Ghostly Business

by Lily Harper Hart

  “There were a few guys, but nobody recent. I honestly don’t know why anyone would want to kill me. I’m not lying or trying to cover. I simply don’t understand why it happened.”

  Harper heaved out a sigh, uncertain what she was supposed to do. “Okay. Give me a list of the girls — even if you only knew them by stage names — and we’ll go from there.”

  “Okay, but you’re really better off tracking down Natalie. She knew them better than me.”

  “I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises.”

  “Fair enough.”

  AFTER SEVERAL MORE FRUITLESS INTERVIEWS — most of which ended with threats of legal action — Jared and Mel returned to Patty’s house to take a look around. They were at a loss when it came to where they wanted to focus and needed to talk things out.

  “Patty had a reputation for being something of a grouch,” Mel offered, his eyes on the tunnel that led to the basement. “She didn’t want people poking their noses into her business ... even before she started running a brothel out of her house.”

  “You’re wondering if she was covering up for more than the brothel,” Jared mused, thoughtful. “It’s an interesting consideration.”

  “It would make sense.” Mel trailed his fingers over the wall as they walked down the hallway. The electricity to the house was cut, but the windows allowed for a relatively clear view ... at least for the time being. “Maybe she was doing other stuff on the side.”

  “Like what?”

  “Drugs is the first thing that pops into my head.”

  Jared almost choked when he tried to picture the elderly woman he’d seen on occasion doling out drugs to area residents. “Are you being serious?”

  “You’re ruling it out because of her age,” Mel noted. “I get why you’re doing that, but it’s a mistake. She was wily and she’s more than proven that. She managed to hide what she was doing for a long time. The only reason she got caught now is because of the fire.”

  “Yeah. The fire.” Jared rubbed his hand over his cheek. “Where do you think the gas came from? I mean ... did she have it hanging around? Did our killer bring it with him or her? If so, that shows intent rather than a heat-of-the-moment attack.”

  “True.” Mel was thoughtful as he swiveled. “The garage is this way. Let’s take a look.”

  Jared wordlessly followed, his eyes busy as they roamed walls and shelves. “She had it set up like a hotel for the most part,” he noted as they trudged through the house. “Generic art. Pretty furniture in the front that wasn’t all that comfortable so it didn’t invite people to loiter. She clearly had a system for moving them in and out.”

  “Clearly,” Mel agreed upon arriving at the garage door. “Still, despite how well she had this planned out, I can’t believe we didn’t hear as much as a whisper as to what was going on.”

  “Yeah. I can’t believe the neighbors didn’t say anything.”

  “The only neighbor with a clear view of the property is Olivia.”

  “And according to Harper, Olivia knew what was going on but opted to keep her mouth shut to protect Patty because she felt the DDA was out of line with all the restrictions they were putting on her. I don’t suppose you’ve considered talking to members of the DDA have you?”

  Mel stilled in the open doorway. “I haven’t as of yet. Why would I do that?”

  “Because it sounds to me as if the DDA was trying to wrestle this house away from Patty. For years really. She managed to thwart them multiple times. Maybe that was a sore spot to one of them.”

  “Enough to kill for?” Mel was understandably dubious as he pulled a flashlight from his pocket. He’d thought ahead to grab it from the car in case they needed it. While the rest of the house was flooded with enough natural light to allow them to navigate without fear of an accident, the garage was a different story. It didn’t have a single window.

  “I know it sounds ludicrous, but this is a great house,” Jared noted. “It’s historic and the legend associated with it is pretty grand. Maybe someone really wanted it.”

  “Maybe.” Mel obviously wasn’t convinced as he tracked the flashlight beam over the garage. “Let’s see what we have here, huh?”

  Jared retrieved his own flashlight and joined in the hunt. “Did she drive?” He moved toward the sedan parked at the center of the garage and bounced the beam over it. “It doesn’t look like this thing saw a lot of action.”

  “She lived one block from the center of town. She had groceries delivered. I don’t think she saw the need to drive very often.”

  “Probably not.” Jared moved to the west wall and studied the ground, furrowing his brow as he leaned over and got a better look at two ring stains on the concrete. “I think I found something.”

  Mel tore himself away from the east wall and joined his partner. “What?”

  “Look there.” Jared pointed. “I think that’s where the gas can was located. The way the rust rings overlap make it look like the can was there for a long time, moved once, and then forgotten again.”

  “Yeah.” Mel dropped to one knee and pressed his fingertips to the pavement before waving them in front of his nose. “That’s definitely gasoline.”

  Jared glanced around, looking for signs of a discarded can. “Whoever took it didn’t return it.”

  “Do you think that means they took it with them?”

  Jared hesitated before answering. “I think that would make sense. I mean ... what better way to make sure there were no fingerprints? You take the can with you and discard it where no one can find it.”

  “That shows premeditation, though.”

  “It does ... unless it doesn’t.” Jared was thoughtful. “I mean, it’s possible that someone grabbed the gasoline and used it on a whim and simply forgot to discard the can. Maybe the fire spread so fast he or she simply ran ... and didn’t realize they were still holding the can until they’d escaped from the house.”

  “It’s possible but unlikely.”

  “Yeah.” Jared let loose a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I think we should go upstairs next. Sorenson said it was okay to head to the third floor as long as we were careful.”

  “Patty’s bedroom is on the main floor.”

  “Yeah, but the office is on the third floor and that’s where she was killed. Maybe there’s something up there our killer wanted.”

  “Good point.”

  Navigating the dark stairwell took some doing, but the floor was relatively sound and they had no problem finding the room again. There were three rooms on the floor. One looked to be a bedroom for someone else, complete with clothing items in the closet. Jared assumed that was Natalie’s room. The other looked to be an empty spare bedroom that wasn’t in use.

  “There’s a safe,” Mel noted as they entered the office, inclining his head. “The door is open.”

  “Yeah.” Jared headed in that direction, testing the floor before each step. Once he reached his destination, he dropped to his knees so he could look inside.

  “What do you see?” Mel queried.

  “Not much. There are envelopes with small amounts of cash.” Jared riffled through them. “It looks to be roughly a hundred bucks each. I wonder if Patty paid them on a nightly basis and had the payments ready to claim up here.”

  “I’m guessing in a business like this you wouldn’t want money to accumulate,” Mel said. “That makes sense.”

  “Yeah. I’m guessing the money is all here because why leave eight envelopes and take one?”

  “True. Is there anything else?”

  “Some small notebooks.” Jared snagged one and looked inside. “They’re full of numbers and ... weird words.”

  Mel’s forehead wrinkled. “What weird words?”

  “Like ... Star and five hundred dollars. Glitter and three hundred dollars. Um ... Sunshine and eight hundred dollars.”

  Mel choked on a laugh. “Those aren’t weird words. They’re stripper names. I’m guessing the girls who worked h
ere weren’t conducting business under their real names.”

  “Oh.” Realization dawned on Jared. “That makes sense. I didn’t even think about it.”

  “Yeah.” Mel was grim as he straightened. “We should probably log the contents and empty the safe. We don’t want to leave it open.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” Jared reached for another notebook. “I can take these home tonight and try to make sense of them.”

  “We’ll give the house another pass and then lock it up for the night. I don’t know how much more we can do today. We should give it some time to think about things.”

  “That sounds like a plan to me.”

  10

  Ten

  Jared and Mel spent a full hour searching the house before calling it a day. After logging and photographing the small notebooks, Jared took them home. He picked up takeout on the way and was relieved when he walked through the front door of his home and found Harper alone.

  “There’s the love of my life.”

  Harper turned swiftly at the sound of his voice. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “Apparently I’m sneaking up on you all over the place today.” He dropped the food on the counter and strode to her, tapping her chin up so he could plant a sound kiss on her lips. “I really missed you today.”

  Jared wasn’t always good at hiding his emotions and Harper could read some of the worry that he tried so hard to cover. “I’m sorry you spent the day worrying about me.” She wrapped her arms around him to give comfort, as much to herself as to him. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

  “I didn’t say I was worried about you.” He stroked the back of her hair. “I said I missed you. I’ve come to the conclusion that I would be perfectly happy if we could lock ourselves in this house and never be bothered by outside forces ever again.”

  She laughed at the comment, genuinely amused. “I think you’re exaggerating a bit.” She pulled back so she could study his face. “You’re tired.” Her finger was light as it traced the lines under his eyes. “You need some rest.”

  “I just need you.” He tugged her back and smiled into her hair. “You’re okay, right? You’re not still upset, are you?”

  Harper had to bite back a sigh. “I’m really not upset. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “It’s too late. We’re at the point in our lives where I hurt when you hurt.”

  “I’m not hurting.”

  “No, you’re something else.” He tilted his head so he could stare into her eyes. “I would really like to know what it is you’re feeling.”

  “I’m not sure what I’m feeling.” She opted for honesty. “There’s something here.” She took his hand and pressed it to the spot above her heart. “It’s a feeling of unease. I don’t know how to describe it.”

  She was earnest enough that it gave him pause. “Are you afraid someone is going to come after you?”

  It was a reasonable question, Harper mused. There was no simple answer, though. “I don’t think so. Or, if it is that, it’s not simply that. It’s more that I sense trouble is coming ... and it feels like more than one type of trouble.”

  “Okay. Well, I want to talk about that. I got burgers and fries from the diner. I figured we would go simple tonight after the seafood extravaganza last night.”

  “I think that’s a great idea. I have to warn you, though, I don’t know that I can honestly describe what’s wrong with me. It’s all very ... weird.”

  “Well, we’ll do our best. That’s all we can do.”

  THEY SPREAD OUT ON THE LIVING ROOM floor, arranging a makeshift picnic. Rather than settle across from her, Jared took a spot where their legs touched. The atmosphere was warm, homey, and gave him ideas for how their future would play out.

  “So, what did you learn?” Harper asked as she doused a fry in ketchup. “I have a lot to tell you.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He arched an eyebrow, amused by her enthusiasm. “How about you tell me what you learned first, huh? Then I’ll tell you what I learned.”

  “Sure. I found Patty’s ghost.”

  He was in the middle of picking up his burger and snapped his eyes to her. “That’s burying the lead. Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because I was with her for hours. I was afraid she would run if she knew I was calling the police, even though that was probably a ridiculous reaction. Zander was so bored he fell asleep.”

  Jared was legitimately puzzled. “Where were you guys?”

  “The same spot you found us earlier. We were waiting for the fire inspector to leave. When he finally did, we’d already found Patty so there didn’t seem to be a need to break into the house.”

  He made a face. “There’s no need to break into the house regardless. If you need to go inside, I’ll take you.”

  “I know.” She smirked at his annoyance. “You were busy with other stuff. By the way, you might want to check the safe on the third floor. Patty had a huge chunk of money in it, although she wouldn’t say how much. I think she was embarrassed.”

  “We checked the safe upstairs. There were small envelopes with payments for the girls, but that’s it. There were also little notebooks.” He left his takeout container on the floor and moved back to the counter so he could retrieve the bag of notebooks. “What do you make of these?” He pulled out the first and handed it to her.

  Harper shoved another fry in her mouth before opening it, frowning as she flipped through the pages. “It’s a list of payments to the girls she was hiring.”

  Jared snickered. “You’re quicker than me. I had no idea that Glitter was a person. Mel says it’s like stripper names. The girls picked a fake name and that’s what they operated under.”

  “No, that’s pretty much what Patty said.” Harper flipped through a few more pages. “These payments here go back six years. We should probably try putting the books in order.”

  “Six years?” Jared couldn’t decide if he was horrified or impressed. It was honestly a mixture of both. “She was running a brothel out of that house for six years?”

  “Not exactly.” Harper ran through the information Patty had given her, taking her time and leaving nothing out. When she was finished, Jared was even more confused than when she started.

  “I don’t understand how she managed to carry this off,” he admitted, picking up the pickle spear from his container and shoving it in his mouth. His mind was going a mile a minute. Once he was finished chewing, he leaned his back against the couch and stretched out his legs. “Did she act embarrassed by what she was telling you?”

  “That’s the thing ... she was forthcoming on a lot of it, but I got the feeling she was hiding other stuff. I have no direct proof of that, mind you, but it’s the feeling I got. She keeps pushing a narrative where she was protecting the girls, but when talk of Natalie came up she admitted that the girl was afraid of her stepfather trying to push a sexual agenda and then basically admitted she kind of did the same thing with her, just not in a creepy way.”

  “See, that’s the part I have the most trouble with, too. Patty was exploiting all these girls.”

  “I’m not sure she sees it that way in her head. She went after the most at-risk girls she could find. Those first girls she found were already turning tricks on Gratiot Avenue. She said that eventually she realized she could make more money from girls who hadn’t been on the streets and that’s why she started staking out the high schools.”

  “Which kind of makes me want to punch her,” Jared admitted. “I don’t believe in hitting women but ... this wasn’t right. I know we’ve all been sitting back and making excuses because she was older and had bills to pay, but she took advantage of these girls.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I was thinking when I was talking to her. I didn’t want to call her out because we needed information, but I was getting angry ... and she was defensive. I think she picked up on it.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Natalie showed up.”

 
Jared’s mouth dropped open. “Are you trying to drive me insane? We need to talk to her. You definitely should’ve called me for that.”

  “I planned on it, but she took off right away and it was right at the same time that Patty showed up. I was trying to get answers. Once Natalie was gone, there was nothing you could do. It’s not as if she told me where she was going before she fled.”

  Grudgingly, Jared nodded. He was angry about the turn of events, but he understood what she was saying. “Fine. We’ll let it go for now. What did Natalie say?”

  “She was upset. All her things were in the house. She wanted to get them, but she was afraid to risk going in. I think ... well, I think she’s afraid she’ll be arrested for prostitution.”

  “Honestly? That wouldn’t be my first choice. She’s a young woman who got taken advantage of. That being said, we might have to use it as leverage to get her to talk.”

  “Oh, do you have to?” Harper knew she sounded whiny, which was essentially manipulative and unnecessary, but she couldn’t stop herself. “I think she’s been through enough.”

  Jared rolled his eyes. “I think you’ve dictated enough police procedure for one day.” He was stern. “I understand why you felt the need to keep the conversation going with Patty. We can’t afford for Natalie to slip through our fingers, though. She’s a firsthand witness to everything that was happening in that house.

  “There’s a third-floor bedroom that looks like somebody has been living in it,” he continued. “I’m assuming that someone is Natalie.”

  “She seemed ... lost.” Harper pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “I think she was genuinely loyal to Patty, but now she’s out there, on her own, and I’m afraid that something might happen to her. We still don’t know who did this and anyone watching the house might’ve been able to figure out that Natalie was a resident, not a guest. What if she becomes a target?”

  “Then we need to find her, which is why you should’ve called me no matter how annoyed Patty got. She’s a ghost. She’ll come back around eventually. You’re her only tie to the living world.”