Ghostly Ordeal

by Lily Harper Hart

  “What do you mean?” Gloria’s face was a mask of innocence. “We’re not doing anything. What are you doing?”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, I’m serious.” She was more comfortable going on the offensive, so that’s exactly what she did. “Have you ever heard of knocking?”

  Jared wanted to smother her with the pillow Phil had surreptitiously moved on top of his lap. Even though he was covered with blankets, there was obviously a lot going on underneath them. “This is my house,” he reminded her. “Besides, we didn’t think you were spending the night.”

  Gloria made a sad sniffling noise. “Of course I’m spending the night. I’m in mourning. My boyfriend was just murdered. It’s a trying time for me.”

  “Uh-huh.” Jared smoothed the back of Harper’s hair as she buried her face in his neck. Obviously seeing her parents together was too much for her. Frankly, it was too much for him, too. “It’s so trying you’re having sex with your ex-husband in your daughter’s house.”

  She was blasé. “We were just blowing off steam. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal? You guys have been mired in the most contentious divorce in the history of divorces since I met you.”

  “So what?”

  “It’s not what you think,” Phil offered, speaking for the first time. His cheeks were as red as Santa’s pants. “Gloria was upset and needed some sympathy. I was upset on her behalf — I mean, some people think she’s a murderer, for crying out loud — and one thing just led to another. It’s not a big deal. It happens all the time.”

  Harper turned her face from Jared’s neck and focused on her father. “What do you mean? How does it happen all the time?”

  “It just does.” Phil grinned broadly. “We tend to do this at least once a month, sometimes even twice. It’s honestly not a big thing. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “See.” Gloria held up her hand. “If you guys would’ve knocked, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. We would already be finished. Now we’re going to have to start all over again.”

  “Oh, my ... .” Harper couldn’t find the correct words to express how she was feeling.

  The only words Jared could find were of the cursing variety. “We’re going to bed,” he gritted out. “I want this — whatever this is — to be over. I don’t want to hear another sound from this room. Do you understand?”

  “Oh, geez.” Gloria rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to be such a spoilsport. You’ve been having sex with our daughter for almost a year now and you don’t hear us complaining. In fact, that’s the one aspect of your relationship I encourage. The rest of it is kind of ... meh.”

  Jared huffed out a series of unintelligible syllables that didn’t form words.

  “It’s fine,” Phil supplied. “There really is nothing to worry about. You guys go to bed. We’ll just finish up and you’ll never know we were here.”

  “I think I might be having an aneurysm,” Harper muttered against Jared’s ear.

  “You’re not the only one, Heart. Come on. We’re taking the cake and ice cream and locking ourselves in the bedroom. As for you two ... .” He openly glared at his future in-laws. “I don’t want to hear a sound from this room for the rest of the night. Do you understand me?”

  Phil dutifully nodded, but Gloria was having none of it.

  “If there’s no noise then you’re not doing it right. Would you like me to go into detail for you? I have a book at home. It’s for women over forty — I got it four years ago — but it might do you some good.”

  “Not one sound,” Jared hissed. “I just ... you guys are absolutely sickening. I can’t believe you!”

  HARPER WOKE IN THE USUAL position. She was curled in at Jared’s side, her head resting on his chest. The sun was shining through the window. It was winter, so the birds weren’t chirping, but the pedestal fan was whirring next to the bed.

  She was warm. She felt loved and safe. And then she remembered the night before.

  “Oh, son of a goat sniffer.” She rolled away from Jared and buried her head under the covers as he stretched and watched her with trepidation.

  “Do you know a lot of goat sniffers, Heart?”

  “I thought maybe the world would’ve ended during the night.” Her voice was muffled under the covers. “Apparently we didn’t get that lucky.”

  He chuckled as he reached for the blanket and drew it away from her face. “We’re both still in this world. That makes me pretty happy.”

  Her sea blue eyes were as wide as saucers. “Don’t you remember what happened last night?”

  “I do and it was jarring.”

  “It was worse than jarring.” She tossed off the covers and sat. Her hair was wild, standing on end, and there was makeup smeared underneath her eyes. She’d forgotten to wash her face before bed because of the horrible ordeal, which was the exact opposite of her normal routine. “It was … apocalyptic. No, it was worse than that. It was … tsunami-lyptic. Wait … is that a word?”

  “I don’t believe so.” He was calm as he combed his fingers through her hair. “It’s okay. It’s not the end of the world.”

  Harper’s expression was dour. “How can you say that? You saw them. They were … naked. They were making noises. Oh, man. That noise we thought was the fan was them. What do you think they were doing?”

  “I believe we know what they were doing.”

  “But … why?” Harper knew she sounded whiny, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Do you think they’re trying to kill me? I often thought that when I was a kid. I thought they fought because they wanted me to die of embarrassment. Now I think they’ve switched up their tactics.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’s that bad.”

  “Of course you don’t. You didn’t have to see your parents having sex.”

  “Technically we only heard them having sex. They moved apart pretty quickly when I turned on the light. We didn’t see anything.”

  Harper’s glare was withering. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “I have no idea. Did it?”

  “No.”

  “Then it wasn’t supposed to make you feel better.” His grin was amiable as he regarded her suspicious features. “Oh, Harper, there’s no reason to freak out. They’re adults … and they’re married. Technically. Your mother says she’s forty-four, but she’s probably too old to get pregnant so you don’t have to worry about that. That’s the biggest concern, right?”

  Harper’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, my … .”

  Jared roared with laughter as he covered her mouth with his. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

  AN HOUR LATER, AFTER SHOWERING and dressing for the day, Harper and Jared made their way into the kitchen. Gloria and Phil were already up and toiling behind the kitchen island. They looked to be making breakfast and they boasted extremely different expressions when the party widened to four.

  “Hello, honey.” Phil beamed at his daughter and shuffled around the counter so he could give her a hug. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I want to kill both of you,” Harper replied without hesitation. “Don’t touch me with those hands. I have no idea where they’ve been and if you’ve washed them.”

  “Oh, I totally washed them.”

  Harper narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “Thank you for that bit of … relief.”

  “You’re welcome.” Phil shot a sidelong look toward Jared before rushing back to hide behind his estranged wife. “We’re making pancakes and sausage.”

  “How awesome,” Jared enthused, moving his hand to Harper’s back. “I love pancakes.”

  “Mom loves sausage,” Harper offered, pinning her mother with a belligerent look. “Don’t you, Mom?”

  “I prefer bacon,” Gloria said dryly. “I can deal with sausage, though. It has a specific flavor that I adore.”

  “Ugh.” Harper slapped her hand to her forehead. “I know I started it, but I’m goi
ng to end it, too. Don’t ever talk about sausage in front of me again.”

  Even though he knew it was a painful situation for Harper, Jared had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Let’s sit at the table,” he suggested, prodding Harper in that direction. “I think it’s time we had a discussion.”

  “And I think it’s time we didn’t.” Gloria was firm as she stared down Harper. “This isn’t a big deal. In fact, I don’t see why you’re getting so worked up about it. It’s not as if it’s the first time we’ve consoled one another.”

  “So you mentioned last night.” Harper’s affect was dull. “I honestly can’t believe you guys have been hopping in and out of bed together this entire time. I don’t understand it. If you love each other, why are you getting divorced?”

  “Because your father is an idiot.”

  “Because your mother is insufferable.”

  The answers only served to fire Harper up more. “If you feel that way about each other, why have sex?”

  “Oh, well, your father is gifted in that department,” Gloria explained. “If I could just get the sex and never have to deal with his mouth … and the fact that he refuses to pick up his clothes and put them in the hamper … I would stay married to him forever. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

  Harper turned a set of morose eyes to Jared. “This is supposed to be a happy time for us. We’re planning a wedding. We have a new house. How could everything that was going so right go so wrong?”

  “Oh, my poor Heart.” He kissed her forehead. “We’ll get it all back … just as soon as you tell your mother she can’t stay here any longer.”

  “I didn’t tell her she could stay here last night.”

  “You most certainly did,” Gloria fired back. “I’m in crisis. I can’t stay alone. My boyfriend is dead. That’s too much for me to deal with.”

  “Then go to Dad’s house,” Harper exploded. “He can comfort you there.”

  “That won’t work. I hate his new house. He won’t pick up his things. You know what a pig he is.”

  Harper buried her head in her arms on the tabletop. “Why me?”

  Jared could do nothing but rub her back. “It’s going to be fine,” he reassured her for what felt like the hundredth time. “We still have each other.”

  “There is that.”

  JARED LEFT HARPER TO DEAL with her parents. He had a belly full of pancakes and sausage and a fun story to tell his partner. In fact, when he was finished, Mel was laughing so hard he had to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “I can’t believe Phil and Gloria have been doing … that … since they separated. I guess it makes sense. They were together a long time and I always wondered what kept them from divorcing years before. That is … unbelievable, though.”

  “Harper is a wreck.”

  “I don’t blame her.”

  “It does make me feel a little better about Gloria, oddly enough.”

  Mel slid his partner a curious look. “What do you mean? Why would it make you feel better about her?”

  “Carl was stabbed five times. That’s what the initial autopsy report said. I went over it last night once Harper fell asleep.”

  “So?”

  “So, that kind of overkill usually means it’s a crime of passion,” Jared replied. “I’m not sure Gloria was passionate about Carl. In fact, given the way she’s acting, I’m starting to wonder if she even cares.”

  “That points to a sociopath,” Mel noted. “That doesn’t make me feel better about her.”

  “She’s not a sociopath.” Jared was almost positive that was true. “She’s just a difficult woman. She’s selfish and self-centered. She cares more about herself than anyone else. I mean … how can you have a great kid like Harper and not want to embrace everything about her?”

  Mel snorted, genuinely amused. “I think you might be asking that question from a place of bias.” He parked in front of Carl’s home and killed the cruiser’s engine. “I happen to be fond of Harper, too, but she’s not exactly what I would call an easy individual.”

  Jared was instantly on edge. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Not what you think it does, so simmer down.” Mel was stern. “It’s just … think about it from Gloria’s perspective. Harper was an only child who started spouting on and on about seeing ghosts when she was a kid. That couldn’t have been easy. I know for a fact Gloria thought she was going to have to be institutionalized at some point.”

  Jared’s blood ran cold. “What? Why?”

  “You know why. They thought she had mental problems.”

  “Well, she doesn’t.”

  “And that’s all well and good. She’s proven herself over and over again since that time. Still, it was weird when it first started happening. The only one who believed her straight off the bat was Zander, and he’s got his own issues.”

  Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Jared shifted so he could look out the window. “What are we doing back here?”

  “Talking to Margie Driskell,” Mel replied, thankful to be able to change the subject. “She called and left a message. She lives next door and swears she heard Carl fighting with someone the night before he was killed. We now know he died well after midnight, closer to two. The fight was around eight the previous evening. She might make a compelling witness.”

  “Fine.” Jared threw up his hands in defeat. “Let’s talk to Margie. Just for the record, though, Harper is wonderful.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s a dream.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s the best woman in the world.”

  Mel bit back a sigh. “I know.”

  MARGIE WAS FULL OF EXCITEMENT when she let Mel and Jared into her house. She had cookies on the table and fresh tea in mugs so they would have refreshments for the talk. She was in her seventies and lived alone, so she was always open to guests.

  “I’m glad you were prompt,” she told Mel as she handed him a napkin. “I don’t like waiting around with nothing to do and there’s a euchre tournament at the senior center this afternoon I don’t want to miss.”

  “Once you called I got over here as quickly as possible,” he soothed. “I understand you saw something the night Carl died.”

  “Well, it’s more like I heard it,” Margie corrected. “I didn’t see much of anything because it gets dark so early these days because of the time of year. I hate that.”

  “It’s definitely a downer,” Mel agreed. “What did you hear?”

  “Well, Carl was arguing something fierce with someone. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I could hear raised voices. Whoever was in there with him was giving as good as she got.”

  Mel arched an eyebrow. “She?”

  “Yeah. It was a woman. I’m pretty sure it was Gloria Harlow.”

  Jared’s heart sank. “What makes you think it was Gloria?”

  “Well, it was her car parked in front of his house – she’s got that pair of lips on her back window so you can’t miss that it’s her – and I saw her through the window.”

  Mel ran his tongue over his teeth. “Which window?”

  “That one.” Margie pointed to the one on the other side of the room and Mel slowly got to his feet and strode in that direction so he could look through it.

  “This looks almost directly into Carl’s living room,” he noted.

  “Yeah. He’s in there all the time. Or, I guess he was. He’s not in there now or anything, although you obviously know that because he’s dead.”

  “And you say he and Gloria were fighting?”

  “Oh, they were spitting mad. Gloria even threw a pillow at him. Like I said, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it’s obvious they weren’t getting along.”

  Jared swallowed hard when Mel’s gaze latched with his. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The argument
happened hours before he died.” He was plaintive when he turned to Margie. “Did you see Gloria drive away?”

  “I did.” Margie bobbed her head. “She drove away and then came back the next day. I thought everything was fine, that they made up. She was in there a long time. Then, like an hour later, I saw you show up. I realized then that not everything was fine.”

  “An hour later?” Mel’s eyebrows hopped. “That’s not good.”

  Jared felt the ground giving way beneath him. “That still doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Yes, it does.” Mel planted his hands on his hips. “It means we’re officially bringing Gloria in for questioning. There’s no getting around that now.”

  In his head, Jared knew that was true. His heart still wanted to put up a fight. He couldn’t, though. He had a job to do.

  “I’ll find out where she is.” Jared was morose. “This is going to hurt Harper.”

  “I’m sorry about that. It has to be done. We can’t let it go a second longer.”

  Ten

  For lack of anything better to do, Harper decided to escape to the GHI office. She was more interested in watching Molly and Eric make out than she was in dealing with her parents. Unfortunately for her, Gloria and Phil decided to tag along.

  “This really isn’t necessary,” Harper grumbled as she scuffed her feet along the sidewalk in front of the business’s front window. “You guys can go do … whatever it is you do when I’m not around.”

  “Oh, don’t be a sourpuss,” Gloria admonished. “We want to spend time with you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re your parents.”

  “You’ve been my parents since the start,” Harper pointed out. “This is the first time you guys have ever wanted to come to work with me.”

  “That’s not true.” Phil adjusted his coat to hold off the bracing cold. “I’ve wanted to join your outings for some time. You always said it wasn’t a good idea because it wasn’t safe.”

  Oddly enough, Harper vaguely remembered that conversation. She’d been tickled when her father suggested going on an outing. She’d also been terrified because Phil was the sort of person who needed constant attention. “We’re not doing anything but paperwork,” she supplied. “You’ll be bored.”