Harper Harlow Mystery 19 - Ghostly Endeavor

by Lily Harper Hart

  18

  EIGHTEEN

  Jared and Mel weren’t alone when they met Harper, Zander, and Shawn at the Merriweather house. John was with them, and he looked positively furious.

  “This is my house,” John insisted as Jared tried to shove him out of the way. “You can’t just barge into my house. This is a free country. I have a say.”

  “Not if someone is in trouble.” Jared shoved John especially hard and moved toward Harper. “He was with us at the bowling alley and heard us talking. He followed. We couldn’t stop him.”

  “It’s fine.” Harper waved off his concern. “In fact, since he’s the root of all this, it’s probably good that he’s here.” She fixed her eyes on the man in question. “You’re a jerk. I hope you know that.”

  John’s eye roll was pronounced. “If you’re trying to hurt my feelings, you’re going to have to do way better than that.”

  “I don’t care about your feelings,” Harper said honestly. “Your feelings mean diddly squat to me. Less than that.”

  “Then why are you here?” John’s eyes flashed with annoyance. He was clearly used to women kowtowing to him, cowering even. Harper would never play that game, though. She was incapable of giving him what he wanted, just like Cassie eventually became. “Why are you invading my space?”

  “Because your daughter is about to kill your wife,” Harper replied simply.

  John blinked several times in rapid succession. “Cassie is dead,” he said finally. “Have we somehow entered a zombie apocalypse or something and nobody told me? If so, I’ve been preparing for this moment my entire life. I’m going to lock myself in my house for a month, let everybody kill each other, and then take over the world.”

  “How awesome for you,” Harper said dryly.

  “That’s not how you survive the zombie apocalypse,” Zander offered helpfully. “You have to hole up in a mall or restaurant. We claim the beach restaurant, by the way. It’s stocked with food and on stilts. We’ll be winning the Whisper Cove zombie lottery. You can ... go someplace else.”

  “I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk to me,” John shot back. “I only converse with manly men, although I’m not sure you two can be added to that column either.” He was disdainful as he shifted his eyes to Mel and Jared. “You guys actually let women boss you around so you should really be forced to turn in your man cards.”

  Jared wanted to explain the power of love, of treating someone else as if they were the be all and end all of your life. He wanted to make John understand how loving Harper had made him a better man. He knew it would be lost on the other man, though. “Shut up.” He focused on Harper. “You were very short in your explanation. Tell me.”

  She laid it all out for him, although it wasn’t in great detail. She had to be quick. “She remembered at the end,” Harper explained. “She said her mother killed her.”

  “But ... why?” Jared was at a loss, and it was for the same reason Harper found herself floundering.

  “Because Mary had to adjust her thinking to survive in a house with John,” Harper explained. “She had to subvert all her wants and needs and make her life about him.”

  “That’s how a marriage works,” John snapped.

  Harper ignored him. “Mary only got breaks when John focused his anger on Cassie. Unfortunately for her — or fortunately for Cassie, depending on who you feel sympathy for — Cassie figured out how to play the game well enough to get John off her back. Then Mary became his only target.”

  “John says Cassie isn’t his daughter,” Mel volunteered. “Could that play into this?”

  Harper shook her head. “At least not how you think. Cassie said one of her big dreams as a child was pretending John wasn’t her father. She made up an elaborate make-believe world where a father who didn’t know about her existence showed up to save her. She grew more practical as a teenager, and that included saving up for — and running — a DNA test. John is her father.”

  John worked his jaw. “I don’t believe it,” he said finally.

  “You believe it.” Harper pinned him with a hateful look. “You know she’s your daughter. You just don’t care. You’re incapable of caring. Cassie realized that. I’m sure Mary did, too. Mary just never found the strength to get away.”

  “But she found the strength to kill Cassie?” Jared was dubious. “Why?”

  “I don’t even know if Mary can properly explain that,” Harper admitted. “I know that after Cassie’s divorce Mary tried to get her to move back in.”

  “That was never going to happen,” John insisted. “Adult children become soft if they live with their parents.”

  “Nobody under your roof is soft,” Harper snapped. “You make them cold ... and empty ... and brittle.”

  “I made that girl a survivor,” John hissed.

  “And yet she’s dead.” Harper knew that arguing with John was a waste, but she couldn’t help herself from unloading her opinion of the man. “Her blood is on your hands because you turned your wife into ... well, I don’t even know how to describe her.”

  “Mary is a waste of space, too.” John shook his head. “She can’t even keep the house clean. She’s always whining about her back. It’s just obnoxious.”

  It took everything Harper had not to wrap her hands around John’s neck and start squeezing. As if sensing this, Jared grabbed her wrist and drew her attention to him. “What do you want to do?” he asked.

  “We have to go inside.” Harper snagged one of the dreamcatchers Shawn had clutched in his arms. “It has to be me, and since I know you won’t allow me to go in there alone without melting down and freaking out … and likely pulling out your badge to remind me you’re a cop and thusly in charge, you have to go, too.”

  “That’s progress, huh?” He attempted a smile ... and fell short.

  “I’m going with you, too,” Mel said. “I need to be there so we can figure out a way to explain this.”

  “It’s my house,” John added. “If you think I’m going to allow you freaks inside my house without supervision, you’ve got another thing coming.”

  Jared glared for a moment, considering, and then nodded. “Okay. If Cassie decides she wants to kill you, though, nobody is going to lift a finger to stop her.”

  John hesitated, but it wasn’t for long. “I’m not afraid of your wife’s imagination. We’re going to go in there and find nothing amiss. Mary will be laying on the couch, being lazy, and that’s it.”

  “I hope that’s true,” Jared replied. “I know my wife better than that, though. We’re in for trouble.”

  “And we have no choice but to end it,” Harper agreed as she watched Jared grab an extra dreamcatcher from Shawn. “We have to finish this. Now.”

  THE HOUSE WAS SO STILL UPON ENTRY, SO QUIET, that Harper briefly wondered if she’d gotten it wrong. Maybe Cassie had gone someplace else after all. Then she heard a shrill voice in the kitchen and knew she’d been right.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.” Mary’s voice was low, thick with tears. “All you had to do was move back in the house.”

  Harper was in the lead when they crossed through the living room and landed in the kitchen. She didn’t even blink when she caught sight of Cassie’s ethereal form, dark ribbons of hate emanating off the woman who had survived everything but her own mother, the woman who was supposed to protect her.

  “I didn’t want to move back into the house,” Cassie hissed, rage on full display as her eyes glowed red. “I wanted to be free. All I ever wanted was to be free.”

  Jared swallowed hard, his gaze going to John. He didn’t miss the abject fear on the man’s face when the scene in the kitchen became apparent. He didn’t comment. There was nothing he could say.

  “You can’t be free in this world, Cassie,” Mary insisted. “You were born to your father and me. That means you were beholden to us. All you had to do was move back into the house.” Mary looked exasperated. “I just wanted a break, a little break.”
<
br />   Harper decided now was the time for her to speak. “Maybe you should have moved out,” she suggested. “Maybe you should’ve packed Cassie up when she was little, done the right thing for her, and moved out. Did you ever consider that?”

  Mary jolted at the new voice in her kitchen, her eyes going wide when she saw the figures filing in. “I ... you ... I ... .” She seemed to be lost for words.

  “You could’ve stopped all of this.” Harper felt nothing but bereavement when she looked at Cassie, so she focused on Mary. “You’re the reason this happened.”

  “You can see her.” It wasn’t a question. Mary seemed perplexed by that realization, and yet there was no doubt reflected in her eyes. “I thought she was just appearing to me because ... .” The older woman trailed off.

  “Because you killed her,” Harper finished. It was time to get to the heart of matters. “You knew her jogging route, knew that she cut through the cemetery, and you laid in wait for her. It was premeditated.”

  “No.” Mary’s lower lip quivered as she fervently shook her head. “That’s not what I was trying to do.”

  “Why don’t you tell us what you were trying to do?” Mel suggested in a calm voice. He was two shades paler than normal, and kept darting worried looks toward Cassie’s ghostly form, but he was remarkably calm given the circumstances. “We need to know. I think Cassie needs to know, too.”

  “She wanted to sacrifice me,” Cassie insisted, her glowing hands clenching and unclenching as she regarded her mother. “She wanted me to die in this house so she could get a five-minute break here or there. That’s what she wanted.”

  Harper had no doubt that’s exactly what Mary desired. She wanted to hear the woman say it for herself, though. “What did you think would happen, Mary?” she asked in a gentle voice. “What were you trying to do?”

  “I just wanted to talk to her,” Mary insisted, her voice quivering with emotion. “John doesn’t like it when I leave the house without a specific errand in mind. It’s my job to keep the house up. He can’t know if I go out for anything other than shopping.”

  Harper glared at John. To her surprise, Jared smacked the back of the man’s head.

  “What is wrong with you?” Jared hissed. “Why are you such a tyrant?”

  “He doesn’t know any better,” Mary replied dully. “He watched his father do the same thing to his mother. He learned from that man. The mistake was mine. I should’ve learned from his mother, who died when she was forty-five because it was easier than living with a tyrant.”

  “My mother was weak,” John shot back. “She took the easy way out. My father told me to make sure I found someone strong enough to make certain that wouldn’t happen. I thought I did ... but obviously I was wrong. You’ve been checking out since we got married.”

  Mary’s trembling hand flew to her mouth as she shook her head. “I did the best I could. I did everything you wanted. It was just never enough.”

  “Ignore him,” Harper admonished, moving to the spot behind Cassie and drawing Mary’s eyes to her. “He’s not important. He never was. That’s why he acts the way he does. He needs to feel important. You were the one who gave him that power.”

  “But I didn’t have a choice,” Mary protested, anguish evident. “It’s a wife’s job to provide a clean and comfortable house for her husband.”

  “You’ve got that right,” John agreed.

  “Don’t make me hurt you,” Jared warned.

  “Mary, I feel as if I should say something to make you feel better, but I just can’t do it,” Harper said. “I know you’ve suffered. That much is obvious. Your way of dealing with the suffering was to try to force it on other people, though. I would feel sorry for you if it wasn’t your own daughter you were comfortable sacrificing.”

  “She had to learn,” Mary insisted. “She had to. I didn’t teach her correctly and that’s why she failed at her marriage.”

  “Do you hear her?” Even in her bubbling state, Cassie had the presence of mind to look at Harper. “Do you see what she is? She killed me because she’s evil.”

  “No,” Mary barked out. “I’m not evil. I just ... wanted to talk to you. I had to go out early in the morning because that’s when John sleeps hardest.”

  “Once he’s out, he’s out,” Cassie fired back. “That’s what all that booze does to him. It makes him a heavy sleeper. Why do you think I got up so early in the morning? Why do you think I started jogging when it was still dark out?”

  “I just wanted to talk to you,” Mary insisted, hanging her head and showing the world the broken woman she’d become.

  Harper had to wonder when it had started. Was Mary always broken? Had John broken her? Had she been partially broken when they hooked up and he only finished the job? The ghost hunter had so many questions. They were not the questions that needed answers now, however.

  “Tell her,” Harper insisted. “Tell her why you did it. She deserves to know.”

  “I just ... needed her,” Mary choked out. “I needed her to come back and give me a break.”

  “You needed her to be John’s punching bag,” Harper deduced.

  “John never hit her.” Mary shook her head so hard her hair smacked her face. “He ... punished ... her. But that was only once or twice when she was younger. He stopped doing that.”

  “Is that what would’ve been the tipping point for you?” Harper queried. “If he’d continued to physically abuse her, would you have left?”

  “Of course. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

  And that’s when the final piece of the puzzle slipped into place for Harper. Slowly, deliberately, she switched her gaze to John. “That’s the answer to the question.”

  “And what’s the question?” John sneered, his evil attitude on full display. “What great truth do you think you’ve figured out?”

  “I’ve been wondering since this started, since we began talking about the sort of man you are, why you quit abusing Cassie as a kid. Even she said it only happened a few times and then you switched tactics. It’s because you knew that was a bridge too far and Mary would leave.”

  “I didn’t need my hands,” John said smugly. “Words were more than enough.”

  “You needed Mary to keep your house clean, make sure the other men in town respected you,” Jared said. “You didn’t care if they thought you were a loudmouth jerk. You just didn’t want them banding together and doing something if you got out of hand physically.”

  “You knew,” Harper insisted. “You knew that if you didn’t rein in your baser urges that you would lose the house of cards you’d so carefully built up. You made concessions and played the long game.”

  John merely shrugged. “Worked like a charm.”

  Before she realized what she was going to do, Harper unloaded a slap on the smug man’s face that was hard enough to rock him on his heels. John made a growling noise and started toward her, but Jared caught him with a hand in his shirt before he could take a single step.

  “If you lay one hand on my wife, I’m going to show you exactly what sort of damage can be done with my hands,” Jared warned. “I’ll kill you if you even look at her.”

  John balked. “I—”

  “Don’t even look at her,” Jared hissed with more venom than he realized he was capable of.

  Harper turned back to Mary. “You strangled her twice.”

  “I just wanted her to listen,” Mary insisted. “She wouldn’t listen. She kept talking back, telling me I was pathetic. She even suggested I move out. I mean ... I can’t move out. That’s not what a wife does. I just wanted her to be quiet for a second.”

  “She took me by surprise,” Cassie said, some of the fury that had been emanating off her ebbing. Harper was gratified that she’d been right. Cassie just wanted to be acknowledged. Now that the truth was coming out, she was turning back into a regular ghost. “Her hands were tight fists, though. It was almost as if she couldn’t cease clenching. They were desperate hands, bu
t I only realized that after she went after me.”

  “You could’ve left her after the first time you strangled her,” Harper pointed out. “You didn’t have to keep strangling her, Mary. That wasn’t necessary.”

  “Once she was on the ground, I thought she was dead,” Mary said, her tone listless. “I thought ‘what have I done’ and wondered how I was going to get away with it.”

  “Did you regret it?” Harper asked.

  “Of course but—” Mary broke off and chewed on her bottom lip.

  “But you didn’t want John to find out,” Harper finished for her.

  Mary nodded, her eyes glassy with tears. “He would’ve been really mad.”

  “So you strangled her again and made sure you did it right this time.”

  “I just had to keep John from finding out.” Mary held out her hands. “It was my only choice. You must understand.”

  Cassie was only lightly glowing now.

  “I understand,” Harper acknowledged. “You’re lost, and you’ll never be found.” She cocked her head as she regarded Cassie. “Do you understand?”

  “I never had a chance,” Cassie mused.

  “Probably not,” Harper agreed, and that hurt to admit. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay here, though.”

  “I’m always here. I can’t get out. This place ... it’s swallowing me whole. It will never stop.”

  Harper knew better than that. “No. I’m going to give you the gift that your mother couldn’t. I’m going to release you.” With that, she dropped the dreamcatcher on the ground directly next to Cassie and stomped her foot to ignite it.

  The dreamcatcher flared to life in fantastic fashion, brighter than it had ever been before, the other world visible on the other side.

  Jared gasped. “Is that ... ?”

  Later, Harper would wonder why he could see it. For now, though, she knew what she had to do.

  “Find your peace, Cassie,” she said as the ghost was swallowed into the opening. “Don’t ever think of this place again.”