Ghostly Worries (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 4) (12 page)

“I wonder how he’s going to wear you down to get it.”

“Yeah, I’m a little worried about that, too,” Harper said. “He’s not my concern today, though. Let’s finish up here and get out to the cottage. I’m dying to see what we can find.”

Z
ANDER
was
in a snit when he made his way into GHI. He hadn’t slept well and his back ached from tossing and turning all night. Harper came home long enough to slam things around in the kitchen and then left with a bag in tow. Zander didn’t blame her for being angry, but for her to take the pie with her when she left – not even leaving him one slice – was unforgivable.

Zander knew he would have to apologize to Harper eventually – and probably Jared, too – but when she didn’t come home he earned a temporary reprieve. He figured she headed over to Jared’s house and made up with him. That was just as well because he couldn’t deal with the melodrama after such a long day.

A new morning was a new worry, though, and Zander was determined to make up with his best friend. He pulled up short when he found the office empty of employees other than Molly.

“Where is everyone?”

“Eric is out buying some new lenses for his camera and Harper called to say she was working with Jared today,” Molly replied, not looking up from her magazine. “I’m thinking of dying my hair green. Do you think that would make me look sexy or weird?”

“Harper isn’t coming in?” Zander’s heart squeezed. She must be really mad. “And you can’t dye your hair green. It will make you look perpetually sick. I know you think it would make you sexy … like Poison Ivy … but you would resemble a corpse more than anything else. Go with pink or orange. Your skin tone would look great with both.”

“Thanks,” Molly said, happily swinging her feet under the chair. “Shouldn’t you know Harper isn’t coming in” You two live together, after all.”

“She spent the night with Jared,” Zander said, deciding to skirt the truth so he wouldn’t look bad and have to listen to people complain about how he created an untenable situation. “She probably called my cell phone, but I haven’t checked my voicemail yet.”

“Okay,” Molly said. “If you need me to do something, just ask.”

“Uh-huh.” Zander glanced around the office, his shoulders sagging as an unfamiliar feeling washed over him. He was lonely. He’d screwed up badly enough this time that Harper had no problem spending huge gobs of time away from him. That almost never happened. “I’ll be in the back going over some numbers. Make sure you tell me if Harper calls.”

“She’ll probably call you directly, but okay,” Molly said. “I might run out to buy some orange hair dye. That’s okay, right?”

“Knock yourself out. Just … tell me if Harper calls. Don’t forget to do that.”

“
S
omething
about this place bugs me.”

Harper looked up from her spot in the center of the cottage’s living room floor and glanced at Jared, a pile of paperwork spread out around her as she sorted. “A lot of things about this place bug me,” she said. “It’s in a beautiful location and I love the proximity to the river, but the house itself is a hole. It’s such a waste.”

“It does have a claustrophobic feeling about it, doesn’t it?” Jared shifted his eyes around the room. “It’s really heavy in here, like something is trying to strangle the life out of us.”

“Wow. Someone is looking on the bright side of things.”

Jared made a face as he ignored Harper’s sarcasm. “This isn’t a place to come if you want to be happy. That’s what I meant.”

Harper mulled the statement over, her expression unreadable. “I don’t know. I think that if you find the right person, happiness is a state of mind, not a location.”

“I understand that,” Jared said. “I
definitely
understand that.” The smile he sent Harper sent a shiver up her spine. “If you’re in a relationship, though, and you’re looking for a hideaway, don’t you pick a spot that has something worthwhile to offer?”

Harper shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in a situation where I wanted to hide who I was seeing.”

“Me either.” Jared scratched the back of his head as he turned in the center of the room. “There’s no life in this place.”

“Maybe there was no life in the relationship,” Harper suggested. “It seems to me that Rosie was the type who was aware of her shortcomings as a person but didn’t seem to care. Perhaps she picked someone who had different shortcomings and she didn’t care about that either.”

“We need more insight into her,” Jared said. “I’m going to go outside for a breather and call Mel. I want to ask him about the mother. Now that we’ve talked about it, I can’t get it out of my head.”

“Okay.” Harper turned back to her pile of documents.

“Do you want to come outside with me?”

Harper’s expression was quizzical when she locked gazes with Jared. “Are we going to do something dirty out there? I have to be honest, now that Zander told me about the tick that was big enough to eat a child that’s all I can think about.”

Jared barked out a laugh. “That’s not what I had in mind,” he said. “While doing something dirty is definitely on my list today, it’s further down … like after dinner but before we go to sleep.”

“Oh, I’m glad to know you’ve already got us on a schedule. That doesn’t suck the romance out of the equation or anything.”

Jared pursed his lips. “You’re feeling pretty full of yourself today, aren’t you?”

“I have two men fighting over me and one of them doesn’t want to risk a fight so … yeah.”

Jared shook his head. He wanted to be exasperated with her but she was just too cute to fuel his anger. “I thought maybe you might want to take a break and get some air. The oxygen in this place is stale.”

“I’m okay for now,” Harper said. “The faster we finish this, the faster we can leave this place. If we play our cards right, we might finish before lunch and then I thought we could get some sandwiches and ice cream.”

“That is a fantastic idea,” Jared said, dropping a kiss on her forehead before moving toward the door. “I won’t leave you in here for too long by yourself. I’ll call Mel and be right back.”

“Take your time. It’s not like I’m in any danger in here.”

“Just in danger of getting depressed,” Jared said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Try not missing me too much.”

“That sounds impossible, but I’ll do my best.”

H
ARPER
ignored
her buzzing phone for what felt like the fiftieth time and focused on the few documents Rosie left behind once Jared slipped outside. She knew who was relentlessly texting before even glancing at the screen. Zander had been sending a nonstop litany of excuses and questions for almost two hours now and she didn’t even want to pretend to be okay with his actions so she opted to ignore the messages.

Each time her phone buzzed Jared looked in her direction and then swiftly shifted his attention to something else in an effort to make sure she didn’t see the worried expression on his face. In truth, he had no reason to fret. Harper knew she and Zander would make up. They always did. No matter how frustrating he was, she couldn’t imagine her life without him. That didn’t mean she didn’t want to make him sweat a bit.

When her phone buzzed three times in quick succession Harper lost her cool and swore under her breath, reaching for the infernal contraption with every intention of chucking it through the window.

“Annoying, huh?”

Harper froze when she heard the voice, gripping the phone tighter as it buzzed again and slowly turning her head to the left. Rosie, her long dark hair perfectly thrown over her shoulder as if she was a model instead of a murder victim, perched on the edge of the couch and watched Harper with unveiled interest.

“Hello.” As far as greetings go it wasn’t Harper’s finest offering. She was flustered from Zander’s phone stalking, though, so Rosie picking that moment to make her presence known threw her for a loop.

“What are you doing in my house?” Rosie asked, raising a confrontational eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure that’s trespassing.”

Harper generally went out of her way to be sweet and kind when dealing with a new ghost because she knew the lingering spirits were traumatized. That’s the reason they stayed behind, after all. Rosie’s tone made her want to be anything but nice. “I’m pretty sure you were renting … and now you’re dead … so there is no such thing as trespassing for you.”

“Yeah, being dead sucks,” Rosie said, making a face. “It took me like forever to figure that out, too. I tried talking to like eight different people on the street and they all ignored me. I thought I had bad hair or stumbled into some unflattering lighting or something, but then I realized they couldn’t see me. Do you know how I noticed that? I looked in a mirror.”

For some reason the admission didn’t surprise Harper. Rosie seemed like the type of woman who would want to check her reflection before asking any of the big life questions, like ‘how did I die?’.”

“Do you know who killed you?”

“No, do you?” For the first time since popping into view Rosie appeared intrigued. “I bet it was one of those wenches at work. Cecelia has always had it in for me.”

Harper knew Jared interviewed all of Rosie’s co-workers, but she wasn’t sure who said what. She decided to play to Rosie’s ego rather than risk ticking her off. “Why did Cecelia dislike you? Was it because you were prettier than her?”

Rosie’s eyes gleamed as she preened. “That’s exactly why she didn’t like me. Cecelia thought she was in charge of the office, but let me tell you something, the only thing she was in charge of was being ugly.”

Harper reminded herself that Rosie died a horrible death and she probably didn’t realize how obnoxious she sounded when she said things like that. The woman boasted a hateful streak that was hard to swallow, though. “That’s too bad about Cecilia. Did she try to get you in trouble at the office?”

“She did at first,” Rosie replied. “She acted like she was doing it because I was creating a hostile work environment. Those were her words, not mine, by the way. She said I was mean and insulting and Dr. Kennedy had to sit me down and have a talk with me.”

“How did that go?”

“He said he knew that Cecilia was a dried up old hag and understood that she was bitter, but I was just going to have to be the bigger person and put up with her crap.”

Harper frowned. “Did he call her a hag?”

“Oh, no, I added that part,” Rosie said. “He would never say something like that because Cecilia is the type who would sue. He’s too smart for that.” Rosie tapped the side of her noggin for emphasis. “I know he was thinking it, though.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because no one could be around that woman and not think of her as a hag,” Rosie replied. “She was always complaining about the stupidest stuff. ‘Rosie, make sure you wash your hands between each patient.’ ‘Rosie, make sure you wash your hands when you’re done in the bathroom.’ ‘Rosie, make sure you turn your phone off and don’t text when you’re supposed to be cleaning someone’s teeth.’” Rosie affected a snotty and mocking tone as she mimicked her co-worker. “Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have a pain in the butt like that in the office with you?”

Harper was revolted, but not by Cecilia’s attitude. The idea a dental hygienist wouldn’t wash her hands after … ugh. “Do you really think Cecilia could’ve killed you?” Harper asked, forcing the horrifying thought from her mind.

“Probably not,” Rosie answered. “If she killed me she would’ve had to get off her fat behind and we all know she wasn’t going to do that. Am I right?”

Harper widened her eyes as she tried to force herself to remain calm. Rosie didn’t have corporeal form, but if she did Harper knew she would have a hard time stopping herself from smacking the woman. “What do you remember about your last day?”

“I don’t know,” Rosie said, sobering as her eyes took on a far-off quality. “It’s hard for me to remember any of it. Time seems to meld together and picking one day from the next is difficult.”

That’s probably because you had no joy in your life,
Harper silently muttered in her head. “Tell me about the guy you were dating.” Harper forced her tone to remain even and bright. “What was his name?”

Rosie’s eyes darkened as she furrowed her brow. “I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

“Okay,” Harper hedged. “But … um … the thing is … we kind of need to know his identity so we can question him.”

“Why would you question him?”

“Because someone killed you and dumped your body under The Landing’s deck,” Harper replied. “Speaking of that, you weren’t having a relationship with Jason Thurman, were you?”

“I’m not telling you who I was dating,” Rosie snapped, her temper ratcheting up a notch. “That’s private. It’s none of your business.”

“What if he killed you?”

“He would never do that,” Rosie argued. “He was going to be my way out of this place.”

“Whisper Cove?”

“Whisper Cove … Michigan … being poor,” Rosie spat. “I finally had a way to make all of my wishes come true. There’s no way he turned on me. None. It’s not possible.”

Harper pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off an oncoming headache. “But … how can you know that if you don’t remember dying?”

“I know,” Rosie said. “If I didn’t know that would mean I misjudged him and I never misjudge anyone. I can tell right away if a person is good or bad.”

Harper wanted to point out that Rosie was murdered and dumped on the beach, and since she was strangled the odds were she knew her killer, which means she didn’t judge that person all that well, but she didn’t think that would help matters. “At least tell me if you met this guy online,” Harper prodded. “That’s not revealing his identity or anything. Although, for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would hide the fact that he was dating you. I mean … you’re so beautiful.”

Rosie’s vanity was a major weakness, but she was shrewder than Harper gave her credit for. “I know what you’re doing,” she said. “I don’t care what you say. I wasn’t murdered by … him. He loved me. We were going to build the perfect life together. I was going to get a pool and a BMW, for crying out loud. We were just at the beginning.”

“Starting here?” Harper heard the door behind her open, but she didn’t move her gaze from Rosie’s face in case the woman used Jared’s return as a convenient excuse to disappear.

“This was our happy place.” Rosie’s expression was wistful.

“It’s not much of a happy place,” Harper pointed out, remaining calm as Jared sat beside her and rested his hand on her back. He must’ve realized who she was talking to because he didn’t make any sudden moves or take over the conversation. “It’s dirty and small. There’s no air here. How did you breathe?”

“You don’t need to breathe when you have a nice bed,” Rosie scoffed.

The statement made Harper inexplicably sad. “Rosie, I know you don’t want to say who you were dating because it’s some big secret … perhaps you think it’s more romantic, I don’t know … but you need to tell us because I’m certain that this person either killed you or might have a lead on who did.”

“I won’t have you going after him and sullying my name,” Rosie spat. “He’s going to mourn me forever now. I didn’t get the pool … or the boat … or the BMW I really wanted – and I was so close to that – but he will mourn me forever. I’m certain of that.”

“Not everything in life is about material possessions.”

“I’m sure you have to say that because you’re dating a cop, but there will come a day when you realize that money is more important than love. Do you want to know why?”

“No, because I don’t believe that’s true,” Harper replied.

Rosie ignored her. “Love fades. Money lasts forever.”

With those words Rosie disappeared, leaving Harper feeling morose … and a little bit annoyed. “She’s gone.”

Jared kissed Harper’s cheek before speaking, somehow sensing she needed it. “Anything?”

“We might’ve been wrong about her having friends,” Harper said. “She’s awful. I don’t see how anyone could stand to be around her.”

“Well, I actually have a lead on that,” Jared said. “I’m also going to request that the state police come out here and dust this place. We might be able to get a few usable prints and narrow our suspect field. Come on. Let’s get some lunch and you can tell me about your conversation and I’ll tell you about mine. How does that sound?”

“Can we eat at a place with air conditioning?”

“I think I have just the place.”