude shot back.
Ronan tiled his head to the side, as if he was thinking about Jude’s insult. “Oh, yeah. Good point, but that doesn’t answer the question about Fitz.”
“He hasn’t been back in the ballroom since he left to contact that guy he knows in the Coast Guard. Morris, Matthew, or something?”
“Milton,” Ronan said. “What do you think is taking so long?”
“Fitz said he’s the commander of the Chatham station. Maybe they’re out on a rescue mission.” There could be a hundred reasons why Fitz hadn’t come back yet, with Aurora at the top of the list. If his daughter wanted some time to play or finally talked Fitz into going to the Hershey store down the street, that could explain his extended absence.
“Yeah, or out for lunch.” Ronan’s stomach rumbled as if on cue. “I’m starving. Let’s grab some food.”
“I know the people here have been as sweet as maple syrup, but I’m not leaving Cope alone with them. It would be just my luck that we’d leave and the shit would hit the fan. We’ve only got an hour or so left. I’ll hold down the fort if you want to run out the café downstairs or to the vending machines.”
Ronan frowned. “No, I’ll stay and starve to death quietly.”
“That will be the day whenyou’requiet about anything.” Jude rolled his eyes. He had more to say on the matter when the doors to the ballroom burst open. Cannonball and his entourage walked into the room. One of his managers was carrying a megaphone, which he handed to the daredevil. “Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and psychos of all ages.” He called through the device. “I’m Cannonball Jackson. You might have heard about my stunt. Tomorrow at one, I’m going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Now, it seems thatsomeamong your ranks think that I’m a goner.” Cannonball’s gaze landed on Cope and Tennyson. “If you can believe it, one of you even used a young child as a way to get me to put a stop to this stunt. What say all of you?” Cannonball threw his arms wide and nearly fell over. His manager grabbed him before he wiped out. “According to what I’ve read on the hotel’s website, the people in this room are the top talents in your entire profession. Let’s hear it, am I going to die or survive tomorrow.”
“Christ, he sounds drunk,” Ronan said.
“Yeah, he does,” Jude agreed. “Do we let him go on with this charade or do we step in to stop his dumb ass?”
