Ghostly Wedding (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 17)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Ghostly Wedding

  A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 17

  Lily Harper Hart

  HarperHart Publications

  Copyright © 2021 by Lily Harper Hart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Books by Lily Harper Hart

  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  Prologue

  21 years ago

  “You’re wearing it wrong.”

  Zander Pritchett stomped over to his best friend Harper Harlow and grabbed the veil from the top of her head.

  “It’s cockeyed,” he complained. “It needs to be straight.”

  For her part, Harper merely shook her head. “I don’t understand why we’re playing this.” She was only eight but already set in her ways, as was Zander. They were best friends but didn’t always have the same interests. Normally, that wasn’t a problem. Today, Harper couldn’t see beyond her annoyance.

  “It’s fun.” Zander pushed his dark hair back from his face and regarded his best friend with a pointed stare. “It’s my day to pick what we play. You picked yesterday.”

  “Yes, but space pirates is fun for both of us.”

  Zander’s eye roll was pronounced. “It’s not fun. It’s dirty.”

  “We didn’t get dirty. Your mother warned us about getting dirty.”

  “Um ... my pants were totally dirty from rolling around on the ground. I don’t get why space pirates would be on the ground anyway. I mean ... they’re in space.” He drew out the final word in such a manner that it irritated Harper.

  “They go on away missions,” Harper shot back, making a face when Zander jabbed something into her head to keep the veil in place. “You can’t live on a spaceship forever. You have to visit planets or you’ll die.”

  Zander folded his arms over his chest. “Die of what?”

  “Of ... stuff.” Harper knew she was treading into dangerous territory. Making up stuff on the spot when dealing with Zander was never a good idea. He had a memory like an elephant. Er, well, he had a memory like the elephants Harper read about. It always made her leery because he would pretend to believe stuff and then throw it in her face months later that she’d been wrong once he did a bit of research.

  “I don’t believe you.” Zander shook his head. “There’s no disease that kills you for living in space.”

  “Yes, there is.”

  “No, there’s not.”

  “Yes, there is.”

  “Let’s hear it then,” Zander demanded, his eyes flashing. “I want to know exactly what sort of disease kills you in space, and remember, I’m totally going to look it up later so lying will get you nowhere.”

  Even though Harper knew he was telling the truth, she couldn’t stop herself from pressing the issue. “I don’t know what it’s called. I can’t remember. It’s something to do with gravity, though. Gravity on a ship is different than gravity on a planet so you have to make regular stops on planets to fix the gravity thing.”

  Zander worked his jaw. Even though he wanted to argue, that made an odd sort of sense to him. “Do the astronauts’ jaws and toes fall off?”

  The question threw Harper. “What? Why would they?”

  “Because they stick out, and I’m guessing if you don’t have gravity, the parts that stick out fall off.”

  “You’re guessing?”

  “I read stuff, too.” He made a face. “None of that matters. We’re playing the game I want to play today.”

  “It’s not a game, though,” Harper complained. “We’re just dressing up.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Zander went back to fussing with Harper’s hair. “I think you’re a pretty bride.”

  Harper had never thought of herself as a bride. In truth, the idea of being a wife seemed more alien to her than being a space pirate. All she knew about marriage was what she saw from her parents, and they were constantly fighting. Rather than bring that up, though, Harper decided to change the subject.

  “Where did you even get this veil thing?” She glanced in the mirror to get a gander at her reflection. “It looks old.”

  “My mom keeps it in the chest by her bed. She wore it at her wedding.”

  That set off alarm bells in Harper’s head. “Are you supposed to touch it?”

  “Of course. Why not?”

  “Because ... maybe it’s something she wants to keep clean or something.”

  “It’s not dirty. We’re not taking it outside.”

  Harper wasn’t convinced, but she knew better than arguing with Zander. He’d been her best friend for three years, ever since they were in the same kindergarten class and started hanging out. Now she couldn’t imagine a single day going by without seeing him.

  “Why do you want to play wedding anyway?” Harper queried, her gaze drifting back to her reflection. Zander kept calling her a beautiful bride, but she didn’t feel beautiful. She felt awkward, and she couldn’t explain it.

  Zander shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t know. I just do.”

  “That’s not really an answer.”

  “I don’t know that I have an answer,” he admitted. “I just think weddings are fun.”

  Harper could count on one finger the number of weddings she’d attended over the course of her short life, and that was only because an aunt had insisted she serve as a flower girl, a job that she’d found humiliating. “I think weddings are boring,” she admitted.

  “How can you say that?”

  “They just are. It’s old people dancing and talking to each other.”

  “There’s cake.”

  Harper nodded in agreement. She had to give him that one. “There is cake,” she agreed. “Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it isn’t, though.”

  “I hate the people who get white cake,” Zander said as he sank to the ground.

  Harper joined him, being careful to keep the veil in place. “I know, right? Cake shouldn’t exist if it’s not chocolate.”

  “Frosting is good no matter what, though,” Zander said.

  “Yeah.”

  They lapsed into amiable silence. Harper was the first to break it, which was unusual for their friendship. Usually Zander was the chatty one. “Do you think you’ll get married one day?”

  Zander nodded without hesitation. “Yeah, and I’m going to have a huge wedding. It’s going to have birds flying all around in the church.”

  Harper wrinkled her nose. “Birds? You can’t have birds in a church. They’ll crap everywhere.”

  Zander snorted. “You can train them not to crap.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “Uh-uh.” Harper was firm. “You can’t train birds not to crap inside. That’s not a thing.”

  “It is so. I saw this video on the television where people trained birds
to talk, like humans. If you can train them to do that, then you can train them not to crap inside. I mean ... talking is much harder than holding it in.”

  He had a point and still Harper thought it was a strange conversation. “How come you’re so excited to get married?”

  “How come you’re not?” Zander shot back defensively. “You’re a girl. You’re supposed to think about marriage all the time. That’s a rule or something.”

  “I guess I’m not a normal girl.”

  “I could’ve told you that.”

  “I just don’t think about it.” Harper moved her feet so they rested on top of Zander’s dress shoes. Why he’d decided to dig them out and dress in his best suit in the first place was beyond her. When you added to that the fact that he’d made her dress in a sheet and pretend it was a wedding gown and then adamantly wrestled the veil on her, she was starting to think that the entire day was going to be a waste.

  “How come?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m going to get married.”

  Zander’s mouth dropped open. “You have to get married. It’s the law.”

  “No, it’s not. I know lots of people who aren’t married.”

  “What will you do if you don’t get married?”

  “I think I want to own my own business.”

  “Not a space pirate ship?”

  “No, just a regular business. Like ... maybe I’ll be a private investigator or something like Nancy Drew. Or maybe I’ll own a restaurant.”

  “Can you cook?”

  “No.”

  “Your mom can’t cook either.”

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t learn to cook.”

  “Yeah, I don’t see you cooking.” Zander leaned forward and regarded her with mild interest. “I could see you being a private investigator. Nancy Drew is lame, though. You should try to be like Trixie Belden. She’s more fun.”

  “Yeah.” Harper rubbed her cheek and watched Zander fuss with the hem of the veil. “Who do you think you’re going to marry?”

  “I don’t know.” He didn’t meet her gaze. “I haven’t gotten that far.”

  “You could marry Wonder Woman.”

  “Only if she let me borrow her bracelets.”

  “True.” Harper nodded in understanding. “I want those bracelets, too.”

  “Who would you marry if you could?” Zander queried. “I mean ... if you could marry anyone in the world, who would it be?”

  Harper cocked her head, considering. “Keanu Reeves,” she said finally. “He’s really cute in that new movie with the cool special effects.”

  Zander popped his lips and nodded. “I could see that.”

  “What about you? Who would you marry?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.”

  “What about the girl in 10 Things I Hate About You? She’s pretty.”

  “I like her attitude.”

  “Me, too.” Harper grinned. “She might make a good wife.”

  “I don’t really have a person in mind to marry,” Zander hedged. “I don’t think about that part of it.”

  “You could marry me.” Even as the words escaped, Harper had to wonder if it was a sentiment worthy of giving voice to. “I mean ... you could get the wedding you want and I wouldn’t have to worry about picking a husband. It might work out well for both of us.”

  Zander shook his head. “You can’t marry your best friend. It’s illegal.”

  That didn’t sound right to Harper. “Why would it be illegal?”

  “Because you can’t kiss your best friend. It’s gross. That’s like kissing a sister ... or a toe with fungus on it.”

  Harper made a face. “I think I’m a little better than a toe with fungus on it.”

  “You are but other people aren’t. That’s one of those rules that’s made for all people.”

  “Oh.” Harper nodded in understanding. “It’s like when my dad says, ‘this is why we can’t have nice things’.”

  “Totally.” Zander shifted so he was staring directly into her face. “I can’t believe you don’t want to get married,” he said finally. “You’re totally screwing up your life.”

  That made Harper laugh. “I know people who don’t get married and they’re happy. That will probably be me.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  Harper held out her hands and shrugged. “Married people boss each other around. They tell each other what to do and fight all the time.” She thought of her parents and involuntarily shuddered. “I don’t want to end up that way. I don’t want to fight all the time.”

  “Not all married people are like that,” Zander argued. “Your parents don’t count because I think they might’ve been taken over by aliens, and not those face-hugger ones, but the other ones that make you act weird.”

  “It would be nice if the aliens came back to get them,” Harper said. “They give me headaches.”

  “That’s because they’re loud and forget you can hear them.” Sympathy washed over Zander’s face as he patted Harper’s shoulder. “Don’t let them get to you. They’re not the sort of married people we’re going to want to be.”

  “What sort of married people do we want to be?”

  “The sort who smile all the time ... and dance in the living room ... and take walks on the beach at night.” He took on a far-off expression. “Some people are happy all the time when they’re married. That’s the sort of married person I want to be.”

  He made it sound so nice, Harper mused. She wasn’t certain she believed it was possible to love someone like that, though. “Are you sure there are real married people like that? Maybe that’s just in the movies.”

  “No. There are real people like that. I’ve read it in books, too.”

  “Then that doesn’t sound so bad.”

  “Right?” Zander’s eyes sparkled. “I’m sure you and Keanu will have a great wedding. We should practice for it.” He held out his hand to help her up.

  Harper didn’t look thrilled at the prospect of returning to their fake wedding games, but she didn’t see where she had a lot of choice. “Okay.” She slipped her hand into his. “I get to pick tomorrow, though, and it’s going to involve sharks.”

  “But of course.” Zander grinned at her. “Who doesn’t love sharks?”

  And that right there was why they were best friends. “Let’s get this over with. I want ice cream after.”

  “Mom left money on the counter. Twenty more minutes and we’re out of here.”

  “I guess I can deal with that.”

  1

  One

  Present Day

  Harper Harlow woke with a jolt, her heart pounding and her brain threatening to fry.

  “I need to get the thing for the thing.” She blurted out that statement before looking around to see if anybody was within hearing distance. She needn’t have worried, because next to her, his head still on a pillow, her fiancé was just beginning to stir.

  “Okay,” Jared Monroe murmured as he slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her to him. “You need to get the thing for the thing. You can do that later.” He absently brushed a kiss over her forehead as he tried to settle her into the spot right next to him.

  “I do,” Harper murmured, pressing her eyes shut. “I really, really do.”

  “Okay.” His fingers fluttered over her collarbone. He wanted nothing more than for her to go back to sleep. Sure, he only had thirty minutes before the alarm would go off and force him to turn to the business of the day, fighting crime in Whisper Cove, but he was more than happy to spend those thirty minutes dozing and holding her.

  “Okay.” She willed herself to drift off. Jared needed his sleep after all. What he didn’t need was a neurotic girlfriend. Despite her determination, she couldn’t shake the dream. “We can’t give Zander a flyswatter at the wedding.”

  Jared had almost made it to that hazy place where you can float and recharge when the words sank in. “Excuse me?” He opened one eye.

>   “A flyswatter,” Harper murmured. “He can’t have one. He’ll beat the guests with it.”

  “Uh-huh.” Jared didn’t know what to think. When he proposed months before, he thought it was a natural step. They were living together. They loved one another. They wanted to build a forever life with one another. He had no idea the wedding was going to cause his beloved to break down in the buildup to the ceremony.

  In truth, Jared didn’t see Harper’s meltdown coming. She wasn’t the sort of woman to fuss over small details. The big detail — pledging herself to Jared for the rest of her life — wasn’t a problem in the least. Somehow, though, the little details had started to eat away at Harper over the past two weeks ... and Jared wasn’t thrilled with the development.

  “Why would we give Zander a flyswatter?” he asked, referring to her best friend and the man who would be standing up with her at the wedding. As much as Harper loved him, Jared often wished he could send Zander on frequent business trips out of town just to get a break.

  “I don’t know.” Harper’s voice was soft. “He had one, though. It was white with intricate beadwork.”

  Jared recognized the tone. “Intricate beadwork like what’s on your dress?”

  “He’s the one who calls it intricate beadwork. That’s not me.”

  “I’m well aware.” Jared shifted his arm so he could wrap it around her, readjusting so her head rested on his chest. He wanted her to sleep. Even more than that, though, he wanted her to stop panicking. “You have something planned for today, right?” He searched his memory. He couldn’t exactly remember what was on her itinerary for the day.

  “My final dress fitting.” Harper didn’t open her eyes, instead resting her hand on Jared’s chest. She appreciated the way the steady beat of his heart caused the excess chatter in her brain to dissipate.