Had Cope uncovered a clue that would help them solve Frankie’s murder? Or was this case too hard for his husband to work?
Jude hoped it was the former and not the latter.
6
Cope
Instead of heading back to the office, Fitzgibbon brought everyone home. He and Ronan were going to order pizza and would bring dinner to Cope and Jude’s house. Lizbet and Wolf had come running out of Ronan’s house when the detectives got out of the car. Everly and Aurora were right behind them.
Cope scooped up his son, while Jude held his arms out for Lizbet. She smacked a kiss to his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck, before tucking her head under his chin. Lizbet had done that very thing for the last few months when Jude had a rough day. She seemed to intuitively know when Jude needed a little pick me up.
When they got inside the house, Jude and Lizbet sat on the couch, while Cope and Wolf went into the kitchen. “How was school?”
“Kenny P. threw up during our math test. He puked so hard that he blasted half-chewed chicken nugs on the kids sitting in front of him.” Wolf made puking noises. “The math test was canceled!”
Cope snorted and started to laugh. He’d had a rough day, but for whatever reason the idea of barfed up chicken nuggets getting the kids out of a math test was hilarious. Once Cope got rolling he couldn’t stop.
Jude and Lizbet walked into the kitchen. Lizbet laughed along with Cope and Wolf.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Barfed…nugs!” Cope managed, before laughing again.
“Someone blew chunks at school?” Jude asked, taking a seat at the table.
“Yup!” Wolf giggled. “Did anything funny happen at your work today?” His eyes moved back and forth between Jude and Cope.
“Nope,” Cope said, finally getting himself under control. “It was a boring day. I’m sure you had much more fun at school.” Before Cope could continue, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Wolf shouted, taking off like a cork out of a bottle. “Hi, Uncle Ronan! Kenny P. barfed in school today!”
“So I heard! I’m glad you, Everly, and Aurora weren’t in the splash zone.” Ronan carried the pizza boxes toward the kitchen. “Ten’s right behind me with Ezra. He’s got the salad.”
“Ugh! Salad!” Wolf made barf noises and pretended to faint.
“I sure hope Lizbet isn’t a drama queen. We’ve got all we can take from Wolf.” Cope went to the cabinets and pulled out paper plates for the food. As he was getting juice boxes, he heard Fitz, Ten and the kids walk in.
Fifteen minutes later, the kids were settled in the living room with a movie and pizza, which left the adults to talk about their day without fear of being overheard.
“We didn’t get much of a chance to debrief, Cope,” Fitz said before taking a bite of his pizza.
Cope knew this was coming, not thanks to his gift, but because he knew Fitz didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. “I didn’t get a whole lot that you’ll find helpful.”
“Let us be the judge of that.” Jude gave his husband’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Okay, well, the neighbors on the lawn with signs are out for Oliver’s blood. It’s a good thing you’ve stationed officers at the house. Angie was equal parts anguished and angry, which makes sense, she and Frankie had been best friends since middle school. Reagan Pryce had his eye on the prize. All he was concerned with was keeping Oliver out of jail and the legal fees rolling in. Oliver had been nervous when we showed up. When you started asking questions about the night Frankie disappeared, he calmed down a bit, but that nervousness turned to stone cold fear when you asked if his wife had ever been pregnant.”
“What kind of fear?” Ronan asked. “Was he afraid for himself? For someone else?”
Cope shook his head. “I’m not sure. It felt more like he was afraid that you knew something he didn’t.”
“Okay, that’s interesting,” Fitz said, reaching for the salad bowl. “When Pryce grabbed Oliver and practically dragged him out of the room, that made me think he had no idea there had been a baby. Attorney’s don’t like surprises. Did Oliver have any idea his wife was pregnant?”
“I couldn’t sense anything but his fear. It reminded me of those hot wings we had a few weeks back. The heat was so strong that I couldn’t taste anything else. All rational thought fled from Oliver’s mind and fear took over when Pryce took him away from us.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for this tragedy to get any worse.” Ten wore a sad look. “Frankie must have been so afraid for her child when she realized she was going to die.”
“She didn’t know it was coming,” Cope said, not sure he was ready for this part of the conversation.
