Ghost Writer - Pandora Pine Page 0,28

side of the bed.” Ronan patted his shoulder. “Where’s sleeping beauty?”

“I’m right here.” Jude looked like he could have used another ten hours in bed. His hair was sticking up all over the place and there were dark circles under his eyes. “Sounds like Queen E is back to her usual self.”

“Fingers crossed.” Ten headed into the room. “Good morning, my lovelies.”

“Get yourselves together and meet us downstairs. We’ll get breakfast started. Instead of meeting in the office, we’ll do it right here.” Ronan followed Ten into Everly’s room.

“You look like shit.” Jude grinned.

“Take a look at yourself in the mirror, we’re a matched set.” Neither one of them were going to win any beauty prizes this morning.

“What are we going to do if none of them have an answer for us?” Jude’s grin faded into a frown.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Cope had been wondering that exact thing. “We’ll just take this one step at a time.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I can stand another night in that bed.” Jude’s hands massaged his lower back.

“Please, you slept like a hibernating bear.” Cope had been awake to witness it.

Jude pulled Cope into his arms. “Let’s grab a shower and let the rest of the day happen.”

If only it were that easy.

Half an hour later, Jude and Cope walked into Ten and Ronan’s kitchen. As advertised, everyone was there. Carson, Cole, Fitzgibbon, Bertha Craig, and, last but not least, Dempsey McMillian, just the man Cope wanted to see.

“Good morning, everyone.” Jude pulled out a chair for Cope before taking the one next to him.

“Tennyson and Ronan filled us in on what happened last night,” Dempsey began,” do you have the typed pages?”

“Yeah, they’re right here.” Cope reached into his back pocket and pulled out the folded pages. He was happy to hand them over. He couldn’t really explain it, but they were giving him an uneasy feeling. It was the same uneasy feeling he couldn’t seem to shake yesterday.

Dempsey didn’t look like he wanted anything to do with the pages. Using a couple of plastic forks on the table, he used them to separate and open the pages. “This makes no sense.”

“The hymn? Or something else you’re picking up with your gift?” Fitzgibbon was standing behind Dempsey and reading over his shoulder.

“I’m not getting anything. There’s no psychic residue on these pages.” Dempsey looked up at Cope with shock in his icy blue eyes.

“That’s exactly what I felt last night. I was hoping you would be able to pick up something else.” Cope’s spirits sunk lower. If Dempsey wasn’t able to tell them what the hell was going on, what was the next step? They couldn’t exactly live with Tennyson and Ronan while this spirit ran roughshod over their home. “You’re awfully quiet, Bertha. That’s not like you at all.”

Cope had noticed Bertha the minute he had walked into the kitchen. She was standing apart from the rest of her family and had an unreadable look on her face. To say those behaviors weren’t like her at all was the understatement of the century.

“I don’t know how to say this.” Bertha walked across the kitchen, stopping next to Jude’s chair. She set a hand on his shoulder.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Jude grinned up at the spirit he couldn’t see.

“I couldn’t get to you last night.” Unshed tears sparkled in Bertha’s blue eyes.

“What do you mean you couldn’t get to me?” Cope met Jude’s alarmed look with one of his own.

“You know how I spend the night visiting all of my grandbabies.” Even now, Bertha’s eyes were glued to Everly and Wolf.

Cope loved the way Bertha included Wolf as one of her own. “We know you make the rounds.”

“Well, last night, I couldn’t get to you. I knew where to find you and what room you were in, but I couldn’t get there. I was able to see you later on when you were staying here with Ten and Ronan. For whatever reason, and I can’t imagine it’s a good one, I couldn’t help you last night.” Bertha looked beside herself, as if it were killing her all over again to not have been able to be there when Cope needed her the most.

Quickly filling in Ronan, Jude, and Fitzgibbon on what Bertha had been saying, Cope’s eyes moved around the room to the other three psychics. “What about you? Do any of you have any idea what’s going on here?”

“When you explained it last night, the spirit did remind me a