Ghostly Worries (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 4)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  Jared knocked on the glass window once and then opened the door, causing Jason to lift his head. He looked surprised to see his guest.

  “Are you here to arrest me?”

  It was a weird opening line and Jared wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Jason said, flipping his ledger book closed and leaning back in his chair. “Do you want to have a seat or drag me down to the station?”

  “We can talk here,” Jared said, closing the door behind him and stepping into the empty restaurant. “Are we alone?”

  “I’m not expecting anyone to show up for at least an hour,” Jason replied. “The kitchen help comes in early so they can do prep work but they’ll enter through the back. We shouldn’t even see them.”

  “That’s probably a good thing,” Jared said, moving to the table and taking the chair across from Jason.

  “Do you want something to drink?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Do you have something you want to ask me?” Jason was clearly nervous, although Jared couldn’t decide if it was because a cop or Harper’s boyfriend was about to question him.

  “I have several things to discuss with you,” Jared said, running his thumb over the lacquered tabletop.

  “You might as well spit it out,” Jason quipped lamely. “Neither one of us is getting any younger.”

  “Okay … why didn’t you tell anyone you were married?”

  Jason’s face drained of color as Jared leveled an expectant look on him. “I … how … who … ?”

  “Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Jared suggested.

  “I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

  MEL WAS relieved when a woman picked up the line in the Chicago brokerage office.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Amy Thurman?”

  The question was greeted with a brief bout of silence. “This is Amy Williams. I don’t go by the last name Thurman any longer. How can I help you?”

  “My name is Mel Kelsey and I’m with … .”

  Amy cut him off smoothly before he had a chance to finish his opening gambit. “I’m not taking on any new clients right now. I’m strictly working on firm cases. Are you a referral?”

  “Not even close,” Mel replied. “I’m a detective with the Whisper Cove Police Department in Southeastern Michigan.”

  More silence.

  “Ma’am? Are you still there?”

  “I’m here,” Amy said finally, heaving out a loud sigh. “Did something happen to my husband? It would be just like him to leave me as his ‘in case of emergency’ contact. I can direct you toward his mother if that’s more convenient or … he’s not dead, is he?”

  Mel had no idea where to begin but reassurance seemed as good of a place as any. “Jason Thurman is not dead.”

  “I guess that’s good.”

  “He is, however, a suspect in a homicide and we have a few questions to ask you,” Mel added. “Is now a convenient time?”

  Mel wasn’t sure what he expected but the raucous laughter on the other end of the call certainly wasn’t it. “You have got to be kidding me. Is this a prank?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “It has to be,” Amy said. “There can be no other explanation for such a ludicrous question.”

  “Well, I guess I should make your day and ask a few other ridiculous questions,” Mel said. “I need some information about your marriage and husband, including the state of the union and why you split up.”

  “How much time do you have?”

  “All day if it’s necessary.”

  “Oh, well, good,” Amy intoned. “This might be cheaper than therapy. Get comfortable.”

  “I CAN’T get in there if you don’t open your mouth,” Cecelia prodded, her rubber-gloved hands at the ready with a stainless steel mirror and pick poised for action should Zander ever decide he wanted to be an agreeable patient. “Open up.”

  “Yeah, open up, Zander,” Harper ordered, pinching his flank for good measure as he reclined in the dentist’s chair and pressed his lips together. The good thing about him being a stubborn mule was that he was determined no one was going to touch his teeth, which meant he refused to open his mouth and therefore couldn’t talk. The bad thing was that until he relaxed, Harper felt strange questioning the hygienist. “If you don’t open up I’m going to be forced to pull the tooth at home.”

  Zander finally broke. “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “Gotcha!” Cecelia triumphantly cried out as she slipped her finger into Zander’s mouth and pried open his lips so she could take a look. “Now, just relax. I promise this won’t be torture unless you make me torture you.”

  Zander’s eyes widened as the horrified double meaning of the words washed over him.

  “I was just joking,” Cecelia said. “Good grief. Stop being such a baby. I’ve seen terrified five-year-olds handle this with a lot more grace than you.”

  “Fine,” Zander grumbled, slurring around the woman’s finger. “Don’t hurt me, though.”

  “I have no intention of hurting you,” Cecelia said. “In fact, I’m hoping this is a minor thing. We’re really busy today – you’re our second walk-in – and we’re down a worker.”

  Harper had her opening and she knew now might be the best time for her to take advantage of it. “I heard about that,” she said. “The woman they found on the beach was a hygienist here, right? I didn’t put that together until just now.”

  Zander shot Harper his patented “you’re overplaying your hand” look as he tried to relax in the chair.

  “I didn’t realize that the victim’s information had been made public yet,” Cecelia said, her brow furrowed as she focused on Zander’s teeth. “How did you find out about her?”

  “Zander’s uncle is a police detective with the department,” Harper said. It wasn’t a lie, but she figured leaving her relationship with Jared out of the equation was the best course of action – for the time being, at least. “He told us the other night. He said it was tragic because she was so young.”

  “I don’t know if someone being young makes a death more tragic or not,” Cecelia countered. “I mean it’s sad, don’t get me wrong, but is an older person dying any less tragic than a younger person?”

  Harper shrugged. “I never really thought about it,” she said. “That’s a good point, though.”

  “It’s a very good point,” Zander agreed, his words barely legible around Cecelia’s fingers.

  “Keep your mouth open,” Cecelia ordered. “Everyone here is still kind of grappling with how to deal with it. Dr. Kennedy needs to hire a new hygienist, but it’s difficult because he doesn’t want to appear heartless. Rosie hasn’t even been gone a week.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” Harper mused. “Can’t he get a temp or something?”

  “He could, but the doctor likes consistency so he won’t hire someone to hang around for a few weeks and then pick someone else because that might be jarring for the patients,” Cecelia explained. “Rosie really could’ve picked a better week to die.”

  Up until then Cecelia had been nothing but pragmatic and rational. The second statement threw Harper for a loop. “I … what?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, that probably sounds really insensitive to you,” Cecelia said. “I liked Rosie, don’t get me wrong, but she was really selfish. If I didn’t know better, I would think she purposely did this just to make me work harder. I was supposed to have a three-day weekend this week … but no.”

  Harper and Zander exchanged a curious look. It was halfway between mirth and misery.

  “She was murdered, though,” Harper said, licking her lips. “I don’t think she really chose when she wanted to die. In fact, I’m guessing if she did have a choice, she would’ve opted not to die at all.”

  Zander bobbed his head up and down. “Yeah.” To Harper it kind of sounded as if he was saying “blah.”

  “I’m not
sure that’s true,” Cecelia said. “I mean … you had to know Rosie to really get what I’m saying. She was not a nice person. In fact, she was a horrible person. If they had a list of the worst people ever, I think she might make the top ten.”

  Harper’s mouth dropped open, but she managed to snap it shut before she drew too much attention to herself. She’d met Rosie so she understood the dislike, but for someone to speak this way about the dead – and so soon after Rosie was murdered – was dumbfounding.

  “Didn’t she work here for a long time?” Harper asked, choosing her words carefully. “I thought that’s what Mel said, but I might be mistaken.”

  “She was employed here for five years, but I’m not sure I would actually call what she did work,” Cecelia explained. “It was more like she occasionally popped her head in a room or looked up from her phone screen and then expected to collect the same size check the rest of us got every week.”

  “That doesn’t sound fair,” Harper said, scratching the back of her ear to hide her discomfort. “Zander and I work together and everyone pulls their own weight. I can’t imagine working in an environment where an important member of the team was lazy.”

  “I don’t think it was that she was lazy,” Cecelia clarified. “I think she thought the job was beneath her.”

  “Then why go into this field?”

  “That’s a good question, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking it over,” Cecelia replied. “I think she wanted a job where she didn’t have to go to school for a long time, but she could snag a doctor if she wanted one.”

  “You mean a dentist?”

  “A dentist is a doctor.”

  “I’m not playing doctor with a dentist,” Zander slurred.

  “Since you’re afraid of the dentist, that probably wouldn’t be wise,” Cecelia agreed. “My guess is that it would lead to more performance issues like your friend was talking about earlier.”

  Zander glared in Harper’s direction. He was already plotting how to pay her back – and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  “So you think Rosie was hoping to snag a doctor, but she didn’t want to go through all of the schooling it would’ve taken to become a nurse so she settled on being a dental hygienist?” For some reason the idea made sense to Harper. “Did she date Dr. Kennedy?”

  “Of course not,” Cecelia scoffed. “Dr. Kennedy would never fall for the likes of her. She was … sleazy.”

  This definitely wasn’t the way Harper was used to people talking about the deceased. Even those who hated the dead person usually mustered up a few fake words of sorrow – or avoided talking about that person altogether. They never voiced their hate to an audience before the body was even laid to rest.

  “But you’re sure that Dr. Kennedy and Rosie didn’t have a thing, right?” Harper pressed.

  “I just told you they didn’t,” Cecelia said, making a face. “Dr. Kennedy would never touch her … not that she didn’t throw herself at him whenever she got the chance. She was so gross. I’m not going to miss her at all.”

  Harper wet her lips, something insistent niggling at the back of her brain. “Dr. Kennedy isn’t married by any chance, is he?”

  “Of course he’s married,” Cecelia said. “He’s a proper gentleman. Proper gentlemen get married.”

  One look at Zander told Harper he was thinking the same thing she was. If Rosie was intent on snagging a doctor and she only had access to one and he was married, how long could Dr. Kennedy hold out when she was putting the full court press on him?

  “Well, thank you so much for your time,” Harper said. “We should probably be going. Zander’s tooth doesn’t hurt nearly as much as when we came in so he can make an appointment at his regular dentist.”

  “Oh, that’s not necessary,” Cecelia said, flashing a bright – although somewhat deranged – smile. “Dr. Kennedy is on his way in. I used the app on my watch to buzz him. I did find a small cavity. He’s going to fix it right up. It will be three minutes of drilling and then your friend here will be good as new.”

  Zander immediately started shaking his head. “No drilling!”

  “Don’t be a baby,” Cecelia ordered. “Everything will be over and finished before you know it.”

  Twenty-One

  “How did you find out?” Jason’s face was a mask of distress and anger. “Did you do a search on me or something? I’ll just bet you had a great time going through all of my personal business. You’ve got to love payback, huh?”

  “This can hardly come as a surprise,” Jared replied. “I was upfront when I said I couldn’t rule you out.”

  “Yes, but … why didn’t you bring it up sooner? You had to know.”

  “Actually, I didn’t know,” Jared answered, opting for honesty. “I did a cursory check on you and didn’t come up with a marriage certificate. Zander ran a more industrious search – I believe he even paid one of those online search engines for a complete list of public records – and he’s the one who mentioned it.”

  “Zander. Of course.” Jason made a disgusted face. “I have no idea why that guy hates me so much.”

  “It probably has something to do with the fact that he had a rough childhood and it seemed as if everything came easy for you,” Jared said. “It’s not rational, but I kind of understand it. From everything I’ve heard it was not easy for Zander to be the only gay kid in Whisper Cove.”

  “Yeah, but people loved him,” Jason argued. “He didn’t even have to work at it and people thought he was hilarious. I always worked at everything and no one ever went out of their way for me.”

  “Maybe because you were the golden child and no one ever thinks the golden child might need a helping hand. I’m not saying it’s right, but people always want to help those who look like they need it rather than those who appear they don’t.”

  “Zander had Harper, though,” Jason pointed out. “She was all he needed.”

  “And Zander wouldn’t trade Harper for anything, but things were hardly perfect for him,” Jared said. “A group of boys tortured him in gym class, although now that I think about it that might’ve happened after you left town. I can’t quite remember the timeline.”

  “So Zander did a search on me and found out about Amy, huh? What did Harper say when you told her?”

  “I don’t think it matters what Harper said,” Jared countered. “She’s not part of this discussion.”

  “I think it’s telling that she’s not here.”

  “She’s not here because I barred her from this investigation once I realized you had a motive,” Jared explained. “As much as I love working with her, I will do whatever it takes to protect her. Her safety is a priority over everything else.”

  “I hate that you’re such a good guy,” Jason groused, tugging a restless hand through his hair. “It would be so much easier to hate you for having the perfect life if you weren’t so freaking … good.”

  Jared pursed his lips. “Perhaps you’re Zander in this scenario.”

  “Ugh, that is a frightening though,” Jason said. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

  “For starters, why didn’t you tell anyone you were married?”

  “Because I’m in the middle of a divorce and we’re legally separated,” Jason replied. “You have to understand, when I met Amy I thought I’d found the perfect woman. She was smart. She always looked good. She was focused on her career. I thought we were going to be a power couple.”

  “And?”

  “And things didn’t work out that way,” Jason said. “She met me when I was moonlighting with a band in a relatively high-class bar in Chicago. Five years ago I still thought I was going to somehow manage to hit it big and be the next Eric Clapton.”

  “I would imagine that making a living as a guitarist isn’t the easiest of professions,” Jared said.

  “That’s just it, I wasn’t a professional guitar player,” Jason said. “I did it for extra money, but I was really just looking for exposure. If you want to make it
in the music industry you have to move to a music hub. Chicago has an interesting scene – much better than Detroit’s – but it’s not a big market.”

  “And the big markets would be Los Angeles and New York?”

  “And Nashville,” Jason said. “Amy was attracted to me because she saw me play the guitar. You’d be surprised how many women – even smart, professional women – lose their minds for men who play the guitar.”

  “That sounds terrible,” Jared deadpanned.

  “It has its perks. I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “We started dating and fell in love,” Jason replied. “Well, at least I thought we fell in love. I was working in the accounting department for a chain of record stores during the day and following my dreams at night. Amy seemed perfectly fine with that even though she worked sixty hours a week and was completely driven.

  “We got married nine months after meeting in this huge frou-frou wedding that her parents paid for,” he continued. “In hindsight that should’ve been a tipoff, but I didn’t see what was right in front of me because I thought I was finally going to be living that dream everyone kept talking about.

  “We went on our honeymoon to Hawaii and had a blissful time. I thought things would go back to the same routine once we returned, but the second we hit our front door it was as if Amy became a different person,” Jason said. “She demanded I get a new job, something that had growth potential. I never went to college. I took music classes, sure, and I was fairly good with numbers, but I didn’t have a degree. That wasn’t a deterrent to Amy. She decided I needed to go back to school.

  “She took about two weeks to really think about how she saw things going for us and signed me up for a very expensive culinary arts program in Chicago,” he said. “Her parents pulled some strings because they’re influential. I never even considered being a chef or owning my own restaurant, but Amy said that could be a power position – and I could even play at my own place if I ever got that far – so I agreed. I mean … it sounded good on paper. She was so smart and I wanted the marriage to work.”

  “You must’ve liked something about the experience,” Jared said. “You came back to town and opened your own restaurant.”