Ghostly Distress

by Lily Harper Hart

  Ghostly Distress

  A Harper Harlow Mystery Book Nine

  Lily Harper Hart

  HarperHart Publications

  Copyright © 2018 by Lily Harper Hart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  19. Nineteen

  20. Twenty

  21. Twenty-One

  Mail List

  Acknowledgments

  Books by Lily Harper Hart

  1

  One

  “I can’t believe this is how it’s going to end.”

  Zander Pritchett, his handsome face somber and streaked with dirt, leaned his back against a tombstone and snagged his best friend’s gaze. He was completely spent … and resigned.

  For her part, the best friend in question, Harper Harlow, remained wary. “Who said anything about anything ending?” she challenged, her honey blond hair tucked behind her ear as she regarded the man who had stood by her since kindergarten with something akin to suspicion. “Why do you have to make everything so dramatic, Zander? There’s no reason to turn this into a big thing.”

  “Really?” Zander wasn’t one to go down without a fight. “You don’t think there’s a reason to be dramatic. Look where we are.” He extended his hands and gestured toward the familiar surroundings. Whisper Cove Cemetery sometimes felt like a second home, which Zander remained bitter about. “You don’t think there’s a legitimate reason for me to be dramatic?”

  Harper wrinkled her forehead as she glanced around. “Not really.” She was understandably confused. They were ghost hunters, by trade and cosmic design. The cemetery was a frequent stop on their travels for Ghost Hunters, Inc. (or GHI to the inner circle), the business they owned together. Now, since it was so very close to Halloween, they were spending even more time than usual at the facility because they’d started up their lucrative side business: ghost tours. “This is a normal day in our world.”

  Zander ran his tongue over his lips as he shifted, making sure to remain behind the ornate tombstone that he chose for cover while giving Harper his full attention. “This is so not a normal day.”

  Harper was genuinely perplexed by the serious expression on her best friend’s face. “How do you figure that?”

  “Well, for starters, we’re sitting in a cemetery hoping to see ghosts.” Zander gestured toward a plastic wreath as it went whizzing by his head, managing to appear calm despite the fact that he felt the exact opposite.

  “How is that any different from what we usually do?” Harper argued. “We own a ghost-hunting business. You remember GHI, right? Your name is on the articles of incorporation as co-owner.”

  Zander made a face. “We didn’t file articles of incorporation. It wasn’t necessary for such a small business.” He was GHI’s official accountant so he took business comments – even offhand ones – very seriously.

  Harper rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

  “Not really.” Zander wasn’t in the mood to play nice. In fact, the exact opposite. He wanted to torture his best friend until she gave in and saw things his way. That was the mark of a good relationship … er, well, at least in his book. “I have no idea what you mean. In fact, I’m often baffled by anything you have to say. I don’t think you’re the best communicator.”

  Harper narrowed her eyes until they were nothing more than glittery slits. “Well, if you feel we need to communicate more clearly … .”

  Zander recognized the glint for what it was. “Oh, don’t go turning evil. I’m not to blame for this little snafu.” He ducked his head again when a plastic flower bounced off the tombstone and caused him to inadvertently cringe. “That was just tacky.”

  Harper pursed her lips as she shifted and craned her neck to look over the much smaller tombstone she hid behind. “Yeah. Randy is in quite the mood tonight. I guess we didn’t need to rile him for the tour after all.”

  “I don’t see why we ever rile him,” Zander groused. “I would think riling up a ghost is a bad idea.”

  “Randy is basically harmless,” Harper reminded him. “We’re conducting a ghost tour in ten minutes.” She double-checked her watch to be sure. “That means people will start arriving in five minutes. We need ghosts on our tour. You know that. The only one who is always willing to show up and perform on cue is Randy. That’s not my fault. I don’t create the ghosts, or tell them where to be at a certain time. We have to work with what we’ve got.”

  Zander offered his best friend an exaggerated face that was so ridiculous Harper had to bite back a laugh despite her annoyance. “Do you really think I’m upset about Randy?”

  “You once told me you were affronted by his name and we should cut him from the yearly tours.”

  Zander scowled. “I still maintain that his name is stupid,” he muttered. “I mean … Randy is a ridiculous name for so many reasons. When you add his last name, though – Randy Johnson – it’s beyond absurd. That’s not really why I’m angry, though, and you know it.”

  Harper knit her eyebrows. “If you’re not upset about Randy and his penchant for throwing ugly cemetery decorations, why are you upset?” She was genuinely curious.

  “You know why.”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.”

  Zander was nothing if not stubborn and the look he graced Harper with as he folded his arms across his chest and ignored the small placard that bounced off the top of his head was downright scorching. “I’m angry because you’re abandoning me.”

  Now it was Harper’s turn to make a face. “Abandoning you?”

  “You heard me.” Zander jutted out his square chin. “You’re moving out and abandoning me. It’s as if we’re not even friends and I don’t count. I mean … how could you?” He sounded legitimately wounded. “You were my soulmate … just not in a gross sexual way.”

  Harper exhaled heavily as she regarded the one person who had always been there for her no matter the circumstances. Realizing you can see and talk to ghosts is a scary thing and it didn’t exactly make Harper popular throughout high school. Zander stood by her through all of that, not only serving as her anchor but also opting to believe she could do what she said she could without any real proof. He was loyal that way.

  That’s what Harper reminded herself now as she fought the urge to throw herself on him in an effort to dislodge him from his safe place and let Randy the rabble-rouser pelt him with plastic flowers and decorations.

  “I’ll ignore the part about you being grossed out about having sex with me,” Harper muttered.

  “Oh, puh-leez.” Zander rolled his eyes so hard Harper worried he would topple to his left. “You don’t find me attractive in that manner any more than I find you attractive. Although … at least I have the right parts to turn you on. You’re severely lacking for me. Maybe you really are turned on by me and simply sad you can’t have me. That would explain a few things.” He thoughtfully tapped his bottom lip. “Wait … what were we talking about again?”

  “How you’re being a pain about Ja
red and me moving in together and I’ve had it,” Harper snapped, refusing to let Zander sidetrack the conversation. “You said you were fine with it when it first came up – happy even – and now all I hear from you is whining and complaints. I don’t get it.”

  “If you don’t understand I certainly can’t explain it to you,” Zander sniffed, averting his eyes.

  Harper was officially at the end of her rope. “You’re just being difficult to be difficult. I don’t understand. Jared said he talked to you about this before he even mentioned it to me. You were fine with it at the time. What changed?”

  Zander shrugged, noncommittal. “Maybe I’ve simply had time to think things through more clearly and I don’t think moving in with your boyfriend is the way to go. I think you should stay with me.”

  “We’re moving across the road, Zander!” Harper snapped, her temper finally winning the battle and making an appearance. “We’re going to be so close we’ll be able to talk to one another from our front porches. It’s the best possible solution to our living situation. I don’t understand why you can’t see that.”

  “Because it results in you and I no longer sharing a roof.”

  “But we’ll be so close.” Harper rarely wanted to physically harm Zander, but she was battling the urge now. Instead of acting on that impulse, though, she adopted a pragmatic approach. “You agreed that things were going to turn ugly if we didn’t separate one four-person household into two two-person households. Jared came up with the perfect solution where we can see each other whenever we want and it also happens to allow him and Shawn privacy. I don’t understand what the big deal is.”

  “The big deal is that you won’t allow me to help you decorate and you’re tragically color blind when it comes to painting and picking out furniture,” Zander huffed. “You know it’s pure torture for me when you have furniture and design catalogs and I’m not allowed to make decisions.”

  Harper’s spine stiffened as she swiped at her cheek and ignored the plastic rose that smacked against it. “That’s what is bothering you? You’re upset because I want to decorate my own house?”

  Zander merely shrugged. “I’m better when it comes to decorating than you. We both know it.”

  “Oh, whatever.” Harper frowned as she slowly stood and extended a warning finger in Randy’s direction. She was the only one who could see his ethereal figure and she was tired of his antics. “Save some of it for the tour, Randy. You’re going to run out of supplies at this rate.”

  Randy, a former logger who died in the seventies and refused to cross over no matter how many times Harper offered to help out his restless soul, merely sneered. “It’s a big cemetery. I won’t run out of things to throw at you.”

  Harper flicked a glance to the parking lot where tonight’s tour patrons were already starting to gather. “Good to know.” She took a step in that direction, completely ignoring Zander as he scrambled to follow. “See you in a little bit, Randy. Thanks for always being reliable.”

  “I am not reliable!” Randy shot back, indignant. “I am terrifying. I rule this cemetery.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Harper waved off the statement and refused to make eye contact with Zander as he pulled even with her. “You and I are going to have a big talk later.”

  Most men would’ve been terrified by Harper’s tone, but Zander was hardly the type to wilt under pressure. “I’m looking forward to it. What do you think about doing your kitchen in pink?”

  “I think I’m going to make you cry before the night is out.”

  “Oh, so you’re going with eggplant, aren’t you?” Zander was horrified. “Now you’re just being mean.”

  “Whatever.”

  AS FAR AS TOURS go, Harper knew tonight’s offering wasn’t her best show. She was still agitated with Zander and it took her a good ten minutes to relax into her shtick. Still, by the time the tour was concluding, Harper believed her guests were having a good time and she’d relaxed enough to stop plotting Zander’s death whenever she had a free moment.

  “How come we haven’t seen any ghosts?”

  Gary Conner, a middle-aged business owner who did something in an office that Harper couldn’t quite seem to remember even though he told her the details no less than three times, appeared to be the lone individual intent on ruining the tour for everyone.

  “I’ve already told you, Mr. Conner,” Harper drawled, forcing herself to remain calm as she picked her way toward the parking lot. “Only certain people can see ghosts.”

  “You need the gift,” Zander called out, opting to take Harper’s side even though things were far from settled between them. “Harper has the gift. That’s why she can see ghosts. You clearly don’t have the gift.”

  Gary fixed Zander with a dubious look. “And do you have the gift?”

  “I have many gifts.” Zander understood taking out his frustrations on a paying customer was the wrong way to go, but he was very close to doing just that. “I can’t see ghosts, but Harper can. Besides, you got hit in the head four times with plastic flowers. If that wasn’t a ghost, what was it?”

  Gary shrugged. “I’m sure it was some sort of fake magic you guys set up.”

  “Yes, because wasting our time throwing plastic flowers at people seems like a great way to spend a chilly October evening,” Zander drawled, making a face when Harper pinned him with a warning look. “What? You’re thinking the same thing.”

  Harper ignored Zander’s outburst. She was used to his fits of whimsy. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a good time, Mr. Conner. Maybe next year, huh?” He always attended at least one tour, which Harper didn’t understand because the man was adamant ghosts weren’t real. It was almost as if he wanted to participate simply to argue … an inclination Harper couldn’t wrap her head around.

  Gary let loose a condescending look. “I’m sure there won’t be a next year.” He always said that … and then he always came back.

  As if on cue, a plastic flower pot smacked Gary on the forehead before harmlessly glancing to the side and hitting the ground.

  “I still maintain you’re somehow faking this,” Gary muttered as he swiped at the dirt on his face. “There’s no other explanation.”

  “There is an explanation,” Colin Thompson argued, appearing at Harper’s elbow and fixing Gary with an annoyed look. “The ghosts don’t like you and that’s why they’re throwing things at you. I mean … buy a clue.”

  Harper bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at Colin’s outraged expression. She’d known him since he was a teenager – he was twenty-three now but didn’t look old enough to drink – and he’d been attending tours almost since she started offering them. Even though Harper was only four years older than the young man, sometimes it felt like they had a lifetime between them. Still, it was obvious Colin had a crush on Harper and she did nothing to dissuade it. In fact, she was mildly flattered by the attention.

  “Thank you, Colin.” Harper patted his arm and grinned as she forced herself to keep from pumping her fist as Gary continued to scowl and wipe at the side of his face. “It’s always nice when you come to my aid. It’s not necessary, though. If Mr. Conner doesn’t believe in ghosts, he doesn’t believe in ghosts. It’s pretty simple.”

  “Well, he doesn’t have to be rude about it.” Colin glowered at Gary. “Just suck it up and be nice, man. You don’t have to be a tool.”

  “I completely agree,” Zander said, slinging an arm over Colin’s shoulders. “You’re always a bright spot in an otherwise colorless landscape, Colin. Have I told you how happy I am you’re still coming to the tours?”

  Colin’s smile was sheepish. “Oh, well, you know how I feel about ghosts.” His gaze lingered on Harper, causing Zander to smirk.

  “Yes, I know exactly how you feel about ghosts.”

  Gary made a growling sound in the back of his throat as he pulled away from the rest of the group. “This has been a complete waste of time. I can’t believe I let myself be talked into this … aga
in. In fact … .” He was just warming up for what Harper was certain would be a righteous diatribe when he pitched forward and disappeared behind a large bush.

  Harper pressed her lips together and swallowed the mad urge to laugh as she exchanged a quick look with Zander. He wasn’t as strong as his co-worker and had to duck his head as snickers filled the air. Harper, on the other hand, immediately hurried to Gary’s aid.

  “Mr. Conner, are you okay?” She peered over the bush, expecting to find a furious guest who would most likely demand a refund. Instead, she found a white-faced man with shaking hands who looked as if he was about to pass out. “Mr. Conner, what is it?”

  Gary didn’t immediately answer, instead slowly extending a trembling finger and pointing. Harper followed the direction he pointed, her heart rolling when she realized Gary didn’t trip because of karma. No, rather, he tripped because someone left a little something on the other side of the bush for him to trip over.

  It just so happened to be a body.

  “Oh, my.” Harper managed to hold back a gasp as she stared into the sightless eyes of a young woman who looked to have died in a horrible manner. Harper could practically hear the scream frozen on the woman’s pale lips. “I think we need to call the police.”

  Gary finally found his voice. “Oh, do you think? Where was your ghost to tell you about this?”

  Harper didn’t have an answer. It was a fairly good question, though. “I don’t know.”

  2

  Two

  Jared Monroe widened his eyes from the passenger seat of his partner’s cruiser and let loose a low growl when he saw the crowd milling about in the parking lot of Whisper Cove’s main cemetery.