Ghostly Graves: A Harper Harlow and Maddie Graves Mystery

by Hart, Lily Harper

  Ghostly Graves

  A Harper Harlow and Maddie Graves Mystery

  Lily Harper Hart

  HarperHart Publications

  Copyright © 2020 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

  Contents

  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

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Books by Lily Harper Hart

  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  1

  One

  “Ugh. Help me, Nicky.”

  Nick Winters sauntered out of the hotel room bathroom and found his wife lying prone on the bed, her shorts unbuttoned and her eyes fixed on the ceiling. She didn’t look happy. For some reason, her scowl made him grin.

  “What’s up, Mad?”

  Maddie Graves-Winters angled her head so she could meet his gaze, her long blond hair fanning over her shoulders. “I can’t button my shorts.”

  “No?” Nick wasn’t certain what he was supposed to do about that. “Do you want me to find you a different pair of shorts?”

  Maddie’s expression only grew darker. “No, they’re all the same size. They’re not going to fit any better.”

  Above all else, Nick was a patient man. Even though he was confused, that didn’t mean he wasn’t gung-ho to try and help his wife. “Do you want me to head to a store and buy you a different pair of shorts?”

  “No.” Maddie’s blue eyes flashed with abject horror. “I want to fit into these shorts.”

  Nick made a popping sound with his lips as he moved toward his wife, confusion evident. “I don’t know what to do here,” he admitted after a beat. “Am I supposed to make the shorts bigger?”

  Maddie was not the sort of woman to fly off the handle, but hormones had her acting out of sorts of late and she was officially at the end of her rope. “I want you to force up the zipper.” She gestured toward the gaping shorts, which were bunched around her rounded stomach.

  Nick rubbed his jaw. “I don’t know, Mad.”

  “You’re supposed to be a big and strong man,” she insisted. “My shorts won’t zip. I need you to force them to zip. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”

  Nick sent her a sidelong look. He loved her more than anything — and that would never change — but her mood swings were starting to make him leery. “I can try,” he said finally, moving into position. He was grim as he gripped the zipper and gave it an experimental tug.

  “You’re going to have to pull harder than that,” Maddie ordered. “That was weak sauce there, buddy.”

  Nick arched an eyebrow, amused despite himself. “When did I become your buddy?”

  “You’ve always been my buddy. We were friends before we were lovers.” She screwed up her face in an exasperated expression upon delivering the line. “Wait ... I don’t like the word lovers.”

  “How come?” He tugged on the zipper again, frowning when it didn’t move even a centimeter.

  “Because we’re more than that.”

  “We are,” he agreed on a smile.

  “Plus it sounds very General Hospital and I’m not in the mood to live in a soap opera.”

  “I’m right there with you.” He tugged again and then ran his tongue over his teeth as he lifted his eyes to hers. “These shorts don’t fit.”

  “Of course they fit. I’ve had these shorts for years. They always fit.”

  “Mad.” He tried to swallow his smile ... and failed miserably.

  “Don’t say it,” Maddie warned, her eyes flashing when Nick straightened. “I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it.”

  He didn’t want to say it either. He didn’t see where he had a choice. “Love, you’re pregnant.”

  She made a hissing sound. “I’m well aware.”

  “Are you? I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, Mad, but you’ve been fighting your condition for months, ever since we got back from Casper Creek.”

  “I’m not fighting my condition.” Maddie was fairly certain she should be offended by the statement. “I simply want to wear these shorts.”

  “You can’t wear these shorts.” Nick planted his hands on his hips. “It’s not possible. You’re too big for them now.”

  For a woman like Maddie, one who ran five miles a day just for the sheer joy of it and lifted weights to feel strong, that was a bitter pill to swallow. “I’m not fat.”

  Exasperation etched across Nick’s face. “You’re not,” he agreed. “I don’t particularly like that word, by the way. Fat, I mean. You’re definitely not fat. You’re pregnant. That being said, I never realized you were such a vain creature, Mad. A little weight here and there depositing in different places is hardly the end of the world.”

  Maddie’s jaw fell open. “Did you just call me vain?”

  “Oh, geez.” He slapped his hand to his forehead and looked to the ceiling. “I walked right into that one.”

  “I’m not vain,” Maddie insisted. “I just ... have never not fit into my shorts.”

  “That’s not it.” Nick forced himself to remain calm as he sat on the bed next to her and collected her hand. “It’s not about the shorts.”

  “Oh, no? Then what is it about?”

  “You’re afraid.”

  That simple statement bothered Maddie more than the realization that her shorts weren’t going to zip. “What do I possibly have to be afraid of?”

  “We’re going to be parents ... and relatively soon.”

  “We were always going to have kids,” Maddie reminded him. “This was always in the cards for us.”

  “It was and I’m looking forward to a baby. The thing is ... it came a little sooner than either of us expected. It’s okay to be afraid. I know I am.”

  Maddie’s initial response was one of suspicion. After a moment, though, she sucked in a breath and regarded her husband with heavy-lidded eyes. “Are you really?”

  He chuckled at the hope underneath her words. “Of course I am.” He rolled to his side so he could cuddle closer to her, his hand automatically going to her stomach. In truth, even at five months pregnant, she was absolutely stunning. Pregnancy had given her a glow. He’d often heard it referenced in television and movies, but now he got to see it firsthand.

  Sure, the first three months hadn’t been easy. She’d been sick every morning ... and often in the afternoon ... and even occasionally at night. Once the morning sickness waned, though, she was a boundless bolt of energy ... for a full month. After that, the nerves had set in. Nick was not a fan of the nerves.

  “Maddie, we’re just settling into our lives,” he reminded her. “We haven’t been married all that long. Now we’re having a baby. I know it’s not happening exactly as we planned but that doesn’t mean I’m sorry for it.”

  She let loose a heavy sigh. “I’m not sorry either. I’ve just been ... thinking.”

  “About wh
at?”

  “Well, for starters, the baby’s room is going to be on the second floor.”

  “All the bedrooms are on the second floor,” he noted.

  “Yes, but aren’t we going to be exhausted after climbing the stairs ten times a day? Babies only sleep in short bursts at the start. If we have to climb the steps whenever it’s nap time ... then what?”

  He stared at her for a long beat. “Is that really what you’re worried about?”

  “Oh, I have a whole list of worries, Nicky. That’s just the first. The rest are equally tiny, but they’re growing in my head. I’m so freaked out I don’t know what to do.”

  “And the shorts not fitting is one of those worries?”

  Maddie’s smile turned rueful. “I don’t know that I would say that,” she hedged. “I don’t like my clothes not fitting. If that makes me vain, well, it sucks, but I’m never going to like it. I mean ... I know in my heart it’s not a big deal. A baby is so much better than being able to wear the same shorts from when I was twenty. It still irritates me.”

  He grinned. He couldn’t help himself. She was his absolute favorite person in the world and always had been. They’d been best friends as children. Then he fell in love with her as a teenager. Before he could tell her, she’d taken off to college and essentially ghosted him, leaving a broken heart in her wake.

  Two years before she’d returned to their home of Blackstone Bay in northern Lower Michigan in the wake of her mother’s death. They’d been like magnets when circling one another. Even the admission that she’d hidden part of herself from him, the part that was psychic and could talk to ghosts, wasn’t enough to keep them away from one another. He was convinced it was their destiny to find one another as adults. What was happening now wasn’t even a speed bump on their road to happiness.

  He just had to convince her of that.

  “Maddie, your body is going to change,” he said reasonably. “When you have a baby, that’s expected. You need to suck it up.”

  Her fury doubled. “That’s easy for you to say. You look like a male model when you take off your shirt.”

  “Yes, I believe that’s how you ended up pregnant in the first place,” he teased, grinning. “We look like models when naked. That means we want to keep getting naked.”

  “And you say I’m the vain one,” Maddie muttered under her breath.

  His smile never wavered. “I love you.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “We’re still adjusting to how our lives are going to change. It doesn’t have to happen overnight.”

  “I know but ... I can’t button my shorts.” Now was not the time to cry, she reminded herself. For some reason, tears had been a familiar visitor in the house since her hormones started swinging. She hated it, felt it made her look weak. Her eyes were burning again, though.

  “Oh, Mad, please don’t do that.” Nick looked pained as he regarded the shorts. “How about you wear one of my shirts over your shorts and we use a safety pin to keep these from falling down?”

  Maddie immediately started shaking her head. “No way.”

  “It’s just until we can pick up some maternity clothes,” he reassured her. “That’s why we’re here, right? They have an entire street of baby boutiques. We’re going to pick out cribs ... and bottles ... and all that other stuff. Apparently we’re also picking out some maternity clothes for you.”

  “I don’t want to wear maternity clothes.” Maddie threw her arm over her face. “It seems like a waste of money to buy clothes I’m going to wear for exactly four months and toss.”

  “This won’t be our only baby, Maddie,” Nick reminded her. “You can wear the clothes more than once.”

  “Not if they go out of style.”

  He choked on a chuckle as he shook his head. “You just want to be contrary to be contrary right now. Fine. Have your way.” He plucked up a sheet of paper from the nightstand next to the bed. “You’re going to have to compromise on the clothes, Mad. You officially have no choice in the matter. What if I promised a little fun as a reward after we pick out maternity clothes, though?”

  Maddie’s lower lip poked out. “What sort of fun?”

  He handed her the flyer. “It seems they have a ghost hunt set up in the cemetery. It’s run by actual ghost hunters. They even call themselves Ghost Hunters, Incorporated.”

  “They’re probably not the real deal,” Maddie argued.

  “Probably not. It will still be fun. You can wear one of your new outfits.”

  “I don’t want a new outfit.”

  Nick decided to take the bull by the horns — er, the pregnant woman by the elastic waistband — and put his foot down. “You’re buying clothes. That’s the first thing on our list. You need to suck it up.”

  “Since when are you the boss of me?”

  “Since you’re acting like more of a baby than the one you’re carrying. I’m the boss today and you’re getting new clothes.”

  Deep down, Maddie knew he was right. “Can I get some ice cream, too?”

  He grinned. “Does the baby want ice cream?”

  “No, I do.”

  “Then we can definitely get ice cream.” He pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “I love you, Maddie,” he whispered. “This is all going to work out. It’s sooner than we expected, but it’s just part of the adventure. Everything is going to be okay.”

  She knew what he said was true, and that’s why she acquiesced. “Okay, but I’m going to be complaining about these clothes for the entire day. You’ve been warned.”

  “I would expect nothing less.”

  HARPER HARLOW RESTED HER HEAD ON her fiancé Jared Monroe’s chest and tuned out the world as the wind lightly rocked them back and forth in their hammock. The sound of the nearby river, which was located on the backside of their property, lulled her as she fought the urge to take a nap.

  This was utter bliss, she told herself. Nothing was better than an afternoon spent in a hammock with her beloved. Life really didn’t get much better.

  And then the clouds, in the form of her best friend Zander Pritchett, appeared out of nowhere to obliterate her happiness.

  “You’re not returning my calls,” he announced, his hands landing on his hips.

  Jared, who had been happily flipping through a magazine until the other man’s unmistakable presence took over, made a disgruntled sound deep in his throat. “Why are you over here?” He knew he sounded like a petulant child, but Zander often brought out the worst in him.

  “Because Harper won’t return my calls,” Zander replied. “I believe that’s the statement I led with.”

  Jared moved one hand up to the back of Harper’s neck to lightly rub at the tension pooling there. He was used to Zander’s antics — and sometimes found them entertaining — but he was in no mood today. “Didn’t we have a rule about you interrupting us when we’re hammocking?”

  “No.” Zander shook his head. “I’m sure I would remember it.”

  “And yet I remember it.”

  “I think you’re mistaken.” Zander was prim when he turned his full attention on Harper. “We need to talk about tonight.”

  Harper kept her eyes closed, silently willing Zander to return to his house. While living across the road from one another had its perks, it also made for uncomfortable afternoons when Zander decided he wanted to test boundaries.

  “Harper!” Zander snapped his fingers in his best friend’s face, making a yelping noise when Jared grabbed his wrist. “Unhand me, you fiend!”

  Even though he was annoyed, Jared had to choke back a laugh at Zander’s reaction. “Don’t snap your fingers in her face like that,” he ordered, working overtime to keep from laughing. If he broke down and chuckled, Zander would move in for the kill, and he had no intention of ceding ground ... especially when that ground was in his own yard.

  “She’s not paying attention to me,” Zander whined. “I have something serious to talk to her about.”

  Jared knew better. Zander was
simply feeling fussy. Because Harper’s eyes were still shut — a defense mechanism, he reckoned — he decided to see if he could take the onus of the conversation off her. “Is this about tonight?”

  “We have an event tonight,” Zander confirmed.

  “I’m well aware.” Jared rubbed light circles on the back of Harper’s neck to lull her. She’d almost been asleep before Zander barreled into their yard. He knew by the way her body rested heavily on top of his. Since he was a big fan of naps, he was eager to return to that moment. “Maybe I can help you.”

  “You’re not part of GHI,” Zander argued.

  “No, but I’ve been around long enough to know how things work. How about you tell me what the problem is and give me a shot at fixing things? That way Harper can keep resting.”

  Zander was dubious. “How do I know you’ll take my concerns seriously?”

  “You don’t, but it’s worth a shot, right?”

  “I guess.” Zander shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. He was resigned to playing the game Jared’s way ... at least to start. He knew better than most how to press Jared’s buttons and recognized he could easily draw Harper into a potential argument if need be. “I think I should lead the hunt tonight.”

  Jared blinked several times, confused, but didn’t shift. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you always a part of these events?”

  “A part, yes, but Harper is usually the lead. I’ve been thinking about it and I believe that our roles should reverse this evening.”

  Jared was instantly suspicious. “Why?”

  “What do you mean? I’m a very entertaining individual.”

  “To certain people, you’re a hoot and a half,” Jared agreed dryly. “I want to know why you’re so determined to be in charge of things tonight, though.”