Ghostly Endeavor (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 19)

by Lily Harper Hart

Jared kept one ear on Mel’s conversation with his nephew and his eyes on his wife. Her face was flushed with fury that refused to dissipate. There was also an underlying current of misery rippling through her that gave him pause. He didn’t mind fighting with her, especially over a stupid move like this. The misery, however, was something he couldn’t deal with.

  “Hey, wife of mine.” He gave her a cajoling bump with his elbow. “I really want to hug you, but I don’t think that’s going to go over well with John. That means I have to hug you with my mind. Just know I’m doing that.”

  Harper’s eyes went wide and she found some of the anger she’d been hoarding like gold slipping away. “That’s kind of nice.”

  “It’s kind of gross is what it is,” Mel countered.

  “Totally,” Zander agreed. “They’re disgusting all the time. I thought for sure it would die down a bit after they were married. Apparently not.”

  “I don’t think they’re ever going to get over it.”

  “We’re not,” Jared confirmed, his hand landing on Harper’s shoulder. “How about we take this conversation away from here, huh? I’m thinking we could all use lunch.”

  Zander brightened considerably. “That sounds like an awesome plan.”

  Jared shot him a glare. “Well, as long as I’m making you happy, that’s all that matters,” he drawled. “That’s what I live for.”

  Zander rubbed his hands together. “Now we’re talking.”

  THEY WENT TO JASON’S RESTAURANT BECAUSE it was the most convenient location for all concerned. Jason, who was working the hostess stand, recognized right away that something had happened.

  “Are you okay?” He went straight to Harper and offered a hug, which she accepted. “If things are going wrong with Jared, I’m always here, ready to swoop in and offer you a different life. We’ll have to get rid of Zander, too, but I think we could have a bright future in front of us, even if we have to join the circus to hide.”

  Harper found herself smiling at the intended joke. “I think I’ll keep both of them for now.”

  “Forever,” Jared corrected as he nudged Jason back. He pretended to be gruff, but he was thankful someone had managed to make Harper smile. “Stop hitting on my wife.”

  “She was my girlfriend before she was your wife.”

  “Husband trumps former boyfriend.”

  “Best friend trumps all,” Zander announced as he pushed between the men and slung an arm around Harper’s shoulders. “She’s feeling peckish. We need to get some food in her. Do you have that awesome French onion soup today? There’s little she loves more than croutons and cheese.”

  “I think you have me confused with you,” Harper countered. “Although ... that soup does sound good.”

  “It also makes your breath smell really great,” Jared drawled. “I guess that’s a small price to pay for a smile, though.”

  Harper slid her eyes to him. “I’m not upset.”

  “You’re beyond upset.” Jared maneuvered her toward the balcony. “You need food ... and then we need to talk.”

  “Food sounds great. The talk is probably something I would rather skip.”

  “You’re getting both.” Jared waited until they were seated, their orders placed, to push forward. “What were you guys really doing there?”

  “We were just walking and talking,” Harper replied. Her face was no longer red, but a hint of danger remained lurking in the depths of her eyes. “I was trying to puzzle things out. I feel as if we’re missing something.”

  “We’re definitely missing something,” Jared agreed. “Motive. There was no reason to kill Cassie from what I can tell. There was no sexual component to the killing, and if we are dealing with a woman, I have trouble finding the jealousy part of this equation.”

  “What about her co-workers?” Harper queried. “You said you were going to talk to them this morning.”

  “And we did. We talked to Mallory Cummings. She was less than solicitous and seemed agitated that Cassie flirted with the boss.”

  “Ted Kingman,” Harper volunteered. “Everybody in town knows that Mallory is in love with Ted. She’s hardly cool and calm when he’s around.”

  “I didn’t know it,” Jared argued.

  “I didn’t either,” Mel said. “It hardly matters, though. Even though she didn’t like Cassie’s interest in Ted, she recognized Cassie was only interested because she thought Ted might be able to get her out of this town.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that.” Zander sent a mournful look toward the breadbasket and then grabbed a piece of celery from the appetizer plate. “If the town was some sort of big trigger for Cassie, why didn’t she just move? Even one town over would’ve changed her outlook.”

  “I don’t think that was far enough,” Harper replied. “In Cassie’s mind, the whole area was Whisper Cove. She associated Whisper Cove with her father. She needed more distance.”

  “Did she say whether or not John physically abused her?” Mel queried. “I can’t exactly arrest him on the word of a ghost, but it would at least be something to focus on.”

  “She said he hit her a few times when she was a teenager and then seemed to think better of it. Most of his abuse was of the verbal variety but that doesn’t mean it was any easier to take. Somebody really should’ve done something to knock him down a peg or two back when Cassie’s life could’ve still been salvaged.”

  “I don’t disagree.” Mel bobbed his head. “It’s too late now, though.”

  “It’s too late for Cassie. It’s not too late for Mary. Something has to be done to help her. We didn’t even see her this morning, not even when John and I were screaming at each other. She was obviously too frightened to even poke her head out the window.”

  “We tried talking to Mary,” Jared interjected. “There’s literally nothing we can do if she doesn’t help us.”

  “Well, I refuse to believe that.” Harper folded her arms over her chest as Jason appeared with her soup. “I won’t let Mary suffer the way Cassie was obviously suffering.”

  Jason’s face grew pensive as he handed her a spoon. “Cassie hated her father. She refused to talk about him on a regular basis. When she did mention him, it was to go off on what a terrible man he was. Then she would clam up again. It was almost as if she thought talking about him would somehow give him power.”

  “In her mind he had all the power,” Harper agreed as she dug into her soup. “I don’t know that John killed her. I have no proof. I simply feel as if he’s at the center of this.”

  “Being at the center of it could mean different things,” Jared said reasonably. “I mean ... his verbal abuse could’ve forced her to put herself in a dangerous situation in an attempt to get out of this town. We just don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

  “I wish she would’ve talked to me.” Jason was rueful. “The thing is, we were so early in our relationship that it hadn’t become real to me. She wasn’t a regular presence in my life. I feel sad about that ... and guilty.”

  “You shouldn’t be guilty,” Harper fired back. “You’re not the one who caused this.”

  “I could say the same thing about you,” Jared noted as he watched her dig into her soup. “You need to brush your teeth before I get home tonight. Those onions are ... pungent.”

  Harper shot him a dirty look. “I’ll brush my teeth when I feel like brushing my teeth. You don’t get a say in it.”

  “Fine. I’ll just suffer.” He flashed a charming smile. “Your kisses are so good I can’t go without them even if you do stink.”

  “Ah, you’re so sweet.” Harper briefly rested her head against his shoulder and then went back to eating. “We need someone to talk to who knew Cassie’s secrets. I mean ... she must’ve confided in someone.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Jason interjected. “There is one thing I forgot to mention when you guys questioned me.”

  Jared turned his expectant eyes to Jason. “And what’s that?”

>   “Every week, she hung out with this group of women in town. They went to that new wine bar. There were like five or six of them I think.”

  Harper pursed her lips. “I know the bar you’re talking about. Who were the women, though?”

  “It’s just a group of locals. They’re mostly single, some divorced, I guess a few are married, and they meet on Thursdays to have wine and gossip about everyone in town.”

  Zander went rigid in his chair. “And they didn’t invite me?”

  “It’s just women.”

  “Um ... .” Zander made a face and pointed toward his charming smile. “Again, I ask, why didn’t they invite me?”

  Harper pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It’s Thursday today. I guess I could head out to the wine bar and ask some questions.”

  “We can go together,” Jared countered. “You’re not technically authorized to ask official questions.”

  “You can’t go.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I’ll give you two reasons. The first is, you heard Jason. This group is for women. They’re not going to want a man there. Secondly, they’re less likely to open up in front of a cop. I know that’s not fair to you, but that’s the way of the world.”

  Jared frowned. “You’re the wife of a cop. What makes you think that they’ll talk to you?”

  “I don’t know that they will talk to me. I just think we have a better shot of them talking to me if I’m alone rather than with you.”

  “I don’t like it.” Jared shook his head. “We have a murderer on the loose. I don’t like the idea of you hanging out with a bunch of gossipy women alone.”

  “She won’t be alone,” Zander volunteered. “I’ll be with her.”

  “You heard her,” Jared shot back. “She says men can’t go.”

  Zander pointed at his face again. “That rule doesn’t apply to me.”

  Jared’s forehead wrinkled. “And why is that?”

  “I would think it would be self-explanatory.”

  “Well, it’s not. Is it because you’re gay?”

  “That and I have an open and giving spirit.”

  “So, it’s because you’re gay,” Jared surmised. “I think there’s a double-standard buried in there.”

  “There is,” Harper agreed. “He’ll be a hit at wine club, though. That way I won’t be alone and will have a better chance at hearing the gossip.”

  “I don’t know.” Jared shook his head. “It makes me uneasy.”

  “What if I bring ice cream sundaes home so we can eat them in bed when I’m done?”

  “That makes me feel a little better.”

  “Somehow I knew you would say that.”

  “I’m easy to please.” He leaned closer to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “As long as you’re doing the pleasing.”

  “Oh, I really am going to gag,” Mel complained. “Don’t make me squirt you with the hose.”

  “I’ll hold Jared down if you want to do that,” Jason offered. “I mean ... only if you need the help, though.”

  Jared glowered at him. “Keep it up. I’m going to lock you in a room with Zander for twenty-four hours if you don’t stop being a tool.”

  “Well, there’s a deterrent if I ever heard one.”

  Zander nodded in agreement. “I do have a way about me.”

  “You always have.”

  13

  Thirteen

  “How do I look?”

  Harper twirled in her little black dress and waited for Jared to heap praise on her.

  “Like you’re going trolling for men and not trying to impress women,” Jared replied from his spot on the couch, his eyes roaming appreciatively over her body. She looked amazing. He remained uneasy about her plan, however, and wasn’t certain how he felt about her engaging with potential murder suspects over wine.

  “The way to impress women is to dress for women,” Harper agreed. “I guarantee the women going to this wine bar don’t really care about the other women, though.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  “Because I heard Molly talking the other day. She says all the men in town over a certain age go to the wine bar because they want more mature women. That means the women in that group are likely dressing for the men … whether they admit it or not.”

  “Since when is that a thing?”

  Harper shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s a thing, though, so I have to look as if I fit in.”

  “You’re married.”

  “Oh, really?” She made a face. “Is that what that weird ceremony was about? And here I thought it was a ritual sacrifice or something.”

  “You’re not funny.”

  “I have it on good authority that I’m hilarious.”

  “Zander doesn’t count.” Jared pushed himself to a standing position and drew her in for a hug. “You look beautiful. You always do. I just want you to be careful.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I don’t even like wine. I’ll have one glass and nurse it the entire time we’re there. That’s why I’m driving. I won’t get drunk.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about.” He tipped up her chin. “I’m worried that Cassie was likely killed by a woman and you’re going to hang out with a bunch of women. If Cassie had secrets, I think these women are our best shot at figuring out what they were.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him, wrapping her fingers around his wrists. “You have nothing to worry about. Zander will be my wingman.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

  “We’ll be together. That’s what I’m saying. Nobody would be stupid enough to move on me when I’m with him. You know that’s true. You’re just worrying to worry.”

  “I guess.” Jared dragged a hand through his hair and then offered up a rueful smile. “I know you’re capable. In fact, you’re the most capable person I know. I can’t help it that I worry. There’s a part of your life I can never touch and it freaks me out.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be drinking with ghosts.” She slipped her arms around his waist and held tight. “Jared, there’s no part of my life you can’t touch. Just because you can’t see ghosts, that doesn’t mean you’re separate from that part of my life.”

  “I know that in my head. I still feel fear sometimes.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “That’s my issue, though. It’s not your issue. I want you to have fun.”

  “Oh, I don’t expect it to be fun.” She shook her head. “I have a feeling I know exactly which women will be at that bar. They’re not a fun group.”

  “No?”

  “No. They will love Zander, though. He knows how to charm people.”

  “That does appear to be his superpower.”

  “Your superpower is loving me, right?”

  He grinned. “Forever.” He gave her a soft kiss. “I’m going to be here all night. Shawn is coming over to drink a few beers and watch a game. If you need me ... .”

  “I know how to find you,” she finished, tapping the spot above her heart. “You’re always here.”

  “And I’m never leaving. You might want to make sure Jason knows that now that he’s flirting with you again.”

  “He’s only flirting with me to make himself feel better. I think he’s genuinely crushed about Cassie.”

  “I think you’re right. Still, I like to mess with him just as much as he likes to mess with me. That’s our thing.”

  “Just give him a break for a few weeks. That’s all I ask.”

  “I’ll give it some thought.”

  ZANDER DRESSED UP IN HIS FAVORITE brown pants and blue shirt. He knew the color scheme painted him in an optimum light. He was all smiles as he swept through the wine bar’s doors, Harper on his arm.

  “Are you all ready to have a good time?” he called out. “I’m here. It can finally happen.”

  Enthusiastic applause broke out, enough so that Harper could only shake her head. He really did know how to play to a
crowd. They pointed themselves toward a small two-top and climbed into the chairs. Harper wasn’t a fan of stool chairs, preferring to keep her feet on the ground because it put less strain on her back, but there was no other option.

  After perusing the menu, Zander ordered for them. Then they took stock of the room.

  “Susie Martin is over there,” Harper noted in a low voice. “She’s freshly divorced, right?”

  Zander was grim. “Yeah. I’ve always hated her. I know she talked smack about me in high school.”

  “She talked smack about me, too. She’s still always good for gossip.”

  “We can’t go over there.” Zander was firm on that. “We need her to come to us. That’s the only way she’ll spill the beans. If she thinks we’re trying to use her for information she won’t willingly give it. She needs to beg for our approval for a change.”

  Harper hesitated and then nodded. She wasn’t certain it would work, but Shelly Kingsley’s appearance at their table distracted her enough to forget about Susie.

  “It’s so cool that you guys are here,” Shelly enthused. She was a local real estate agent who hadn’t exactly been mean to Harper and Zander when they were in high school. She hadn’t gone out of her way to be nice either. “We were just saying a few weeks ago that we needed someone with a big personality to liven up the group and here you are.”

  “She’s talking about you,” Harper automatically said to Zander.

  “I’m talking about both of you.” Shelly grabbed an empty chair from a nearby table and cozied up between Harper and Zander. “I’m actually surprised you’re here, Harper. Fresh off your honeymoon like you are, I thought for sure you and that sexy detective you married were probably spending all your time hibernating in bed.”

  Harper’s cheeks colored. “Oh, well ... .”

  “They spend more than enough time doing that,” Zander interjected. “It’s disgusting really. They verbally copulate in front of me all the time. I think I might be traumatized.”

  Shelly giggled as she patted Zander’s arm. “Poor Zander.”

  “Yes, poor me.” Zander grinned at Harper. “Thankfully we have a new business endeavor so that’s taking up a lot of our time. With Jared working on Cassie’s death, they haven’t been engaging in their normal afternoon filthy playtime. They get to continue living because of that.”