“Melanie Baker?” Cope asked, seeing the sign over her office door in his mind’s eye. The sign indicated Melanie practiced family law.
“Yes, that’s her. Melanie handled Angela’s divorce with care and compassion, so I called her office and made an appointment from my hotel room in Rome. I met with her that day.”
“You were going to divorce Oliver and keep Amelia?” Cope asked.
“Yes. I was going to move back in with my parents until I got back on my feet.”
“Did they know you were expecting their first grandchild?” Ronan asked.
Frankie shook her head. “No, I wanted to file for divorce first. I didn’t want the news of my daughter mangled by what an incredible asshole her father was.” As she spoke, Frankie began to fade from view.
“Did Oliver do this to you?” Jude asked, getting to his feet and reaching out for Frankie’s hand.
Frankie’s eyes widened, but she vanished before she could answer.
“Cope? Can you still hear her? Who killed Frankie?” Jude asked, slumping back into his seat.
“She’s gone, Jude. Frankie never answered your question.” Cope sank his head into his hands.
“Ten, what about you, can you reach Frankie?” Ronan asked. “Did Bertha run out of juice?”
“No, she’s gone, but Bertha’s here.” As Ten spoke, Bertha materialized in the seat that Frankie had vacated.
“Hi, boys,” Bertha said. “I didn’t run out of juice, like Handsome suggested. Frankie took off. If I had to describe it, I’d said it was like that cartoon mouse who zoomed around and left a cloud of dust behind him.”
“Speedy Gonzales,” Ronan said, with a grin.
“Carson and Cole loved those cartoons.” Bertha wore a wistful smile. “And before you ask, Frankie didn’t answer the question about who killed her. I couldn’t read it from her.”
“Neither could I,” Ten said.
“It was like her memory was coming back one piece at a time,” Cope said. “I had that happen last year with the daughter of a client.”
“Did the spirit get their memory back?” Jude asked.
“She did, but it took nearly six months. The daughter was drunk when she wrapped her car around a tree, so it took a while for her to overcome her passing and the fact that she had so much to live for that had all been lost over a poor decision.”
“Are you saying it could take Frankie months to remember who kidnapped and killed her?” Jude asked, sounding impatient.
“It’s possible,” Cope agreed.
“Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?” Ronan asked.
“Frankie has to recover her memories on her own.” It wasn’t the answer Cope wanted to give. He knew Ronan, Jude, and Fitz were anxious to solve this case. “All we can do right now is keep working to find the killer ourselves.”
“We need to add Melanie Baker to the list of people to interview. She might not agree to talk to us, but I’ll call tomorrow,” Jude said. He got out of his seat and headed for Bertha, who stood up and hugged him. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, honey.” Bertha wrapped her arms around Jude, whose eyes were glittering with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more to find you.”
Jude mumbled something unintelligible and hugged Bertha harder.
Ronan motioned for Ten to leave the room with him. Cope followed behind.
What Jude needed right now was a mother’s love to help get him through the trauma he faced when he’d been kidnapped and nearly murdered himself. If he were a betting man, Cope would guess Frankie needed the same thing. He hoped that once this case was over and the monster who killed Frankie was behind bars, he would be able to reunite mother and daughter in person.
Until then, Cope wasn’t going to rest until the killer was caught.
11
