Ghostly Ordeal

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Oh, I can handle that.” Gloria appeared thrilled with the suggestion. “I think it’s a fine idea. It will give me something to focus on besides the horror that my life has become.”

  Harper felt put upon, but she didn’t see where she had much of a choice. “We would love for you to stay with us tonight.”

  “Great.”

  “Just one night,” Harper stressed. “I’m sure you’ll be feeling better tomorrow.”

  “We’ll play it by ear.”

  Four

  Jared was up a full hour before Harper woke, but he remained still so she could sleep. His mind was busy with possibilities ... and none of them were good.

  The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if Gloria was capable of murder. He tried to line up what he knew about the woman and realized it was precious little.

  She was in the middle of a contentious divorce that seemed to be going nowhere. In fact, since he’d met Harper — and that was almost ten months ago — he’d seen no movement on the divorce. As far as he could tell, Phil and Gloria Harlow enjoyed making each other miserable so there was no reason to divorce. They were getting exactly what they wanted out of the current predicament.

  She was a passive-aggressive nightmare, meaning she enjoyed messing with Harper’s mind whenever she stopped by. She was the sort of woman who thought other women got their self-worth from the men they were dating. Harper didn’t believe that and held firm when Gloria started bandying about relief regarding the fact that her daughter was finally dating someone and not going to be alone for the rest of her life.

  Gloria was a woman who liked fine clothing, shoes, dishes, and furniture. She was willing to pay more for name brand items. She liked expensive purses — Jared was pretty sure Harper only had one purse and rarely carried it — and she even wore a fur stole in the winter months, which Harper found abhorrent.

  She liked to argue with Harper, wear her down at times. So far, Jared hadn’t voiced his concern about this tendency, but he was gearing up for it now that he and Harper were planning their wedding. There was no way he would allow Gloria to steamroll Harper when it came to picking the venue and dress.

  Other than that, Jared realized he knew very little about the woman, and he found it troubling.

  “Are you up?” Harper’s voice was sleepy as she stretched.

  “I am.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead as she snuggled closer. He relished this time with her. Quiet mornings were a favorite part of his day. The fact that he was worried he would soon be arresting her mother only made him more desperate to embrace this morning, when time felt somehow precious.

  “How did you sleep?”

  That was a loaded question, Jared mused. “I slept okay.” He shifted his eyes to the window. “It’s stopped snowing.”

  “That’s good.” She kissed his strong jaw. “I can hear your busy brain from here. Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that I love you.” The response was easy ... and true. “What are you thinking?”

  “That you’re mad because my mother spent the night.”

  He stilled, surprised. “I don’t care about that,” he said finally. “Er, well, I’m not happy about it exactly. I’m not mad about it either. I understand why you wanted her here.”

  “Oh, I didn’t want her here.” Harper made a hysterical face that caused Jared’s lips to quirk. “This place is a mess. It’s basically a nonstop way for her to criticize me. I was hoping she wouldn’t visit until spring. She’s like a bear in some ways. She likes to hunker down and hibernate for the winter.”

  “That explains the fur coat.”

  She laughed, the sound warming Jared to his toes. “I hate that coat.”

  “I know you do.” He ran his hand over her hair to smooth it. “We should probably get up. For all we know, she’s out there rearranging our kitchen.”

  “We only have four glasses, five plates, and plastic forks. She’s not going to take that well.”

  “I don’t care.” He tipped up her chin so he could stare into her eyes. “I only care what we like ... and I happen to like you best.”

  Her eyes sparkled. “I like you best, too. Although ... don’t tell Zander.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.”

  GLORIA INDEED WAS KNEE-DEEP IN the cupboards when Jared and Harper finished showering and dressing in their master suite.

  “Where is your good china?” she asked by way of greeting when she stood and fixed them with expectant looks.

  Harper merely shrugged. “At your house until you die.”

  Jared choked on the coffee he’d just poured, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red.

  “Very funny, dear.” Gloria was blasé as she glanced around the room. “Why don’t you have real dishes?”

  “Because we haven’t picked any out yet.” Harper accepted the mug of coffee Jared slid in her direction. “It’s not a big deal. That’s actually low on our list of things we’re worried about right now. Furniture is first.”

  “Furniture is definitely a thing,” Gloria agreed, wiping off her hands on the apron she’d tied around her waist.

  “Where did you get that?” Harper was focused on the apron, confused. “I didn’t have that.”

  “I borrowed it from Zander this morning. By the way, he’s already up and working. He says he’s going into the office later if you need to get in touch with him. Apparently you guys don’t have clients right now. He didn’t say as much, but I know how to read him. Do you think it’s wise for you to go so long between clients?”

  Harper pursed her lips. “Well ... I can’t exactly force ghosts to show up, can I? I’m not magical. They make themselves known when they feel like it.”

  “I think you’re magical,” Jared whispered as he brushed his lips against the ridge of her ear.

  Gloria ignored the display of unabashed affection. “I think we should spend the day shopping.”

  The announcement was enough to cause Harper’s blood to chill. “Oh, well ... .”

  “Harper and I want to shop together,” Jared supplied. He wasn’t afraid of butting heads with Gloria. He would take the brunt of her unhappiness if it became necessary because he wanted to shield Harper from her mother’s attitude. “She can’t buy things unless we both agree on them.”

  Harper shot him a grateful look. “The shopping has to wait until Jared and I can do it together.”

  “Fine.” Gloria’s glare was pronounced when it landed on Jared. “I guess we’ll just do what Jared wants.”

  “Oh, if only we lived in that sort of world,” he drawled, grinning when Harper’s eyes went wide. “I should probably get going, Heart. I need to start my day. I’m betting it’s going to be a long one thanks to that storm.”

  “Okay.” She briefly rested her hand on his chest, causing him to place his hand over it and meet her gaze. “Will you call me if you learn anything important?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want you sitting around worrying.” He finished his coffee and stepped forward so he could hug her. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get into Gibbons’s files before the end of the day. That will be a great help.”

  “I’m sure one of those degenerates is the guilty party,” Gloria said.

  “That would be nice,” Jared agreed. “I ... .” He didn’t get a chance to finish what he was going to say because the front door flew open to allow Phil entrance. He barreled through the house without calling out a greeting and pointed himself directly toward the kitchen.

  “What is this I hear about you being a murderer, Gloria?” His expression was hard to read, but Jared sensed things were about to turn ugly.

  “And I think that’s my cue to flee.” Jared gave Harper another quick kiss. “Hide in the bedroom if things get too rough.”

  Harper grabbed the front of his shirt to stop him from running. “You cannot leave me to deal with this on my own,” she hissed. “I’m not equipped to handle a situation of this magnitud
e.”

  “They’re your parents.”

  “That’s why I know I’m out of my depth.”

  “Well ... I can’t help you.” Jared ran his hands up and down her arms to soothe her. “This one is all on you. I have to get to the office.”

  “But ... what about breakfast?” Harper was grasping at straws now. “Don’t you want me to cook you breakfast?”

  “It is the most important meal of the day,” Gloria agreed pointedly.

  “I’ll pick up something on the way. I need to get moving.” Jared was firm as he moved his coffee cup to the dishwasher before giving the three people in the kitchen a serious look. “Try not to kill each other. Oh, and if you do decide death is warranted, stay away from Harper. You guys can kill each other all you want. She’s not to be touched.”

  Gloria’s gaze was withering. “Oh, well, you’re just a laugh a minute, aren’t you?”

  “I moonlight as a comedian in my spare time.”

  Gloria flicked her eyes to Harper. “I’m not sure what you see in him. Is it his looks? If so, we can probably find you someone else who looks almost as good as him. Although ... have you ever considered dating a short man? They’re usually so grateful just to be allowed in the game they’ll do whatever you want.”

  Harper bit back a sigh. “Let’s cook breakfast, Mom. After that we’ll ... do something.”

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS happened,” Phil lamented as he sat at the dining room table and watched his daughter and estranged wife buzz around the kitchen. “How did you get yourself in the middle of such a mess, Gloria?”

  For her part, Gloria was busy pretending she wasn’t bothered by the previous day’s events. She was a fine actress, but even she was having trouble with this performance. “It’s not my fault,” she complained as she watched Harper flip hash browns in a skillet. “Do you really buy potatoes in a bag like that? I don’t understand why you can’t just make them from scratch like you’re supposed to. That’s what a real cook does.”

  “I’m a ghost hunter, not a cook,” Harper reminded her. “I happen to like hash browns in a bag. They make things so much easier.”

  “If you say so.” Gloria was obviously dubious. “As for what happened with Carl, it’s honestly not my fault. I thought he was a catch. Apparently I was wrong.”

  “Apparently?” Phil arched an eyebrow. “I would think that you were definitely wrong.”

  “Don’t fight,” Harper warned, waving the spatula. “I can’t deal with you guys fighting right now. I mean it.”

  “We’re not going to fight,” Phil reassured her.

  “We’re not?” Gloria didn’t look so sure. “If we don’t fight, we have absolutely nothing to talk about.”

  “We need to talk about your defense plan,” Phil stressed. “I mean ... who is your attorney?”

  Gloria knit her eyebrows together. “I don’t believe I need an attorney.”

  “Oh, you need an attorney.” Phil was having none of it. “If you don’t have an attorney, you’re going to prison for the rest of your life. I mean ... you killed a man. You can’t just get away with that.”

  “Dad, she didn’t kill anyone,” Harper argued. “She just found the body.”

  Phil looked to Gloria for confirmation. “Is that true or is Harper just being Harper?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Harper made a protesting sound as she swiveled. “I happen to think that it’s good to be like me.”

  “Of course it is.” Phil graced his only child with a patient look. It was something from his repertoire that he couldn’t generate for anyone else, especially his estranged wife. “You’re the sunshine of my life, kid.”

  Harper beamed at him.

  “You’re also naive.” He was firm when her mouth dropped open. “You don’t like to see the bad about your mother. She’s very likely the prime suspect in this murder.”

  “That’s not true,” Gloria sputtered, her fury on full display. “I am not a suspect. If I was a suspect, I would be in jail.”

  “Not if they’re still collecting evidence.” Phil was matter-of-fact. “I’m being serious, Gloria. You’re the one who found the body. That means you’re the prime suspect.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says anyone who has ever paid attention to an investigation. I mean ... don’t you watch Dateline? For crying out loud. The person who discovers the body is always the prime suspect.”

  Gloria’s eyes were wide and full of fright when she turned them to Harper. “Is that true?”

  Harper didn’t know how to answer. “I don’t know.” She swallowed hard as she ran the possibility through her head. Jared had once mentioned something very similar to her. She hadn’t remembered it until her father brought it up ... and now she was terrified. “I think Jared would’ve told me if Mom was a suspect.”

  “Oh, you poor thing.” Phil patted her shoulder and made a clucking sound with his tongue. “You haven’t put this together yet. I’m not surprised.”

  “It’s not that.” Harper’s temper fired on all cylinders. “I’m not an idiot. You’re talking about me like I’m an idiot.”

  “Of course you’re not an idiot. You’re a gifted girl. You don’t see the evil in others ... like your mother.”

  “I’m not evil!” Gloria snapped. “I didn’t kill Carl. I mean ... why would I? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “And yet the news spreading about town is that you caught him cheating on you and cut off his junk,” Phil argued.

  “Cut off his ... .” Gloria’s face drained of color. “Who would dare share that lie?”

  Phil averted his gaze. “I forget who I heard it from.”

  “Oh, you didn’t forget.” Gloria was beside herself. “How can you possibly believe I would kill someone? That is just ridiculous.”

  “I’ve met you.” Phil adopted a pragmatic tone. “I know what you’re capable of.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You’re definitely capable of murder.” He refused to back down as Gloria made a series of wounded animal noises deep in her throat. “We need to get ahead of this. That means you need a lawyer ... and I’m not sure who will take you on given the fact that you’ve dated every lawyer in the area. You might have to tap someone from out of state.”

  Harper was flummoxed as she moved the skillet from the heat and tried to wrap her head around what her father was saying. “You don’t really think she’s going to be arrested, do you?”

  “Harper, your mother was dating the man in question and she found the body. Who else are they going to arrest?”

  “The guilty party.”

  “We both know your mother is very likely the guilty party.”

  “You take that back!” Gloria jabbed a finger into Phil’s chest and glared at him. “I’m not a murderer. The fact that you can say something like that just proves how terrible a fit we really were.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Phil was solemn. “That’s neither here nor there, though. You need an attorney and it’s going to be difficult to find you one because you refuse to stop sleeping with every entry on the Michigan Bar Association’s website.”

  “Oh, stuff it!” Gloria graced him with the darkest glare in her repertoire. “If you’re not careful, I’ll take you out and we’ll see if you’re so full of yourself then, won’t we?”

  Harper stirred. “That’s a point right there,” she said. “If Mom was a killer, why wouldn’t she just take you out? She hates you.”

  “We share a child,” Phil replied simply. “Women don’t kill the men who fathered their children unless the children are at risk. I saw it on Oprah once. It’s a real thing. Your mother took all the rage she was feeling for me and pointed it at Carl because she couldn’t kill me. This is standard psychiatry.”

  Harper pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead as she struggled to maintain her cool. “Well, that is ... something to think about.”

  “It’s going to be brought up at tri
al, so we definitely need to think about it,” Phil agreed. “I suggest we call Donnie Lakeland out of Sterling Heights. He used to be an Oakland County attorney and I’m pretty sure that your mother hasn’t worked her way up to him yet.”

  “I definitely haven’t slept with him,” Gloria agreed. “He was out of the office when I stopped by.”

  “See.” Phil was awfully blasé for a guy who was trying to help the woman he hated most avoid a murder conviction. “We should call him.”

  “We’re not going to call him,” Harper snapped, her eyes busy as she considered a bevy of possibilities. “In fact ... yeah, I’ve got a better idea.”

  “You do?” Phil fixed his daughter with a dubious look. “I thought you didn’t believe she was going to be arrested.”

  “I don’t. Jared would’ve told me if she was a suspect.”

  “Not unless he wanted to break your heart and that’s the last thing he wants to do. He’s good that way.”

  “I was just thinking this morning that she could do better,” Gloria countered. “I think she should move back in with Zander and put Jared behind her.”

  “And I think you’re dreaming if you believe she’s going to do that,” Phil said. “Good grief. Stop focusing on what you want and start considering what’s best for your daughter. In this particular instance, that’s Jared.”

  “I don’t happen to believe that.”

  “And I don’t care what either of you believes,” Harper exploded, her temper finally making an appearance. “Talk about Jared is off the table. He’s part of my life and that’s never going to change.” For emphasis, she wagged the fingers on her left hand to show off the engagement ring.

  “Now, I still think the best thing to do is solve the crime,” she continued. “That will prove Mom isn’t guilty.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that?” Gloria queried, legitimately curious.

  “We find Carl’s ghost.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “That’s what I do for a living.”