Ghostly Distress (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 9)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “I’m going to seduce you. I just thought between rounds of seduction we could talk about house stuff while we’re actually in the house and don’t have Zander breathing down our necks.”

  “Ah.” Jared brightened considerably. “You’re saying we’re going to spend the night here and enjoy nothing but each other for the next twelve hours or so.”

  “Basically.”

  “Sold.” Jared yanked off his shoes and tossed them away from the blanket, looking up when Harper carried in two cute soup bowls on a tray. “That smells good.”

  “I wish I could say I made it, but I’m a terrible cook,” Harper admitted, carefully lowering herself to the ground. “It does smell good, though.”

  “It definitely does.” Jared dug in the picnic basket and came up with sandwiches. “This was a good idea.”

  “I thought so.” Harper unwrapped her sandwich. “Zander helped me collect everything – including the candles – so I owe him a little bit. I’m still not painting our kitchen pink.”

  “No, pink is out of the question. Just blame it on me.”

  “I should be an adult and take it on myself.”

  “Or you could just blame it on me.”

  Harper grinned as she dipped the corner of her sandwich into her cream of broccoli soup. “Maybe I’ll just blame it on you.”

  Jared returned the smile. “Good idea.” He stretched out on his side and glanced around the living room. “I know you’re concerned about furniture, but we could always use what Henry Spencer left behind when he died. His daughter didn’t want it so it’s technically ours to do with as we please. That will allow us some breathing room.”

  Harper shifted, uncomfortable. “I know this is going to sound weird given what I do for a living, but I don’t want to sit on a dead guy’s furniture.”

  Jared barked out a laugh. “Fair enough.” He broke the corner off his sandwich and popped it into his mouth. “Can I ask you something?”

  Harper bobbed her head. “Of course.”

  “Are you excited to live here with me?”

  Harper widened her eyes. “Do you think I’m not excited?”

  “I think you seem excited and a little nervous,” Jared clarified. “It’s a big deal.”

  “Living together?” Harper smirked. “I’ve been living with a guy for years. It’s not such a big deal.”

  “Ha, ha.” Jared poked her side. “You’ve been living with your best friend. Now you’re moving in with the guy you love. That’s different.”

  “That is different,” Harper agreed. “I am really excited about it. I’m also a little nervous, which I was hoping you wouldn’t pick up on. You’re too perceptive.”

  “Do you want to know something? I’m a little nervous, too.”

  Harper brightened, hopeful. “You are? What are you nervous about?”

  “Well, for starters, I have to wonder what’s going to happen if you get bored and need someone to entertain you. I keep picturing having to walk over to the other house so I can collect you because Zander is the one you go to when you want to have fun. Of course, when I picture that, I see you and Zander clinging together as I try to wrench you free from his grip. I would appreciate it if that didn’t happen.”

  Harper snorted. “That’s not going to happen. I’m sure Zander and I will hang out, but I’m not a kid. I don’t need constant entertainment. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “I’m also worried that you’re going to miss Zander more than you like living with me.” Jared felt exposed and lowered his eyes. “I’m legitimately fearful you’ll spend two nights over here and change your mind.”

  Harper balked. “I would never do that.”

  “Because you don’t want to upset me or because you wouldn’t want to?”

  “Because I wouldn’t want to.” Harper was firm. For some reason, Jared admitting his worries calmed her. “I worry about the same thing, though, for the record. I worry that we’re going to get over here and you’re suddenly going to come to your senses and realize I’m not very interesting without Zander constantly talking in my ear. What if you get bored?”

  “Oh, I’ll never get bored, Heart.” Jared tipped up her chin with his thumb. “You’re interesting all on your own. Truth be told, Zander makes you too interesting. I like you when we have one-on-one time.”

  Harper leaned so her forehead was resting against Jared’s and sighed. “We’re going to make this work, aren’t we?”

  Jared nodded without hesitation. “It’s going to be an adjustment, but we’re definitely going to make it work.”

  “We still have to get rid of this furniture.”

  “I’ll see if I can put up a listing and unload it. I’ll get it out of here as soon as possible.”

  “Good.”

  “Yeah.” Jared gave her a quick kiss and then turned back to his sandwich and soup. “Let’s eat and then get comfortable with our catalogs. I’m looking forward to making some decisions.”

  Harper’s lips curved. “That makes two of us.”

  FIVE HOURS LATER, ALL the candles except one on the coffee table had been extinguished. Jared decided to leave that one to serve as a nightlight so no one would accidentally careen into a wall in the darkness.

  The couple did exactly what they said they would. They played and then settled down to look at catalogs and talk about their future. Then they shifted from one sort of dreaming to another. It was there Harper found herself trapped now.

  “Who is out there?”

  She was fearful as she glanced around the dreamscape, her hand pressed close to her mouth as she scanned the darkness. Her heart pounded and she could swear she felt someone watching her. She wasn’t one to believe in prophetic dreams but that didn’t stop her from feeling afraid.

  “I know you’re out there,” Harper rasped as she stared at trees she didn’t recognize. “Show yourself. If you have something to say, say it.”

  No one answered. No one stepped forward. And still, Harper could hear movement in the distance. Even though she knew it was fruitless – dream logic never makes sense, after all – she started to run. Terror drove her to make the move and she couldn’t stop herself.

  She fought hard to stay upright as she zipped between the trees, hoping her natural athletic ability would allow her to remain fleet-footed as she attempted to outrun her pursuer.

  The more she ran, the more terrified she got. She could feel something getting close, someone’s fingers moving near enough to brush against her hair without grabbing it. With each step, her heart rate increased. With each smack of a branch against her face, her anxiety mounted until she burst free from the trees and ran smack dab into a faceless shadow.

  Harper screamed when she felt a set of arms moving around her, and bolted to a sitting position on the air mattress in the middle of the living room in her new house. She sucked in a weighted breath and risked a glance to her right, where she found Jared calmly slumbering.

  Just a dream. It was just a dream.

  As if feeling a set of eyes watching her, Harper slowly shifted her gaze until it landed on something dark and filmy in the corner of the room. She recognized the ghost right away because she’d been looking for that female face for almost forty-eight hours.

  “Maggie.”

  The ghost didn’t say anything, instead shaking her head as she slowly disappeared. She was gone within seconds.

  “What’s wrong, Heart?” Jared murmured as he ran his fingers up and down her arm. “Do you feel okay?”

  Harper forced herself to recline and rest her head on Jared’s shoulder. “I’m fine. I had a dream. That will teach me to eat so much right before bed.”

  “It’s okay.” Jared’s eyes remained closed as he petted the back of her head. “Go back to sleep. Think about what the new house will look like when we’re done. That will lead to nice dreams.”

  Harper nodded as she shut her eyes. “That will be the best of all dreams.”

  She wanted to drift off
right away, continue enjoying her night without a horrific pall hanging over her. It took more than an hour, though, and even then she was unsettled.

  10

  Ten

  Harper woke to find herself wrapped tightly around Jared, as if she were trying to bind herself to him, her face pressed securely against his chest. When she shifted her chin, she found him watching her with a baffled look.

  “What’s going on?” She instinctively wiped her mouth in case she’d drooled. “Was I snoring?”

  “I thought you told me that you don’t snore.” Jared shifted so he could cradle her head while looking her up and down. “Has anyone ever told you that you resemble an angel when you sleep?”

  Harper’s cheeks flushed hot. “Um … no. I think the snoring and drooling makes that impossible to believe.”

  “I happen to like both.” Jared pressed a kiss to her forehead. “How did you sleep?”

  “Um … good.”

  Jared cocked an eyebrow. “That was a little too flippant for my taste. Didn’t you sleep well?”

  “I slept fine.” Except for the ghost I swear I saw staring at me from the corner of our new living room, Harper silently added. “It’s just weird waking up on the floor. You know I’m a slow starter. It takes me a while to figure out what’s going on.”

  Jared wasn’t convinced. “Heart, we’re moving in together. If something is bothering you, I want to know what it is.”

  Harper balked. “It’s not that something is bothering me.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Well … I had a dream.”

  Jared didn’t so much as blink. “Tell me about it.” He knew she was prone to dark dreams at times. He figured it had something to do with her ability. The key was to remain calm when talking about it because it wasn’t as if he could travel into her dreams and cheerfully murder what haunted her in an effort to save her peace of mind. “I can’t help unless I know what happened in the dream.”

  Harper wasn’t convinced he could help regardless, but she barreled forward anyway. “I was in the woods. I didn’t recognize where … it actually could’ve been anywhere or nowhere. Something was chasing me.”

  “Was it a person?”

  “I think so.”

  “Could you see a face?”

  Harper bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “No. It was more that I could feel someone chasing me. Then I managed to get to the edge of the trees and ran through … and smacked into whatever was chasing me … and I’m pretty sure it was a man without a face. Then I woke up.”

  “That must have been frightening.” Jared traced soothing circles on the back of her neck. “It could’ve just been a standard nightmare because your subconscious is trying to work out what happened to Maggie.”

  “Yeah, well, the thing is … um … I think I saw Maggie’s ghost watching me from the corner when I woke up.”

  Jared wrinkled his forehead, surprised. “You didn’t mention that when you woke up last night.” He glanced at the corner in question. “Do you see her now?”

  Harper shook her head. “I’m not even sure I really saw her last night. It was as if she was there and then gone.”

  “Maybe she’s still coming to grips with what happened to her.” Jared was the pragmatic sort. He knew Harper didn’t often overreact or see things that weren’t there. Still, she was jerked from sleep. It was entirely possible she only thought she saw the dead woman’s spirit. It was also possible Maggie followed Harper for some reason, and he was curious what that reason could be. “Do you think Maggie knew your secret? I mean, before she died, did she know you could see and talk to ghosts?”

  “Do you mean in real life?” Harper shrugged as Jared massaged her shoulders. “That feels good.”

  Jared grinned. “Good. I’m actually surprised this air mattress was so comfortable to sleep on. We should consider spending more than the occasional night here while we get the house put together. We can think of it as fun little test runs.”

  “There’s an idea.” Harper was serious as she considered Jared’s previous question regarding Maggie. “Maggie would’ve been a sophomore when Zander and I were seniors. I’m sure she at least heard some gossip about me. Everyone in town has heard at least a little something.”

  “You weren’t close, though, right?”

  Harper shook her head. “I was only close with Zander in high school. I was kind of afraid of everyone else. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration. I wasn’t afraid of everyone else. It was more that I didn’t want to hang around them because I was convinced they thought I was weird.”

  “It must have been difficult for you to be different in high school,” Jared noted. “At that age, most kids simply want to be part of the popular crowd. Because of what you could do, people were probably afraid of you. I’m not saying it’s right, but I can see it happening.”

  “It’s not just that,” Harper countered. “Word spread when I was really young, before I learned to keep my mouth shut about what I could see and hear. When we were in elementary school, parents told the kids to stay away from me because they thought I was disturbed.”

  While Jared enjoyed hearing stories about Harper and Zander’s misspent youth, there was one exception. That exception revolved around anyone making fun of Harper. He’d seen photographs of her from that time and she was a small child, an angelic looking one with sad eyes and a lopsided smile, in fact. The idea of parents rallying their kids to bully her bothered him. “You weren’t disturbed. You could see things the other kids couldn’t. That doesn’t make you disturbed.”

  Harper’s smile was rueful. “Sometimes I think you get more worked up about defending my honor than I do.”

  “Well … you weren’t disturbed.”

  “Think about it from their point of view,” Harper challenged. “What would you think if an eight-year-old said a ghost told her to do something?”

  “I would believe her.”

  Harper snorted. “You would not. You would think she was disturbed, too.”

  “Not if it was you.” Jared refused to back down. “I would always believe you no matter what.”

  “That’s sweet, but we both know it’s not true. You didn’t believe me when we first met. It took a while for the trust between us to build. I’m not upset about the other parents not believing me. They were doing what they thought was best for their kids.”

  “Well, it was stupid.” Jared made a face. “Their stupid kids would’ve been lucky to spend time with you and Zander.”

  “Funnily enough, that’s what Zander believed, too. That’s not exactly how it worked out, but I’m not sorry that Zander and I were forced into our own little group. I think it made me stronger over the long run.”

  Jared rolled so Harper was completely on top of him and he could stare into her eyes. “You’re the strongest person I know. I’m not sure what that has to do with Maggie, though. You’re basically saying she knew you could see and talk to ghosts, right?”

  Harper nodded. “I’m saying she would’ve at least heard the rumors. I still don’t understand why she ended up here instead of at the other house, though. Why would she come here looking for me?”

  “Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she followed you from the cemetery.”

  Harper arched an eyebrow, considering. “I didn’t think about that. She could’ve been there the entire time, watching from the shadows. Maybe she did follow me home and only got up the courage to show herself when she thought I was the only one awake. Then, when she realized I was confused from the nightmare, she took off again.”

  “Or maybe she showed you the nightmare,” Jared mused. “I mean … maybe that wasn’t a nightmare. Maybe that’s essentially what happened to her.”

  Harper was dumbfounded. “How could she show me that?”

  Jared shrugged. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t rule it out, though.”

  “I guess.” Harper was conflicted. “I didn’t see who was chasing her, though. I didn’t see a face.”
<
br />   “Maybe that’s because Maggie didn’t see a face … or at least didn’t recognize the face she did see.”

  Harper tapped her bottom lip. “I didn’t even consider that.”

  “Well, now you have something to think about.” Jared gave her a solid kiss. “Now, here’s something else to think about. I’m starving and we both need showers. I think that means we need to head back to the other house.”

  Harper absently nodded. “Yeah. I’m hungry, too.”

  “Let’s pack up and get moving. We can talk about this more over breakfast.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  “THAT SOUNDS LIKE a really creepy dream,” Shawn intoned sympathetically as he poured Harper and Jared mugs of coffee as they settled at the dining room table forty minutes later. “I’m sorry your romantic night was ruined because of that.”

  Jared exchanged an amused look with Harper as he dumped some Equal into his coffee. “Oh, our night wasn’t ruined.”

  “Our night was fabulous,” Harper agreed, her skin flushed from a long shower. “It was just the one part that was weird. Now that Jared has brought it up, though, I can’t help but think he might be right. Maybe Maggie was trying to show me something.”

  “Maybe we should spend the afternoon trying to track down Maggie,” Zander suggested as he flipped pancakes at the stove. He’d been unusually quiet since Jared and Harper returned to the house after their sexy sleepover across the way. “If she has something to say, it would be easier to understand through words than images.”

  “We’ll be back at the cemetery tonight no matter what,” Harper reminded him. “Did you get everyone rescheduled for tonight’s tour?”

  Zander nodded. “It’s twice as big as our normal run.”

  “That can’t really be helped. We only have so much time before Halloween. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.”

  Zander didn’t bother to hide his eye roll. “You want the money for new furniture. Admit it.”

  “Fine. I want new furniture.” Harper was sheepish. “I always put on a good show, though.”

  “You do,” Zander agreed. “I called Molly and Eric to make sure they’re around for the tour tonight. We might need extra voices of authority if people get out of hand.”