“Perhaps they don’t want to get divorced and the fights are merely a way to drag things out,” Pam suggested.
“I’ve thought that myself, but they’re hateful to each other,” Harper admitted. “I love them both, but they’re a lot of work. They’re work together, and work apart. I don’t know how things will finally end between them, but I try to stay out of the arguments. They’re nothing but a headache.”
“Of course they are.” Pam turned solemn. “You seem sad, dear. Is something wrong? Are you upset that I came to town?”
“Oh, no,” Harper said hurriedly, internally cursing herself. “It’s just ... there’s a lot going on right now and I let my mind drift for a second.”
“To where?”
Harper pointed at the poster hanging on the wall on the far side of the restaurant. It was a missing person flier, and Zoe’s face was front and center. “I was momentarily distracted by that.”
Pam made a clucking sound with her tongue as she studied the poster. “Yes, Jared filled me in about the case on our drive back from the airport. That is simply tragic. Do you have any further leads?”
Jared shook his head. “No, but that’s the reason I can’t spend the afternoon with you. I need to check in with my partner. We’re desperate to see if we can find a trace of that little girl so we can get her home in time for Christmas.”
“Well, I think we all want that. Don’t worry about me.” She patted Jared’s arm and focused on Harper. “If you’re busy, that will give me time to get to know your girlfriend. I think we have a lot to discuss.”
The way she said it made Harper nervous. “Oh, I’m not very interesting.”
“You see and talk to ghosts.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make me interesting.”
“Don’t listen to her, Pam,” Zander chided, waving his hand. “She’s extremely nervous, and when she’s antsy like this, she says stupid things. She’s the most fascinating person I know ... other than myself, I mean. I wouldn’t have pledged myself as her non-romantic life mate if she wasn’t interesting.”
Pam’s eyes lit with amusement. “She’s nervous, huh? Why do you think that is?”
“I’m right here,” Harper muttered, annoyed.
“I know you’re here,” Jared whispered, patting her knee under the table.
“You also knew I would bring Shawn and Zander. You had places already set for them.”
“I knew you were afraid.” His fingers were gentle as he tugged a strand of hair behind her ear. “There was no need for you to be afraid, but I knew you needed a safety blanket. That meant Zander.”
“He’s not my safety blanket.”
“Oh, but he is.” Jared gave her a soft kiss and smiled. “It’s okay. Mom wants to meet everyone. I told her you were nervous.”
“I have no idea why I’m so terrified,” Harper admitted. “I’ve taken on hundreds of ghosts and never thought a thing of it. Meeting your mother, though, has completely knocked me for a loop.”
“I already told you. She’s going to love you no matter what.” He gave her another kiss, this one so soft it nudged a sigh out of her.
She wasn’t the only one at the table sighing, though. The moment their lips separated, Shawn and Pam both sighed, too. Zander merely glared at both of them and rolled his eyes.
“You guys are so cute I can’t stand it,” Pam said, shaking her head as her smile widened. “I mean ... look at you. You’re so pretty together, and you’re so romantic.”
“They’re schmaltzy,” Zander corrected. “They’re mushy freaks.”
“Oh, you stop that.” Pam wagged a finger at Zander. “They’re adorable together. What’s not to love?”
“I say the same thing to him at least once a week,” Shawn volunteered. “He doesn’t always agree with me.”
“They’re annoying,” Zander complained. “They should spend less time worrying about each other and more time worrying about me. I’m the interesting one.”
Pam’s giggle was infectious as she stared at Zander. “You guys have quite the little family, don’t you? I was worried about Jared moving to the other side of the state because we had no family over here. It looks like I didn’t need to worry. He merely started a new one.”
Jared’s grin was indulgent. “I like most of my new family. However, if you want to take Zander with you to the other side of the state when you go, Mom, I would be fine with it.”
“Ha, ha,” Zander muttered as Pam clapped.
“Just delightful,” she enthused. “I can’t wait to spend the afternoon with all of you.”
Harper wasn’t sure she felt the same way, but the nerves from earlier were mostly gone. “We’re looking forward to it, too. It’s going to be a great afternoon.”
Fifteen
Harper managed to loosen up over lunch, and by the end of the meal she was laughing and having a grand time. Pam was so amiable and easy — something she wasn’t used to with her own parents — she found she liked the woman, immensely. That made bonding with her a joy rather than a chore.
Once lunch was finished, Jared had to excuse himself to head to the station. He promised to keep in touch and join the small group as soon as possible. That left Harper, Zander, and Shawn to give Pam a short tour of Whisper Cove (it could hardly be long because the town was so tiny) before heading over to the houses.
Pam loved the beach locale, gushed over Jason’s restaurant and the view. She laughed at the kitschy shops and happily drank coffee from Rose’s place before absolutely freaking (in a good way) over the new house. She ignored the boxes spread everywhere in the living room and kitchen, commented on the endless potential of the space, and chuckled when Harper pointed out the back window and showed her the spot where they were going to put a hammock.
By the time they returned to the other house, Zander was in a mood because it was time to start his holiday baking extravaganza. Harper worried Pam would be bored hanging around the house and was debating a trip to the mall when the older woman declared she absolutely loved baking and insisted on serving as Zander’s apprentice. This was too much power for Zander, who roped in Harper and Shawn to help, too, so by the time Jared returned to the house early in the afternoon, the smell of baking cookies wafted through the house and the laughter in the kitchen was contagious.
“What are you doing home so early?” Harper asked as she approached him, wiping her hands on the apron Zander supplied.
“And hello to you, too,” Jared drawled, amused. He swiped at a light dusting of flour on her face and grinned. “Have you been replaced by an android?”
Harper was confused. “What?”
“An android,” he repeated. “I didn’t know you could bake. I’m worried this is the opening scene of our own version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something.”
Harper’s lips curved down. “Ha, ha, ha. You’re a funny guy.”
“If I didn’t become a cop, I would’ve become a clown,” he agreed, wrapping his arms around her slim waist and giving her a kiss. “How are things going?” he whispered so only she could hear. “Are you okay?”
“Your mother is wonderful,” Harper replied honestly. “She hasn’t made one passive aggressive comment about my outfit.”
Amused, Jared placed both hands on her cheeks and smacked a theatrical kiss against her lips. “My mother doesn’t care about things like that.”
“She loves Zander.”
Jared slid his eyes to the kitchen, watching as Zander barked orders. Pam followed them without complaint while Shawn rolled his eyes. “She loves Zander because she knows that Zander is the key to your heart.”
“I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“No, it’s not.” His smile was rueful. “I knew when we met that I was going to have to get on Zander’s good side if I expected to have a chance with you. He’s too important for you to disregard his opinion, so even though he drives you nuts, you listen to every word he says.”
“Not every wor
d.” Harper was firm. “An hour ago he was explaining his theory of why all men should wear pink and I totally tuned him out.”
Jared chuckled. “Fair enough.”
“Hey, you two, stop smooching over there and get with the program,” Zander ordered, drawing their attention. “Harper, you’re supposed to be handling the sprinkles on the Christmas tree cookies. I don’t see much sprinkling going on.”
Jared turned to glare at Zander and found his mother staring at him with thoughtful eyes. “What are you smiling at, Mom?” he asked after a beat.
“You.” Pam beamed. “You’re very happy together. That’s exactly what a mother wants to see.”
“Harper definitely makes me happy,” Jared agreed. “I could take or leave Zander, though.”
“Do you know what makes me happy?” Zander challenged, ignoring the dig.
“I’m going to guess cookies,” Shawn automatically answered.
“That would be it,” Zander confirmed without hesitation.
Harper snorted and pressed another kiss to the corner of Jared’s mouth before turning back. “I guess my presence is needed in the kitchen. The world will surely end if I don’t sprinkle like I’m supposed to. I am curious what you’re doing home so early, though. I thought you would be a few more hours.”
“There’s nothing I can do right now,” Jared admitted. “I have files for sex offenders in the area and I’m going through them. The state police have dogs at Jessica’s house trying to pick up Zoe’s scent. Days after the fact, they probably won’t pick up anything if she was only outside or in the driveway. If she was in the house, though, they should know.”
“What will it mean if she was in the house?”
“I have no idea.” Jared tugged a frustrated hand through his hair. “We don’t know where to look. I would like to say otherwise, but we’re circling. I’m going through the sex offenders. If anyone sticks out, they’re sending the dogs to that property to sniff around.”
“Can you do that without a search warrant?”
“I guess that’s up for debate, but if a trooper just happens to be walking by with a dog and it alerts ... then we can get a search warrant. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“Well, at least it’s something.”
“Other than that, we’ve got nothing to go on. Mel is going through Jessica’s phone records. There’s a possibility she was involved in the kidnapping and her partner turned on her. There’s also a chance she was killed as a distraction. We simply don’t know which way it’s leaning.”
“I’m sorry.” Harper meant it. “With your mother here, this is the worst time for things to go cold like this.”
“My mother understands about being a cop. She also has you and Zander to entertain her.”
“And we’ll do that.” Harper forced a smile. “Let me know if you need any help. Reading about sex offenders has to be better than putting sprinkles on cookies.”
“Don’t bet on that.”
AN HOUR LATER, the kitchen crew had moved on to chocolate chip cookies that were making Jared’s mouth water from afar as he waded through one horrific file after the other. He was bothered by the things he was reading, didn’t want to allow horrible things like that in the home he shared with Harper, and yet he wanted to be close to the action. Therefore, he continued working in the living room. Even though he didn’t add a lot to the conversation, he enjoyed watching Harper interact with his mother.
“How are you doing?” Harper asked as she delivered a mug of hot chocolate to him and perched on the arm of his chair to read over his shoulder.
“It’s dull and disgusting work.”
“I bet.” Harper frowned as she read the file. “That guy raped his elderly neighbor.”
Jared nodded. “She was ninety-five.”
“How is he still alive?”
“You’ll have to ask him. He only got seven years for it and is free. However foul he is, though, he’s not who we’re looking for.” Jared hit a button to go to the next file.
Curious despite herself, Harper tilted her head. “How do you know he’s not the one you’re looking for?”
“Because he committed rape as part of a home invasion scheme. He was mostly interested in robbing people. He’s not a pedophile.”
“Oh.” Harper made a face. “You don’t think Zoe was taken by a pedophile, do you?” The possibility was almost more than she could bear.
“I hope not. We simply don’t know, Heart. This is the first time since I moved here where I wished Whisper Cove had more technology going for it. Other downtown areas have cameras at every corner. Not Whisper Cove. What happened that day outside the coffee shop couldn’t have happened in other cities and towns.”
“It could’ve happened,” Harper countered. “You would simply have a lot more to go on.”
“We would probably already have her back.”
“Maybe. You don’t know that, though.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his forehead. “I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself. The longer we go without finding her, the darker my thoughts get.”
Harper could see that. “Listen ... .” She grabbed the computer from his lap and moved it to the coffee table so she could take its spot. She slid close to him, tugging a blanket from the arm to cover them both and snuggled in close. “I think you’re being too hard on yourself. There’s no way you can singlehandedly solve this. We need a little help.”
“And where do you suggest we get this help?” he asked, his hand moving over her back as he inhaled the scent of her. “You smell like vanilla, by the way.”
“Zander put some behind my ears because he claims it’s an aphrodisiac. Apparently he read in some magazine that men associate vanilla with cookies and that makes them happy … and horny. He said that in front of your mother, by the way.”
“I can’t argue with that.” He kissed her cheek. “I do kind of want to ... do this.” He rubbed his nose against her neck, causing her to laugh. “Seriously. If you were a cookie, I would be dunking you in milk right about now.”
“That is a really weird thing to say.”
“It’s also true.”
“Yeah, well ... what was I saying again?”
“You were explaining that I’m taking things to heart too much, that I can’t solve a mystery when I don’t yet have enough clues, and that I’m the most handsomest man in the world.”
“I’m the most handsomest man in the world,” Zander corrected from the kitchen, causing them to look in his direction.
Pam, who was standing by the counter, smiled so broadly Harper was convinced her face might actually split in half. “You guys are so cute,” she exclaimed, causing Shawn to smile and Zander to roll his eyes.
“They’re not cute,” Zander argued, wildly waving a spatula for emphasis. “They’re annoying. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to watch them paw each other every single day?”
“Well, that won’t be an issue for much longer,” Pam said pragmatically. “Harper and Jared have their own house. You guys are moving right after Christmas, right?”
Harper nodded as Zander’s scowl deepened.
“I don’t want Harper to move,” he complained. “I think Jared should move over there and she should stay with me. She can visit him across the street and things will stay the same between us.”
“I think you’re worried that Jared is supplanting you in Harper’s life,” Pam noted, her smile soft as she patted Zander’s arm. “You’ve been her closest confidant since you were children, and Jared’s appearance in your life seems somehow threatening.”
Zander’s expression was withering. “I am not threatened.”
“In your head, you’re picturing a substantial shift occurring when Harper moves in with Jared,” Pam continued, ignoring his petulance. “You think she’s never going to visit because Jared will want to keep her close. I don’t happen to believe that’s reality.”
“Oh, yeah?” Zander cocked an eyebrow. “You just met us. You don
’t know how things will go.”
“Why don’t you tell me how you think they’ll go.”
“I think that once they have their own place Harper is going to spend more and more time over there and then we’ll suddenly turn into work acquaintances rather than friends.”
“You don’t really believe that.” Pam was matter-of-fact. “You know that’s a fabrication your mind has come up with because you’re terrified of change. The thing is, change can be good or bad. You’re assuming this change will be bad. What happens if things get even better?”
Suspicion lit Zander’s eyes. “How are things going to get better?”
“Well, for starters, you’re going to build a stronger relationship with Shawn,” Pam explained. “Sharing a roof opens possibilities for a relationship. You and Shawn will be able to broaden your intimacy and set up boundaries for your own home. Jared and Harper will be able to do the same.
“It’s not as if Harper is moving to another town,” she continued. “In fact, she’s not even moving across town. She’ll be across the road. That seems to be a strategic move to me. Whoever thought of that was a genius.”
Jared preened as Zander glared at him.
“I’m sure you know that moving across the road was your son’s grand plan,” Zander complained.
“I do know that,” Pam confirmed, her lips twitching. “I’m sure if he had his druthers, he would’ve picked a house with a little more distance because you and he irritate each other. However, he had Harper’s needs in mind when he selected it.
“He wanted what was best for all concerned parties,” she continued. “That’s why you guys are still going to be close but not on top of each other.”
“I should’ve known you would take his side,” Zander muttered.
“It’s not about taking sides. It’s about ... possibilities. You have a lot of possibilities with this set-up. Think about when you have children. They’ll be able to race across the road to see each other and you won’t have to worry, not like that poor child who is out there right now.”
Ghostly Visions: A Harper Harlow Mystery Books 10-12 Page 34