Sofia gasped. She looked as if she was going to lose complete control of her emotions, but a steady look from Dante seemed to give her strength. “What else? I can see in your eyes there’s more.”
Cope felt his stomach twist. If there was anything left in it, he would have been sick again. “Frankie was terrified. I could see it in her eyes. I could hear her muffled screams but she couldn’t speak to me.”
“Why not?” Sofia’s devastated look turned to panic.
“I’m not sure. It could be that she was too scared to realize she wasn’t connected to her physical body anymore.” Cope took a breath. He’d give anything not to reveal the other reason Frankie might not have been able to communicate. “It’s also possible that she’s stuck in that moment in her afterlife.”
“Stuck?” Sofia asked, her eyes pleading with Cope for an explanation.
“Sort of like a record skipping over the same lyrics or like that movieGroundhog Day, where the main character relived the same day over and over again.”
“Oh, sweet, Jesus,” Sofia said, on a sob. “Is there any way you can communicate with her so that she stops living in that one horrible moment?”
“I hope so.” Cope rifled a hand through his hair. “Do you have anything that belonged to your daughter? Something special that she had a strong connection with?”
“I do.” Sofia left the room. Cope her climb the stairs.
“I can’t tell you boys how much I appreciate you being here today,” Dante said. “I was afraid the Salem Police wouldn’t pay a whole lot of attention to Frankie’s case since it was so old and there’s not a lot of evidence to go by.”
“I knew your daughter and son-in-law,” Jude began. “One of our cats got very sick, on a Saturday, of course. We called Oliver’s vet clinic and were told to bring Sabrina right in. It was Cope and I, along with our son, Wolf, who was two at the time. He was so upset that the cat was sick. She slept on his bed and they were the best of friends.” Jude grinned at Cope. “Frankie was with Oliver at the clinic that day and comforted our son. It turned out the cat needed some antibiotics, but I never forgot the care Oliver provided or the way Frankie helped our son.”
“That’s Frankie and Oliver in a nutshell.” Dante offered a wistful smile. “When Frankie went missing, the cops assumed Oliver had done something to her. When we backed him up, they thought we couldn’t see the forest for the trees. We knew Frankie wouldn’t have walked away from her life and we knew Oliver wouldn’t have done anything to harm her.”
“Here we go.” Sofia walked into the room carrying a well-loved stuffed animal. It was so worn down that Cope couldn’t tell what kind of an animal it had been when it was new. The fur was yellow and matted and one eyeball was bigger than the other. “This is Snowball, Frankie’s favorite stuffed cat. She needed to have her tonsils out when she was four-years-old. We knew how hard the surgery would be for her and we wanted to make it easier for her to handle. Dante bought the toy and I left it on Frankie’s bed before we left for the hospital, so it would be waiting for her when she got home. From that day on, Snowball went everywhere with Frankie. On vacations, sleepovers, follow-up visits to the doctor. The only time she left it behind was when she married Oliver. She left him sitting on her bed.”
“Do you mind if I take Snowball with me?” Cope asked. “I promise I’ll get her back to you as soon as possible.”
“Sure,” Sofia agreed.
Cope looked around the room and saw how exhausted everyone looked. He was about to give Jude the code word to wrap up the interview, when Fitzgibbon started to speak.
“I’ve got one last question for you.” Fitz took a deep breath. “Did either of you know Frankie was pregnant when she disappeared?”
“What?” Sofia shrieked. “Pregnant?” She turned to Dante. “Did you know?”
Dante shook his head. “I knew she and Oliver were trying. I didn’t want to badger her about how things were going. Frankie would have told us, Sofia. She would have told Ollie and then us.”
“Do you know how far along?” Sofia asked.
“She was about eight weeks,” Cope said. “When we were at the morgue, I heard the name Amelia.”
“That’s my mother’s name,” Dante said, his eyes filling with unshed tears.
“Can we see her?” Sofia reached for Dante’s arm. “Amelia? Can we see our granddaughter?”
“I’ll call the medical examiner and set something up for the two of you.” Fitzgibbon’s eyes had gone glossy. He stood up and offered Dante his hand. “We’ll be in touch when we have furtherinformation to share about the case, or if Cope is able to connect with Frankie.”
“Do you think the pregnancy is what put Frankie in danger?” Dante swiped at the tears coursing down his face.
“It’s a possibility.” Fitz turned to Ronan and Jude, who both stood. Fitz handed Dante one of his business cards. If there’s anything else you think we need to know, don’t hesitate to call, day or night.”
The couple nodded.
“There is one last thing,” Sofia said. “Vince Holbrook had a thriving vet practice in Salem. When Ollie opened his office, Vince’s clients started transferring their pets to Oliver. Within six months of his clinic opening, Vince was out of business. He came to the clinic one day and threatened to get Oliver where it would hurt the most. Dante and I told the police about Vince when Frankie went missing, but they dismissed us.”
“I promise we’ll look into Vince.” Ronan held out his hand for Sofia, who stood and hugged him instead.
“Thank you for listening to us,” Dante said, leading Fitzgibbon to the door. “We’ve waited four years to find out what happened to our darling girl. I feel like you’ll be able to get justice for Frankie and her daughter.”
