Ghostly Fears

by Lily Harper Hart

  Jennifer’s lip curled as she regarded her grandfather. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know.”

  To Harper, that was another confirmation. “Your grandfather is one of the reasons you left, isn’t he?”

  Jennifer nodded, visibly swallowing before turning to her father. “One of the reasons. The other was fear. I was afraid to tell my family what was going on. I thought they would judge me ... and then lock me up.”

  “Did your mother know?” Harper asked. “Did she know you heard things?”

  Jennifer nodded. “She was trying to get me in to see someone when it happened. She told me not to say anything, that Dad ... and especially Grandpa ... wouldn’t understand. She told me, if I was ever in trouble, to confide in Grandma.

  “So, after Mom died and the voices got worse — they were always yelling at me, warning me to run away there at the end — I told Grandma what was happening and she decided the best thing to do was get me out of the house,” she continued. “We came up with a plan. She arranged for a boat to pick me up on the south side of the island the night I left. I wasn’t to tell anyone what was happening ... or take anything I held dear. My disappearance had to be a mystery because she was afraid that if it became public knowledge that I ran away that ... well ... they’d win.”

  “Who is they?” Zander asked automatically.

  Harper shot him a quelling look and shook her head. “Let Jennifer tell her story in her own time.”

  Zander frowned at her. “That’s easy for you to say. You’ve figured the bulk of this out. Some of us are still struggling to keep up.”

  Jennifer shot him a cheeky grin. “You’re exactly like I remember you, the both of you. That makes me happy. I always thought you guys had the best relationship ... although I guess you guys never got married like I imagined you would in middle school.”

  “We don’t roll that way,” Zander replied. “We’re life mates of a different sort.”

  “As well you should be,” Jennifer enthused, her eyes briefly landing on Jared. “Besides, I think Harper has done well for herself. I’ve read about you in the newspaper, too, Detective Monroe. I’m glad you found each other. It’s hard for people who are different. You seem to embrace those differences. That is the greatest gift you can ever give anyone.”

  “Thank you,” Jared replied softly. “Harper is my gift, though.”

  “This is all lovely,” George drawled, his eyes flashing. “I want answers!”

  “Shut up, George,” Evangeline snapped, moving around her husband and offering her granddaughter a warm hug. “Not everything happens on your schedule. In fact, this is happening because I’m no longer interested in your schedule ... or plans ... or the plots you’ve hatched over the past ten years. I’m done.”

  George’s eyes flashed with malice. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “I think you’re about to be in trouble,” Harper replied for the older woman. “That’s just a guess, though.” She held Evangeline’s gaze for a long beat. “You helped Jennifer escape because you understood about the voices. Even though you didn’t want to admit what you were capable of, you understood ... and you wanted to help your granddaughter.

  “You got her off the island that night and you funded her lifestyle to keep her hidden,” she continued. “I don’t know where you stashed her — and it’s honestly not important to the story — but you hid her and then eventually brought Richard in on the plan. You knew, in case something happened to you, that Jennifer would need a touchstone. That’s when he was involved.”

  “How did you figure all this out?” Richard asked, legitimately awed. “We thought we were being so careful.”

  “I don’t understand any of this,” Byron muttered, rubbing his forehead. “How could you keep this from me?”

  Richard ignored his father’s outburst. “I’ve known for about five years. Grandmother approached me, told me what happened, and I wanted to help. I insisted on seeing Jennifer with my own eyes, though. I visited her on the ranch where she lives and spent an entire month learning about her new life and hearing about the old one we shared ... and realizing that she was in very real peril. When I came back, I started working the angles. I knew what had to be done, but it wasn’t as easy as you might think.”

  “What peril?” George snapped, earning a dark glare from his grandson.

  “You’re going to want to be quiet,” Richard warned. “No, I’m being serious. You have done enough to this family and I’m not going to put up with you for another second. I don’t have to. We’re taking back this family, and you’re not going to be part of it.”

  Byron was even more bewildered than before. “I don’t understand!” He practically bellowed the words. “Someone needs to tell me what’s going on right now!”

  Jennifer took an uncertain step toward him. “I didn’t want to hurt you. Believe it or not, that was the last thing I wanted to do. I had to make a choice, though, and I wasn’t sure you were in on it after Mom.”

  Byron furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.”

  “Her accident wasn’t really an accident,” Richard volunteered. “The brakes on her car were tampered with. She was killed.”

  Byron made a protesting sound. “But ... no. I would know if that were the case.”

  “It’s the truth.” Richard was firm. “Mom knew about Jennifer’s ability. She was trying to protect her, was making moves to make sure nothing could happen to her, and Grandfather found out.”

  Richard’s demeanor had Jared moving closer to the older man. He didn’t insert himself in the conversation, but he was obviously ready to step in should something terrible go down.

  “Who found out about what?” George adopted an innocent expression that was so saccharine it threatened to rot Harper’s teeth. “Are you talking about me?”

  “You’ve been involved in all of it from the start,” Harper supplied, opting to get to the heart of matters. “You were a stable worker on the grounds when you were a teenager. I found an article about you online today, a piece you did for a local magazine where you talked about how your life changed. You were trapped outside looking in. Evangeline’s mother was special ... and her father was a drunk.

  “Evangeline said that her mother tried to outsmart him with the alcohol and keep it off the island,” she continued. “A stable boy helped him get alcohol from time to time. The husband was an angry man and thought Belle and Dorothy were filling Beatrice’s head with nonsense. To combat that, he killed them in the shed ... and you helped.”

  George’s eyes flew up his forehead. “You can’t prove that.”

  “Actually, we can,” Richard countered. “We’ve been working on this for ten years. We tracked down people who worked on the island back then. They made specific statements. Sure, you helped with the fire on orders from Great-Grandfather, but you were still part of it. Then, later, when it came time for Great-Grandmother to die, you were involved in that, too.”

  Evangeline looked impressed. “My mother just told me about that thanks to you. I finally gave up the fear and embraced what I can do — what Jennifer can do — and I spent a wonderful afternoon with my mother and two women who were near and dear to me. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “You don’t owe me anything.” Harper felt distinctly uncomfortable with the woman’s gratitude. “Seriously. I was happy to help.”

  “I’m still in the dark,” Jared prodded. “George obviously had a hand in multiple deaths. I have no doubt about that. What did he have to do with Jennifer’s disappearance?”

  “May I?” Harper asked.

  Evangeline’s lips quirked. “I think you’ve earned it.”

  “George managed to weasel his way into the family despite being an hourly worker,” Harper explained. “He had ambitions ... and they revolved around this house. He had to work the grounds and dreamed of being master of this domain ... and he was, but only for a short time.

  “Evangeline’s father was a jerk, but he maintaine
d an iron grip on the property,” she continued. “George married Evangeline and they all lived here together. George couldn’t have the control he wanted with Evangeline’s father around, though, and when he died the property passed to Evangeline through a special trust.”

  Realization dawned on Jared. “George couldn’t take ownership of the house.”

  “Right.” Harper bobbed her head. “Evangeline realized at a certain point that George was a bad man. That didn’t mean she could divorce him. Women of her station weren’t allowed to divorce ... and by then she was afraid what he would do to her. That didn’t mean she had to follow the rules George wanted to set.

  “She had one child with him, an heir, and then she made sure that the house trust her father set up worked to her advantage and passed the house off to Byron long before she had to,” she continued. “George was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Evangeline had a family lawyer who set it up for her — something Jared and I found out while researching today — and it was an ironclad trust.

  “George brought his old buddy Bertie in to work on family documents after that, but he couldn’t break the trust on the house no matter how hard he tried. He’s considered a shyster in law circles and there are endless stories about him screwing over clients for money on the web. He worked hard to break the trust for George, who has always wanted this house above all else. He came up empty.”

  “You’re very good,” Jennifer noted, her lips quirking. “I can’t believe you figured all this out.”

  “It was the ghosts who made me realize what was really going on,” Harper admitted. “The fact that Evangeline could hear them was another clue. I inherited my ability to see and talk to ghosts from my grandfather. It made sense that your family ability would pass from generation to generation.”

  Byron’s expression was dark as it landed on his father. “Did you kill Celeste?” Of course the first question he asked would be about his beloved wife.

  George worked his jaw. “That is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard. Everything they’ve said so far is complete and total nonsense. You can’t believe them.”

  “It’s not nonsense,” Richard argued. “We’ve done painstaking research on this. We have enough evidence to turn over to the police ... and that’s exactly what we plan to do. You’re going to prison, old man. Don’t think for a second it’s not going to happen because after what you’ve done to this family, you’ve earned it.”

  Harper slid George a sidelong look. He was elderly but the way he eyed the door told her he was considering running. Jared was close enough to stop him, though, so she wasn’t particularly worried.

  “Tell me the rest,” Byron ordered. “I want to know all of it.”

  “You were going to leave the house to Mom in your will,” Jennifer replied, weariness practically wafting off her in waves. “Richard and I would inherit from her after the fact. Grandpa didn’t want that. He wanted the house. Like Harper said, he always wanted the house and Grandmother pulled the rug out from under him just when he was getting comfortable.

  “He killed Mom to eliminate the problem and then he started working on you,” she continued. “I heard the conversations. I know it’s true. He tried to convince you the house was cursed and to sign it over to him.”

  Byron’s eyebrows hopped. “I can’t believe you heard that. I told him there was no way it was going to happen.”

  “Which is why he spent a few years trying to come up with a new plan,” Harper volunteered. “This plan involved a local girl he somehow managed to convince to do his bidding — I’m guessing money was involved — and she infiltrated your house.”

  Byron lifted his chin. “Madeline. You’re talking about Madeline.”

  “They were in on it from the start,” Jennifer explained. “I heard them talking not long before I left. I saw them together. They were ... doing things.”

  Byron was horrified. “They were together?” The accusatory look he shot his father promised mayhem. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  “They knew I overheard them and I was afraid. I was already suspicious about what they were capable of. Grandpa threatened he was going to lock me up in a hospital and everyone would assume I was crazy. He said he had proof I was crazy and had already started the process.

  “I was frozen in fear,” she said, her voice cracking. “I was terrified ... and he said he already had you on his side. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I was scared enough that I didn’t want to risk it. That’s why I went to Grandma.”

  “The plan was to gather enough information on George to lock him away and then Jennifer could return home,” Evangeline said. “It took a lot longer than we thought it would. During that time, Jennifer found a home she loves ... and a man she loves. She found a life she could enjoy. That didn’t stop us from working, though.

  “When we heard what you were doing, Byron, we knew we couldn’t leave you in the dark any longer,” she continued. “It was obvious that Jennifer’s disappearance was weighing on you more than I realized. I thought you’d shut off access to your heart. I was wrong about that, and I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry about hiding her.”

  “You planned to bring her here and spring her on Byron in private, right?” Harper queried. “You only changed your mind after talking to your mother this afternoon.”

  “Pretty much,” Evangeline agreed. “Mother told me that George and Madeline have been plotting for years. They’re stuck, though. They thought they could get Byron to void the pre-nup if they just worked at it long enough. George always acted disdainful of Madeline in public so no one would suspect their affair. Once the pre-nup was gone, they planned for Richard and Byron to be involved in an accident together and Madeline would inherit ... at which point George and her would marry following my elimination.”

  Zander made a face. “Gross. I can’t believe she was sleeping with that old dude. That is just ... sick.”

  “You shut your mouth,” George hissed. “I’m as virile as I ever was.”

  “I think you should tell the other prisoners that when you get locked up for the rest of your life,” Jared suggested. “I think it’s going to go over well.”

  “I’m not going to prison.” George was defiant. “You can’t prove any of this.”

  Jared shifted his eyes to Richard, something unsaid passing between them. “Maybe not,” Jared replied after a beat. “That’s going to be up to the prosecutor to decide, though. For now, you’re going into custody. That’s the only way I can guarantee that Jennifer has a happy reunion with her family. Although ... what about Madeline?”

  Harper had been expecting the question. “She never left the house. She was the one listening to us in the stairwell today. She’s been hiding in George’s room ... a place we never checked because we assumed that George and Evangeline were sharing a room. Turns out, that wasn’t true.”

  “Really?” Jared was officially intrigued. “Well, I think that means we’re going to need to secure George and Madeline and then call Mel. We should probably have help transporting them.”

  “What about dinner?” Zander whined. “I thought we were going to get prime rib.”

  “Dinner is still on the table,” Byron offered. “Everyone can eat.” He looked as if he’d aged twenty years in the past twenty minutes. “After that, though, I’m going to ask everyone to retire early. I would like to spend some private time with my daughter.”

  Harper smiled. “I think that’s a fine idea.”

  Harris, who had been quiet for the entire exchange, cocked his head in Delphine’s direction. “We’re still getting paid, right?”

  Harper scowled at him. “I bet you’re not getting paid until you find Jennifer’s body in the woods, you big fraud.”

  Harris glared. “It could’ve happened to anybody.”

  “Not me.”

  “Well ... aren’t you special.”

  “She is,” Jared agreed, pressing a quick kiss to her temple before moving toward George
, who looked panicked. “You have no idea just how special.”

  20

  Twenty

  Madeline was taken into custody without incident. She seemed stunned when Mel and Jared arrived at George’s suite to arrest her. Immediately, barely taking a breath, she announced it was all George’s idea. She claimed he threatened to kill her if she didn’t participate in the plan. Byron, of course, didn’t believe her. He sent her off in the back of Mel’s squad car with a wave and a reminder that she had no access to his money, which meant she couldn’t pay for her own defense. He seemed pleased.

  George was another story. He was spitting mad and vowed revenge. Evangeline, no longer fearful of the stigma of divorce or adamant about doing her wifely duty, informed him that she’d cut off his funds as well. Apparently George and Madeline had public defenders in their future, which Byron found amusing.

  As for the family patriarch, he was in remarkable spirits considering everything that happened. He sat next to his daughter — demoting Harris to the far end of the table — and asked her every question he could think of about her life.

  She lived in Idaho — a state Harper knew absolutely nothing about — and raised horses with her husband, who was wealthy (although not quite on the Jessup level). She invited her father out for a visit, something he readily agreed to, and then said her husband would be arriving the next day. He wanted to meet his father-in-law, something that flustered Byron at the same time pleasure washed over his features.

  After dinner, Harper and her group excused themselves to the guesthouse to pack. Jared had to stop in at the police station when he arrived back in town but, after that, he planned to drag Harper to bed for snacks and alone time. He’d already planned it out.

  They were almost out the door when Jennifer showed up. She appeared shy but determined as she asked to see Harper.

  “I don’t want to delay you,” she explained to Jared as he showed her inside. “I know that you probably want to get away from here as soon as possible. This island has always been crazy.”