Ghostly Holiday (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 11)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Harper glanced over her shoulder. “We’re going to Kasey Blankenship’s house,” she replied. “Jared finds her interesting enough to check out, and I’m going with him.”

  “Since when are you a police officer?”

  “She’s my civilian consultant,” Jared corrected. “I’m allowed to utilize as many civilian consultants as I need.”

  “And what’s her special ability in this particular case?”

  “Kasey Blankenship lost a daughter,” Jared replied simply. “Perhaps she’s still around. Besides that, Jessica and Kasey went to high school together. It’s a tenuous tie because I’m not sure if they were close after graduation, but it’s enough that I want to question her.”

  “To what end?” Pam asked, legitimately curious. “Do you think she was working with Jessica?”

  “Maybe.” Jared saw no reason to lie. “I mean ... think about it. Maybe Jessica wanted to get rid of Zoe as a way to eliminate one of the ties between Ally and Luke. Perhaps she didn’t want to kill her, though. She knew Kasey wanted a daughter and was potentially sad enough to join in the plot so they hatched the plan as a duo.”

  “Then why kill Jessica?” Shawn asked. “Why not stick to the original plan?”

  “Perhaps Jessica changed her mind and wanted to take Zoe back to her mother,” Harper suggested. “Maybe she didn’t realize how much attention the abduction would garner. Maybe she felt bad for what she did and wanted to make it right.”

  “And maybe Kasey didn’t want her to make it right,” Jared added as he grabbed a hat from the hook and pulled it over Harper’s head, making sure her ears were covered. “Maybe Kasey wanted to keep Zoe no matter what.”

  “It sounds like you’re reaching to me,” Zander argued.

  “We’re still going to head over there. Mom, will you be okay staying here with Zander and Shawn?”

  Pam nodded without hesitation. “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Momentarily suspicious, Jared narrowed his eyes. “What are you guys going to do while we’re gone?”

  “We’re going to make dinner so you have something wonderful and tasty to return home to,” Pam replied smoothly. “I would think you’d be happy about that.”

  “I guess it depends what you’re cooking.”

  “I was leaning toward pot roast.”

  Jared brightened considerably. “I love pot roast.”

  “I know.” Pam’s smile was fond. “We’ll make dinner. You guys take your time and be careful.”

  “And keep us updated,” Shawn called out.

  “We’ll definitely do that.”

  Pam waited until Jared and Harper were safely out of the house before turning to Zander. “Now you have no reason to be fussy and obnoxious,” she noted. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what the ring looks like, huh? In fact, if you know where it’s hidden, that would be even better.”

  Zander’s expression darkened. “I thought we were making pot roast.”

  “I can multitask. I want to see the ring.”

  “And I want to know how you managed to keep this a secret from me,” Shawn added. “You can never keep secrets. Yes, I know I forgot to ask when things blew up, but this is something you should’ve told me about. I simply assumed you didn’t have time to buy the ring after all.”

  Zander balked. “Excuse me. I’ll have you know that I’m an excellent secret keeper.”

  “You’re the absolute worst. I can’t believe Jared trusted you instead of me.”

  “He trusted Zander because he wanted to make sure Harper got the ring of her dreams,” Pam supplied. “I know my son. Ring shopping wouldn’t be high on his talent list. Zander, however, knows Harper better than anyone.”

  “Did he get her a nice ring?” Shawn asked. “Wait!” He held up his hand. “This is more important. When and where is he going to propose?”

  “It’s going to be a Christmas proposal,” Zander replied. “He hasn’t told me all the details.”

  “Oh, please.” Shawn rolled his eyes. “I know you. There’s no way you would’ve let him leave without ferreting out the details.”

  “We were barely out of the store when Ally started screaming about Zoe being missing.”

  “Oh.” Realization dawned on Shawn’s face. “I guess that’s a good reason for losing your train of thought.”

  “And he’s been really busy since. There’s been no opportunity to get him alone to ask questions about his plans. Harper has been with him pretty much every second that he’s in this house.”

  “Well, we’ll figure out the proposal going forward,” Shawn said. “Show us the ring.”

  Pam nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely show us the ring.”

  Zander heaved out an exaggerated sigh. “People say I’m the one who can’t mind my own business, but I think you guys are worse.”

  “I’m a mother,” Pam noted. “I’m allowed to be a busybody. In fact, it’s part of the rules.”

  Zander smirked. “Good point. I’ll see if I can find the ring. You guys watch the windows to make sure Harper and Jared don’t swing back while I’m going through their things. That would be annoying to explain.”

  “I’m on it.” Shawn strode toward the window. “I can’t believe you were going to keep this from me,” he lamented. “I like proposals, too.”

  “I’ll never make that mistake again. I promise.”

  JARED PARKED IN FRONT of the nondescript ranch house and killed the engine of his truck. He was using his personal vehicle because he didn’t want to waste time returning to the office to claim a cruiser.

  “How well do you know Kasey?” he asked Harper as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

  “Not well. We were all in high school together, but they hung out with a different crowd. Ally and Jessica were popular. Zander and I were not. We were fine being in our own little group, though.”

  “Fair enough.” He kept Harper close as he took the lead position to knock on the door.

  Kasey answered right away — almost as if she was expecting someone — and she seemed surprised when she recognized the duo on her front porch. “Um ... hello.”

  “Hello.” Jared pasted a friendly smile on his face. “I’m Detective Monroe with the Whisper Cove Police Department.” He moved to reach in his pocket to retrieve his badge, but she waved him off.

  “I know who you are,” Kasey said. “You were big news in the spring when you showed up on the scene. Everyone wanted to get a look at you. Harper managed to snag you before anyone else could make a move, though.”

  Harper offered a half-smile, although she wasn’t sure if she liked being talked about in such a fashion. “I don’t know that I snagged him up,” she hedged, causing Kasey to chuckle.

  “It ultimately doesn’t matter,” she said. “You guys are clearly happy, and I’m happy for you. I’m not quite sure why you’re here, though.”

  “We have a few questions that might seem odd,” Jared admitted, shifting from one foot to the other. The air outside was biting. “They revolve around Jessica Hayden and the disappearance of Zoe Mathers.”

  Kasey’s eyes widened. “Oh, well ... come in.” She ushered them inside, waiting until they were over the threshold and finished removing their boots to lead them through the house. “Come into the living room,” she suggested. “I have a fire brewing.”

  “It’s really cold out,” Harper noted, her mittens in her hand as she wandered into the cute living room and pulled up short.

  There was a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table, a platter of cheese and crackers not far away. The lighting was low, atmosphere light, and there was soft music playing from the speaker on a nearby shelf.

  “You have a date,” Harper blurted out before thinking.

  Kasey nodded, her cheeks flushing with color. “Dave Thompkins. Um ... we’ve been seeing each other a few weeks.”

  “I didn’t know that.” Harper glanced around, her stomach twisting as her eyes fell on a photograph on the mantel. It fe
atured a young girl, her black hair flying as she smiled at the camera. She looked alive, happy, and about to get into mischief.

  “Is that your daughter?” Jared asked, looking at the photograph over Harper’s shoulder.

  Kasey nodded, her expression turning sad. “Piper. Her name was Piper.”

  “Harper told me what happened.” Jared chose his words carefully. “Leukemia, right?”

  “Yes.” Kasey’s voice was soft as she stared at the photo. “She was a good girl. The best, really. She made my life better.”

  Harper’s eyes burned thanks to the tortured look on Kasey’s face. “She’s been gone almost two years now, right? It was right around Christmas.”

  “Yeah.” Kasey licked her lips and took a moment to pull herself together. “I kept telling myself she had to make it through Christmas because ... well, I had no idea why. Christmas was an arbitrary date set in my mind. It didn’t matter if she made it to Christmas. My world was still going to be shattered when I lost her no matter what.”

  Jared did his best not to let the sympathy overcome him as he sat on the couch. “We don’t want to take up a lot of your time. I understand you have a date.”

  “Dave is the first person I’ve spent time with since it happened,” Kasey explained. “Mike and I never got married, and he visited Piper on alternating weekends after we broke up. When she died, I didn’t think I ever wanted to date again. Dave changed that.

  “I kept running into him, like it was meant to be or something, and we got to talking,” she continued. “The next thing I knew, he was asking me out. My initial inclination was to say no, but then I thought about Piper. She wouldn’t want me to be sad.”

  “She definitely wouldn’t want that,” Harper agreed. “I remember talking to her at a festival one year. It was a Halloween festival, because the kids were all over me for ghost stories. Anyway, she didn’t want to hear about ghosts. She wanted to know if Zander and I were going to get married. She seemed keen on it.”

  “She always had a crush on Zander,” Kasey supplied, grinning. “I tried explaining why it would never work between them, but she didn’t get it. She wasn’t old enough to get it. Then she got sick and it didn’t seem to matter. Although ... Zander was so sweet. He stopped by the hospital and saw her three times during her last big stay. He was wonderful.”

  Harper was taken aback. “I didn’t know that.”

  “He stopped between jobs or something. He always brought her a gift. I think he knew she had a crush on him.”

  “He never told me.” Harper adopted a far-off expression as she thought about it and then shook her head to dislodge the melancholy. She had plenty of time to question Zander about his actions later. For now, they had to get through this. “I know this might sound like an odd question, but did you spend any time with Jessica Hayden?”

  “No. You mentioned her on the porch, but Jessica and I weren’t close. I mean ... we would wave to each other if we crossed paths. We weren’t unfriendly. We stopped being true friends after graduation, though.”

  “So, you haven’t spent any time with her over the past few months?” Jared queried.

  Kasey shook her head. “No. Is there a reason you suspected I might be spending time with her?”

  “She’s dead,” Harper volunteered, ignoring the incredulous look Jared shot her. “We found her in the park. Zoe Mathers’s hat was in her car.”

  “What?” Kasey was shaking as she sat down in the chair across from the couch. “You think Jessica kidnapped Zoe?”

  “Either that or someone wanted us to believe she did,” Jared replied. “We’re trying to track down every possible angle, including parents who lost children who might be feeling lonely this holiday season.” He blurted it out, feeling like an idiot when her gaze sharpened. “I’m sorry. We just needed to check, and since you went to high school with Jessica ... .”

  “You had to make sure,” Kasey finished his sentence, no signs of anger crossing her pretty features. “I get it. If my child was missing, I would want you to follow every lead, however weak. You can search the house if you want. I don’t have her. I wouldn’t take her.”

  “It’s not that we thought you would take her out of malice,” Harper offered hurriedly. “It’s just ... we thought you might be sad.” She inclined her chin toward the wine glasses. “You’re moving on, though. That’s good.”

  “I don’t know that I would say I’m moving on.”

  “You’re dating. That’s kind of like moving on.”

  “I’ll never forget, or stop asking myself if there was something I could’ve done to save her. I’ll never look at a Christmas tree and not wonder what she would be like this year, how she would’ve grown and matured if she’d lived. I’ll never be able to put that behind me.

  “Still, I can’t spend my entire life shutting myself away from the world,” she continued. “I have to either move forward or live in the past for the rest of my life. I seriously considered living in the past before I sucked it up and realized that I wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

  “I can’t bring Piper back,” she said. “I’m also not done living my life, so I have to force myself to move forward. I’ll never let her go, though. She’ll always be part of whatever life I decide to lead. Her memory looms large in my heart.”

  “I think that’s a smart choice,” Harper said. “It sounds like you’ve been giving it a lot of thought.”

  “Actually, I got that from my support group.” Kasey was rueful. “I would like to take responsibility for coming to this conclusion myself, but they’re the ones who pushed me. They’re the ones giving me strength.”

  “There’s no shame in that.” Harper was firm. “If the group helps, that’s all that matters. That’s the same group Shana is part of, right? I believe she founded it.”

  “She didn’t found it, although she claims responsibility for it,” Kasey countered. “She was also kicked out of the group a few months ago. We couldn’t take her crap any longer.”

  “What crap?” Jared asked.

  “She’s totally crazy. In fact, I think she’s mentally ill. We couldn’t trust her, so we had to cut her loose.”

  “Why couldn’t you trust her?”

  “Because she was coming up with some ridiculous ideas, like removing kids from homes ourselves if we deem the parents aren’t paying enough attention to the kids. It was totally wacky stuff.”

  Harper and Jared exchanged a weighted look.

  “Tell me about it,” Jared said finally. “And, please, don’t leave anything out.”

  Seventeen

  “She’s just ... mental,” Kasey explained. If she thought it was weird for Jared and Harper to change the topic of conversation to Shana, she didn’t show it. “I mean, she’s all over the place. It was supposed to be a group where everyone got to talk about losing their child, but she took over each and every time, to the point where no one else could get a word in edgewise.”

  “What kind of group was it?” Jared asked.

  “It’s for bereaved parents. The only stipulation for membership is losing a child. It doesn’t matter if the child was murdered, died of natural causes, or was an adult when they passed.”

  “And Shana took over the group?” Harper pressed.

  Kasey nodded. “I think it must have been legitimately harder for her because Chloe disappeared and there’s no way of knowing what happened to her. Her membership wasn’t initially a problem because odds are Chloe is dead, and Shana has obviously grieved. She made it a problem, though.”

  “Can you expand on that?” Jared prodded.

  “I guess. Basically, she made everything about her. She told Chloe’s story over and over, which is normal, but she refused to let others talk. She basically acted as if she was the only one suffering.

  “In addition to that, she lied all the time,” she continued. “She told wild stories about the FBI wanting to recruit her to be a profiler because she knew a lot about the criminal mind thanks to Chloe’s
disappearance. Of course, that didn’t make any sense.

  “That was on top of the fact that she would melt down if people didn’t give her constant praise,” she said. “When she would bring cookies to our meetings, she would get upset if people didn’t tell her how good they were. One time, Helen Moffet brought cookies and everyone raved about them and Shana basically melted down.”

  Harper pursed her lips. “Did anyone ever call her on her behavior?”

  “A few of us did. That just made things worse. She accused us of being jealous and painted herself as a victim. It got to be more and more uncomfortable, to the point where no one wanted to keep attending group if she was going to be part of it.”

  “She sounds like she has Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” Jared mused, stroking his chin.

  “You’re not the first person who has said that,” Shana admitted. “We have a therapist in the group and that’s exactly what she said.”

  “How did Shana take it when you booted her from the group?” Jared asked, his mind racing. “And go back to that thing where she had the idea of stealing children.”

  “Well, that was essentially the last straw,” Kasey admitted. “She put together folders for everyone — I’m not kidding — and they were basically how-to guides for identifying children who were being neglected.

  “The thing is, she seemed to think a child was being neglected if he or she went to the park without a parent — we’re talking about ten-year-olds here — or if a child played in a yard alone,” she continued. “The things in that packet were outrageous.”

  “I’m assuming you called her on it,” Jared prodded.

  Kasey bobbed her head. “Of course we did. No one was going to agree to kidnap children. She said it wasn’t kidnapping, rather that it was saving the children. She got really weird, to the point where we simply asked her to leave because we were uncomfortable.”