Ghostly Ordeal

by Lily Harper Hart

  “I don’t expect you to ignore it. I also don’t expect you to pretend everything is fine and lull me into a false sense of security. You should’ve told me how things would go down.”

  “You know I couldn’t do that.” Jared’s temper flared despite his unhappiness. “I can’t run procedural necessities through you simply because we’re going to be married. That’s not how this works.”

  “I didn’t say you had to run things through me.”

  “No, but you’re acting like it.” Jared went on the offensive because he didn’t know what else to do. “You’re the most important thing in the world to me. You know that. You are not, however, in charge of how I do my job.”

  “I don’t want to be in charge of your job.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Nothing you can give me right now.” Harper was purposely cold as she took a step away from him. “Am I to believe that you will not be arresting my mother for murder tonight?”

  “No. She’s not under arrest. We will probably have to question her again.”

  “Well, then ... I guess that means you have more interviews to conduct this afternoon, huh?”

  “We do. We’re heading back to Junior next. It seems he might’ve left a little information out when we questioned him earlier.”

  “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  Jared was not a fan of her remote tone. “Where are you going?”

  “Are you asking for my official or unofficial itinerary?”

  Jared wanted to shake her. “Please don’t punish me for doing my job.”

  She stared at him for a long beat, her expression unreadable. Finally, she just shook her head. “I have things I have to do. I’ll be home later.”

  “What things?”

  “Things to help my mother.”

  “You’re not going to get yourself in trouble, are you?”

  Harper glared at him. “Don’t worry about what I’m going to do. Worry about what you’re going to do. There’s a real killer out there. No matter what you think, my mother is not capable of doing what you suggest.”

  “I don’t believe she is either.”

  “Well ... then I guess it’s lucky for me that we’re on the same side.”

  “We are.” Jared was insistent. “I’m always going to be on your side.”

  He was so earnest he melted some of Harper’s resolve. She didn’t outwardly relent, though. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  “You will,” he agreed. “I want you to be home tonight. We need to talk.”

  “We definitely need to talk,” she agreed. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll be there.”

  That was the one thing Jared opted to hold on to.

  “HOW IS HARPER?”

  Mel waited until he and Jared were in his cruiser and on their way to Fran’s house to speak with Junior to ask the obvious question.

  “She’s mad,” Jared replied, his gaze focused out the window.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “You don’t have to give me so much attitude,” Mel lamented. “It’s not my fault this happened.”

  Jared was incredulous as he glared at his partner. “Why are you playing the victim in this? I don’t understand.”

  Mel balked. “I’m not playing the victim.”

  “You most certainly are. You’re acting as if I’m being unreasonable when it’s my life that’s threatening to explode. It’s my fiancée who is crushed and struggling to stay upright. It’s my family that is in danger of falling apart. This is not about you.”

  Instead of reacting with anger, Mel barked out a laugh. “Oh, you’re so full of yourself.” He was amused as he shook his head. “Your family is not in danger of falling apart. You’re not going to lose Harper, no matter what you keep telling yourself. Stop being dramatic. Everything is going to be fine.”

  “How can you possibly know that?”

  “Because I’ve seen you and Harper together. No two people were ever destined more for each other than the two of you. She’s just upset ... and you can’t blame her for that. Her mother is a suspect in a murder and her parents are acting like morons and having sex in your house. That’s a lot for one person to deal with.”

  “I almost think she’d be willing to watch her mother get locked up if it meant she would never have to think about the sex again.”

  “See. Things aren’t so bad.” Mel grinned as he regarded his partner. “You can’t fix this for her. You both have to go through it together. Give her a little time. She’ll get over herself and then everything will be roses and kisses between the two of you again.”

  “Do you really think so?” Jared was hopeful, but he didn’t want his partner to see the fear also lurking in his eyes.

  “I do. She just needs time to decompress. In a few hours, she’ll be okay.”

  “She left with Zander. I’m worried he’s going to get her riled up.”

  “Oh, he’s definitely going to get her riled up.” Mel was matter-of-fact. “After that, she’s going to deflate like a leaky balloon. Zander knows exactly how to handle her. There’s a reason they’ve been together since kindergarten.”

  “I guess.” Jared rubbed his cheek. “I don’t like it when she’s mad at me.”

  Mel chuckled. “Oh, son, you’ll learn to relish fights like this. Once you’ve been married as long as me the quiet is something to welcome ... and the making up is worth a few hours of unhappiness. Trust me. You guys are going to be fine.”

  Jared fervently hoped that was true.

  “WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

  Zander made a face when Harper parked on a nondescript residential street, killed the engine of her car, and immediately exited the warm vehicle and started moving toward a house.

  “Hey!” He was offended when she didn’t immediately answer and smacked his hands on top of the car to get her attention before she could disappear. She’d been a real pill since they left the police station twenty minutes before — morose, pouty, and furious — and he was at his limit with her silence. “Where are we going?”

  Harper paused and regarded her best friend as he pinned her with a plaintive look. “This is Carl Gibbons’s house,” she said finally.

  “Oh.” Zander pursed his lips. “Obviously you’re looking for his ghost.”

  “He’s the only one who can officially clear my mother right now.”

  “Not in the eyes of the law ... and Uncle Mel. Only you can see him. I mean ... .” Zander trailed off, understanding blooming. “Oh, geez. You’re starting to wonder if your mother is truly capable of killing someone, aren’t you?”

  Harper was horrified by the question. “Of course not.”

  Zander waited for her to continue.

  “I don’t think my mother is a murderer,” she said, trying again. “That’s not who she is. She doesn’t like dirt and grime. There’s no way she’s going to stab someone.”

  Zander felt unbelievably sad for his best friend. “You’re upset because you think she’s capable of murdering someone. I agree about the dirt thing. She’s unlikely to want to cause a mess. She’s the type of person who could compartmentalize a murder and not even feel guilty about it, though. I happen to agree with you on that front.”

  “She’s my mother.” Harper was plaintive. “I’m not supposed to wonder if she’s capable of killing another human being. In my heart, I’m supposed to somehow know that she would never do anything of the sort.”

  Zander blew out a long-suffering sigh. “That’s fairy tale talk, Harp. We live in the real world ... at least most of the time. Your mother is capable of killing someone. We’re capable of killing people, too, if it comes to it.

  “No, we’re not capable of murdering someone for no good reason, but we would kill to protect one another,” he continued. “I have no doubt about that ... and neither do you.”

  “That’s different.”

  “Maybe. It’s not all that differen
t when you really think about it, though. Your mother could kill under the right circumstances. They’re simply not the same circumstances we could kill under. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

  “It feels like a bad thing to me.”

  “Yes, well, you’re going through a crisis.” Zander peeled himself away from the car and joined his best friend in the middle of the road. He was rueful as he slung an arm over her shoulders. “We’re going to get through this.” He was calm. “You need to vent, and I get that, but this isn’t Jared’s fault.” He took himself by surprise when he said the words. It wasn’t often that he felt the need to take up for the police detective who changed his world ... and potentially in a detrimental way. “He feels really bad.”

  Harper narrowed her eyes, suspicious. “Since when are you on Jared’s side? I thought you hated him because he stole me from you.”

  “No one can ever steal you from me.” Zander was firm. “I’m the king of all men and you can’t bear for me not to be in your life.”

  “That’s true.” Harper rubbed her nose. “Seriously, though, why are you taking his side?”

  “Because he’s upset ... and he loves you ... and he’s doing the best that he can.” Zander opted for sincerity. “He’s the love of your life. He’s hurting. You’re hurting. You need to come to a place where you can hurt together ... and move on together.”

  “I thought you were leaning toward the idea of me moving out of the new house and in with you and Shawn,” she challenged. “This could be the best way for you to get what you want.”

  “No, it couldn’t.” He shook his head. “You love Jared beyond reason. He loves you, too. This ... this is just a temporary setback. We’ll clear your mother and then everything will be back the way it should be.”

  “And what if it’s not?”

  “I don’t let ridiculous ‘what if’ scenarios take up residence in my brain.”

  “That’s probably why people insist you live in La-La Land.”

  “If you think I’m going to take that as an insult, you’re wrong. I’m fine with living in La-La Land.”

  Harper heaved out a dramatic sigh. “I just ... hate this.”

  “He hates it, too. He’s terrified he’s doing you real harm, though. I saw it on his face when he was in the interrogation room with you. He’s afraid, Harper, and that’s not fair to him. You need to suck it up and make nice with him.”

  “Fine. I don’t want him suffering. I don’t want to suffer either, though. He wasn’t completely perfect in this entire thing.”

  “He wasn’t,” Zander agreed. “You need to meet in the middle.”

  “Fine. We’ll meet in the middle. Are you happy?”

  Zander chuckled as he kissed her forehead. She honestly was one of his two favorite people in the world and that would never change. “Yes. Let’s see if we can find a ghost, shall we? It would be helpful if we had another suspect to focus on.”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  FRAN OFFERED UP A WIDE SMILE when she saw Jared and Mel on her front stoop. Her lips curved down after a few seconds, though, when she realized how unhappy they looked.

  “Should I be afraid?” she asked after a beat.

  “I don’t know.” Mel decided to be straight with her because the woman had been through so much already. “We need to talk to Junior again. Is he here?”

  “He’s in the living room.” Fran wiped off her hands on a towel and ushered the two men into the house. “Are you going to arrest him?”

  “I don’t believe that’s on the table at this time,” Mel replied. “We do have a few questions for him, though.”

  “This way.” Fran’s expression was hard to read as she led the two detectives through the house. “Junior is a good boy. Whatever has upset you ... well ... I’m certain he can explain it.”

  “I truly hope so, ma’am.” Mel meant it. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Fran again after everything she’d been through.

  Junior sat on the couch in the living room, a large folder open in front of him. He arched an eyebrow when he realized who was visiting. “Did something happen?”

  “A few somethings,” Mel said as he sat in the chair across from the couch. “We brought Gloria Harlow in for questioning.”

  “I see.” Junior’s emotions weren’t on display as he waited for Mel to continue. He was shuttered and in control.

  “The neighbor says she heard fighting the day before your father’s body was found,” Mel explained. “It was Gloria and your father. Gloria threw a pillow at him.”

  “I doubt that killed him,” Junior pointed out. “I’ve never heard of a thrown pillow being listed as a cause of death.”

  “That didn’t kill him,” Mel agreed. “It does make us wonder if the fight continued until later in the night, though. Gloria says she left.”

  “And you don’t believe her?”

  “Actually, we believe she left,” Mel replied. “The neighbor said she stormed off. The question is: Did she come back?”

  “Do you have evidence that suggests she came back?”

  Jared made a face. “You’re acting more like Gloria’s lawyer than the deceased man’s son. How come?”

  “I’m merely trying to figure out what happened to my father, the same as you,” Junior replied simply. “I have trouble believing Gloria killed him. She clearly wasn’t in the relationship for the long haul.”

  “We brought her in for questioning all the same,” Mel noted. “We had no choice.”

  “And what did she say?”

  “That she and Carl were arguing about you.”

  Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. Junior finally showed an emotion ... and it was surprise. “Me? Why would they be arguing about me?”

  “Well, according to Gloria, she spent some time talking to you at a charity event the night before and Carl wasn’t happy about it,” Mel responded. “Apparently Carl thought you were flirting with her.”

  Junior snorted. “You can’t be serious.”

  “And yet ... .”

  “Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Junior said after a beat. “I’m an intern at the circuit courthouse. I was at the charity event because it was frowned upon to skip the event. I did talk to Gloria, but it was only because I felt it rude to ignore her. We only talked for a few minutes.”

  “And your father didn’t act as if his nose was out of joint regarding the interaction?” Jared queried.

  “He didn’t. He seemed fine. I’m not sure why he would think I would want to flirt with Gloria. I mean ... she’s old enough to be my mother.”

  Jared had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from reacting. He could just picture Gloria’s expression if she heard the derisive way Junior phrased the comment. She would melt down. It would be more abhorrent than being accused of murder. He almost wanted to tell her as a form of payback given how things were currently going in his life. He knew that would only make things worse, though.

  “The way Gloria made it sound, your father was the competitive sort,” Mel prodded. “Is it possible he simply wanted to believe you were interested in Gloria because that would mean he bested a younger man?”

  “I guess.” Junior looked legitimately confused. “I don’t know what to tell you. Gloria wasn’t flirting with me. I would tell you if she was. She didn’t even seem all that interested in having a conversation with me. I think she did it because it was expected. I certainly wasn’t flirting with her. I mean ... she’s okay, but she’s not exactly my type.”

  “I can see that.” Mel rubbed his forehead. “I can’t remember if you told us before and I don’t have my notes handy. How many times did you meet Gloria?”

  “Technically I’ve met her three or four times, but I only spent time with her once while she was dating my father.”

  “How have you met her more times?”

  “She’s a regular fixture in lawyer circles. She seems to date a new divorce lawyer every month.”

  “
Ah.” Mel made a face as he turned to Jared. “What do you think?”

  “I think that Carl sounds a little nutty,” he answered, thoughtful. “Either Gloria is lying about his reaction or Carl was incorrectly overreacting to things that weren’t really happening.”

  “Which do you think is true?”

  “I don’t know. We need to find out, though.”

  “Definitely, although I don’t even know where to start.”

  Twelve

  Carl was moping around his backyard when Harper and Zander tracked him down. Even though he was an equal partner in GHI, Zander tended to let Harper handle the heavy lifting when it came to ghosts. He focused on the books and being her wingman when a dangerous job came up. Since he couldn’t see ghosts like his best friend could, that seemed like the wisest course of action. That didn’t mean he was going to allow her to hang around in a dead man’s yard with a killer on the loose.

  “You’re back,” Carl noted when he saw Harper. He almost looked relieved. “I’ve come to a conclusion, by the way. I’m dead.”

  Harper worked overtime to maintain a sense of calm as she regarded him. “I believe I told you that yesterday.”

  “I know, but I wasn’t ready to hear it.”

  “And now?”

  “And now I’m interested in hearing your answer regarding ghost sex. If I can’t look forward to that, I might as well curl up in a ball under that bush and never move again.”

  Harper arched an eyebrow and glanced at the dormant lilac bush he gestured toward. “Well, that’s certainly an option,” she said after a beat.

  “What’s an option?” Zander asked, stomping his feet on the snow-packed earth to garner some warmth. “Can’t we force him to join us in the car? I mean ... seriously. This is inhuman.”

  “Carl is upset because of the lack of sex in his future,” Harper volunteered.

  “Well, I can’t really blame him there. I would be upset, too.”