Ghostly Graves: A Harper Harlow and Maddie Graves Mystery

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “Most of these incidents have been written up as possession but there are notations about selling behavior. They just couldn’t prove it.”

  “So ... why would Heath and Cady be exchanging envelopes?”

  “That’s a good question,” Jared replied. “Maybe we’ll visit the ex-husband again to find out. What’s your next plan?”

  “We’re heading back to the cemetery to spy on the folks out there.”

  “We are?” Nick moved his hand from Maddie’s stomach and focused on Harper. “You didn’t mention that before.”

  “That’s because I just thought of it. Barbara had surgery about six months ago. I’m pretty sure Morton was the doctor because I heard my mother talking about it.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Zander brightened considerably. “I forgot about that, too.”

  “Why does that matter?” Nick asked, legitimately curious.

  “Because Morton was found on the cemetery grounds and Barbara’s husband is cheating on her with the secretary. Maybe she thought the surgery would save her marriage. Maybe Morton knew something and he was using it against Luther. I mean … Luther was antsy that night and didn’t want us on his property. I figure it’s worth a shot.”

  Nick nodded in agreement. “It’s not a bad idea.”

  “Just stay in a group,” Jared admonished from the other end of the call. “We’ll head over to talk to Darren. If he gives us anything, I’ll let you know.”

  PAMMY WAS SUNBATHING IN THE FRONT yard when Jared and Mel arrived. She waved happily at the two detectives but didn’t bother getting up.

  “Darry is inside. You can just go in. He’s not doing anything.”

  They knocked all the same and Darren looked befuddled when he realized who was visiting.

  “Did something else happen?” he asked, worry sliding across his bland features.

  “We have a few follow-up questions,” Jared volunteered. “Can we come in?”

  Darren ushered them inside his home, waiting until they were all settled in the living room to ask the obvious question. “She didn’t do something else, did she?”

  “We’re not certain.” Jared hesitated and then barreled forward. “Do you know why your ex-wife would be involved with Heath Partridge?”

  Genuine bafflement had Darren’s eyebrows knitting. “I don’t know who that is.”

  Mel had anticipated the answer and had a photo of Heath ready on his phone. When Darren saw the image, he made a face.

  “That guy?”

  “That guy,” Jared confirmed.

  “She’s still seeing him?” Darren looked absolutely disgusted. “She promised she wasn’t.”

  “Well, I happen to know that he parked in front of her house this morning, she visited him in his car, handed him an envelope, and retrieved a brown paper bag as trade. Do you know what that’s about?”

  Darren’s sigh was long and drawn out. “Oxy. She gets Oxy from him.”

  “Oxycodone?”

  “She claims she has pain.”

  “You don’t believe her?”

  Darren hesitated. “Listen, I don’t want to talk badly about her, but ... she has a problem. It started when she had dental surgery about two years before the end of our marriage. She honestly did need the Oxy after that. She didn’t stop when she was supposed to, though, and when she ran out of prescriptions she started getting it from other people.”

  It was an old story. Jared had heard it multiple times over the course of his tenure as a police officer. “Did she try getting help?”

  “No, and when I mentioned it to her, that’s when she started going on and on about the surgery thing. Part of me thinks she wanted an excuse to have another prescription handy, but I also think she convinced herself that she could shut me up if she changed her appearance.

  “I tried telling her that there was nothing wrong with the way she looked,” he continued. “That was never our problem. I liked the way she looked. Well, before she did what she did. The problem was her attitude. The Oxy made her meaner than she was before ... and that’s saying something.”

  Jared rolled his neck, considering. “Were you telling the truth when you said she blamed the surgery for your divorce, or was it the drugs?”

  “Oh, she definitely blamed the surgery,” he said. “She always blamed the surgery because she couldn’t take responsibility. Whether that was due to the drugs, I can’t say. Everything I told you was the truth.”

  “You left out the part about the drugs.”

  “I did, but I didn’t think it was relevant. When we divorced, I agreed to let her keep the house and promised to keep my mouth shut about the drugs. In return, she signed off on alimony. That’s simply how things worked out.”

  Jared nodded in understanding. “Well, thanks for the information.” He paused as he stood. “Out of curiosity, did Heath ever do anything else for her?”

  “Like kill a plastic surgeon?”

  Jared shrugged. “I guess that’s what I’m asking. Do you think he would’ve done that for the right amount of money?”

  “I have no idea. She kept him away from me for obvious reasons. I don’t know what he would or wouldn’t do for her. I can’t see Cady wanting to kill the doctor because there’s no gain in it for her, but I just don’t know.”

  “Okay. That’s it for now.” Jared started out of the room. “Thanks for your time.”

  THE CHAIRS WERE UNNECESSARY IN THE cemetery thanks to the benches. Harper and Zander were familiar with the property and led Maddie and Nick to a spot that was completely hidden in a crop of trees.

  “Why would someone put two benches in here?” Nick asked as he herded Maddie to a spot in the shade and settled next to her.

  “Because the trees were planted after and they grew really fast,” Harper replied. “The benches are heavy and it was more work to move them than leave them. They’ve actually worked out well for our purposes, though.”

  “Do you spend a lot of time spying on people in the cemetery?”

  “You would be surprised,” Harper said on a chuckle, peering out through the leaves to study the cemetery office. “I don’t know Luther all that well,” she admitted. “We’ve had dealings with him over the years because of the tours, but I wouldn’t say we’re friends.”

  “Definitely not friends,” Zander agreed. “He’s a tool.”

  “It’s too bad you couldn’t buy the cemetery,” Maddie volunteered. “I mean, then you could do whatever you want.”

  Harper slid her a curious gaze. “Yes, but then we would be responsible for keeping up the cemetery.”

  “It sounds like you already do that,” Maddie noted. “You would have to keep grounds people on staff to do the mowing, weeding, and edging, of course. You would also need to keep the people who do the actual digging and vaults. Those people are already in place, though.”

  “Huh.” Harper rubbed her chin. “That’s a thought.”

  “It is,” Zander agreed. “We could name it after me. Zander’s House of the Dead. It has a nice ring to it.”

  Harper made a face. “No, it doesn’t. Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “It does, too.”

  “It does not.”

  “It does, too.”

  “It does not.”

  Nick made a growling sound deep in his throat to silence them. “Can we not go down this road?” He stood, leaving Maddie sitting, and moved so he could stare at the cemetery office building. “What can you tell me about Luther’s marriage to Barbara?”

  “Not much,” Harper admitted. “Barbara involves herself in a lot of the town happenings. There are a lot of festivals and stuff. This is an artsy community, so there are craft fairs all the time. She volunteers to help often.”

  “And you think she had surgery?”

  Harper nodded. “That was the rumor when she got sick for a month. She came back with firmer boobs, less wrinkles on her face and neck, and even her butt looked rounder.”

  “My mother is the town’s favorite gossi
p,” Zander explained. “She says that Barbara confided in a few people about what she had planned but otherwise kept it quiet.”

  “It doesn’t sound like the people she confided in were all that good about keeping their mouths shut,” Nick supplied.

  “Everybody in this town gossips,” Harper replied. “Like ... everybody.”

  Zander adopted a wounded expression. “I don’t.”

  “You’re the worst gossip of them all,” Harper argued on a frown.

  “Hey, I gossip to you, which means you’re a gossip, too.”

  “I would never say otherwise. You’re a worse gossip than me, though.” Harper’s smile was rueful as she turned back to Nick. “Not all the gossip in this town is trustworthy but I believe the surgery rumblings. Just being sick wouldn’t account for how different she looked when she emerged again.”

  Zander bobbed his head. “Definitely not.”

  “And what about Luther?” Nick asked. “Does he have a reputation as a philanderer?”

  “Not really.” Harper searched her memory. “The thing is, nobody ever really gossips about Luther because he’s a boring guy. That’s simply who he is.”

  “Maybe that’s an act he puts on because he doesn’t want anybody to know what he really is,” Maddie suggested. “I don’t know him personally, but I would think the smartest cheaters are the ones who you don’t pay attention to.”

  “That’s true. I just don’t know.”

  The sound of the office door opening had Harper shrinking back. Nick shot Zander a quelling look when Luther and Lexie walked out of the building together. Zander made a face when Nick ordered silence with a finger to the lips and huffed out an annoyed sigh as he sat next to Maddie.

  “Your husband is a bonehead,” he whispered.

  Maddie couldn’t contain her smile. “You just don’t like being ordered around.”

  “That’s because I’m the boss.”

  “Shh,” Nick repeated, annoyance on full display. “They’re coming this way.”

  The group lapsed into silence as Luther and Lexie picked their way across the cemetery.

  “What do you think will happen?” Lexie asked. “I mean ... do you think it’s almost time?”

  “We’ve been over this.” Luther was calm. “I can’t do anything right now, especially since yet another body was found on my property. If I pull the plug on my marriage now, then Barbara will use it against me.”

  Lexie jutted out her lower lip, making her look younger than she actually was ... which shouldn’t have been possible. “You said a few days ago that you were going to tell her.”

  “That was before the good doctor ended up dead in my cemetery.”

  “That has nothing to do with us, though.”

  Luther shot her a testy glare, which only Harper and Nick were privy to because they were standing. “It doesn’t matter. A divorce means divvying up the marital assets. That includes the cemetery.”

  “I don’t know what that means.” Lexie was sullen. “I thought we were going to run the cemetery together. I don’t want to get another job. The idea makes me nervous.”

  Luther rolled his eyes. “You barely do your job as it is.”

  Lexie’s glare was murderous. “Last time I checked, you promised I wouldn’t have to work at all. You said the cemetery brought in enough money for us to live comfortably.”

  “No, I said the cemetery brought in enough money for one couple to live comfortably,” he corrected. “Barbara is entitled to half the marital assets when we divorce. That means one of us will have to buy the other out if we want to keep the cemetery or we’ll have to sell it and split the profits.”

  “I say you sell it and we move to Florida. I’ve always wanted to live in Florida.”

  “The Keys?”

  “No way. Orlando. I think it would be cool to have year-round passes to Disney World.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Luther didn’t roll his eyes, but Harper could tell he wanted to. “First off, I’m not a big fan of Florida. Secondly, do you understand what half the marital assets mean? I’ll hardly be poor. I won’t have enough money to move out of Michigan, though.”

  “But you said I could have whatever I wanted.” Lexie sounded like a petulant teenager and it made Harper cringe.

  “I said I would do my best to make you happy,” Luther countered. “Sometimes I think you only hear what you want to hear.”

  “No, I remember exactly what you said. We’d just finished on your desk over lunch and I asked if you would always love me enough to give me anything. You said yes.”

  “Promises I made during sex don’t count. I can’t think when we’re having sex.”

  “I think that’s a man thing,” Harper muttered under her breath, earning a grin from Nick.

  “A promise is a promise.” Lexie was adamant. “I want what I was promised.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to wait.” Luther almost sounded as if he was chastising a child when talking to Lexie, Harper noted. It was an interesting, and somewhat troubling, dynamic. “I have to figure out the best way to tell Barbara, and I can’t do it right now because she’ll insist on putting the cemetery on the market.”

  “Why is that a bad thing?” Lexie persisted. “It’s not as if you have some great emotional attachment to a cemetery.”

  “Because we won’t get top dollar for the property given what’s happened of late,” Luther fired back. “Nobody wants to buy the cemetery where dead bodies keep showing up.”

  “You said yourself that it was the ghost people drawing the bodies. Why can’t you just kick them off the property?”

  “Because they pay me a great deal of money to be able to conduct tours.”

  “So?”

  “So, who do you think I spend that money on?”

  “I think Barbara spends it on herself.”

  “I only record half the money from those tours in the ledgers. The other half I spend on you.”

  “You should be spending all of it on me.”

  “I’m pretty sure Barbara would notice if none of that money made it into our accounts. She knows darned well GHI pays us for the privilege of hanging out on the property multiple times a week.”

  “Which just brings us back to the start,” Lexie snapped. “You need to divorce her.”

  “I will, when it’s the right time.”

  “Oh, you’re full of it.” Lexie’s gaze was predatory as it washed over Luther. “You don’t still love her, do you?”

  “Of course not.” Luther straightened. “Our marriage is one of convenience, not love.”

  “Then you need to divorce her.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “Well, I’m going to make it easy for you,” Lexie said. “You’re either going to tell her the marriage is over in two weeks or I’m going to do it for you.” She started down the pathway that led to town. “Now, come on, you’re buying me lunch.”

  “I can’t tell her in two weeks, Lexie,” Luther complained in a pitiable voice. “I need more time than that.”

  “Well, you’re not getting more time. I’m sick of this. We’re doing things my way from now on.”

  Harper waited until they’d disappeared from sight to open her mouth. Before she could say anything, though, a new figure stepped out from behind a different set of trees across the way.

  “Barbara?” Nick asked in a breathy whisper as a furious-looking woman stared after Luther and Lexie.

  Harper nodded, glancing around at the curious faces in the small enclosure. “She obviously knows.”

  “She’s spying, too,” Nick agreed.

  “Maybe we should figure out how much she knows.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  “I’m going to ask her.” With those simple words, Harper pushed through the foliage and pointed herself in the direction of the betrayed wife. There was only one way to get answers at this point, and she was determined to see this through.

 
14

  Fourteen

  Surprise registered over Barbara’s face when she saw Harper approaching, but she quickly masked it and pasted a sunny smile on her face. Only if you knew the woman, Harper realized, would you see the malice in the depths of her eyes.

  “It’s awfully early for you, isn’t it?” Barbara called out by way of greeting.

  “I was taking a walk,” Harper replied, silently relieved that Nick and the others remained hidden behind the trees. If a group of people approached Barbara to question her regarding Luther’s activities, it was unlikely she would open up. At least now, Harper rationalized, she had a shot to get some information.

  “By yourself?” Barbara’s gaze bounced from location to location. “Where is your sidekick?”

  “Which one?”

  Barbara laughed but the sound was hollow. “I meant Zander. I assumed Jared was at work.”

  “He is. He’s chasing Dr. Morton’s death hard.” Harper hesitated and then decided to go for it. “You were a patient of his, right?”

  Barbara’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “There’s a rumor going around that you were his patient about six months back, although I also heard you were sick.”

  Barbara averted her gaze. “I was sick. It was a really bad case of the flu. I was bedridden for almost a month.”

  “That’s horrible. When you returned to the land of the living, though, you looked ... amazing. Apparently the flu was restful for you.”

  “Is there something specific that you’re asking?” Barbara challenged.

  “Yes.” Harper saw no reason to lie. She had backup, she reminded herself. If Barbara were to lose it, she had no doubt that Nick would come running, Zander not far behind. Although, in a fight, Harper had no doubt that Nick would be the greater asset. “The doctor ended up dead on your property and rumor is you were a patient.”

  “And that gives me motive to kill him? Being a patient, I mean.”

  “Only if you got the surgery because you thought it might fix everything that had gone wrong in your marriage. The realization that things are still broken might be enough to set someone off, especially given the nature of the betrayal being faced.”