Ghostly Distress (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 9)

by Lily Harper Hart

  In addition to being GHI’s final two employees, Molly Parker and Eric Tyler were also Whisper Cove’s newest couple. Even though Molly tried to hide her crush on Eric for what felt like forever, they finally hooked up … and now were virtually inseparable.

  “I’ll be there, too,” Jared said as he grabbed an orange from the bowl at the center of the table and began peeling it. “I want to see this tour in action and I think tonight is as good a night as any.”

  While the sentiment was sweet, Harper couldn’t help being suspicious. She cast Jared a sidelong look as she tried to ascertain the level of his sincerity. “You didn’t mention wanting to attend a tour before we stumbled across Maggie’s body.”

  “That is not true.” Jared split the orange in half and gave one helping to Harper. “Eat that. Vitamin C is good for you.”

  Harper peeled off a slice and made a big show of shoving it in her mouth, which made Jared smirk.

  “As for wanting to tag along on a tour, I told you weeks ago that I wanted to see what you guys did on these tours,” Jared said. “You said I could come whenever I found the time. I’ve found the time.”

  Harper remained unconvinced. “You’re worried about me.”

  “Heart, I’ve been worried about you since we met.” Jared’s grin was too charming for Harper to remain angry. “If you expect me not to worry even more than usual given the fact that Maggie’s body was found along your tour route – and her car was parked in the nearby bushes – then you’re doomed for disappointment. I want to be there to make sure you’re safe. I also want to see your performance. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable.”

  “I don’t think he’s being unreasonable either,” Shawn added. “I want to be there, too.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be a full house,” Zander drawled. “How fun does that sound? You’re going to be like an ant under a magnifying glass, Harp. That won’t cause you to freeze up or anything, will it?”

  Harper frowned. “I’ll be fine. I don’t have performance anxiety … like someone else I know.”

  Zander narrowed his eyes. “That happened one time. We were fourteen and you told me that ghosts were watching while I changed in the locker room. I was still traumatized at the thought when … well, you know what … happened.”

  Jared and Shawn exchanged amused looks. This was exactly the sort of childhood story they both enjoyed hearing.

  “What did you think the ghost in the locker room was going to see?” Jared asked.

  “That doesn’t matter.” Zander was prim as he focused on his pancakes. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  “Yeah, we should definitely talk about something else,” Harper agreed, winking at Jared before finishing her orange. “Tell me what you found out from the autopsy report. We didn’t get a chance to talk about that much before we got distracted by catalogs and paint color dreams.”

  “Oh, now you’re just messing with me,” Zander grumbled. “You want me to ask about the paint colors and furniture, but I’m not going to do it.”

  “Stay strong, honey,” Shawn encouraged. “I have faith you can do it.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Jared kept his focus on Harper even though he was dying to poke Zander until he cracked like a holiday piñata. “Why do you want to know about the autopsy results?”

  “Because I want to have all the details handy if I do manage to track down Maggie,” Harper replied easily. “I know you said there was no hesitation when it came to the strangulation, but I’m curious if that means the killer is a professional or if it means something else I don’t fully understand.”

  Jared considered arguing with her, forcing her out of the investigation for her safety. He knew that wouldn’t work, though. Harper was headstrong and once she decided to investigate something, there was no turning her away. She would do it with or without him. Ultimately, he would rather she have all the information than to risk finding trouble because she was missing a piece.

  “It could mean a few things,” Jared hedged. “It could mean that Maggie was the initial target and the killer approached her knowing what he was going to do and he carried out his mission with minimal fuss.”

  “How can you be sure it’s a man?” Shawn asked.

  “The hand size was too big to belong to a woman unless she was a freak of nature,” Jared replied, lifting Harper’s hand for emphasis. “See Harper’s hands here? Her hands are actually slightly big for a woman, but her fingers are still slender and her grip isn’t strong. Whoever killed Maggie had a very strong grip and fingers twice as wide as what Harper has.”

  Harper stared at her fingers for a long beat. “Do you really think I have big hands for a woman?”

  Jared snickered but ignored the question. “Another possibility is that Maggie was simply a victim of circumstance. Maybe she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We still don’t know how she got from the barn to the cemetery, and that will be the main thing we work on today.

  “There’s still another possibility, too,” he continued. “There’s a chance that Maggie was targeted by accident because the killer thought she was someone else – or maybe the killer thought she could offer something she couldn’t – and once he committed to a path he had no choice but to follow through because he knew Maggie would open her mouth and end things for him otherwise.”

  “You’re talking about the bank, right?” Harper queried. “You think someone could have targeted her because he thought she had access to a lot of money.”

  “She didn’t,” Jared said hurriedly. “We asked very specific questions. The money she could’ve gotten her hands on wasn’t exactly miniscule, but it wasn’t all that large either. She didn’t have a key to the vault, though. There was no way she could’ve gotten anyone access to the money stored in there. So either the killer was too stupid to know that or something else is going on.

  “The truth is, we don’t have a motive,” he continued. “Maggie wasn’t sexually assaulted, so that is seemingly off the table. Although we have no way of knowing if it was originally on the table and she fought back or if it was never a consideration. We basically have a lot of questions and no answers.”

  “What about DNA?” Shawn was fascinated by police work and had no inclination to hide his curiosity. “Did the medical examiner find anyone else’s DNA?”

  Jared nodded, causing Harper to widen her eyes.

  “You didn’t tell me that,” Harper complained. “You guys might be able to track down a DNA match.”

  “We might, but we have no idea if the DNA is from Maggie’s killer or some random person at the party,” Jared pointed out.

  “Oh.” Harper deflated a bit. “I didn’t even think of that.”

  Jared squeezed her hand as a form of solace. “Like I said, we have no idea what’s going on or why it happened. Until we start getting answers instead of questions, we’re in the dark.”

  “And that’s really why you’re coming to the tour tonight, right?”

  Jared shook his head. “I’m coming because I want to see my girl in action.”

  “And?”

  “And I want to make sure my girl is safe,” Jared conceded. “I’m not going to feel guilty about that, so don’t even try forcing my hand.”

  “Fine.” Harper let loose a long-suffering sigh. “I guess I’ll have to put up with being loved.”

  Jared’s grin was sly. “And don’t you forget it.”

  11

  Eleven

  Harper and Zander conducted an initial sweep of the cemetery and came up empty, Zander serving as watchdog as Harper called out to the elusive ghost. She never appeared.

  With nothing better to do with the rest of their afternoon, the duo decided to head to the annual Whisper Cove Halloween Children’s Extravaganza – which was held downtown and one of their favorite kid-friendly events – and waste several hours entertaining the younger set.

  “You can really see ghosts, right?” Mikey Kaiser’s eyes were so wide they lo
oked as if they were going to pop out of his head. He was eight going on thirty and he always had a million questions whenever he crossed paths with Harper.

  Harper nodded as she handed the boy, who happened to be dressed like some Pokémon thing Harper didn’t fully recognize, a caramel apple. “I can really see ghosts.”

  “What do they look like? I mean … are they covered in blood and guts and stuff?”

  Harper risked a glance at Mikey’s mother, Lacey Kaiser, and found her watching the scene with amusement rather than recrimination. “No. No blood and guts. They look like they did in life.” That was mostly true, although Harper occasionally did run across ghosts who took the horrors of death with them to the other side. “Ghosts aren’t something you need to be afraid of.”

  “I told him that already, but he won’t listen,” Lacey offered as she looked over the platter of caramel apples before selecting one. “He won’t listen to me. I think it’s a boy thing. His sister is two years older and never asks questions like that.”

  Harper flicked her eyes to Kasey Kaiser, a ten-year-old ball of energy dressed like a Bratz doll. The girl was holding court with a gaggle of similarly-dressed girls and laughing up a storm. “I think boys are naturally drawn to blood and guts. Except Zander, of course. I was more into getting dirty as a kid than him. For the most part, though, boys like that sort of thing.”

  “Oh, I definitely know that.” Lacey took the open chair next to Harper and fixed Mikey with a pointed look. “Do you have anything else you want to ask Harper?”

  Mikey, his mouth covered with caramel and sprinkles, nodded.

  “What?”

  Mikey didn’t immediately respond, which seemed to be the reaction his mother was expecting.

  “How about you eat your apple and think about the questions over there with your friends?” Lacey suggested, pointing. “I want to talk to Harper for a few minutes and we can’t do it with you around.”

  Mikey’s gap-toothed smile slipped. “You want to talk about grown-up stuff, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I hate grown-up stuff.”

  “Then you won’t want to be close for this conversation,” Lacey said pragmatically. “Don’t run with that apple – and especially the stick – stuck to your face like that. You’ll choke if you trip.”

  “That might be cool.” Mikey waved before taking off to join his friends near the hay bale maze.

  “I bet he’s fun,” Harper said after a beat. “He seems pretty easygoing.”

  “He’s not bad,” Lacey agreed, leaning back in her chair. “I expect he’ll be my favorite for the next couple of years. Kasey is already discovering boys and soon she’ll be getting to that obnoxious age where she knows everything and won’t shut up.”

  Harper had to admire Lacey’s matter-of-fact nature. The woman was four years older than Harper but seemed a decade wiser. She wasn’t the sort of mother who didn’t see her children’s faults. Instead, she accepted them and almost seemed amused at times when her kids did something other mothers would find embarrassing.

  That was only one of the reasons Harper liked Lacey so much.

  “I hope you’re not upset because I told Mikey that ghosts were real,” Harper hedged. “I know a lot of people get angry when I say that in front of their kids, but I happen to actually like you so I will feel bad if you’re upset.”

  Lacey snorted. “Don’t worry about it. I happen to believe ghosts are real and I can’t see them.”

  Harper couldn’t hide her surprise. “You do?”

  Lacey nodded. “I’ve always believed. That was true even before you were a teenager and found that missing kid. You know the one who was in the car accident with her dead mother, right? You found her and I heard you explaining that the ghost mother led you to her.

  “People were giving you a lot of grief back then because they thought you were making up the story and I remember feeling sorry for you,” she continued. “I could tell you believed what you were saying. More importantly, there was no way for you to know where that car was – I mean, you couldn’t see it from the road and you’re the only reason rescue crews found it at all – so I never understood why people would rather believe you were making it up than getting help from the other side.”

  “Some people don’t want to believe in ghosts because it’s too much to rationalize,” Harper explained. “I get it. It leads to questions, like why doesn’t everyone come back as a ghost? How come everyone can’t see ghosts? Are all ghosts good? Are some bad? Who decides who is a good and bad ghost?”

  “All good questions,” Lacey mused. “Have you come to any conclusions?”

  Harper nodded without hesitation. “Souls don’t change. If you’re a good person in life, you’ll most likely be a good ghost in death. There are a few random instances where that’s not true, but more often than not it’s because death was so traumatizing for the soul they simply can’t rationalize what happened to them.”

  “That makes a lot of sense.” Lacey finished her apple and dumped the stick and soiled napkins in a nearby trash receptacle. “I have a question for you and I’m kind of nervous to ask it. I don’t see where I have any options, though, so I’m just going to come out with it.”

  Lacey’s even nature caught Harper off guard. “Okay. Shoot.”

  “Is Maggie Harris running around as a ghost?”

  Whatever question she was expecting, that wasn’t it. Harper’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because she’s the most recent person in Whisper Cove to die and everyone is talking about what happened to her,” Lacey answered simply. “She was also flirting with my husband when she thought I wasn’t looking and I’m understandably curious about what happened to her.”

  Harper swallowed hard as she ran the new information through her head. “I forgot that Craig works at the bank. He’s a loan officer, right?”

  Lacey bobbed her head and offered a friendly smile. “He is and he makes good money … at least by Whisper Cove standards. Maggie spent the last year flirting with him and I’m ashamed to say that my initial reaction to hearing about her death wasn’t exactly happiness, but it wasn’t exactly sadness either.”

  “Oh, well … .” Harper had no idea what to make of the situation. “I guess I can see that.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  “Oh, your poor face.” Lacey made a tsking sound as she shook her head. “Just for the record, I didn’t kill her. My husband didn’t either. We were at the Halloween party at the Elks lodge the night of the barn party and it’s my understanding that’s when Maggie was killed. We were on the decorating committee and there the whole night. You can check.”

  “I didn’t think you killed her,” Harper sputtered, finding her voice. “It’s just … I never pictured Maggie going after Craig. He’s clearly a family man. You guys are still obviously in love after being married for eleven years. I saw you at the ice cream social this summer and you were sharing the same cone and holding hands. I remember thinking it was cute.”

  “We are still in love,” Lacey confirmed. “Things aren’t always perfect, but we make them work. That’s why Craig told me when Maggie started flirting with him. He wanted me to be aware that he wasn’t encouraging her in any way.”

  Now that she had a moment to consider what Lacey was saying, it made sense to Harper. “Mark Crowley said that Maggie was all about snagging a rich guy. While Craig isn’t exactly rich, he would probably seem that way to Maggie if she was looking for someone with money to settle down with.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think she really liked Craig as much as she liked the idea of what he could buy her,” Lacey offered. “Still, I feel a little guilty about my initial reaction to the news of Maggie’s death. No one deserves to die the way she did. I keep thinking that if she’d been allowed a few more years to mature that she probably would’ve grown out of this thing she had where money was the most important thing … at least I hope that’s true.”
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br />   “I guess we’ll never know.” Harper absently scratched at the side of her nose. “As for Maggie’s ghost, I don’t know. I thought I saw her last night, but I can’t be sure. It could’ve been a dream. Zander and I went looking for her this morning but came up empty.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Harper held her hands palms out and shrugged. “I don’t know that it necessarily means anything. The truth is, I didn’t know Maggie very well. I’ve been feeling a little guilty about her death myself. I was only four years older than her and yet I can’t remember ever spending more than four minutes with her.”

  “You weren’t missing much.” Lacey’s smile turned rueful. “I honestly don’t think she was a bad woman. She was just a woman who wanted out of Whisper Cove. She wanted more than this town could provide for her. I’m not happy she thought my husband could be the source of that ‘more’ she so desperately needed, but now I feel sad that she never had a chance to grow up and learn to provide for herself.”

  “That’s a very good point.” Harper shifted her eyes to a group of twenty-somethings standing on the far side of town square. Colin was one of the faces and his eyes brightened when he caught sight of Harper and began flapping his hand in earnest. She managed a smile and waved back, although she felt goofy doing all the while.

  “I see Colin is still the president of your fan club,” Lacey teased, smirking. “He always has been gaga for you. I thought he might be someone to turn Maggie’s fancy for a little bit when they started hanging out but that never came to fruition.”

  Harper stiffened at the words, surprise washing over her. “Wait … what are you talking about?”

  “Colin and Maggie,” Lacey replied, clearly missing the change in Harper’s demeanor. “They were hanging out quite a bit in the weeks leading up to her death.”

  Harper instinctively grabbed Lacey’s wrist and forced the woman’s attention to fully rest on her. “Are you sure?”

  Lacey nodded. “I’m positive. I remember being excited when I saw them hanging out at the ice cream shop about a month ago. They had their heads bent together and were laughing. Even though Maggie was a good two years older than Colin, I thought they might be a decent match because she wasn’t very mature.”