Ghostly Wrecks (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 6)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “Oh.” Harper was markedly relieved. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will turn out to be Tim Dalton. Maybe he decided to search the remaining wreckage, slipped, and cracked his head open.”

  “We can always hope.” Jared gave Harper’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “It’s going to be okay. Whatever is out here … we’ll figure it out.”

  “How come you didn’t call Uncle Mel?” Zander asked. “I would feel better if we had backup.”

  “You’re my backup,” Jared reminded him. “In fact, if there’s something out here and things get dangerous, I expect the two of you to take Harper and run.”

  “That sounds great,” Zander said.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Harper argued.

  “I’m not keen on leaving you either,” Shawn admitted. “How about we play it by ear? I would rather we stick together.”

  “I like the running idea,” Zander grumbled.

  “It will be okay.” Shawn grabbed Zander’s hand to anchor him, earning appreciative looks from Harper and Jared.

  “Where?” Jared asked when they closed in on the water. It was almost two in the morning and he wasn’t thrilled with being so exposed when a potentially murderous bookie was determined to get close to his girlfriend.

  “Right over here.” Jack stopped next to the rocks the Reiter boat slammed into and pointed in the opposite direction.

  “This way.” Harper tugged on Jared’s hand as they padded across the sand.

  Jared cast a glance to the remaining boat wreckage – which was scant since the state police collected the rest of the boat to scour for evidence before having it towed to a salvage yard – and then directed his attention to the area Harper indicated.

  “Heart, stay here.” Jared raised their joined hands and kissed her knuckles before pushing her toward Shawn. “Keep her with you.”

  Shawn solemnly nodded. “I’ll protect her.”

  “Who is going to protect me?” Zander complained.

  “I will.” Harper patted his hand. “Everything will be okay.”

  Jared didn’t bother to hide his grin as he moved to the spot behind the rock. He pulled the small flashlight he remembered to grab from his vehicle before leaving Harper’s house and lifted it so he could study the prone figure on the ground.

  “Well?” Zander asked after a few seconds of silence.

  “It’s definitely a body,” Jared said, rolling his neck until it cracked. “We’ll need confirmation from the medical examiner, but I think whoever it is has been dead for at least a day. The water might add an element of decomp that I’m not familiar with, though.”

  “Do you know who it is?” Harper asked.

  Jared shook his head. “No.”

  “Do you?” Harper focused on Jack.

  “I do.”

  Jack’s answer took Harper by surprise. “You do? Who?”

  “His name is Chuck Detmer,” Jack replied. “He was on that boat the night of the storm. He was one of the men who boarded it and fought with the parents.”

  “Oh, well, I guess that makes sense.” Harper scratched her scalp as Jared shot her an expectant look. “Sorry. You probably want to know who it is.”

  “That would be great, Heart.”

  “It’s Chuck Detmer. That’s Jessica Reiter’s brother, right?”

  “Yeah, and he has ties to Tim Dalton,” Jared supplied. “Son of a … we need to call Mel and get him down here. Things just went from bad to worse.”

  19

  Nineteen

  It was almost eight before Jared returned to Harper’s house, quietly letting himself inside and heading straight for her bedroom with the intention of getting a few hours of sleep. He could’ve slept in the break room at the department, but the idea of being away from Harper held little appeal.

  Jared pulled up short when he found Harper’s bed empty, his heart rolling as a momentary surge of panic washed over him. Where is she? He stood there like an idiot, frozen in place, and then Zander’s soft snores hit him and he shifted toward the room across the way.

  The door was open, early morning sunlight filtering through the window, and Jared let out a relieved sigh when he caught sight of Harper’s flaxen head. Zander slept in the middle of the bed, Shawn to one side and Harper to another. Most men would be upset to find the woman they love in bed with another man – in this particular case two men – but Jared instinctively understood how it happened. Harper didn’t want to be alone and Shawn and Zander didn’t want to risk being separated from her.

  As if sensing his presence, Harper shifted and opened a sleepy eye. Jared offered her a wan smile and moved to wave off her efforts to rise. She was already on her feet, her arms around his neck before he could muster the energy.

  “And this right here is why I had to see you,” Jared murmured into her hair, rubbing his hands up and down her slim back. She was in the same yoga pants and T-shirt she wore to head to the beach in the middle of the night and he loved the way her warm body melded to his.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t waiting for you in my room but … well … I was afraid to sleep in there alone,” Harper admitted.

  “I doubt very much Tim Dalton would risk breaking into this house in the middle of the night,” Jared said, lifting her several inches off the ground so he could carry her to the bedroom. He was about to hit a wall and wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep his eyes open.

  “It’s not him,” Harper countered. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be thrilled to see him, but Jack disappeared once all of the backup arrived on the beach and I was worried he would pop up again. I don’t like the idea of him watching me sleep.”

  “Yes, well, that’s definitely creepy.” Jared haphazardly kicked off his shoes and then fell on the bed, keeping his arms tightly around Harper as he tugged up the sheet to cover them. The pedestal fan on the side of the bed remained running because they’d forgotten to switch it off before leaving the night before. As the morning mugginess promised a scorcher of a day, Jared was thankful for the cool breeze. “Are you getting up or are you going to sleep for a bit?”

  He sounded so hopeful that Harper refused to disappoint him. “I’m going to sleep for a bit longer,” Harper replied, snuggling closer. “What did you find out about Chuck Detmer?”

  “We’re in a holding pattern,” Jared replied, his thumb rubbing lazy circles across the back of Harper’s neck. “He was shot in the back.”

  “That’s … charming.” Harper wrinkled her nose. “How long has he been dead?”

  “We’re waiting on the medical examiner’s report, which probably won’t be in until after three,” Jared answered, his eyes closed. “It looks to be right around twenty-four hours from when we found him.”

  “So he died after the boat wreck.”

  “Yes.”

  “He died before Tim Dalton was released from jail.”

  Jared stilled. He’d figured that out himself. “Yes.” He pressed his lips to Harper’s forehead. “You know what that means, right?”

  “That either that smarmy lawyer is knocking people off – which I doubt because he doesn’t sound stupid enough to get his hands dirty – or someone else is out there cleaning up this mess,” Harper replied, slipping her hand under Jared’s shirt so she could rest it against his muscled stomach. “Dalton thought I took something from the boat. What do you think that was?”

  “I don’t know, Heart.”

  He sounded so exhausted that Harper took pity on him. “We’ll talk about it later.” She stroked her finger over his cheek. “Go to sleep.”

  “Oh, I’ll be out in a few seconds. There is one thing you should know, though.”

  “What?”

  “We checked the hotel. Jessica and Hayley Reiter are gone. They checked out yesterday, late in the day, and didn’t say where they were going.”

  “What about Chad Reiter?”

  “He’s still at the hospital. He claims he had no idea they checked out.”

  “Do you believe him
?”

  “I don’t know.” Jared shifted lower on the bed. “He seemed legitimately surprised. The information wasn’t enough to loosen his lips regarding whatever he’s hiding.”

  “This entire thing feels as if it’s going to blow up, and soon,” Harper murmured. “Do you feel that way, too?”

  “I do. That’s why I need sleep … and I need you to make the sleep pleasant.” Jared pressed his lips to Harper’s, offering her a soft kiss. “When you decide to get up, do me a favor and don’t leave the property. I’m going to want to talk to you and Zander once my head isn’t so muddled.”

  “I … okay.” Harper rested the side of her head against his chest. “I won’t leave. I promise.”

  “I know you won’t.” Jared was already slipping under, his hand falling still on her back. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “Of course it’s going to be okay. You’re here.”

  Harper glanced up to find Jared asleep, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. Even though he was unbelievably tired, he remained ridiculously handsome. Harper stared at him a moment, emotion swamping her.

  “I love you.” Her voice was barely a whisper, no more than an exaggerated breath really. Jared was down for the count and didn’t hear it, but for some reason Harper felt better saying the words. “I’ll be close when you wake up. Don’t worry.”

  Harper closed her eyes, convinced she’d lost the ability to sleep because there was so much going on. Surprisingly, she followed Jared over into dreamland with minimal effort, their hearts sinking into the same rhythm as they clung to each other in slumber.

  “I THOUGHT YOU were going to sleep forever.”

  Zander opted to cook brunch when he woke. It was almost noon when he finally climbed out of bed and the idea of starting his day with a healthy salad wasn’t high on his to-do list after a busy night that included finding a body. Instead he made homemade blueberry pancakes and bacon and smirked when Shawn and Harper were lured out of their bedrooms by the scent.

  “You both look a little rough around the edges,” Zander noted, affectionately running his hand over Shawn’s messy hair. “Did you sleep well?”

  “I did once Jared got back,” Harper replied. “Don’t wake him up, by the way. He didn’t get in until seven and he needs some rest. I closed the bedroom door so we won’t risk waking him, but we need to adjust our volume levels today.”

  “That sounds fairly depressing,” Zander muttered, shaking his head. “What if I don’t want to adjust my volume level?”

  “Then I’ll hide that expensive moisturizer you bought and make you cry like a girl when I wrestle you to the floor and pull out your nose hairs with tweezers.” Harper issued the threat as if it was nothing, as if she did it every day and it was a normal occurrence.

  “Wow.” Shawn’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “You’re a vicious little thing, aren’t you?”

  Harper shrugged. “Jared needs his sleep.”

  “Fine. We won’t wake him up.” Zander held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hopefully that promise will be enough to allow my nose hairs to live another day. I would hate to see their little carcasses littering the battlefield and forcing me to vacuum.”

  Shawn snickered as Harper remained stoic.

  “Harp, what’s wrong?” Zander knew his best friend’s moods well enough to recognize distress when he saw it. “Did Jared tell you something important before he passed out?”

  “He just gave me a basic update,” Harper replied. “The victim’s identity was confirmed as Chuck Detmer and he was shot in the back about twenty-four hours before we found him.”

  Zander did the math in his head. “That means Tim Dalton couldn’t have done it.”

  “No.” Harper bobbed her head. “On top of that, Jessica and Hayley Reiter have checked out of the hotel. Jared didn’t go so far as to say they’ve disappeared, but he seemed worried about their location.”

  “Do you think someone took them?” Shawn asked, sipping his coffee.

  “Jared only said that the concierge confirmed they’d checked out. We both know he’s talking about Ted. He probably didn’t pay a lot of attention because he’s a … well … .”

  “Douche,” Zander finished. “The man is a douche.”

  “I was going to say tool,” Harper said ruefully.

  “He’s both.” Zander rubbed her shoulder as he slid a mug of coffee in front of her. “What else did Jared say?”

  “He didn’t say a lot. He was exhausted and passed out. He said they would have some confirmation when they get the medical examiner’s report around three and added that Chad Reiter is still in the hospital and he seemed surprised to hear that his wife and daughter had gone missing. That’s all.”

  “Hmm.” Zander pursed his lips as he flipped three pancakes onto Harper’s plate. “What did Jack Corgan say? I saw you talking to him – it was smart using Shawn as cover when all of the cops arrived on the beach, by the way – and you didn’t look happy.”

  “He said he didn’t know who killed Detmer or how he ended up on the beach,” Harper replied. “He said he was on the beach and saw the body and recognized the face as one of the ones from the Reiters’ boat the night of the storm. He thought I would want to know about it.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  Harper shrugged, running her tongue over her lips as she debated how to answer. “He knew my grandfather.”

  “That doesn’t mean your grandfather liked him,” Zander shot back. “Listen, Harp, I loved your gramps almost as much as you did. He spent a lot of time with us when we were little and I adored that man.

  “I do not remember this Jack Corgan ghost hanging around, though, and it bothers me that he’s running this con on you,” he continued. “He’s got an angle. I don’t like people who have angles.”

  Harper bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “Tell me how you really feel.”

  “I’m not messing around,” Zander snapped. “I know you’re happy knowing that your grandfather was like you – and I get that and I’m happy, too – but this Jack Corgan guy is weird. He’s a weird guy who probably murdered three wives. I don’t want you putting your faith in him.”

  Harper opened her mouth to scald Zander with a hot retort but the addition of another body in the kitchen stopped her.

  “Well, I see we’re finally on the same page.”

  Harper jerked her head over her shoulder and found a sleepy Jared trudging into the room. She was surprised to find him not only up but also coherent. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

  “Because it’s almost noon, Heart, and I have to head back to the station,” Jared replied, kissing her cheek as he sat. “I thought I would get some coffee and whatever it is that Zander is cooking because it smells amazing.”

  “Since you’re on my side you can have four pancakes,” Zander said, smiling as he poured the batter onto the griddle. “I have bacon, too.”

  “If I wasn’t already infatuated with your roommate I would consider dating you,” Jared teased, causing Shawn to snort and Harper to roll her eyes. He turned his full attention to Harper once Zander handed him a mug of coffee. “I know that you want to believe that Jack Corgan has answers for you – and believe it or not, I do want him to have answers for you – but I need you to wait to chase those answers.”

  Harper balked. “What do you mean?”

  “Just until this case is solved, Heart,” Jared replied, his tone pleading. “We have a mess on her hands and nothing makes sense. We have a seemingly simple family involved in a boat crash, strange men on the boat, a ghost warning a kid while giving her freaky nightmares, a dead brother with a gambling problem, a husband with a gambling problem, a potentially murderous bookie, a smarmy lawyer, and now a missing mother and kid. I cannot deal with you going on an adventure to find yourself at the same time.”

  Harper jutted her lower lip out. “I know who I am. I’ve always known that. I’m not trying to find myself.”

>   Jared cocked a dubious eyebrow. “Are you sure? I’m not sure I believe that.”

  “And I’m not sure I care what you believe,” Harper shot back, her annoyance climbing. “I’m not lost.”

  “I’m not saying you’re lost,” Jared argued, refusing to back down. “I’m saying you’re keen to find something that you think only Jack Corgan can give you. I will help you with that when it comes time. I simply need you to wait for a little bit before you run off chasing a century-old ghost who may have murdered his wives.”

  “Told you,” Zander said, blithe.

  Harper narrowed her eyes to dangerous blue slits. “Don’t make me smack you around.”

  Even though he was tired and worried, Jared couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “I want you to get everything you want – find out whatever you need to find out – but I need you to work with me here.”

  Harper heaved out a sigh, resigned. “What do you want me to do?”

  “For today I want you to stick close to the house,” Jared replied, automatically lifting his hand when she opened her mouth to argue. “Heart, someone murdered Chuck Detmer and we have no idea why. I need to focus on finding Jessica and Hayley Reiter. They could be in danger.”

  Harper wasn’t quite ready to surrender. “I could go with you.”

  “I would prefer you stay here,” Jared admitted. “I don’t like worrying about you. Just this once, can you please do as I ask and opt to stay safe with Zander and Shawn? Please? I will beg if you want me to beg.”

  Harper studied his handsome face, unsure. “I don’t want you to beg.”

  “Come on, Harp,” Zander prodded. “We can have a restoration day. I bought new mud masks and deep conditioner packets.”

  Jared brightened. “See. That sounds fun.”

  “You have no idea what he’s talking about,” Harper said dryly.

  “I know he wants to keep you safe as much as I do,” Jared said. “I’m not asking for you to hide for the rest of your life. I’m asking you to give me one day. I think that’s more than fair after what happened yesterday.”