Ghostly Holiday (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 11)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Harper parked in front of the house, taking a long moment to scan each side for hints of ghostly movement. There was nothing, and she couldn’t help feeling disappointed as she exited her car.

  It never occurred to her that Jared might be furious when he found out about her activities. Sure, in the back of her head she acknowledged that he was overprotective and prone to fits of exaggerated bossiness, but she legitimately didn’t think she was doing anything wrong.

  The feeling waned a bit when Luke answered the door wearing nothing but a loose robe and a pair of boxer shorts. He smelled like stale beer ... and lack of a shower, and his eyes were bleary when he focused on Harper.

  “You’re the ghost chick.”

  Harper merely shrugged at the greeting. She’d been called worse things. “I’m Harper Harlow.” She extended her hand. “We’ve actually met several times throughout the years, but you probably don’t remember that.”

  Luke slowly accepted her hand and looked her up and down, causing Harper to uncomfortably shift from one foot to the other thanks to the nature of his gaze. Finally, she did something that she found irritating in other people, but she couldn’t help herself. She decided to shut Luke down with a proactive strike.

  “I’m living with Jared Monroe, who happens to be a detective on the Whisper Cove Police Department,” she offered. “You might not want to stare too long.”

  Abashed at being caught, Luke quickly released her hand and rubbed his cheeks to wake up. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about some things I’ve heard about you.” He didn’t ask why she was there, instead turning on his heel and heading inside the house. Harper took that as an invitation since he didn’t slam the door in her face. “You can talk to ghosts. It says that right on your office window.”

  “I can,” Harper agreed. Now was not the time to pussyfoot around Luke’s personal prejudices. If he didn’t like her, she didn’t really care. “I’ve been able to see ghosts since I was a kid.”

  Luke paused by the stove as he reached for the teakettle. “Have you seen Zoe?” He almost looked fearful to hear the answer.

  Harper shook her head. “No. I don’t want to see her, and so far I haven’t. I have seen Jessica, though.”

  “You’ve seen Jessica where?”

  “She was at the candlelight vigil last night,” Harper replied absently, something occurring to her after the fact. “You weren’t at the candlelight vigil.”

  Luke merely shrugged as he filled the teakettle and placed it on a burner. “I didn’t think I would be welcome there. I didn’t want to hurt Ally further by taking attention away from her. That didn’t seem fair.”

  Harper cocked a challenging eyebrow. “Since when have you felt like being fair to her? It seems to me, you were unfair to her from the start.”

  “You would say that,” Luke muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “You don’t understand how difficult it was for me. I really liked Ally. I mean ... really liked her. I thought there was a chance we might make it longer than my other relationships.

  “I never thought we would make it all the way because the idea terrified me,” he continued. “I thought maybe she could somehow break the curse I was mired in, though. I kind of wanted to be a better man when I was with her.”

  Even though he was opening himself up, Harper found she wanted to beat his head into a cupboard. “You’re basically saying you don’t take any personal responsibility for the things you’ve done.”

  Luke let loose a sigh. “That’s not what I’m saying. It’s just ... I liked playing the field. I liked jumping from girlfriend to girlfriend. I didn’t like the idea of intimacy because it always seemed to backfire on me.

  “If I remembered something wrong, they would blame me for not caring enough to remember,” he continued. “If I forgot something outright, they would accuse me of being self-absorbed. I realized at some point that if they already thought I was self-absorbed, then it was best to honestly be self-absorbed because very little would be expected of me.

  “That worked out well for a long time,” he continued. “I had no problem breaking hearts ... until Ally.”

  Despite herself, Harper felt sorry for him because of the hangdog expression on his face. “You loved Ally, didn’t you?”

  Luke’s face flushed dark red. “I ... no. I’ve never been in love with anyone.”

  Because he avoided eye contact, Harper knew he was lying. “Oh, geez. You loved Ally.” She rolled her neck as she thought back four years before. “I remember people talking about you around then. I was kind of in a haze because I had my own issues, but I remember sitting at the coffee shop one day and you went walking by with Ally.

  “People still had hope for you then,” she continued, amused at the way he grimaced. “They thought you were one of those guys who was going to sow his wild oats for a few years and then settle down. They all claimed they’d seen it before and that you weren’t really a bad guy.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Luke didn’t look convinced. “Most people nowadays believe I’m the worst guy.”

  “That’s because you did some really horrible things when Ally was pregnant. I mean ... accusing her of drugging you. What was up with that?”

  Luke’s mouth opened and closed, making him look like a guppy gasping for breath, and finally he merely shook his head.

  “You don’t know why you did that?” Harper challenged, refusing to let him off the hook. “That was such a specific accusation that I would think you’d never forget the reasoning behind it.”

  “Ugh. You’re a real ball buster, aren’t you?” Luke scowled. His hair was filthy— it had clearly been days since he showered — but his eyes flashed with true outrage for the first time since Harper entered the house. “I didn’t want to be a father. It scared the crap out of me. Like ... seriously. My stomach was upset for weeks and I had digestive issues in the bathroom because of it.”

  Harper made a face. “That was a massive overshare.” She was officially disgusted. “Why would you tell me that?”

  Luke shrugged. “I just want someone to understand that I didn’t set out to be the worst guy in town.”

  “Then why did you allow it to happen?” Harper challenged. “I can see being surprised. While I don’t agree with it, I can see momentarily freaking out and saying something stupid. You abandoned your child, though. You accused her mother of heinous things.”

  “Do you think I’m not aware of that?” Luke was morose. “Do you think I don’t know that I’m a complete and total tool?”

  “And yet, knowing that, you still haven’t made things right with your child.” Harper’s voice was soft. “Why haven’t you even met Zoe? She’s adorable, by the way. She’s precocious and she knows weird things.

  “Like, right around Halloween, Zander and I were in the coffee shop and Ally was there with Zoe,” she continued. “Rose gave her a cake pop and Zoe had hot chocolate smeared around her mouth, but she lit up when she saw us.

  “She heard things around town, you see,” she said. “She heard that we were having a ghost tour and she wanted to go with us. She wanted to catch a ghost and put it on a leash so she would always have someone to clean her bedroom. She was adamant about it and no matter how we tried to explain about ghosts, she wouldn’t back down.

  “She’s a stubborn ... and smart ... and really sweet little girl,” she said. “We heard her telling Ally when we left that she really wanted the ghost for her mommy so she didn’t always have to work so hard.”

  Luke made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. “She said that, huh?”

  Harper didn’t miss the fact that his eyes were glittery as she nodded. “She did say that. She loves her mother. I think she would love you, too, if you would simply get your head out of your behind.”

  Luke rubbed his forehead, lost. “I thought I would have more time.”

  “More time for what?”

  “More time to get to know her, be her father.”

  “Well ... you still mi
ght. That doesn’t change the fact that your child is missing and you seem to be hiding instead of looking for her. Have you left the house since you got the news? Have you taken a night off from drinking? Have you considered going to Ally and offering support?”

  Luke balked. “I can’t do that. She hates me. Now is not the time she’ll want to see me.”

  “You might be surprised.”

  “I just ... it hurts to think about her,” Luke admitted. “I’ve seen her around town. I watch when I think no one is looking. In the summer, they had that petting zoo thing and one of the local farmers had puppies. Zoe was there with Ally and she was begging for one of the puppies, but Ally told her no because she worked too much and it wouldn’t be fair to the puppy.

  “I wanted to step in right then, tell Zoe she could have that puppy and I would make sure it was taken care of,” he continued. “I didn’t, though. I hid in the shadows like a coward.”

  “If you want to be a father, why not approach Ally and tell her you’ve had a change of heart? She’s a good person. She wouldn’t cut you out of Ally’s life for no good reason.”

  “Look around.” Luke gestured at the mess of a kitchen. “Do I look like I would be a good father? There are beer cans everywhere ... and I haven’t eaten anything other than pizza in a week.”

  “Those are things that can be fixed.” Harper’s voice was gentle. “You should probably cut down on the drinking regardless, but kids love pizza. You can still turn your life around and turn into a functioning member of society. You can still be a father.”

  “Not if she isn’t found.”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Harper broke off when the doorbell rang. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No. I’ll be right back.”

  Harper busied herself with the teakettle while he was gone, pouring two mugs of tea and sliding some of the beer bottles into cardboard sleeves to get them out of the way. She turned at the sound of feet and lowered voices, and when her gaze locked with Jared’s furious brown orbs, she made a face.

  “What are you doing here?” They asked each other at the same time.

  “I asked you first,” Jared snapped.

  “You did not. We asked at the exact same time.”

  “No, I distinctly heard myself asking first.”

  “Oh, geez.”

  Mel coughed into his hand to draw their attention, his disgust at the ridiculous argument evident. “Let’s focus on the important things, shall we? We need to ask you a few more questions, Luke.”

  “I figured when I saw you at the door.” Luke joined Harper behind the counter and grabbed a garbage bag from underneath the sink so they could start loading pizza boxes into it. “Fire away. I’m taking it you have no leads so you have to keep circling around to me or be sure.”

  Jared cocked an eyebrow in Harper’s direction. “Didn’t you tell him where we were?”

  She shook her head. “I was here to talk about something else.”

  “What?”

  “The fact that I’m a crappy father and it’s not too late to turn things around if we ever get Zoe back,” Luke replied for her. “Sadly, I still want to smack myself for being such a fool.”

  “I think you’ll have to get in line because half the town feels that way,” Mel said. “We have serious questions, though, and they might come as a bit of a surprise so maybe you should sit down.”

  Instead of acquiescing, Luke merely shook his head. “I’ve been sitting down and feeling sorry for myself for days. Why don’t you just tell me why you’re here, and if I need to sit down, I will. How does that sound?”

  “It’s up to you.” Mel tugged on his shirt to straighten it. “You obviously know about Jessica’s death,” he started.

  “What?” Luke whipped his head toward the two police detectives. “Jessica is dead?”

  “You didn’t tell him?” Jared asked Harper, his confusion returning.

  “Well, I mentioned seeing Jessica dead,” Harper said. “He didn’t say anything so I assumed he knew.”

  “I didn’t realize that’s what you were saying,” Luke barked, his eyes flashing. “I didn’t understand what you meant when you said you saw her. I ... how did she die?”

  Jared and Mel exchanged a quick look.

  “She was bashed over the head with a rock in the park,” Jared replied after a beat. “It happened sometime yesterday, although the medical examiner is still working on a firm time of death.”

  “But ... why?”

  “We don’t know, but we believe it has to do with Zoe,” Jared replied honestly. “We found her hat in the backseat of Jessica’s car.”

  “What?” Luke’s expression was wild as he looked to Harper for confirmation. “I don’t understand,” he said when she nodded. “Why would Jessica take Zoe? That makes no sense.”

  “Jessica seemed to be having a bit of trouble with your breakup,” Jared explained. “She was ... struggling.”

  “But she was no worse than the others when I told her,” Luke argued. “Sure, she called me names and said I was less than a man, but that’s par for the course and I’m used to it. She didn’t act like she was out of control or anything.”

  “Well, apparently she was good at hiding it,” Mel said. “She hired a private investigator to follow you. His name is Chet Masters. We found financial records and had a meeting with him about an hour ago. He confirmed that she was obsessed with you and wanted to know what you were up to.”

  “This is unbelievable.” Luke dropped the garbage bag and slowly sank to the linoleum floor, his back to the cupboards. “I don’t understand this. Are you saying you believe Jessica had something to do with Zoe’s disappearance? If so, where is she now? Zoe, I mean. I’m assuming Jessica is in the morgue.”

  “There are a couple of possibilities.” Mel chose his words carefully. “One is that Jessica took Zoe as payback and killed her in a fit of rage, perhaps leaving her body out in the woods somewhere. We might never find her if that’s the case.”

  “I don’t believe that’s true,” Harper argued. “I think Zoe is still alive.”

  Mel ignored her and remained focused on Luke. “The other possibility is that Jessica was working with someone, perhaps holding on to Zoe in an attempt to create panic. She might’ve planned to say she stumbled across Zoe, return her, and bask in the limelight of being a hero. Surely you couldn’t ignore her if she did that.”

  “That seems a little far out there,” Luke hedged. “I mean ... she hired a private investigator to watch me. That must have been quite the boring job over the last few days.”

  “That’s exactly what Chet said,” Mel confirmed. “Apparently Jessica had it in her head that you broke up with her for another woman.”

  “I’m not seeing anyone right now. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon, especially with Zoe being missing.”

  “Yes, well, Jessica was convinced you were seeing Ally.”

  Luke’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

  “Yes. She said she was convinced you were going back to Ally and she wanted proof of it to confront you with. Do you have any idea why she would believe that?”

  “No. Unless ... well, I might have mentioned to her once that I made a mistake with Ally. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I wasn’t just talking about the relationship, though. I was talking about Zoe.”

  “Which might have been enough to set Jessica off,” Jared mused.

  “So ... this is my fault?” Luke looked horrified at the prospect. “Am I the reason that Ally might lose Zoe forever?”

  “We don’t know,” Mel replied simply. “As for never seeing her again, we don’t know that’s the case. There’s still hope.”

  “What hope?” Luke was miserable as he buried his face in his hands. “What have I done? I can’t believe this is my fault.”

  Harper wanted to offer him comfort, but she didn’t know how to give it. It was looking more and more likely that he was at the center of this. What that meant for Zo
e, though, was anyone’s guess.

  Thirteen

  Jared walked Harper out to her car when they were done interrogating Luke. He had a few questions for her, too, and she knew she wasn’t going to like them.

  “How was your day shopping with Zander?” he started.

  Harper shrugged, noncommittal. “Not as much fun as I would’ve liked,” she said truthfully. “He won’t tell me what you got me, so I had to buy ten extra things to make sure I purchased you enough gifts.”

  Jared knit his eyebrows. “I think you’re missing the meaning of Christmas.”

  “Perhaps,” she admitted. “That’s easy for you to say when you’ve apparently bought the perfect gift. I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what it is, will you?”

  “No.” Jared’s lips curved as he shook his head. “You can wait until Christmas. As for the gifts ... I think you’re the best gift I’ve ever received. I don’t need anything else.”

  “Oh, so sweet.” She tapped his chin. “That’s what I told Zander and he said I was severely mistaken. Then he let slip that I would never be able to match your gift, and when I tried to browbeat him into telling me what it was, he refused to give me anything. I was a little disappointed.”

  Jared chuckled. “Leave it be. You’ll be happy with the surprise when it comes.”

  “I guess.” She flicked her eyes to her car, and the light dusting of snow covering it. “We’re supposed to get a few inches tonight. How long until you come home?”

  “It’s still going to be a few hours. We have to speak to Jessica’s mother. She’s been notified about her daughter’s death, but we wanted to give her a bit of time to settle before going back. I’m not sure when I’ll be home. Don’t wait on dinner for me.”

  “I’ll make sure you have something to eat when you get home.” She breezily brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. “I’ll see you later, huh?”