Ghostly Camping (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 16)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Do you?” Jared refused to let the other man bait him into a fight. He knew better than most how to lull a man and draw information out of him. “What is it that you think we’re up to?”

  “You want me to admit to killing my wife.”

  “Did you kill your wife?”

  “Of course not.” Frustration bubbled up as Sam gripped his napkin tighter, his knuckles turning white. “Why would I possibly want to kill Leslie? I mean ... that’s not who I am.”

  Harper eyed him a moment, a forkful of eggs halfway to her mouth. “You don’t exactly seem broken up by what happened.”

  Sam slammed his fist on the table, causing Harper to jolt, and glared daggers into her soul. “You have no idea what I’m feeling. Don’t tell me what I’m feeling!”

  “Calm down,” Jared ordered in a low voice, his training on full display. “Don’t yell at her.”

  Sam was incredulous. “I didn’t ask you two to join me. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

  “Nobody says you did.” Jared was matter-of-fact. “That doesn’t change the fact that your wife is dead, and I haven’t seen you shed a single tear.”

  “I didn’t realize tears were necessary for mourning.”

  “Really?” Jared cocked his head. “I get that this has been ... jarring ... for you. People react to information like this is in different ways. Some immediately start crying. Others work through the shock and hold it together for an initial period of time before breaking down. They turn hard and shut out the world.”

  “Maybe that’s what I’m doing,” Sam sneered.

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t feel right,” Jared countered. “You’re hiding behind ... something. Right now, we’re not sure what happened to your wife. Once the medical examiner makes a determination, though, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.”

  “I’m actually surprised you stayed,” Harper volunteered. “Given the way you were acting last night, I thought for sure you would take off.”

  “I thought I might, too,” Sam admitted, turning morose. “It was a legitimate possibility. Then I realized it would be seen as a sign of guilt if I left, and I thought that was the wrong message to send.”

  “Are you worried about what other people think?” Jared prodded.

  Helplessness washing over his features, Sam held out his hands and shrugged. “I don’t know what I am. I don’t even know what I’m feeling from one moment to the next. I don’t understand any of this.”

  “Why don’t you tell us what happened yesterday, what you’re feeling, and we’ll try to help you?” Jared suggested. “It can’t possibly hurt, right?”

  Sam opened his mouth, and Harper was convinced he was going to tell Jared to shut it. Ultimately, though, his shoulders dipped, and he lowered his forehead so he could massage it with his hand. “All of this is such a mess. I don’t even know what to do about it.”

  “Talking always helps,” Harper offered. “If you’re not guilty, it would behoove you to confide in someone. We’re pretty good listeners.”

  Jared shot her an approving look but otherwise remained silent.

  Sam, however, squeezed his eyes shut and let out a shuddering breath. “I am guilty, though.”

  Jared’s heart skipped a beat. “You killed her?”

  “Not of that.” Sam snapped up his head, and there was disgust reflected back at the couple. “I would never hurt Leslie, at least not physically. I’ve done a good job of hurting her emotionally over the past few months, though. That’s what I’m guilty of.”

  Harper was far too intrigued to back off now. “And what did you do to her emotionally?”

  “I told her I wanted a divorce.”

  Jared nodded encouragingly. “When was that?”

  “A few months ago. Three to be exact.” Sam exhaled heavily. “You’re probably going to think I’m a disgusting piece of filth, but you’re right about me having to tell someone. This is all too much for me.”

  Jared was calm as he waited. Harper couldn’t stop herself from diving in, though.

  “Were you having an affair?” she asked.

  Sam’s expression was impossible to read. “What makes you think that?”

  “I don’t know. You said you were feeling guilty. You were the one who asked for the divorce. I guess I just put it together.”

  “It’s more difficult than that,” he countered. “Everything is ... much more difficult than that.” He ran a hand through his dark hair, which was shot through with gray. “Leslie and I have been married for twenty years.”

  “Did you love her at one time?” Harper asked, legitimately curious. “I mean ... did you at least care for her before you betrayed her?”

  “I did.” Sam was solemn as he bobbed his head. “We met at college. We both went to Western. We met our freshmen year and were just friends, right up until senior year. Then something shifted between us. There was a night where we drank too much and ... well ... things got out of control.

  “We both felt awkward the next morning,” he continued. “She kept apologizing when it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t want her to be upset and suggested that maybe we were both acting on feelings we’d been harboring for years. She seemed to like that possibility.”

  Jared’s brow furrowed. “So, basically you’re saying you dated even though you weren’t really into her.”

  “No, I mean ... I cared about her. We were really good friends. I enjoyed spending time with her. We liked the same movies ... and brand of wine ... and music. We liked hiking. I never got her fascination with horror stuff, but she didn’t understand why I liked golf. It evened out.”

  Suddenly Harper had a sneaking suspicion that she knew where this conversation was going. She held it together, though, and didn’t react.

  “We dated for two years, and both our families kept asking when we were going to get married,” Sam explained. “I hadn’t really thought about it until that point. We were still having a good time, still comfortable together. Marriage seemed like the next step, so I proposed.

  “Things were fine for the bulk of our marriage,” he continued. “Everything with us was fine. Just always fine. At a certain point, though, I realized that fine wasn’t enough. I wanted sparks ... and magic ... and little hearts to float over my head when I met the right person.”

  Harper felt some of the resentment she’d been hoarding like gold regarding Sam dissipating. “You’re gay.”

  Jared jerked up his chin. “Harper!”

  Sam chuckled at Jared’s reaction, waving a hand as he shook his head. “It’s fine. Your fiancée is perceptive. She’s much more perceptive than Leslie, or even me for a time. I always knew there was something I was missing in my life. I didn’t know exactly what that something was ... until I met someone.

  “You know, I’ve heard people say they had an immediate ‘click’ with individuals, and I never understood what they meant until about a year ago,” he said. “I felt the click finally, and it was with another man. That’s when I realized exactly what was wrong with me.”

  Harper balked. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay. It’s who you are.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Sam reassured her. “I don’t mean that I think there’s something wrong with me in that manner. It’s just ... nothing ever seemed to fit right. Things were always slightly off. Just a smidge. My life was almost a fit, but somehow wrong.”

  “Oh.” Harper nodded in understanding. Life with Zander had prepared her for this conversation and she found she was more sympathetic than she might’ve otherwise anticipated. “I get it.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt Leslie,” he volunteered. “We were still friends, although that’s all we were. We were friends who lived in the same house but didn’t live intertwined lives. I convinced myself that she would actually be relieved when I told her I wanted a divorce. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, though.”

  “She felt blindsided,” Jared ascertained. “She thought you’d been lying
to her for decades.”

  “She did. We never had children. It was never even a consideration for us. Suddenly, though, she was accusing me of stealing her best years when I was clearly playing a game with her. I told her that wasn’t true, but she didn’t want to hear it.

  “She’s been fighting me tooth and nail on the divorce since the start,” he continued. “I don’t have any problem splitting our assets. It’s totally called for even though I make more than she. I even want to give her the house.”

  “I don’t understand why you came on this trip together,” Harper admitted. “If the marriage is over ... .”

  “I still wanted her as my friend.” Sam pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “Näively, I thought we could find a way through it with the friendship intact. I didn’t want to remove her from my life. When I told her that, she didn’t believe me. Still, she brought up this trip and I agreed.”

  “Even though you didn’t want to come,” Jared surmised.

  “No, I would’ve preferred staying home. I was bitter about the drive. I freaking hate camping. I mean ... it’s just not fun. Do you know there’s not even a hair dryer in the bathroom?”

  Harper had to bite back a laugh. Nothing about their situation was funny, but his reaction, so much like Zander’s earlier disgust, momentarily had her smiling.

  “I should’ve been nicer to her,” Sam admitted. “I was unhappy with the trip and I took it out on her. That wasn’t her fault and now ... well ... now I can’t even tell her I’m sorry.”

  Harper pictured the ghost from her dream. “Maybe not the way you’re thinking, but I bet she would appreciate the sentiment, wherever she is now.”

  “Maybe.” Sam looked lost. “I don’t know what to do about any of this. It’s just ... too much.”

  Jared took pity on the man and reached over and patted his hand. “We’ll figure it out. First things first, though. Did Leslie have any enemies that you know of?”

  “No, she was a wonderful woman. She had an infectious laugh and was the life of the party. Everybody liked her.”

  “Maybe not everybody,” Jared prodded.

  Realization dawned on Sam. “Wait ... are you saying she was murdered? I thought it was an accident.” His voice rose an octave. “Harris reassured me it was an accident.”

  “We don’t know what it is at this point,” Jared cautioned. “It could’ve been an accident. It could’ve been something more, though, too. We have to wait for the medical examiner’s determination to find out.”

  “And then what?”

  Jared held out his hands. “I don’t know. We can only take it one step at a time. We need information to act on and then we’ll push forward. We will figure it out, though. You have my word.”

  10

  Ten

  “We’re behind in the game,” Zander announced when Harper and Jared joined him in front of the pavilion after breakfast. “Harris made sure I was aware that we’re not participating to the level we’re supposed to.”

  Harper furrowed her brow, annoyance evident. “Are you serious? He can’t possibly think we care about the game at this point.”

  “Oh, he cares.” Zander shifted from one foot to the other and focused on a point behind Harper. When she shifted, she found he was studying his reflection in one of the windows that led to the showers. “He wanted me to remind you that we had a deal coming into this.”

  Harper’s agitation — as well as her blood pressure — jumped. “Maybe I should have a talk with him.”

  Chuckling, Jared extended a hand to still her. “Chill out, Tiger.”

  She pinned him with a dark look. “A real woman has died.”

  “Yes, and he’s still got a business to run.”

  She was understandably confused. “You can’t think it’s okay to prioritize business over a human life.”

  “Of course not. We’ll be focused on Leslie. We still need a reason to stay here, and that’s the game. We don’t have to make some dastardly choice. We can do both.”

  “Oh.” Understanding dawned on Harper. “You want to participate in the game as cover so we can move around as freely as we want to investigate the murder.”

  “Kind of,” he hedged. “We don’t know that there was actually a murder. We need to wait for a determination from the medical examiner’s office, and given how slowly I imagine things are up here, that could be days away.”

  “Unless it’s obvious that she was murdered. We have no idea what sort of wound was under all that blood. It could’ve been a bullet hole for all we know.”

  “It could have,” Jared agreed. “We can’t rush to conclusions right now, though. I think focusing on the game is the right way to go.”

  Harper remained unconvinced. “I guess.” She glanced around. “Where is Shawn? If we’re going to head out there, we should do it as a group.”

  “He had to run to the bathroom,” Zander replied. “I could tell Harris was bugging him, and he, all of a sudden, announced he had to take a leak. That was the word he used. I figured he was only being crass because Harris was driving him crazy because he usually doesn’t say stuff like that.”

  “It sounds like it,” Jared agreed. “We can wait for him. Then we can head out to the way station. That’s where the fake body landed, right?”

  “Yes, and Harris promised to provide us with a few pertinent details,” Zander replied. “Here he comes now, in fact.” He tilted his head. “Try not to claw his eyes out, Harp. That’s going to make future endorsement gigs hard to secure.”

  Harper rolled her eyes. “No promises.” Despite her bad mood, she plastered a fake smile on her face for Harris’ benefit. “How are you this morning? It’s so good to see you.”

  Harris was obviously taken aback by the greeting. “Oh, well ... I’m fine.” He returned the smile, although he appeared confused. “How are you?”

  “I’m just skippy.”

  Jared found he had to look away to keep from laughing at his fiancée’s performance. She’d opted to play nice, but only on the surface. He found the entire thing ... odd. Still, he knew better than commenting, especially in front of Harris.

  “I take it you slept well.” Harris recovered quickly. “I hope you weren’t too traumatized by what happened last night.”

  “I see ghosts for a living,” she reminded him. “Very little frightens me these days.”

  “Oh, good point.” He straightened and handed over a sheet of paper. “I had Becky type this up on her laptop and then run to town and print off copies for everybody. It’s a fact sheet on the body discovery from last night.”

  Jared’s eyebrows drew together. “You put a fact sheet together on Leslie.”

  “Not Leslie.” Harris’ tone was clipped. “I’m talking about Alameda Stone, the dead woman in our event.”

  “Oh.” Jared pressed his lips together and glanced at Harper, amusement lurking. “Of course.”

  “Her name is Alameda Stone?” Zander made a face as he peered over Jared’s shoulder. “Who would name their kid Alameda?”

  “Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Stone,” Harper volunteered.

  Harris chuckled appreciatively. “You’re funny. Actually, I let Becky pick the name. I was a bit leery, but she made a good point, saying that you wanted a name people wouldn’t have trouble remembering, and I think she’s onto something. People will always remember where they were when Alameda Stone died.” He looked appropriately bereft, to the point where Harper scowled.

  “And Leslie Duncan,” she added.

  “Who?” Harris looked momentarily confused, and then his expression cleared. “Oh, right. They’re both tragedies.”

  “Except one is a fake tragedy,” Harper muttered as she plucked the sheet from Jared. Her fiancé sent her a warning look that had her readjusting her attitude, although it took massive effort. “So, we should probably head out to the way station and get to investigating. We don’t want to fall behind.”

  Harris beamed at her. “I think that’s a
very good idea. The faster we put this ... unfortunate ... situation behind us, the better.”

  “I’m sure Leslie feels the same way,” Harper drawled. “Oh, wait, Leslie isn’t around to feel anything.”

  “Yes, well ... .” Harris decisively shook his head. “Have fun with your adventure. Happy hunting.”

  “Thank you.” Harper waited until he was gone to elbow Jared in the stomach. “I don’t need you to give me that look.”

  “And what look is that?” Jared queried, ruefully rubbing his stomach. “Oh, and ow.”

  “You briefly reminded me of my mother. I don’t need parental guidance.”

  Jared’s mouth dropped open. “Did you just compare me to your mother?”

  Zander let loose a chuckle. “Oh, them are fighting words, Harper. You’ve bruised his ego.”

  “They’re definitely fighting words,” Jared agreed. “I’m going to fight until that cute little behind of yours is chafed.”

  Harper wasn’t bothered by the threat. “Bring it on.”

  HARPER TOOK THE LEAD THIS TIME AS they headed toward the way station. Jared was initially annoyed, but things only got worse when she reminded him he’d been directionally challenged the previous evening when following the sound of screams.

  “I know where we’re going,” she insisted obstinately.

  “I know where we’re going, too,” Jared muttered under his breath.

  Surprisingly, Zander was the one who decided to serve as a calming influence this go-round. He held up a hand to quell Jared and slipped in front of him so he could walk beside Harper. The message he sent Jared was obvious. Chill out. Let me handle this.

  “What’s up, Harp?” he asked calmly, sliding her a friendly smile. “You seem agitated.”

  Harper’s frown only grew more pronounced. “I’m not agitated. Why would you think I’m agitated?”

  “Because we’ve been joined at the hip since we were five years old.” He was matter-of-fact. “Believe it or not, you don’t have much of a poker face.”

  “Oh, I’m awesome at poker.”

  “That wasn’t really the point.” Zander slung an arm around her shoulders and tugged her tight. “Are you annoyed by Harris?”