Ghostly Worries (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 4)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “You know what? I found I really did like it,” Jason admitted. “I owe Amy for making me step outside of my comfort zone because I really enjoy cooking and the business side of owning a restaurant. Even though I put a lot of effort into everything for two years, though, I realized the marriage was doomed at some point.

  “Amy is the type of woman who can’t be spontaneous,” he continued. “She has a list of life goals and she checks them off as she moves forward. One of the items on that list was to be pregnant by the time she was twenty-six. I knew that was a mistake.”

  “That’s when you ended it?” Jared was genuinely curious.

  “She came into the bedroom one day and just announced she was done taking birth control and it was time to have a baby,” Jason said. “There was no romance, no discussion. It was baby time. I told her I didn’t think we should have a baby and instead suggested therapy.”

  “How did that go over?”

  “Not well at all,” Jason replied, chuckling at the memory. “She stormed out of the bedroom and slept in the guest room. The next night when I returned home she’d changed the locks and left an envelope taped to the front door.

  “You see, the townhouse where we lived was technically owned by her parents so I had no say in the ownership,” he said. “I didn’t think it was a problem at the time, but looking back, I see how stupid I was. She put all of my stuff in a storage locker and left the key.”

  “That seems a little harsh,” Jared said, his heart going out to the man even though he remained wary. “Did you talk to her?”

  “She refused to take my calls. Heck, she had her cell phone number changed. I didn’t see her again until we had our first meeting with the lawyers.”

  “Was there a pre-nup?”

  Jason nodded. “Her parents were very protective of their assets and I don’t blame them for that,” he said. “I didn’t want money from her. I just wanted an explanation. I wanted to know how ‘til death do us part’ turned into ‘give me a baby or get out.’”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said love was something girls made up to comfort themselves as children and she didn’t believe it existed,” Jason answered. “She said she thought we were a good match and could have a satisfactory life. Satisfactory. Can you believe that?”

  “No.”

  “We settled after two mediation sessions,” Jason said. “She offered me half of the joint bank account and I took it even though she earned most of the money. I figured if I was starting over I might as well have some money to do it. I might be a little bitter where Amy is concerned.”

  “I can’t say I blame you,” Jared said. “Maybe I didn’t see the marriage information because it happened in another state, or perhaps I just didn’t think to look for it. It was a little troubling to come up out of the blue like it did, but if your story holds up – and you should know Mel is contacting your soon-to-be-ex-wife today – then it kind of takes the motive off the table.”

  “Amy wouldn’t care if I married a mermaid at this point,” Jason said. “I’m no longer a part of her life so it’s as if I don’t even exist. It’s troubling … and hurtful … but it is what it is.”

  “And that’s why when you saw Harper you were so eager to reconnect,” Jared said, rubbing the back of his neck as he reclined in the chair. “You thought that you found your happy ending and had it turn into a nightmare and were looking for something – someone, really – to plug that hole in your life.”

  “You might be reading a little more into the situation than necessary,” Jason countered. “I saw Harper and realized she was just as beautiful as I remembered. You might not realize this, but she’s … freaking hot.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Jared said dryly.

  “She’s not fake, though,” Jason said. “She says what she means. She doesn’t pretend to have feelings for someone and then toss them out the door when things aren’t at a satisfactory level. She gave me hope when I saw her.”

  “So you haven’t been pining away for ten years in the hopes that you could revisit your high school love affair?”

  Jason barked out a laugh. “I liked Harper a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but two months is nothing. Even in high school I was aware it was a fling. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have faint hope we could have a shot at the real deal as adults.”

  “Before me, you mean?”

  “Before you,” Jason conceded. “You don’t have to worry about me going after her. I thought there might be a chance for us even after I met you because you’d only been dating a few weeks. Then I did the smart thing and actually watched the two of you when you interacted, like yesterday at lunch, for example.

  “You’re in sync,” he continued. “You make her smile. Her face lights up when you’re around. Even when she’s pretending to be mad, like she was when you tricked her into coming here, she can’t get enough of you.”

  “That’s good, because I can’t get enough of her,” Jared said. “You shouldn’t have kept this from us because it makes you appear guilty, but if everything checks out, I think you’re back to being in the middle of the list because I can’t see a motive where you’re concerned.”

  “That’s a relief, huh?” Jason flashed a rueful smile. “It’s bad enough I’m about to be divorced and my wife didn’t find me satisfactory. Being a murder suspect on top of that would pretty much kill my dating prospects around here.”

  Jared smirked. “I think you’ll do fine on the dating circuit,” he said. “You simply need to realize that just because your happy ending didn’t work out, that doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up on mine.”

  “Harper is off limits,” Jason said, raising his hands. “I get it. Don’t shoot me.”

  “I have no intention of shooting you,” Jared said. “I will, however, take an iced tea now.”

  “You’ve got it,” Jason said. “While you’re drinking it you can tell me how to make Zander stop hating me. I swear I saw him hiding in my bushes the other night watching me. He had on a helmet or something.”

  “HARPER!” Zander’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as he struggled to get out of the reclining chair.

  “I don’t think Zander needs a filling,” Harper said, forcing her voice to remain calm even as her heart rate sped up. “I definitely don’t think he wants to get drilled.”

  Zander mutely nodded.

  “That could be why he has performance issues,” Cecelia said, the smile on her face reminding Harper of the murdering clown in It. “Don’t get all worked up. This will be over in a few minutes. I’ll get the doctor right now so you guys don’t have to wait it out. This one looks as if he’s going to have a heart attack.”

  Harper waited until Cecelia left the room before grabbing Zander’s arm and jerking him to his feet. “We’re leaving.”

  “I am going to kill you,” Zander spat, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth. “That woman wants to drill me. Do you have any idea how horrifying that is?”

  Harper shrugged. “If you were straight you might like it,” she said. “She’s pretty, especially for how old she is.”

  “And crazy!” Zander’s eyes were wild. “You realize she wants to kill us, right?”

  “I thought I was the only one who figured that out,” Harper mused. “I think she killed Rosie. Did you hear the way she talked about her? I mean … seriously. You at least pretend to be sorry when someone dies. Only sociopaths aren’t sorry.”

  “Why would she kill Rosie, though?” Zander asked, jerking the paper napkin off his chest and making a face. “If you ever tell anyone how much I drooled today, the friendship is over.”

  Harper wasn’t worried in the least by that threat. “You’re just lucky I was too shocked by what she was saying to take photographs. Come on. We have to get out of here.”

  “Don’t you think she’s going to notice we’re gone?” Zander asked, worried as he cast a quick glance over his shoulder. “She might chase us with a drill. She’ll be like th
at deranged dentist in that horror movie.”

  Harper made a face as she moved toward the door. “What horror movie?”

  “You know which one,” Zander snapped. “The one with the dentist.”

  “I don’t ever remember watching a dentist horror movie with you,” Harper said, pressing her ear to the door before opening it. “Are you sure you’re not making that up? Maybe the dentist killed the giant tick or something and you’re confusing things.”

  “I can’t even look at you,” Zander muttered, annoyed. “How have we remained friends for this long?”

  “Because there are different kinds of soul mates.”

  Despite the serious nature of the situation, Zander couldn’t help but smile. “I love you, too.”

  Harper pressed a finger to her lips as she linked fingers with Zander and led him out of the room. The office was quiet – too quiet, in fact. Cecelia made it sound as if they were swamped and yet Harper was certain the building was almost empty.

  Zander’s grip on her hand was so strong Harper worried she would lose circulation, but she pushed forward until she heard voices toward the front of the office.

  “Do you know where Dr. Kennedy is?” Cecelia asked. Harper was pretty sure she was talking to the receptionist.

  “He should be around,” the other woman replied. “Why?”

  “I need him to fix a small cavity for that walk-in we had.”

  “What is it with people walking in so close to lunch?” the receptionist complained. “Don’t they understand we want to eat, too?”

  “I don’t think these two understand much,” Cecelia said. “They seem slow or something. I thought they had some weird sex vibe – maybe like they got off on the pain of dentistry or something – but the guy is clearly gay.”

  Harper exchanged a look with Zander as she tried to swallow her laughter. Now that they were out of the room and Cecelia wasn’t going on and on about drilling things she sounded witty and normal. Harper was starting to rethink her earlier theory.

  “Maybe the woman is one of those chicks who thinks she can turn a gay guy straight,” the receptionist suggested. “I tried that once, by the way. It never works. It also never works when the guy claims he’s bi-sexual. Bi-sexuality is just a refueling point on the flight to Gay Island.”

  “Good to know,” Cecelia said, her tone blasé. “You can take off for lunch now. Make sure you lock the front door. I’ll let these guys out through the back as soon as Dr. Kennedy is done. It shouldn’t take him more than a few minutes.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you after lunch.”

  Harper realized Cecelia was heading back in their direction only moments before the hygienist turned the corner. She managed to tackle Zander behind two filing cabinets and pull him under a table in a small office before Cecelia got a glimpse of the area where they previously stood. The duo held their breaths as Cecelia passed, locking gazes as they tried to get a grip on what was happening.

  “What do we do?” Zander was beside himself. “I don’t want to get drilled. I’d rather see the tick at this point.”

  “I don’t know,” Harper muttered. “What if we’re wrong and she’s not the killer?”

  “Does it really matter at this point? We’re hiding under a table on a filthy floor in a dentist’s office. She’s either going to kill us or call the people with straightjackets to lock us up.”

  He had a point. Harper dug in her pocket until she found her phone and pulled up the text-messaging app. She swallowed hard before typing. “Jared is not going to like this.”

  “And now is the point when I say … I told you so.”

  Twenty-Two

  “Do you think you and Harper will get married?”

  Now that he wasn’t as agitated about the possibility of Jason being a murderer Jared found that he didn’t mind conversing with the man – especially since he promised to stop going after his girlfriend. The question caught Jared off guard all the same and he sipped his iced tea as he mulled how to answer.

  “It’s okay,” Jason said, chuckling as he held his hands up. “That’s really none of my business. You guys haven’t been dating for very long.”

  “That’s true, but … yeah, I see us getting married.” Even as the words left his mouth Jared realized he meant them. He briefly wondered if he said them to reaffirm the idea that Jason shouldn’t go after Harper, but he realized that wasn’t the case. “It’s obviously still too soon and a lot of things could happen between now and then, but … she makes me happy.”

  “I can see that,” Jason said. “You know, when we were in high school all of the other girls would whisper about Harper and Zander. They thought there was something odd going on between them.”

  “There’s always something odd going on between them.”

  Jason snorted. “Yeah, but a lot of the girls thought Zander was pretending to be gay and he and Harper were really … you know.”

  “I would be lying if I said their close relationship didn’t throw me off a little bit at the beginning, but I understand they’re joined for life,” Jared said. “Harper would never be happy without Zander, no matter how annoying he gets sometimes. You should see them together … I mean when Zander isn’t spying on you or hissing ‘thunder stealer’ every time you talk. They’re kind of magical.”

  “You know it’s weird for a guy to be okay with another guy spending that much time with his girlfriend, right?”

  “Perhaps,” Jared conceded. “They’re a unit, though. I think they share part of the same heart. I don’t have a problem with their relationship. At a certain point the living arrangements are going to have to be addressed, but that’s down the line. It doesn’t have to happen right away.”

  “Oh, I never thought about that,” Jason said, his eyes flashing. “See, I never could’ve dated her. Zander wouldn’t let me through the front door.”

  Jared grinned. “I actually like that they live together right now,” he said. “She constantly finds trouble and he would die to protect her. He’s mouthy beyond all reason, but he’s also the most loyal guy around.”

  “Does she find trouble because of the ghosts?”

  Jared stilled, uncomfortable. “I … what?”

  “She told me,” Jason said. “Well, to be fair, when she took off without answering my questions about why she was at the house that first day I asked Jenny and she told me. Harper confirmed it, though. She doesn’t seem ashamed about it.”

  “She shouldn’t be ashamed about it,” Jared said. “She’s extremely smart and she does a service for people. If she wasn’t good at what she does, people wouldn’t hire her.”

  “I wasn’t saying anything bad about her,” Jason said, holding his hands up. “I don’t think Zander is the only one with a loyal streak, by the way.”

  “She’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” Jared said, his smile fond as he thought about his blonde. “She makes me laugh.”

  “That’s what the girls in high school didn’t get,” Jason offered. “They tried to conform to what they thought they should be. Harper knew who she was and didn’t try to fit herself into a little box to make others happy. That’s why all of the guys secretly wanted Harper.”

  “Well, she’s mine now,” Jared said, scowling as his phone dinged. “Well, I think work is about to call me back to the real world.”

  “Please tell me how Amy reacts to Mel’s questions,” Jason said. “I’m dying to know if she told him I was unsatisfactory.”

  “You need to let that go, man,” Jared said, knitting his eyebrows together as he studied the phone screen. “You’re better than her and will find someone new who isn’t my girlfriend. Just … have a little patience.”

  “Is something wrong?” Jason didn’t know Jared well, but he could read the distress – and brief flash of anger – crossing the other man’s face. “Did Amy say something bad to Mel?”

  “It’s not Mel,” Jared muttered, swearing under his breath as he got to his feet. “In typical fashio
n, Harper ignored everything I told her to do this morning and now she’s convinced a dental hygienist is a murderer and she and Zander are hiding under a table in an office.”

  Jason pressed his lips together but couldn’t contain his laughter when it bubbled up. “Can I please go with you and see that?”

  “You can come with me, but only because I’m slightly worried they may be on to something,” Jared said. “You can call Mel for me in the car.”

  “Wait … do you really think the dental hygienist is a murderer? That’s ludicrous.”

  “It might be,” Jared said. “I also think the odds of the murderer being at that office are as good as anything else. Come on. I’m seriously going to wring both of their necks when I see them.”

  “Ah, an opening for me,” Jason teased.

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  “WHAT do we do?”

  Zander was a ball of uncontrollable nerves as he crouched under the table with Harper.

  “I don’t know,” Harper whispered, darting her eyes to the hallway. “Maybe we can sneak out through the front since she’s looking for us in the back.”

  “She probably thinks we’re drug fiends and here to steal the laughing gas,” Zander lamented. “We might end up in the newspaper if we’re not careful.”

  “Yes, right next to the birth announcements and weekly mom garage sales,” Harper muttered, rolling her eyes. “We can’t stay here. As long as someone is in the hallway they can’t see us because of that counter thing over there. If they walk in this room, though … .”

  “Then we’re the idiots hiding under a table for no rational reason,” Zander finished. “I blame you for this.”

  “Oh, I blame you for this,” Harper shot back. “You’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “You didn’t stop me from coming in here,” Harper said. “You had the power and you opted not to wield it.”

  Zander was incensed. “What power?”

  The friends were so intent on each other they didn’t notice an extra pair of legs in the room until someone made a throat clearing sound and drew their attention to the open doorway. Harper was relieved to find male legs instead of female.