Ghostly Wrecks (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 6)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  Ghostly Wrecks

  A Harper Harlow Mystery Book Six

  Lily Harper Hart

  Contents

  Copyright

  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

  22. Twenty-Two

  Mail List

  Acknowledgments

  Books by Lily Harper Hart

  Copyright © 2017 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

  1

  One

  “Ahoy there, matey!”

  Harper Harlow, her shoulder-length blond hair hanging in straggly hunks, wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her hand and pinned her best friend Zander Pritchett with a look that would shrink the scrotums of mere mortals.

  Zander was not a mere mortal.

  “Do you think you’re funny?” Harper instinctively ducked as a rusty oil can careened through the muted darkness of Whisper Cove’s most ramshackle boathouse and nearly skimmed the top of her head. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

  Zander, his handsome face shadowed on one side thanks to the limited light allowed by the filthy window to the east, merely shrugged. The heat and humidity in the tiny building was enough to bring anyone to their knees, but Zander barely glistened even as Harper sweated profusely and complained so loudly that Zander was sure his ears would fall off. “We’re in a boathouse,” he said pragmatically. “If I can’t dust off my pirate humor in a boathouse, where can I dust it off?”

  “Um … nowhere.” Harper’s patience was wearing thin. “I don’t know a lot of people who actually have pirate humor to dust off at the drop of a captain’s hat.”

  Zander refused to let Harper’s tone ruffle him. “Then you’ve been hanging around with the wrong people, which saddens me on a multitude of levels.”

  Since they’d been best friends since kindergarten and the humidity was beginning to give her a raging headache, Harper couldn’t help but wonder if he was right. “I’m starting to think that.”

  “Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport!” Zander tapped the end of Harper’s nose and offered her a whimsical smile. He was in a good mood despite their current predicament. “If you’d focus on the task at hand we’d be able to send Peg Leg Pete here over to the other side in five minutes flat and then your only worry would be whether or not you want lemon with your iced tea.”

  He had a point, which infuriated Harper to no end. “I’m pretty sure his name isn’t Peg Leg anything,” she barked, even though she knew it would have no effect on Zander’s good mood.

  Ghost Hunters, Inc., the company Zander and Harper shared ownership of in Whisper Cove, Michigan, was called to the decrepit boathouse early that morning to handle an out-of-control ghost. The owner wanted the building empty so he could sell it and the ghost was scaring off potential buyers. Since Lake St. Clair didn’t have any outlets to salty water, Harper doubted very much that the ghostly inhabitant was a pirate. That didn’t mean he wasn’t a jerk.

  “Watch your head.” Zander cupped the back of Harper’s head, forcing her to lower her forehead against his chest. As if on cue, a heavy rope and pulley flew past the duo and smacked into the wall behind them. “You have that fancy-schmancy date with your boy toy tonight and I don’t want you to have a big bruise on your forehead when you slip into that pretty new dress you bought. That would dampen the overall effect, and no one wants that.”

  Harper scowled at the mention of the dress. She’d loved the blue fabric and the way it clung to her body without being sleazy from the moment she saw it in the store. She fell even more in love with the frock when she broke down and bought it, letting Zander experiment with her hair so she would look amazing for the cop retirement party being held for her boyfriend Jared Monroe’s associate. At the current moment, though, she was so sweaty and unhappy with the rambunctious boathouse ghost that she couldn’t find the joy in her future plans because her current ones were likely to give her an aneurysm.

  “We’re not going to survive long enough for me to get into that dress,” Harper argued, her pouty instincts taking over. “Maybe Jared can bury me in it. At least that way it will get some use.”

  Thanks to his easygoing nature, Jared calmly accepted the fact that Zander and Harper made their living helping petulant spirits move on. He rarely commented on it, even going so far as to help at random times, but he never sneered or looked down his nose when other people would’ve considered the duo crazy. In fact, when they got the call to tackle the boathouse ghost, Jared merely waved as he grabbed a mug of coffee and the morning newspaper before settling on the front porch to enjoy the cooler temperatures that preceded the afternoon’s oppressive humidity. He said he expected Harper back in plenty of time to get ready for the party, but otherwise wished Harper and Zander well and wholeheartedly embraced his day off.

  The mere thought of Jared enjoying himself while he was forced to deal with a whining Harper was enough to give Zander heartburn.

  “Suck it up,” Zander ordered, taking Harper by surprise. “I can only take so much of your complaining right now. It’s really embarrassing.”

  Harper’s eyes fired with fury. “I’m the one who can see and talk to ghosts,” she reminded him. “You can’t see them. You can’t hear them unless they’re affecting the physical world … like throwing things at our heads. That’s easy for you to say when I’m the one who does all of the work.”

  Zander rolled his eyes so hard Harper worried he might topple over, and in this location that meant he would fall into the water if he didn’t watch where he was stepping. Harper couldn’t see into the depths of the murky liquid that filled the middle of the decrepit boathouse, but she was fairly certain Zander – who claimed he was allergic to dirt – wouldn’t take it well if he fell into the sludge.

  “I’m right here with you,” Zander pointed out, extending a warning finger. “Molly and Eric are outside monitoring everything going on in here to make sure we’re not caught unaware.”

  Harper knew she was being unreasonable and yet she wasn’t quite ready to give up her petulance despite Zander’s insistence on mentioning their hard-working employees. “I … .”

  “No!” Zander wagged his finger in front of Harper’s face. “We’re all hot … and tired … and don’t want to be here. This is the job we took on when we decided to be ghost hunters, though. This is the agreement we signed when we decided that helping displaced spirits was more important than our own comfort and safety.”

  Harper could practically hear Hail to the Chief playing under Zander’s words as he puffed out his chest.

  “Now, we all have a job to do,” Zander continued. “You need to lead the ghost to the dreamcatcher so we can help him move to the other side. I need to watch you to make sure you’re safe while we’re doing it. Molly and Eric are on the other side of that wall watching us both. We all have a specific task we’re expected to complete, and do you w
ant to know what?”

  Harper blew her bangs away from her forehead and held her hands palms up. “What?”

  “You’re on, kid.” Zander patted her shoulder. “It’s time to put this ghost to bed so we can get you ready for your big night.”

  “You’re just saying that because you want me out of the house so you can play tonsil hockey with your new boyfriend,” Harper grumbled, shifting her eyes to the boathouse’s west wall. She couldn’t see the ghost clearly, but she could make out the edges of his dated clothing as he buzzed back and forth in front of the ancient equipment.

  “I’m saying it because it’s true,” Zander shot back. “Now … suck it up. We’re all tired of being here and we can’t leave until you do your duty. So … do your duty.”

  Harper heaved out a heavy sigh and briefly pressed her eyes shut. “Okay, but if I end up in that water I’m going to make you pay.”

  Zander wasn’t bothered by the threat. “Duly noted.”

  “WHAT ARE you guys doing tonight?”

  Jared, freshly showered and with a glass of iced tea in hand, joined Shawn Donovan on the front porch of Zander and Harper’s house and offered him a friendly smile. He was still getting used to the man, didn’t yet know him very well, but so far he liked him a great deal. As Zander’s new boyfriend – in fact the only man Jared had ever seen Zander show attention to for more than one date – Jared was determined to like Shawn no matter what.

  Since Zander and Harper were best friends – and Jared was hopelessly devoted to Harper – that meant that he had to take the good and bad where Zander was concerned. For the most part, Jared enjoyed Zander’s humor and wit. He didn’t always enjoy Zander’s constant need to steal the bulk of Harper’s time, but he was hoping Shawn would ultimately be the solution to that problem.

  “Zander says he wants to get some ice cream and then we have to walk off the excess calories,” Shawn replied, smirking. “I think he just wants to go to the ice cream shop because he thinks the pink gel lights are extremely flattering to his complexion.”

  Jared snorted, amused. “That sounds just like him. It’s supposed to storm pretty hard later, though, just so you’re aware. Zander doesn’t like getting his hair wet.”

  “Oh, I know.” Shawn chuckled, genuinely amused. “You and Harper have that retirement party, right?”

  Jared nodded. “It’s the local state police district commander, but I haven’t been here long enough to really get to know him,” he supplied. “Still, he seems like a nice guy and the retirement party is being held at one of the restaurants on the lake so it should be good food and free drinks. I figure we can at least put in an appearance. That way I can keep my boss off my back and still have a good time with Harper.”

  “And then maybe sneak out early and spend some time alone?” Shawn teased.

  “I wouldn’t be against it.”

  “Have you seen the dress she bought?”

  Jared stilled. He was still getting used to the fact that two men – besides himself, that is – were now interested in Harper’s dressing habits. He had to remind himself that it wasn’t a bad thing. “No. Why?”

  “You’re going to like the dress,” Shawn replied, smirking. “She looks amazing in it. I didn’t realize how long her legs were until I saw her in the dress. Zander has big plans for her hair, too.”

  Jared pursed his lips, confused. “I … don’t know what to think about that. I mean, I’m glad she found a dress that she looks good in and all, but I’ve never dated a woman who hauls around her own styling team.”

  Shawn snorted, genuinely amused. “Zander loves Harper more than anything. He wants her to look good. He can’t help himself.”

  “Harper would look good no matter what she was wearing,” Jared pointed out. “She always looks good.”

  “Oh, you sound like a man in love.”

  Jared shifted uncomfortably on his chair. He knew Shawn was merely teasing when he said the words and yet he couldn’t help being shy given the circumstances. He did love Harper. He loved her more than he ever thought possible. They’d also only been dating a couple of months and he was convinced it might be a little premature to share his feelings. “I … um … .”

  “Oh.” Shawn’s smile was earnest. “You guys haven’t said ‘I love you’ yet, have you?”

  “I hardly think that we’ve been dating long enough for that.” Jared averted his gaze and licked his lips. It was August and the heat and humidity hung over his face like a wet towel as he tried to get comfortable.

  “You’ve been dating long enough to feel it,” Shawn pointed out.

  Jared worked his jaw. “I … .”

  “You’re afraid to say it.” Shawn’s lips curved as he leaned forward and patted Jared’s knee. “You feel it, but you’re afraid to say it. I get that. If you say it and she doesn’t say it back it will crush you.”

  Jared wanted to deny the charge, was desperate to change the subject, and yet he did neither. “Is it that obvious?”

  “I think it’s normal,” Shawn replied. “No one wants to be the one who says ‘I love you.’ They want to be the one to say ‘I love you, too.’ The braver person is the one who says it first.”

  “It’s not just that,” Jared admitted. “I’m afraid if I say it – or if it slips out when I don’t mean for it to – that she’ll feel pressured to say it back even if she doesn’t mean it. I don’t want that for her. I want this to be … natural, for lack of a better word.”

  “I understand that.” Shawn remained perfectly calm as he wiped the condensation from the side of his glass. “She already feels it, though.”

  Jared’s heart fluttered. “Why do you think that?”

  “Because I see it every time I look at her.”

  “I look at her every chance I get and I don’t see it.”

  Shawn snorted. “Yes, but you’re too close to the situation. I’m an observer and it’s obvious whenever either one of you looks at each other. There’s attraction … and lust … and even fondness. You guys have moved past all of that and are hopelessly in love.”

  It made him feel ridiculous, but Jared desperately wanted to believe that. “Do you really think so?”

  “I know so.” Shawn’s smile was slow and easy. “Don’t rush yourself, though. You’ll know when it’s the right moment.”

  “That’s what I keep telling myself.” Jared downed half his iced tea and turned his attention to the driveway as Zander pulled to a screeching stop in front of the house. He could see Harper’s wild hand gestures from thirty feet away. “This doesn’t look good.”

  Shawn’s eyes briefly flicked to Jared. “You think?”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying this is my fault,” Zander announced as he got out of the vehicle, barely sparing a glance for Jared and Shawn as they watched the scene unfold. “I told you to look where you were going.”

  Harper, her hair dripping wet and her clothing plastered to her slim body thanks to water and something that suspiciously looked like slime, scorched Zander with a dark look as she slammed the passenger side door. “You pushed me in front of the ghost.”

  “That is a hateful exaggeration,” Zander shot back. “I can’t see ghosts. You know darned well that means I cannot push you in front of one.”

  Harper narrowed her eyes. “You heard him. You heard him screeching and you pushed me and that monstrous ghost … .”

  “I told you he was a pirate, by the way,” Zander interrupted. “He threw an empty bottle of rum at you and everything.”

  Harper scowled. “You pushed me to get away and that terrible beast threw me in that foul … disgusting … dirty … filthy … water.”

  “Oh.” Shawn and Jared exhaled heavily in unison.

  “That explains the green thing in your hair.” Jared looked relieved. “Did you catch your ghost?”

  Harper let her eyes drift to her boyfriend. “I am a professional. I always catch my ghost.”

  Jared fought the mad urge to laugh given he
r hilarious appearance, biting the inside of his cheek as he struggled to remain calm. “That’s why you’re my amazing Harper.”

  Instead of being pleased with the compliment, Harper rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t placate me.” She stomped toward the house. “I don’t want to see one male face for the next hour!”

  Zander was blasé as he sauntered toward the porch. “Does that include me?”

  “Especially you!”

  “Well, you weren’t specific,” Zander argued. “You can understand my confusion.”

  Harper scraped her sneaker bottoms against the porch as she trudged toward the front door. “I’m taking a long bath so I can get the … dirt … from all of the places I feel it creeping. I don’t want to see one male face until I’m done with that. Do you understand?”

  Jared nodded and smiled. “We understand.”

  “Great.” Harper slammed the door shut as hard as she could as she disappeared inside, causing Jared to shift an amused look in Shawn’s direction.

  “That wasn’t the time,” Jared noted.

  “So definitely not the time,” Shawn agreed, laughing.

  “Not the time for what?” Zander asked, his gaze bouncing between faces. “Oh, geez. Now you guys are sharing secrets? This day really bites … and now my Harper is angry at me.”

  “Something tells me you’ll survive,” Jared said dryly, reclaiming his chair. “So … what do you want to do until men are allowed inside the house again? I’m betting we need to amuse ourselves for at least an hour.”

  “We could go and get pedicures,” Zander suggested.

  Jared stared at him a moment, dumbfounded. “Yeah. I’m going to drink my iced tea and read a book or something. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Zander looked forlorn. “Is it wrong that I already miss her?”

  2

  Two

  Harper rarely sulked for long and by the time Jared parked in front of the beachfront restaurant later that night she was all smiles and flirty glances. Jared held out his hand and linked his fingers with hers, taking a moment to enjoy the long lines of her lanky frame as they exited his truck.