“Ugh.” Harper let loose a dramatic sigh. “Fine. We’ll head over to Carl’s house. If he’s gross, though, I’m going to zap him over to the other side. I’m not even going to tell you before I do it. I’m just going to whip out a dreamcatcher and that will be it.”
“Fair enough.”
“You’re not going to give me grief about zapping him when we might still need him?” She was instantly suspicious.
“I have faith you’ll do the right thing. You always do.”
“Oh, that was schmaltzy.”
“I do my best.”
“You’re a master at it.”
“I’m fine with that.”
CARL’S HOUSE WAS A MESS when Harper and Jared walked through the front door. Papers were strewn up and down the hallway and couch cushions were shredded, the stuffing torn out. Jared immediately held up his hand to halt Harper when he caught sight of the chaos.
“Son of a ... .” He looked around, his eyes wide. “I can’t believe this.”
“What are we going to do?” Harper’s nerves were on full display as she glanced around the house. “Do you think whoever did this is still here?”
“I doubt it.” Jared kept her behind him all the same. “Call Mel. Tell him what’s going on.”
Harper didn’t offer up a word of argument, instead digging in her pocket until she came back with her phone. She immediately called Mel, who picked up on the second ring, and explained what happened. Jared remained vigilant until she’d hung up the phone.
“What did he say?”
“He’s on his way. He needs to get out of his driveway first, though. It might be a few minutes.”
“Okay.” Jared was grim as his eyes darted from one side of the foyer to the other. “I think you should go outside, lock yourself in my truck, and wait there until Mel shows up. I’m going to search the house.”
Harper was having none of that. “I’m staying with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Oh, but I am.”
“Harper!”
“Jared!” She mimicked his voice to perfection. “I’m not leaving you so don’t even try. We’re doing this together.”
“Oh, geez. You are so much work.”
“Right back at you.”
Jared drew his weapon from the holster at his hip and sent her a hard look. “You stay behind me. If I tell you to run ... .”
“Then I’ll run,” she finished.
He bobbed his head in agreement.
“As long as you’re right behind me,” she added.
The gaze he shot her was withering but there was nothing he could do. His first priority was to make sure the house was clear. That meant searching every inch. “Just ... be really careful,” he growled.
The search was methodical, and completely fruitless. It only took them fifteen minutes to search the structure from top to bottom — there were only so many places a grown human being could hide, after all — and Mel was coming through the front door when they finished.
“What do you have?” he asked, his eyebrows migrating north when he saw the mess in the living room. “What the ... ?”
“The house is empty,” Jared replied, his gun holstered again. “We went through every room. Whoever did this is gone.”
“Well, it would’ve been stupid for him or her to stay once the sun rose,” Mel noted, glancing around. “I’m guessing that our perp came in during the middle of the night, looked around, and then left. Did you see any footprints walking away from the house?”
Jared shook his head. “I didn’t. I wasn’t really looking when we walked up, but they would’ve stood out regardless thanks to the new snow we got.”
“Right. Which means that whoever broke in here did it and then left long before you guys arrived.”
“Yeah.” Jared shifted his eyes between the living room and foyer. “I’m guessing that someone was looking for the new will.”
Mel was officially intrigued. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, for starters, that’s what we’ve zeroed in on as a motive for Carl’s death — at least right now — and whoever did this was obviously searching for something.”
“Maybe he had diamonds hidden here or something,” Mel argued. “Someone could’ve known that.”
“Then why not search the house after killing him? There was time. Why not search the house yesterday ... or the day before? Our guy did it after we started asking questions about the will. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
“How would this person know, though?” Harper asked. “I mean ... how could anyone know what you were investigating?”
“Actually, I’m betting news got out quickly that we were at Elliot’s office yesterday,” Jared pointed out. “If it’s one thing we’ve learned since starting this one, it’s that lawyers are a gossipy bunch. They talk to each other, about each other, and over each other.
“Elliot was very forthcoming with us when we were talking,” he continued. “He said that absolutely no one liked Carl. They made fun of his dating choices, whispered about the way he screwed over Fran, and were basically in awe that he could constantly win the way he did. That means that everyone was gossiping about him on a regular basis, whether for good or bad reasons.”
“I guess.” Harper moved to a sheet of paper on the floor and bent over to pick it up. “This is paperwork from his house insurance packet.”
“I’m guessing that whoever was going through his files simply tossed everything when he or she didn’t find what they were looking for.”
“I get that but ... isn’t Carl’s office that way?” She pointed toward the hallway. “I seem to remember that from the search.”
“It is,” Jared confirmed.
“So ... why is the paperwork here?” She looked to the stairwell. “There are three rooms upstairs, right? Carl turned the master bedroom into his office.”
Jared caught up to her train of thought. “Why would the papers end up over here if the search was conducted back there?” He pointed and circled. “If the office was upstairs, then it might make sense for some of the papers to end up down here because they could’ve fluttered over the railing or something. These papers were tossed from that direction.”
“How do you know that?” Mel asked, staring toward the living room, which was the direction Jared indicated.
“Because they fluttered this way.” Jared strode into the living room and gave it a good once-over. “Here.” He moved to the desk and pulled open the top door. “Yeah. This desk is empty. I always assumed the desk was just for looks, but I’m guessing Carl kept things in here.”
“Someone jimmied the lock,” Mel noted as he dropped to his knees and studied the antique desk. “There are fresh scratch marks here. I think someone used a tool — probably a butter knife or maybe a small switchblade — to open the desk. The papers were strewn because they weren’t important to our perp.”
“You need to stop saying ‘perp,’” Harper instructed. “It makes you sound like a sad Miami Vice reject. I mean, seriously, who says that word?”
“I do and I happen to like it.” Mel flicked her between the eyebrows as he planted his hands on his hips. “So, do we think our suspect found the papers he was looking for?”
There was the question, Jared realized. “If so, we might be looking at an even worse problem.”
“And what would that be?”
“Well, we’re assuming that whoever broke in here did so because they wanted the new will. The theory is that whoever killed Carl didn’t want the old will changed. There were basically only two beneficiaries in the old will ... and that makes me nervous.”
“Agatha and Junior,” Mel intoned. “You think it’s one of them.”
“You met Agatha. She’s not strong enough to kill Carl. She’s weak.”
“Maybe she really did hire someone,” Mel suggested. “She’s a feisty old bird. She might’ve been so open to hating her son in front of us because she figured we woul
d never pin this on her.”
“She still would’ve needed money to hire a hitman,” Jared argued. “She acted as if she didn’t realize she was included in the first will.”
“That’s true.” Mel was rueful. “I’m not saying that I believe she’s guilty or anything. I just don’t think we should rule her out until we know more.”
“Fair enough. That leaves Junior. Do you think it’s him?”
“I really don’t want it to be him,” Mel admitted. “He grew up to be a strong young man despite having the worst father ever. I would like to believe he’s somehow transcended what happened to him.”
“He was the one getting the lion’s share of the money from that first will,” Jared pointed out. “That might be enough to kill for, especially to a guy like Junior who has never even had two nickels to rub together thanks to his greedy father.”
“Yeah, well ... I don’t know what to think.” Mel was at a loss. “We also can’t rule out Fran in all of this. If she knew her son was inheriting that money, that might’ve been enough to tip the scales. She might not have cared enough to kill Carl for her own needs, but I have no doubt she would do what it takes to protect her son. The question is: Would she go this far?”
“I don’t want to believe it’s her,” Jared admitted. “I don’t want to believe it’s Junior either, though.”
“What about Agatha?”
Jared pictured the tiny, brutally honest woman. “I don’t know that I can see her doing it either. They’re our three best suspects, though. You’re right. If it was a client, why break into the house and tear things apart like this? There’s no benefit after the fact.”
“That’s why we have to drill down.” Mel was resigned. “I think it’s one of the three. We just need to be absolutely sure which one because this is going to ruin a lot of lives.”
“I hate this,” Jared muttered.
“That makes two of us.”
Seventeen
Zander showed up at the house not long after. He didn’t bother knocking — or even calling out — before striding through the front door. He made a face when he saw the mess.
“This is what I believe the inside of my brain looks like every month when I have to balance the books,” he announced.
Jared shot him a dark look. “You can’t just walk into a crime scene, Zander.”
“Sure I can. The door was open.”
“Yeah, but ... .” He looked to Mel for help but the older detective clearly wasn’t interested in being dragged into the conversation.
“Why are you here?” Harper asked. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor going through some of the discarded documents. So far, she’d come up empty. All she’d managed to accomplish was disliking Carl more (if that was even possible) because he came across as a pretentious douche even in his correspondence, which she considered something of a miraculous feat.
“We have a job,” Zander replied, wrinkling his nose as he delicately stepped over some of the couch stuffing and moved closer to his friend. “Since we usually don’t get jobs this time of year, I thought you would want to jump on it.”
“Who?”
“Eleanor Pickens.”
Harper stilled, surprised. “You’ve got to be kidding. The same Eleanor Pickens we gave an estimate to in early December and she decided that she didn’t really have a ghost and was perfectly fine putting up with the weird occurrences in her house?”
“That would be the one.” Zander’s smile was broad. “She’s decided she really does have a ghost after all.”
“I have no problem helping her,” Harper said. “I think we should make her sign a contract before we do it, though. She strikes me as the type to back out when it’s all said and done.”
“I’ve already emailed one over. I told her I wanted it signed and notarized before we would do anything about her little problem. She whined about the notarizing but agreed. She’ll have the contract waiting for us when we arrive. If she doesn’t, we’ll turn around. I’m not playing games with that old bat.”
“You shouldn’t talk about Eleanor that way,” Mel chided. “She’s a nice woman ... who just happens to be a little nutty at times. I didn’t know she had a ghost.”
“She claims it’s Fred,” Harper explained. “It’s not, though.”
“Her husband Fred?” Mel made a face. “He was pretty lazy in life. I can’t imagine him being a real go-getter as a ghost.”
Harper snickered. “I never really thought about that, but you’re right. She’s convinced that he’s haunting her because she was a nag. I tried telling her that’s not how things work, but she won’t listen to me.”
“If it’s not Fred, who is it?”
“It’s her mother-in-law. I caught a glimpse of her when we were there the first time. She’s got a little crazy wafting around her, too.”
“How did you identify it as the mother-in-law?”
“There was a photo on the wall.”
“Ah.” The ghost thing was still hard for Mel to wrap his head around. He’d known Harper since she was a small child, believed in her abilities, and was genuinely very fond of her. That didn’t mean he could get behind the idea of rampaging ghosts running around and causing trouble. His mind simply refused to accept it. “How will you handle the situation?”
“We’ll simply trap her in a dreamcatcher and send her over. I even have one handy.” Harper dug in her pocket until she came back with one of the handmade dreamcatchers she designed to help lost spirits cross over. “I thought I might need to use it on Carl, but I guess I didn’t get that lucky.”
“He’s not here, right?” Jared looked around for confirmation. He couldn’t see ghosts but there were times he swore he could feel them.
“He’s not,” Harper agreed. “I don’t know where he is. I don’t really miss him. I guess I could look later if you want, though. We still need to figure out what’s in that new will. He might be the only one who can tell us at this point.”
“Don’t worry about that ... at least for now.” Jared crossed to her and kissed her upturned mouth. “You do what you need to do for work. I don’t want you worrying about this. We’ll ... figure it out.”
Harper wasn’t convinced. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. We have three suspects. I guess we’ll just have to break it down.”
“That sounds like a place to start.”
WHEN THEY GOT BACK TO the office, Jared and Mel made a plan. They were going to whiteboard everything they had on all their suspects and go from there. That meant Gloria as well, something Mel hated to bring up. Jared barely batted an eyelash when he did, though.
“No, I get it.” He was calm as he grabbed a marker and moved to the board. “For all we know, she could’ve somehow trapped him into changing his will so she’s the sole beneficiary. I think she might have that power over certain men.”
Mel snorted, genuinely amused. “I would never underestimate her.”
Jared blocked off the board into four parts and then started writing. “Okay, under Gloria, we have the fact that she fought with the deceased hours before his death.”
“She also returned and was in the house a significant amount of time before calling you,” Mel pointed out. “Have we ever figured out why she did that?”
“Um … no.” Jared furrowed his brow. “That’s a good question. I haven’t seen her to ask. Ever since Phil announced he was taking her to his house until she felt better, I’ve simply been so happy to have her out from under my roof I didn’t think to bother her with questions.”
“So, maybe we should call her in here.”
Jared shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable. “I guess we should do that. She’s going to put up a fight.”
“Yeah, well, she needs to tell us the truth.” Mel was firm. “We could pretty much cut her out as a suspect if it weren’t for those two things. I mean … what are the odds Carl changed his will so she’s the beneficiary? He’d only been dating h
er for a few weeks.”
“And the way Elliot made it sound, he was well aware the relationship wouldn’t last. He was only in it for the fun of it and had no doubt that it would be over once he got bored.”
“That means it doesn’t make sense for him to make Gloria the beneficiary.”
“No. Plus, Elliot said he contacted him two months ago about changing the will. He only finished the job two weeks ago. He wasn’t dating Gloria when he decided to change it.”
“Another good point. Hold on.” Mel had his cell phone in his hand. “I’m messaging Phil. I told him that we need her in here to answer a few more questions and that she’s not under arrest. If he doesn’t message back in an hour, we’ll go looking for her.”
“That should go over well.”
“There’s nothing else we can do.”
Since he agreed, Jared returned to the board. “Next up is Fran.” He felt bad for writing down her name, but they could hardly rule her out as a suspect. “She has no alibi other than work. We called and confirmed that she was at work during the run-up to the murder but not during the overnight hours. She left late that evening but had plenty of time to kill Carl.”
“You’ve met that woman. Do you think she’s honestly capable of killing Carl?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so but … people have been known to do strange things when pushed to their limits. I don’t fancy myself a murderer, but I would kill to protect Harper. What if Fran found out that Carl was going to take Junior out of his will for some reason? That might’ve pushed her over the edge.”
“I can see that.” Mel rubbed his forehead as he internally debated the possibility. “I have trouble picturing her doing it in my mind. I mean … after that first blow, he probably wouldn’t have been able to defend himself. If she took him by surprise, I can see that. I just don’t know what to think.”
“I don’t want to believe it’s her either,” Jared acknowledged. “I don’t see where we have much of a choice, though. He screwed her over so badly that she very well could’ve tamped down her rage for years. Maybe she told herself it would all be worth it because Junior was going to be okay and then she found out the opposite.”
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