Ghostly Despair (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 10)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Reclaimed wood.”

  “That’s specific.”

  “I’ve always liked reclaimed wood,” Harper explained. “I want a nice table with prairie benches on two sides and chairs on either end. Although, now it occurs to me that you might not like that.”

  “I have no problem with that.” Jared stared at the table on the catalog page. “That’s really cool. I think we would have a good time with that table.”

  “See, I think you’re anticipating cooking up something more than food on that table,” Harper teased. “I’m a good girl. I don’t do things like that. The kitchen table is for eating.”

  “Did I say otherwise?”

  “No, but I know how your mind works.”

  “And I know how your mind works.” Jared poked her side as she squealed and squirmed, rolling her to her back so he could mock wrestle her to the mattress. “How is your mind working tonight?”

  “I don’t know,” Harper teased. “You’re going to have to experiment to find out.”

  “I’m always up for experimenting.”

  “You are good that way.”

  “Let’s see what I can come up with, shall we?”

  “That’s what I was hoping for.”

  Harper squealed again when Jared tickled her, ignoring the catalog that fluttered off the bed and fell to the floor. She laughed so hard that she was gasping for breath when Jared tickled her, although the sound changed to a satisfied groan when he added a kiss to the mix.

  “I love you so much,” he whispered as the game turned fervent. “I mean it. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Always. Now ... keep experimenting. I’m nowhere near done with you tonight.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Seven

  “How were things last night?” Mel looked up from his computer the next morning when he heard Jared entering the office they shared. He’d been worried about his partner the entire night, and worry made him antsy.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Jared said dryly.

  “Good morning. How did things go last night? How was Harper?”

  Jared let loose a sigh as he poured himself a mug of coffee from the communal pot before shuffling to his desk and sinking into the rolling chair. “It was okay. I mean ... it was a normal night with a few conversations about Quinn. Shawn obviously wanted to hear the story, so Harper and Zander told it from the beginning for his benefit. Then we ordered pizza and went to bed.”

  Mel’s face was blank. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “That is so not what I was expecting.”

  “Yeah, it’s not what I was expecting either,” Jared admitted, wrinkling his nose when he sipped the coffee. “Ugh. Sometimes less is more, man. This is so strong it’s liable to knock me over.”

  “Suck it up.” Mel was blasé. “It will put hair on your chest. According to Zander, men don’t want hair on their chests these days for some reason, but real men have hair on their chests.”

  “That’s good to know.” Jared smiled as he flicked his attention to his inbox. “Did we get anything good overnight?”

  “As a matter of fact, we did.” Mel turned serious. “Henrietta Fisher stopped by this morning. She was out by County Line Road two days ago. She didn’t think much of it when she heard the driver only had minor injuries, but she saw a man help Vicky Thompson from her vehicle.

  “After she heard about Ms. Thompson’s death, she thought she should come in and describe what she saw,” he continued. “It wasn’t much of a description, but I thought you might find it interesting.”

  Despite himself, Jared was intrigued. “Lay it on me.”

  Mel picked up a sheet of paper and read aloud. “Five-foot-eleven. Blond hair shot through with brown streaks. Jeans. Flannel shirt. Beard. Black sedan that looks like a rental car.”

  Jared’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you serious?”

  “I am.”

  “But ... no way.”

  “Yes, way.” Mel was firm as he nodded. “Henrietta described Quinn Jackson to a tee. I don’t think we can ignore that fact.”

  “That means we have to question him again.” Jared wasn’t sure how he felt about the turn of events. He didn’t trust Quinn. Being around the man was a true test of his patience. “I guess we have no choice.”

  “We definitely don’t,” Mel agreed. “The coroner confirmed cyanide in Vicky’s system. She was murdered. Quinn just happened to be at the hospital that night, which is a bit too convenient for me. We have no choice but to question him.”

  “Then I guess we should get on it.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “OH, MY GAWD!”

  Molly Parker, her hair dyed a bright shade of orange that was a holdover from Halloween, practically attacked Harper when the woman walked through the front door of GHI shortly after breakfast.

  “You have to tell me absolutely everything,” Molly enthused as she helped Harper remove her coat. “I mean ... he was supposed to be dead. How come he’s not dead? How was your reunion? Was it like something straight out of a movie?”

  “Yes, it was,” Zander answered before Harper could find her voice. He trailed behind her, his countenance pouty, and it was clear to anyone who knew him that he was being anything other than sweet and supportive. “It was straight out of a horror movie.”

  Molly scalded Zander with a quelling look. Technically, Zander was her boss. She wasn’t much for being bossed around, though, so she essentially did whatever she wanted. That wasn’t about to change today, especially given the gossip she was convinced would be flying fast and furious within seconds. “You’re such a joy.”

  “I am a joy,” Zander countered, pushing past her and fixing his full attention on the fourth member of their ghost-hunting group, Eric Tyler. “Did you look over the information I sent you last night?”

  “What information did you send him?” Harper asked, curious. “You didn’t tell me you were sending Eric information.”

  “That’s because our afternoon was derailed yesterday,” Zander shot back. “Once Quinn returned to our lives, you forgot about work. As for what I sent Eric, it was simply video footage and EMF readings that we took near the scarecrow yesterday. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Oh.” Harper furrowed her brow. “Did you find anything?”

  “Actually, I found a few interesting readings in the data Zander supplied,” Eric replied. “For starters, the ectoplasm reading was through the roof. That was on top of the ... .”

  He didn’t get a chance to finish what he was about to say because Molly planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “We’re not done talking about Quinn yet. We can get to the boring ectoplasm stuff later.”

  After a tumultuous start, Eric and Molly started dating on the sly a few months before. The relationship hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing, but the duo showed no signs of splitting. They had strong chemistry ... and that included fighting.

  “Well, excuse me for living,” Eric drawled.

  “You’re excused,” Molly said sweetly. “Now it’s time to focus on Harper, though. I want to know what she has to say. We’ll talk about your ectoplasm later.”

  “Fine, darling,” Eric snapped. “We’ll do what you want to do. Like always.”

  “That’s exactly what I want to hear.” Molly beamed as she turned her full attention back to Harper. “I want to hear everything. How was the reunion? Did you cry? Did he cry? Where has he been? I heard he had amnesia? That is just so ... Hollywood.”

  “That’s not necessarily a good thing,” Zander grumbled, earning an appreciative look from Eric. It was clear they were on the same side.

  “I don’t know how much there is to tell you,” Harper hedged. “It sounds to me as if you’ve heard the entire story already. How did you hear it, by the way?”

  “Everyone in town is talking about it,” Molly answered, her patience clearly wearing thin. “That’s all anybody can tal
k about. It’s not every day that someone comes back from the dead, though, so that’s to be expected.”

  “I guess.” Harper dropped her purse on her desk and shrugged. “Where do you want me to start?”

  “From the beginning.”

  “Okay, but I don’t think it’s going to be as grand a story as you believe.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  QUINN DIDN’T SEEM surprised to find Mel and Jared waiting for him in the hotel lobby when he made his way downstairs for breakfast. In fact, he’d been expecting them, so it was more a confirmation than anything else.

  “Have you guys eaten?” He pointed toward the dining room. “They have a great breakfast buffet.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Mel said. “We’ll get breakfast and then we have a few more questions.”

  “I figured you would.”

  Quinn picked a table in the corner so the three men could have privacy, and Jared was the first to join him after filling his plate. In truth, Jared wasn’t overly hungry. He wanted to appear relaxed, though, and the best way he knew to do that was to eat.

  “The food is good,” Jared noted as he cut a sausage link. “I didn’t realize the food here was this great. I’ll have to keep that in mind over the winter.”

  “Yeah, Harper isn’t much of a cook,” Quinn noted. “She has other attributes, though, so the lack of cooking skills isn’t terrible.”

  Quinn’s offhand comment set Jared’s teeth on edge. “Zander usually cooks. However, we were running late this morning and I had to skip breakfast.”

  “You guys live with Zander?”

  “It’s ... complicated.” Jared mashed his eggs and hash browns together, mostly so he had something to do with his hands besides wrapping them around Quinn’s neck. “Our living situation is transitional until the second week of December.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning that Harper and Zander still technically live together, although Shawn and I spend every night over there. Once Harper and I move — we’re still waiting for painters and new carpet — then Shawn and Zander will own the old house and Harper and I will own the new.”

  “I see.” Quinn’s reaction was hard to read. He was good at shuttering his emotions. “How long have you been seeing each other?”

  “Since the spring.”

  “That’s not very long.”

  “It was long enough to convince both of us we want to be together forever,” Jared argued. “We’re happy. Harper is thrilled to have a place of her own to decorate.”

  “See, when I was here before, Harper did have her own place,” Quinn pointed out. “It was a small apartment, but it was her own space. Zander and Harper didn’t live together back then.”

  Jared searched his memory. Now that Quinn mentioned it, he remembered Zander explaining that he was worried about his best friend after Quinn’s purported death. She spent all her time in the woods looking for a ghost that didn’t exist, to the point where she lost weight and Zander demanded the new living arrangements so he could keep an eye on her.

  “I believe they bought the house together several months after your accident,” Jared explained. “They knew they wouldn’t stay together forever, but they actually enjoy being on top of one another.”

  “Was it difficult for you to convince Harper to move away from Zander?”

  “No. I actually talked to Zander first to make sure he was okay with it. When the house became available, it seemed too good to pass up. It’s got a nice river view and is directly across the road from Zander. That means Harper and Zander can still spend an exorbitant amount of time together, but Shawn and I can still have our private space. It’s the perfect situation.”

  “I’m glad things are working out well for Harper,” Quinn said, holding up his hands when Jared pinned him with a suspicious look. “No, really, I am. I know you don’t believe that because ... well, if I were in your position, I wouldn’t believe me either. I’m not here to hurt her, though.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Because I had to see her. I can’t blindly move forward now that I actually remember my past. I thought I owed it to her to explain what happened now that I understood things myself. That only seemed fair.”

  Jared wanted to argue the point, but he knew Quinn wasn’t wrong. Nothing the man had said wasn’t truthful. It would’ve been mean to punish Harper and keep her from the truth. Only a truly terrible person would do anything of the sort.

  “I’m sorry.” Jared held up his hands in capitulation. “I don’t mean to jump all over you. This situation is ... hard. I’ve never been through anything like this before, so I can’t stop my hackles from jumping all over the place.”

  “And I don’t blame you.” Quinn’s eyes reflected sincerity. “I was put off by your attitude yesterday, until I spent the evening in my hotel room thinking about things from your point of view. I wouldn’t be happy if I were you either. In fact, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from questioning the former boyfriend’s motivations.

  “With that in mind, here are mine,” he continued. “I don’t want to hurt Harper. I don’t want to steal her from you. I understand she’s built a life and I’m not part of it. If you want to know if I still have feelings for her, the answer is yes. But ... I don’t know if those feelings are real or if they simply popped up because I suddenly remembered my past. They could completely disappear once I’ve settled into my new reality.”

  “I guess I never considered that,” Jared mused, rubbing his chin. “Once the memories came back, you were probably flooded with emotions at the same time. That had to be difficult.”

  “It was. It was terrifying, and not just because of Harper. You should know, the first thing I did was track down my mother. It sounds trite, but I wanted my mommy. She was already gone, though.”

  Jared cleared his throat to buy himself a moment. “That must have been terrible for you.”

  “It was worse for her. She died thinking she was going to see me on the other side, that I was already dead, and I’m still here. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

  “I bet.”

  “After I dealt with my family, then my mind turned to Harper,” Quinn explained. “It wasn’t that I didn’t think of her before. I don’t want to make it sound as if she was the last person on my mind. That’s not fair or true.

  “It was weird, though,” he continued. “I picked up the phone to call, but that didn’t seem right. Can you imagine how she would’ve reacted if a dead guy called her? I knew I had to see her in person. However anxious I was, though, my family came first.”

  “I don’t blame you for that,” Jared said. “In your particular position, I would’ve gone to my family first, too.”

  “What about if it were you?” Quinn queried. “Would you have gone to your family or Harper first?”

  Jared shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t know.”

  “I think you do know.”

  “Fine. I do know.” Jared’s blue eyes were clear when they locked with Quinn’s darker orbs. “I would’ve gone straight for Harper. No force on this planet could’ve kept me from her. She is my family.”

  Quinn nodded, his expression thoughtful. “Yeah. I thought you might say something like that. You need to know, I’m not here to take Harper from you. I don’t believe she belongs with me. I still needed to see her. I think we both needed it so we could start moving past what happened.”

  “And how are you going to move past things? Are you going back to New York?”

  “Probably, although that’s not set in stone,” Quinn replied. “My family is in Seattle. They want me to go there. There’s a woman in New York, we were dating when I remembered. It’s not exactly an easy situation.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “She’s still there. We’d only been dating two months when all this went down. She’s upset that I’m visiting an old girlfriend, but I can’t pretend Harper doesn’t exist to make her happy. Besides, I need t
o see Harper for me, so I can get past all this.”

  “I think you’re handling it to the best of your ability,” Jared admitted. “It’s a tough situation and there is no correct answer. However, I do have another question.”

  “Okay.”

  “Two days ago, did you go out to the area where you wrecked your car?”

  Quinn turned sheepish. “I did. I had to see it. I thought maybe it would jar my memory some. I don’t remember anything from the weeks after the accident. Still, that part is a blur. I don’t know how I got into the woods or how I left the county. None of it makes sense. How did you know I was out there?”

  “Because another woman had an accident, and witnesses described the man who helped her out of her vehicle as having blond hair with brown undertones, jeans, flannel, a beard, and a black rental car.”

  A muscle ticked in Quinn’s jaw. “Are you asking if that was me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, it was.” Quinn’s cheeks flooded with color. “I was out there looking around the area. It seemed familiar, but not the same. I don’t know how to explain it. I was looking for a trigger, and then as if I was caught in a bad movie, I saw the car coming down the road.

  “I didn’t think much of it at first,” he continued. “Then I saw the deer. It reminded me that I saw a deer on the road before my accident. The car rolled and landed in the ditch. Before I realized what was happening, I was running. I helped the woman out of the car and that was it.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong helping her,” Jared noted. “You did the right thing helping her. Why didn’t you stay and call the police, though? Why didn’t you wait to make sure that she got help?”

  “Honestly? I panicked.” Quinn shook his head, as if shame was washing over him in waves. “I realized that if the cops saw me, it would become a big story. ‘Local man back from the dead’ and all that. I didn’t want Harper to find out I was back that way, so I took off. It was the coward’s route and I regretted it as soon as I got back to the hotel, but I couldn’t stop myself.”