that the truth? Cope had been only inches away from punching Marc’s lights out. “Before you go, do you have anything with you that comes from the house? I know it sounds like an odd question, but sometimes it helps to connect with a spirit when you have an item that belonged to them.”
Peg frowned as if she were thinking about Cope’s question. She grabbed her purse and began to rummage through it. “Here.” She pulled a brochure out of her purse and passed it Cope. “It’s all I have. We’re opening the house to the public for the Fourth of July Garden Walk.”
“Great. We’ll see if this helps.” Cope’s smile was a little too bright. He knew there was no way a brochure was going to help him connect to the spirit of Geneva Beecher.
Peg was out of her seat and holding out a hand to Cope. “Thank you both so much for everything.”
Jude showed Peg out.
“Meeting Peg answered a lot of questions.” Jude raced back to his seat. He started jotting additional notes on his legal pad.
Cope watched with a bemused smile on his face. When Jude’s pen paused, he made his move. “Do you have an idea of what’s going on here and how it all relates to Brooks?”
“I think I might have a good working theory.” Jude pressed a kiss to Cope’s cheek. “I need you to work some of your voodoo.”
“Do you now?” Cope felt lighter already. Jude’s lips had a way of making the worst day feel brighter.
“We need to speak with Geneva Beecher. Now.” Jude sounded very sure of their next step.
“I had a feeling you were going to say that. Do you think she’s the spirit locked in the tower?” Cope wasn’t sure she was, but with the plot twists in this case coming at light speed, he wasn’t sure of anything.
“No, I don’t. It’s just a gut feeling. I have nothing else to base my opinion on.”
“I’ll take your instincts any day of the week.” Cope returned Jude’s kiss. “How about we grab some lunch and I’ll try to reach Geneva after we eat?”
Jude’s stomach rumbled. “That works for me.”
It worked for Cope too. Before they’d spoken with Peg Waller, he’d felt like they didn’t have enough information to work this case, now he was feeling like new facts were coming at him from all sides. Cope hoped he and Jude could put the pieces together and finally find the truth.
26
Jude
Not only had Jude eaten every bit of his lunch, he also ate half of Cope’s. He’d tried to convince his moody man to eat, but all he could coax out of Cope was half of a roasted turkey BLT and a handful of chips.
To the Jude go the spoils.
He might have been snarky in his mind, but Jude was worried about Cope. It wasn’t like him to only pick at his lunch. Jude had a feeling his husband’s low mood wasn’t only due to how little he’d slept.
After learning about Geneva Beecher’s possible sexual identity and being able to match the haunting at The Beecher House to Peg’s lesbian affair, Jude could feel the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Unless he missed his guess, that damned house played a pivotal role in what happened to Brooks Stanhope. Usually, it was Cope who was able to assemble the clues and solve the case. Jude thought this role reversal might have something to do with his husband’s mood as well.
He was waiting in the conference room when Cope walked in. His posture was slumped and there were dark circles under his eyes that weren’t there when they got up this morning. “Last night wasn’t your only uneasy night, was it?” There was no way Cope would look this run down after only one bad night.
Cope slumped deeper into the chair Peg Waller had occupied that morning. “No. I’ve been having a rough time since that first ghost written message.”
“Why don’t we call it a day? You can go home and get some sleep and I’ll stop at the grocery store. How about shish-kabob and wild rice for dinner?” The last thing Jude wanted was Cope getting sick from lack of sleep and proper nutrition.
“We need to solve this case now, Jude.” Cope’s abrupt tone seemed to startle him. “I’m not sure I’ll have an easy night until this is over.”
Jude disagreed, but he wasn’t dumb enough to say those words out loud. He’d been watching his husband like a hawk