Ghost Writer - Pandora Pine Page 0,82

made his stomach turn.

“Jesus, I was right.” Jude didn’t sound at all pleased about it.

“Crenshaw is related to Musgrave?” The two men being kin had been an interesting theory when Jude mentioned it, but Cope never believed it would turn out to be true.

“Musgrave was Crenshaw’s uncle.” Jude gave his head a shake. “Musgrave’s sister, Mary, was ten years younger than her brother. Crenshaw was born, oddly enough, in 1946, the same year Brooks wrote the letter.”

“Blood is thicker than water,” Cope mumbled, thankful his own father hadn’t forced his beliefs upon his son. Instead, Buford had gone in search of another heir apparent, finding him in Cope’s cousin.

Jude’s face morphed into an ugly frown. “I disagree, Cope. You can’t honestly tell me you would have gone along with Uncle Radcliffe.”

“The truth of the matter is I don’t know what I would have done in Crenshaw’s shoes. No one ever knows what they would do, until the situation smacks you in the face. Maybe Crenshaw wanted to grow up and be just like his beloved uncle. Or, maybe the boy had no choice.” The latter choice enraged Cope. Crenshaw could have grown up to be anything he wanted, but instead played toady to his sadistic uncle.

Jude stopped pacing. He reached down for Cope, pulling his husband into his arms. “I’m sorry for being a dick.”

Cope hugged him back. “You weren’t a dick. This case is just messing with my head.” He couldn’t describe it any better. Something he couldn’t put his finger on was making him feel less like himself every day.

“I’ll tell you what. Let’s go get Wolfie. We’ll have lunch and spend the afternoon together. I know you’re missing not spending as much time with him as you did when you were home full-time. The rest of the day will be for family. What do you say?”

“I’m in.” Cope knew exactly what Jude was doing. They weren’t going to talk about this case or Father Musgrave for the rest of the day. They’d get one afternoon in the sunshine together before getting back to business tomorrow.

36

Jude

If Jude were being honest with himself, today had been one of the best days of his life. Picking Wolf up early from daycare made everyone’s day. Jude thought he knew how badly Cope was suffering from being away from their son, but he hadn’t seen the real enormity of the situation until they’d walked into Ronan’s house to pick up the baby. Wolf screeched for his fathers and fast-crawled to meet them. He had a feeling when this case was over, he and Cope were going to have a long-overdue conversation about his time in the office versus his time at home with the baby.

Now, hours later, Wolf was safely tucked into bed and Cope was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. They both kept their word, neither of them mentioning the Brooks Stanhope case and Cope hadn’t been near his office all day.

Lying there in bed, waiting for Cope to join him, Jude couldn’t help thinking about the desperate letter Brooks had typed shortly before his death. It was obvious, at least to him, that it was Brooks’ job to type correspondence for Father Musgrave. In between his typing out church songs, he’d managed to make a final plea for his own life.

What happened to that letter? Who intercepted it? Where the fuck had it been all of these years? Jude had more questions than answers at the moment. He supposed the biggest question of all was, how did the story end? How did Brooks’ body end up lost in the woods for months, until a passing hunter discovered his remains?

“Stop!” Cope shouted from the bathroom door.

“What?” Jude shot him a guilty look in return.

“You know what! I could hear you thinking from the sink. We promised we would take the rest of the day off from this case.” Cope lifted an eyebrow as he slid into bed next to Jude.

“You know, I think having a day away from the letter and its implications was good for us. I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t stop to think what happened after Brooks wrote it.”

Cope rested his face against Jude’s chest. “I hate to admit it, but the same thought has been bouncing around my head for the last hour or so.”

“I don’t like the fact that Peg Waller never got back in touch with us today. I mean, I get that she’s a busy woman with a busy career, but I