Ghostly Worries (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 4) (17 page)

Harper wet her lips, something insistent niggling at the back of her brain. “Dr. Kennedy isn’t married by any chance, is he?”

“Of course he’s married,” Cecelia said. “He’s a proper gentleman. Proper gentlemen get married.”

One look at Zander told Harper he was thinking the same thing she was. If Rosie was intent on snagging a doctor and she only had access to one and he was married, how long could Dr. Kennedy hold out when she was putting the full court press on him?

“Well, thank you so much for your time,” Harper said. “We should probably be going. Zander’s tooth doesn’t hurt nearly as much as when we came in so he can make an appointment at his regular dentist.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Cecelia said, flashing a bright – although somewhat deranged – smile. “Dr. Kennedy is on his way in. I used the app on my watch to buzz him. I did find a small cavity. He’s going to fix it right up. It will be three minutes of drilling and then your friend here will be good as new.”

Zander immediately started shaking his head. “No drilling!”

“Don’t be a baby,” Cecelia ordered. “Everything will be over and finished before you know it.”

“
H
ow did you find out
?” Jason’s face was a mask of distress and anger. “Did you do a search on me or something? I’ll just bet you had a great time going through all of my personal business. You’ve got to love payback, huh?”

“This can hardly come as a surprise,” Jared replied. “I was upfront when I said I couldn’t rule you out.”

“Yes, but … why didn’t you bring it up sooner? You had to know.”

“Actually, I didn’t know,” Jared answered, opting for honesty. “I did a cursory check on you and didn’t come up with a marriage certificate. Zander ran a more industrious search – I believe he even paid one of those online search engines for a complete list of public records – and he’s the one who mentioned it.”

“Zander. Of course.” Jason made a disgusted face. “I have no idea why that guy hates me so much.”

“It probably has something to do with the fact that he had a rough childhood and it seemed as if everything came easy for you,” Jared said. “It’s not rational, but I kind of understand it. From everything I’ve heard it was not easy for Zander to be the only gay kid in Whisper Cove.”

“Yeah, but people loved him,” Jason argued. “He didn’t even have to work at it and people thought he was hilarious. I always worked at everything and no one ever went out of their way for me.”

“Maybe because you were the golden child and no one ever thinks the golden child might need a helping hand. I’m not saying it’s right, but people always want to help those who look like they need it rather than those who appear they don’t.”

“Zander had Harper, though,” Jason pointed out. “She was all he needed.”

“And Zander wouldn’t trade Harper for anything, but things were hardly perfect for him,” Jared said. “A group of boys tortured him in gym class, although now that I think about it that might’ve happened after you left town. I can’t quite remember the timeline.”

“So Zander did a search on me and found out about Amy, huh? What did Harper say when you told her?”

“I don’t think it matters what Harper said,” Jared countered. “She’s not part of this discussion.”

“I think it’s telling that she’s not here.”

“She’s not here because I barred her from this investigation once I realized you had a motive,” Jared explained. “As much as I love working with her, I will do whatever it takes to protect her. Her safety is a priority over everything else.”

“I hate that you’re such a good guy,” Jason groused, tugging a restless hand through his hair. “It would be so much easier to hate you for having the perfect life if you weren’t so freaking … good.”

Jared pursed his lips. “Perhaps you’re Zander in this scenario.”

“Ugh, that is a frightening though,” Jason said. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“For starters, why didn’t you tell anyone you were married?”

“Because I’m in the middle of a divorce and we’re legally separated,” Jason replied. “You have to understand, when I met Amy I thought I’d found the perfect woman. She was smart. She always looked good. She was focused on her career. I thought we were going to be a power couple.”

“And?”

“And things didn’t work out that way,” Jason said. “She met me when I was moonlighting with a band in a relatively high-class bar in Chicago. Five years ago I still thought I was going to somehow manage to hit it big and be the next Eric Clapton.”

“I would imagine that making a living as a guitarist isn’t the easiest of professions,” Jared said.

“That’s just it, I wasn’t a professional guitar player,” Jason said. “I did it for extra money, but I was really just looking for exposure. If you want to make it in the music industry you have to move to a music hub. Chicago has an interesting scene – much better than Detroit’s – but it’s not a big market.”

“And the big markets would be Los Angeles and New York?”

“And Nashville,” Jason said. “Amy was attracted to me because she saw me play the guitar. You’d be surprised how many women – even smart, professional women – lose their minds for men who play the guitar.”

“That sounds terrible,” Jared deadpanned.

“It has its perks. I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time.”

“So, what happened?”

“We started dating and fell in love,” Jason replied. “Well, at least I thought we fell in love. I was working in the accounting department for a chain of record stores during the day and following my dreams at night. Amy seemed perfectly fine with that even though she worked sixty hours a week and was completely driven.

“We got married nine months after meeting in this huge frou-frou wedding that her parents paid for,” he continued. “In hindsight that should’ve been a tipoff, but I didn’t see what was right in front of me because I thought I was finally going to be living that dream everyone kept talking about.

“We went on our honeymoon to Hawaii and had a blissful time. I thought things would go back to the same routine once we returned, but the second we hit our front door it was as if Amy became a different person,” Jason said. “She demanded I get a new job, something that had growth potential. I never went to college. I took music classes, sure, and I was fairly good with numbers, but I didn’t have a degree. That wasn’t a deterrent to Amy. She decided I needed to go back to school.

“She took about two weeks to really think about how she saw things going for us and signed me up for a very expensive culinary arts program in Chicago,” he said. “Her parents pulled some strings because they’re influential. I never even considered being a chef or owning my own restaurant, but Amy said that could be a power position – and I could even play at my own place if I ever got that far – so I agreed. I mean … it sounded good on paper. She was so smart and I wanted the marriage to work.”

“You must’ve liked something about the experience,” Jared said. “You came back to town and opened your own restaurant.”

“You know what? I found I really did like it,” Jason admitted. “I owe Amy for making me step outside of my comfort zone because I really enjoy cooking and the business side of owning a restaurant. Even though I put a lot of effort into everything for two years, though, I realized the marriage was doomed at some point.

“Amy is the type of woman who can’t be spontaneous,” he continued. “She has a list of life goals and she checks them off as she moves forward. One of the items on that list was to be pregnant by the time she was twenty-six. I knew that was a mistake.”

“That’s when you ended it?” Jared was genuinely curious.

“She came into the bedroom one day and just announced she was done taking birth control and it was time to have a baby,” Jason said. “There was no romance, no discussion. It was baby time. I told her I didn’t think we should have a baby and instead suggested therapy.”

“How did that go over?”

“Not well at all,” Jason replied, chuckling at the memory. “She stormed out of the bedroom and slept in the guest room. The next night when I returned home she’d changed the locks and left an envelope taped to the front door.

“You see, the townhouse where we lived was technically owned by her parents so I had no say in the ownership,” he said. “I didn’t think it was a problem at the time, but looking back, I see how stupid I was. She put all of my stuff in a storage locker and left the key.”

“That seems a little harsh,” Jared said, his heart going out to the man even though he remained wary. “Did you talk to her?”

“She refused to take my calls. Heck, she had her cell phone number changed. I didn’t see her again until we had our first meeting with the lawyers.”

“Was there a pre-nup?”

Jason nodded. “Her parents were very protective of their assets and I don’t blame them for that,” he said. “I didn’t want money from her. I just wanted an explanation. I wanted to know how ‘til death do us part’ turned into ‘give me a baby or get out.’”

“What did she say?”

“She said love was something girls made up to comfort themselves as children and she didn’t believe it existed,” Jason answered. “She said she thought we were a good match and could have a satisfactory life.
Satisfactory.
Can you believe that?”

“No.”

“We settled after two mediation sessions,” Jason said. “She offered me half of the joint bank account and I took it even though she earned most of the money. I figured if I was starting over I might as well have some money to do it. I might be a little bitter where Amy is concerned.”

“I can’t say I blame you,” Jared said. “Maybe I didn’t see the marriage information because it happened in another state, or perhaps I just didn’t think to look for it. It was a little troubling to come up out of the blue like it did, but if your story holds up – and you should know Mel is contacting your soon-to-be-ex-wife today – then it kind of takes the motive off the table.”

“Amy wouldn’t care if I married a mermaid at this point,” Jason said. “I’m no longer a part of her life so it’s as if I don’t even exist. It’s troubling … and hurtful … but it is what it is.”

“And that’s why when you saw Harper you were so eager to reconnect,” Jared said, rubbing the back of his neck as he reclined in the chair. “You thought that you found your happy ending and had it turn into a nightmare and were looking for something – someone, really – to plug that hole in your life.”

“You might be reading a little more into the situation than necessary,” Jason countered. “I saw Harper and realized she was just as beautiful as I remembered. You might not realize this, but she’s … freaking hot.”

“I’ve noticed,” Jared said dryly.

“She’s not fake, though,” Jason said. “She says what she means. She doesn’t pretend to have feelings for someone and then toss them out the door when things aren’t at a satisfactory level. She gave me hope when I saw her.”

“So you haven’t been pining away for ten years in the hopes that you could revisit your high school love affair?”

Jason barked out a laugh. “I liked Harper a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but two months is nothing. Even in high school I was aware it was a fling. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have faint hope we could have a shot at the real deal as adults.”

“Before me, you mean?”

“Before you,” Jason conceded. “You don’t have to worry about me going after her. I thought there might be a chance for us even after I met you because you’d only been dating a few weeks. Then I did the smart thing and actually watched the two of you when you interacted, like yesterday at lunch, for example.

“You’re in sync,” he continued. “You make her smile. Her face lights up when you’re around. Even when she’s pretending to be mad, like she was when you tricked her into coming here, she can’t get enough of you.”

“That’s good, because I can’t get enough of her,” Jared said. “You shouldn’t have kept this from us because it makes you appear guilty, but if everything checks out, I think you’re back to being in the middle of the list because I can’t see a motive where you’re concerned.”

“That’s a relief, huh?” Jason flashed a rueful smile. “It’s bad enough I’m about to be divorced and my wife didn’t find me satisfactory. Being a murder suspect on top of that would pretty much kill my dating prospects around here.”

Jared smirked. “I think you’ll do fine on the dating circuit,” he said. “You simply need to realize that just because your happy ending didn’t work out, that doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up on mine.”

“Harper is off limits,” Jason said, raising his hands. “I get it. Don’t shoot me.”

“I have no intention of shooting you,” Jared said. “I will, however, take an iced tea now.”

“You’ve got it,” Jason said. “While you’re drinking it you can tell me how to make Zander stop hating me. I swear I saw him hiding in my bushes the other night watching me. He had on a helmet or something.”

“
H
ARPER
!”
Zander’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as he struggled to get out of the reclining chair.

“I don’t think Zander needs a filling,” Harper said, forcing her voice to remain calm even as her heart rate sped up. “I definitely don’t think he wants to get drilled.”

Zander mutely nodded.

“That could be why he has performance issues,” Cecelia said, the smile on her face reminding Harper of the murdering clown in
It
. “Don’t get all worked up. This will be over in a few minutes. I’ll get the doctor right now so you guys don’t have to wait it out. This one looks as if he’s going to have a heart attack.”

Harper waited until Cecelia left the room before grabbing Zander’s arm and jerking him to his feet. “We’re leaving.”

“I am going to kill you,” Zander spat, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth. “That woman wants to drill me. Do you have any idea how horrifying that is?”

Harper shrugged. “If you were straight you might like it,” she said. “She’s pretty, especially for how old she is.”

“And crazy!” Zander’s eyes were wild. “You realize she wants to kill us, right?”

“I thought I was the only one who figured that out,” Harper mused. “I think she killed Rosie. Did you hear the way she talked about her? I mean … seriously. You at least pretend to be sorry when someone dies. Only sociopaths aren’t sorry.”

“Why would she kill Rosie, though?” Zander asked, jerking the paper napkin off his chest and making a face. “If you ever tell anyone how much I drooled today, the friendship is over.”

Harper wasn’t worried in the least by that threat. “You’re just lucky I was too shocked by what she was saying to take photographs. Come on. We have to get out of here.”

“Don’t you think she’s going to notice we’re gone?” Zander asked, worried as he cast a quick glance over his shoulder. “She might chase us with a drill. She’ll be like that deranged dentist in that horror movie.”

Harper made a face as she moved toward the door. “What horror movie?”

“You know which one,” Zander snapped. “The one with the dentist.”

“I don’t ever remember watching a dentist horror movie with you,” Harper said, pressing her ear to the door before opening it. “Are you sure you’re not making that up? Maybe the dentist killed the giant tick or something and you’re confusing things.”