“What are you supposed to do on a stakeout?” Harper asked.
Jared snickered. “You’re supposed to sit quietly and watch the suspect for signs of suspicious activity.”
“We don’t even know our suspect is home,” Harper pointed out. “I mean ... the lights are on, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
As if on cue, a shadowy figure moved past the nearest window. It definitely belonged to an adult, which was something of a bummer for Jared, but he straightened as he watched the shadow move toward what looked to be a stove.
“Her windows have some sort of protective coating on them or something,” he complained. “It makes seeing inside difficult.”
“We could always sneak up to the house and get a closer look.”
“Not legally.”
“Okay, well ... .” Harper tapped her bottom lip and shifted gears. “I could sneak up to the house and look through the windows. You’re a police officer. You can’t break the law. I’m a rule breaker so I can do whatever I want.”
Jared rolled his eyes. “If I see you breaking the law, I have to arrest you.”
“That’s not what you said when you grabbed my butt on Main Street last week. You could’ve been arrested for lewd and lascivious acts for that one.”
Jared narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. “That was an accident. I reached lower than I meant to. I was trying to hug you.”
“Right. You were still breaking public decency laws. When I mentioned it, you said no one saw so it wasn’t a big deal.”
“I wish you would stop bringing things up that I say when I’m trying to get away with something.”
Harper snickered, genuinely amused. “So ... do you want me to sneak closer and get a better look?”
Despite his law-and-order attitude, Jared honestly considered it. Ultimately, though, he shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s watch for a little bit before I okay you breaking the law. I would prefer to handle this by the book.”
“Such a cop.” Harper leaned over and kissed him, her eyes sparkling. “This is fun, huh? We’ve never been on a stakeout together before.”
Jared grabbed the thermos of coffee his mother packed before they left the house and twisted off the top. “You get excited over the oddest things. Has anyone ever told you that?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been excited about you since the moment we met. I didn’t want to tell you that, of course, because I had a reputation to uphold, but I’ve always been infatuated with you.”
His heart simply melted. “I felt the same way about you.”
“You thought I was a quack.”
“I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in real life. I still think that. Sometimes, when I wake up before you, I watch you sleep and marvel that you’re mine.”
Harper was absurdly touched by the words. “I feel the same way.”
He gently slipped a strand of hair behind her ear before pouring coffee into the thermos cap and handing it to her. “I love you, Heart. You can’t serve as a distraction tonight, though. We actually have to be diligent and watch the house. No fogging up the windows, as Zander would say.”
Harper giggled as she sipped the caffeinated goodness. “I’ll try to refrain from ripping your clothes off.”
“That’s only a rule while we’re on the stakeout. Once we get home, you can resume all bad behavior.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Eighteen
Under different circumstances, Harper and Jared might have enjoyed their time together. They talked, Harper asking questions about Jared’s childhood and him responding with anecdotes that made her giggle.
When the temperature dropped low, rather than start the engine and warm up the truck – which would’ve potentially drawn attention to them – they snuggled closer. Harper rested her head on Jared’s shoulder and they shared each other’s warmth. Harper almost dropped off, in fact, was just on the cusp, when there was a loud knock on the window that almost caused her to jump out of her skin.
Even Jared, who was usually calm under pressure, jerked so hard he slammed his chin against Harper’s head.
“Ow!”
On the other side of the window, Mel hunkered down with his hands on his knees and laughed at the scene.
“That’s what you get for groping on the job,” Mel said.
“Shh.” Jared pressed his finger to his lips and turned the key far enough to engage the battery and roll down the window. “Don’t yell,” he hissed. “Voices carry when it’s cold like this.”
“The lights are out.” Mel inclined his chin toward the house. “Did you miss that?”
Jared made a face. The last thing he wanted to admit was that he’d become distracted when he was supposed to be working. “I … it must have just happened.”
“Yeah, it happened when you kissed her forehead and readjusted to make sure she was snuggled as closely as possible. I’ve been here for five minutes. I’ve been watching both of you.”
“Ugh.” Jared spared a glance for Harper and found her smiling. “You think this is funny, huh?”
“I think we would both fail as spies.”
“I can live with that.” He gave her a quick kiss before fixing his full attention on Mel. “You’re early. How come?”
“Because I thought maybe we could do a quick perimeter check of the house together once the lights were off.”
Jared was convinced he’d misheard his partner. “On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that a little girl is missing and this is literally the only thing we’ve got to go on. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I can’t be the only one who wants that little girl home with her mother.”
“No.” Jared shifted back to Harper. “Are you okay if I leave you here to do a search with Mel?”
Harper nodded without hesitation. “Go. I’ll stay here.”
“I’ll start the engine so you can warm up.” He reached for the key but she stopped him.
“No. You’re right about that drawing attention to us. Go with Mel. I’ll be fine. I’m in no danger of freezing to death.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” He gave her another kiss. “I’ll be right back. It shouldn’t take us long.”
“I’ll be waiting with Christmas bells on.”
“Ho, ho, ho.”
HARPER WASN’T THE nervous sort. Most people left alone in the middle of the night, surrounded by trees and looking for a kidnapper, would’ve been antsy. That wasn’t how she operated. She recognized ghosts, talked to them, and understood that they weren’t to be feared … except for the occasionally nutty one that had been alone so long it had gone around the bend. She’d faced down death more times than she could count. Fear very rarely got a foothold in her world.
Despite that, an eerie sense of dread settled over her as she watched the darkness for hints of movement. Mel and Jared disappeared to the east, but her eyes kept darting to the west for some reason. It wasn’t that she necessarily saw movement as much as it was an inner feeling.
Some thing wanted her to look in that direction.
No, not some thing. Someone.
Before she even realized what she was doing, Harper pushed open the passenger side door and climbed out. Her hat was blue, so it covered up a decent amount of her blond hair as she zipped her coat and took two steps forward.
“Hello?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Is someone out there?”
She waited so long, staring into nothing, that she convinced herself that she had imagined the previous feeling that overtook her. She was close to turning around and climbing back into the truck when the sensation that she was being watched barreled into her with enough force that she almost toppled over.
She slowly adjusted her sightline to the left, her heart dropping through her feet when she caught sight of the ghost. At first, for one fleeting second, she thought it was Jessica. She hadn’t seen the rece
ntly-murdered woman since their previous interaction – and she was starting to get worried – but hers wasn’t the face staring back at Harper this evening. No, the girl looking at Harper was from the past.
“Chloe.” Harper couldn’t believe her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
The ghost looked exactly like she had in life. She was a lovely girl, a teenager who would’ve one day grown into a knockout of a woman. She wore jeans and a simple T-shirt, a spring jacket instead of a winter coat. Her long hair was in disarray, and her makeup was smeared halfway down her face. Clearly, in death, Chloe never learned that she could change her appearance. Now, years later, she looked exactly like she had when she shuffled off the mortal coil.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” Harper felt like an idiot as she stared at the ghost. “I never thought to look for you. If I’d known … I mean, have you been here since you died?”
Chloe nodded, her eyes roaming Harper’s features. “You look familiar to me,” she said finally. “I don’t recognize you, and yet I do. It’s a very weird feeling.”
“My name is Harper Harlow. I was behind you in school.”
“Behind me?” She looked Harper up and down. “You’re older than me.”
“You’ve been dead a long time.”
“I guess so. It felt like a long time, but I couldn’t be sure. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“That’s okay.” Harper flashed an understanding smile. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t know you were out here. I would’ve come if I’d known. I would’ve helped you cross over.”
“To where?”
“To the other side. I don’t know what’s over there, but I’ve seen glimpses a few times. It’s beautiful.”
“And you can help me cross over?”
“I can.”
“That would be nice.” Chloe brightened a bit, although she hardly looked happy. “It’s not time for that yet, though.”
“No?”
“No. I have something I have to show you.”
“You have something you have to show me?” Harper was understandably confused. “Where?”
“This way.” Chloe beckoned and started moving toward the trees.
“I have to wait,” Harper called out, jerking her head to the east in the hope she would catch sight of Jared or Mel. Unfortunately, it was dark and silent.
“You can’t wait. There is no time to wait. You have to come.”
“But … why?”
“Because it’s going to happen again if you don’t save her.”
“What’s going to happen again?”
“My mother will win.”
Harper was unbelievably confused but something inside propelled her forward. Since she wasn’t an idiot, though, she held up her hand and tugged off her mitten. “Hold on. I have to leave Jared a note.”
She didn’t have paper or a pen, but she had the condensation on the window that still lingered. She opened the door, breathed hard to increase the fog, and left Jared a simple message. “Ghost came. Went into woods. Be right back.”
Harper read the note, scanned the woods surrounding the house again, and then shut the door. She wasn’t going far. She was certain of that. She would be fine. Chloe clearly had answers, and Harper was more than ready to hear them.
THE WALK INTO THE woods took longer than Harper envisioned. To be fair, they didn’t go far. It only felt that way because Harper had to walk slowly to make sure she didn’t accidentally trip over a fallen branch and bang her head into an unforeseen barrier.
Chloe wasn’t much for talk and she remained far enough ahead of Harper that the blonde felt it unwise to call out and draw her back. Finally, when Harper thought she could take it no longer, Chloe circled behind a thick crop of trees and disappeared.
Harper increased her pace and pulled up short when she realized she was looking at a small building that was completely shrouded by trees.
“What the … ?”
“It’s the quiet place,” Chloe whispered, something about her tone causing Harper to snap her head in the young girl’s direction.
“The quiet place?”
Chloe nodded. “Mother likes it quiet.” The words were barely a whisper and they sent a shiver down Harper’s spine.
“Oh, Chloe, did your mother kill you?” Harper blurted out the question without giving it much thought.
Instead of balking, Chloe merely nodded. “I wasn’t quiet enough, good enough. I knew better than mouthing off, but I thought I caught her in a good mood. I wanted to go to prom, you see. She always told me that was for girls who didn’t want good things for their future, sluts. She chaperoned the homecoming dances, but she made sure I never got too close to anybody. The prom was a different story. I wasn’t to bother her, but Rodney Daughtry asked me, and I wanted to go.”
Harper felt sick to her stomach. “Your mother killed you, reported you missing, and then spent fifteen years playing the victim. I can’t believe it. How did she pull it off?”
“Look.”
“She fooled everyone,” Harper barreled forward, not noticing the way Chloe gestured at the building. “She had every single person in this town feeling sorry for her and she was the one who killed you. I can’t believe it.”
She swiveled and pinned Chloe with a dark look. “Tell me how she killed you. I can’t help unless you tell me where your body is. We’ll nail her. I promise. We’ll make sure she pays for what she did to you.”
“Look,” Chloe repeated, her fingers going close to the small outbuilding’s door. “Look.”
A wave of nausea washed over Harper. “Oh. You brought me out here because you wanted me to find you.”
Chloe nodded. “You have to look. Then it will be real.”
Harper wasn’t sure what to make of the statement, but she did as she was asked. She wrapped her mitten-covered hand around the handle and gave it a tug. It held tight, so she had to try again. Finally, she had to brace her feet and put her back into it. When the door flew open, Harper lost her balance and toppled backward.
The ground was cold when she hit, and her hip groaned in protest because the frozen surface offered zero cushion. “Ow.” Harper made a face as she rubbed her hip, glaring into the dark opening.
There were no streetlights in the area, but the moon managed to filter through the bare branches and give Harper a relatively good view of what was inside the shed.
There was nothing left of Chloe, at least nothing identifiable. Her skull remained, empty black eyeholes staring into the darkness. Clothes that looked eerily familiar because the ghost wore the same outfit that was on the floor, although they were old and had seen better days. There was also hair, although it was nowhere near as glossy and pretty as Harper remembered from her youth.
“Did you die in there?” Harper remained on the ground, her sore hip forgotten. “Did your mother kill you in there?”
“That was where I lived when she needed quiet,” Chloe explained. “She doesn’t like noise. Never liked it. I learned quickly as a child, although not quickly enough.” She held up her ghostly hand so Harper could see how the pinkie and ring fingers on her left hand weren’t perfectly straight. “You have to be careful and not make noise.”
“She hurt you.” It was a statement, not a question. “She hurt you when you were little. Didn’t your father say something?” Now that she asked the question, Harper realized that she couldn’t remember Shana ever being married. “Wait … what happened to your father?”
“He left when I was three. I don’t remember him.”
“I’m sorry.” Harper meant it. “No one should have to go through what you went through. Did you ever try telling someone? Maybe a teacher or a family friend.”
“Who would’ve believed me?”
“I would have.”
“Weren’t you a child, too?”
“Yes, but I meant that I would’ve believed whatever you told me so there had to be other adults around at the time who would’ve believed it, too.�
��
“Does it really matter?” Chloe was obviously defeated. “It’s too late for me.”
Harper pursed her lips. “It matters to me. What happened to you? You said you asked her to go to the prom. I’m guessing that didn’t go over well.”
“Only whores want to go to prom,” Chloe said. “I shouldn’t have asked. I knew better. My hopes were greater than my brains that day, though. She yelled … and screamed … and hit me with the pan on the counter. She was making dinner, and she hates being interrupted when she’s making dinner.
“I woke up in the quiet place after that,” she continued. “My head hurt, and there was blood in my hair … and in my ears … and in my mouth. It hurt everywhere. In fact, it hurt so much I almost wished I didn’t wake up.
“I waited for her to come and get me like she usually did,” she said. “She would give me a chance to apologize. The key was not to apologize for the first go around, because she never believed it anyway. You had to wait for the second or third time, depending on the infraction, to make her believe it.
“She never came this time, though,” she said, her face twisting. “The pain got really bad … and then it wasn’t so bad. That was the scariest part. I knew when it stopped hurting that something was wrong inside of my head. That when I closed my eyes again, they would never open.
“I tried to hang on, but it was impossible. Eventually, I could no longer keep my eyes open. I drifted away, into the best sleep of my life, and woke up in this place all over again.”
Harper wanted to hug the ghost, offer some sort of comfort. She couldn’t, though. There was nothing she could give Chloe but a promise that her mother wouldn’t walk free another day.
“I can help you, Chloe. I can … help you move on. You don’t have to stay here. You can celebrate Christmas this year on the other side. In fact, I don’t have a dreamcatcher with me right now, but I can go home and get one. I can be back here and help you cross over within the hour.”
Chloe forced a smile, but it was wan. “I can’t leave yet. I have one more thing to do.”
“If you want to make your mother pay, I can guarantee that she’ll be behind bars before the end of the night. Those two men I was with earlier, they’re police detectives. They’ll help me. All we have to do is show them this and I guarantee they’ll drag your mother out of bed and she’ll be finished.”
Ghostly Visions: A Harper Harlow Mystery Books 10-12 Page 37
