anything else in the room.
“This is powerful magick.” Aurora’s eyes were on Cope. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“I was up half the night trying to figure this out. How to free the lost souls trapped in that house and undo the magick Musgrave forced on those people. We both know if there was any other way to do it, that’s the path we would take. Black magick is the only way.”
“You’re right. It is the only way.” Aurora’s deep blue-eyed eyes turned wistful. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Jude studied his husband as he thought Aurora’s suggestion over. Judging by the look on both of their faces, this magick was some heavy-duty shit. It was nice that Aurora was offering to be part of it with them.
“Jude and I will handle Musgrave but thank you for asking.” Cope’s eyes had turned glassy. “Do you ever ask yourself why this keeps happening to us? It seems lately that every case is soul-crushing. It’s no longer grandmothers who wanted to tell their granddaughter where their pearls were hidden, or people looking to say a final goodbye to their loved ones. It’s all gotten so complicated. So hard.”
Aurora was out of her seat and hugging Cope to within an inch of his life. “It’s hard because you can handle it. You are stronger than you know.” Aurora turned to Jude. “Both of you are stronger than you know, especially together. You are going to get through this and then you’ll be on to brighter days ahead.”
“Thank you, Aurora.” Cope pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, feeling sorry for myself like this, when there have been souls in agony, trapped in that house for so many years.”
“I have a feeling the reason you’re struggling so much is because this case hit so close to home for you. Your biggest problem, Copeland Forbes, is that you care too much. If you were a little more like your husband with his businesslike approach, these cases wouldn’t make you suffer so hard.”
Jude wrapped his arm tightly around his husband. “I like him just the way he is, thank you. Cope’s the good cop and I’m the bad cop.” Jude knew full well Cope was about to play the role of bad cop with Father Musgrave.
“Call me when you need me. Both of you.” Aurora hugged them both and walked them out to the front of the store.
Jude noticed Cope taking the file folder while Aurora hugged him. Whatever was inside seemingly had the power to exorcise evil. Jude prayed it would work.
35
Copeland
The ride back to the house was mostly silent. Every fiber of Cope’s being wanted to flip open the folder and dive into its contents. He knew this was neither the time nor the place. Precautions needed to be taken with this kind of dark magick. It had the tendency to contaminate everything it touched. The last thing Cope wanted was for the spell to worm its way into their home.
“Are you okay?” Jude asked.
“I will be once this is over. I can’t remember a case ever making me feel worn to the bone mentally and physically. All I want to do is crawl into bed and stay there for the next month. It’s not like me at all, so I can’t help but wonder if maybe Musgrave is starting to affect me too.”
“I don’t understand. We were only in the Beecher house for a little while. How on earth could he be contaminating you?”
“In the most simple terms, it’s magick by association. In order for Brooks to appear to us, he’s bending the spell tying him to The Beecher House. Since Musgrave is the one who worked the spell in the first place a little bit of him bleeds through with Brooks. I have a feeling it’s the reason I’ve been feeling so out of sorts.”
“I want my old husband back as soon as possible. I miss him being the sunshine to my usual shadow. I’m not a fan of having to carry you, Cope. If this goes on for much longer, I’ll have to start breaking out the knock-knock jokes.” Jude grinned at his husband.
“Oh, no!” Cope said dramatically, “anything but that.” Jude always knew how to make him laugh.
“What’s the plan?” Jude parked the car a couple of spaces ahead of their house.
“I’m going to get myself as familiar with the spell as I can and then we’ll get